Scared of Needles

Her eyelashes fluttered, welcoming her eyes to the warmth of the sunlight. Covering her vision using the back of her hands, she heard the nurse's wake up call. "Miss. Jiang, it's time for your body examination. We've prepared the room for you already."

Sitting up with her messy bed hair, her fingers rushed to straighten her messy hairstyle. "Okay. Can you give me a few minutes?"

"No problem." The nurse smiled, stepped aside and waited for Lily to wash up before wheeling her for the examination. On their way down the hallway, Lily asked, "Oh, right. Which examination is this?"

The nurse replied as she continued pushing, "A regular blood test and allergy test."

"Then I don't need this wheelchair. It's just some tubes of blood. I can handle it." Bending her elbows, her palms supported her body weight off the chair. Standing up straight, she stretched and looked back, "Show me the way."

"Oh..okay." The nurse pushed the wheelchair aside for other patients and guided her to the examination room. Lily sat lazily as she waited for the doctor to come take her blood. Her stomach grumbled like loud drums while waiting at the office.

Rolling her eyes left and right, she pointed at the clock and said, "That would look much better if it was placed right above that shelf. The books could be restacked in a different order to look less packed. Hmm, so many papers here. Maybe a file separator right there. And then..."

Noticing she was alone, she took a piece of paper from the printer and started doodling the design of the room. Capturing every single detail of the room, she closed her eyes to sketch it in her mind. The current room was converted into a grid where she rearranged the order of the objects until she became satisfied with it.

Pressing her lips together, her eyes focused on the piece of paper where her hand began its adventurous scribbles. "Mmm.. this clock should move two centimeters to the right."

"Ahh, you're right.." Lin Que peeked from her shoulders and listened to her self talk.

"Right? But how do I know it's two centimeters? Mm.." Curving a strand of her hair fit the back of her ears, she tapped the eraser end of the pencil to her chin a few times.

"Here, a ruler."

"Ah! Thank yo..." Tilting her head upwards, she saw his warming smile and hand wave.

"Continue your sketch. It looks better than this mess I have in my office." He said as he placed the ruler in her hand and took the seat across from her.

"Okay. Give me a few minutes." For some reason, she didn't dare stare at him for long. If she did, she might end up blushing for no apparent reason at all. Brushing her fringe down, she lowered her head to complete the design.

While waiting for her to finish, he took out the tube containers, gloves, needles and alcohol pads. Reviewing the results from her previous examination reports, he reached up to the cabinet to retrieve more products. When she was done and looked up, she saw half his desk filled with scary tools.

Sucking her tongue dry, she gulped down the saliva nervously. "Is that all for me?"

"Uh huh. Don't worry, it won't hurt. I'm pretty quick." He chuckled at her worried look. Her legs subconsciously rolled the chair backwards a step and slowly turned towards the right side. Observing where her feet were facing, he tapped the sketch, "You are quite observant. Are you an artist?"

Her expression froze as if she got caught cheating on an exam. "Nope. I just happened to see the object placements in your office and had the urge to make it look better. The items are stylish, but are hung and stacked in a lacking way."

Taking the sketch on the desk, he walked in front of the clock and compared the sketch to it. "Hmm, you're right. It would look better this way."

"Wouldn't it?" She smiled at his agreement.

"You know what else would look better?" His side grin caught her off guard.

"What?" She was sure she had drawn everything out in this room already.

"A healthy patient. And do you know how you could be one?"

"I am already healthy enough!" She raised her brow from his impressive observant skills. 'How did he know I wanted to run out?'

"You listen to your doctor, which unfortunately, turned out to be me. I already have a few nurses lined up as guards outside the door. so~ Don't think about escaping before finishing your blood test."

With her light brown hair sitting on her shoulders, she tilted her head and blinked innocently as if she had no idea what he was trying to say. She smiled, "I don't know what you mean. I was sitting here like a good girl all along."

"If you're going to act, cool about it, then do it all the way. Don't worry and relax or else I won't be able to draw blood from your body. Then, we would have to experiment a few more injection experiences and you'll end up with a sore arm. Ah, have I mention the other scheduled examinations tomorrow?" He crossed his arm and legs as he dropped his body onto his chair.

"Tsk..devil." She complained.

"What did you say?" Grinning again, he teared open the supplies in front of her.

"Nothing. You heard wrong." Playfully swinging the chair in circles, she took a few glances at the door to see nurses standing there. Upon releasing a sigh, her chair was suddenly stopped by his arms to face him.

"Roll up your sleeves for me. Choose. Left arm or right?"

"W..Wait! Is this a needle shot or drawing blood?"

"Drawing blood." He retracted his arm and made sure he had everything he needed.

"Oh..Okay." Folding up her sleeves, she extended her right arm and shut her eyes tightly. Feeling the tightness from the tourniquet on her arm and chilly, wet alcohol pad against her skin; her muscles tensed up.

"Are you afraid of needles?"

"Of course not!" Her words obviously didn't match the ones in her heart.

"Then are you afraid of hamsters?" Pointing the needle close to her skin, he waited for the right moment to inject it. As he spoke to distract her attention, his eyes were on her slowly loosening fists.

"They're the most adorable balls to watch. Why would I feel scared?" Smiling at his questions, she totally forgot about the needle part.

"Then, cats?"

"Cats are my babes. Oh! And dogs! Kittens and puppies are the best! Adorable! I love them all." She giggled. He could finally see her fingers again. Exactly that moment, he injected the needle and saw blood flowing through the tube.

"Ow." She glared at his mischievous smile.