Eavesdropping

Violet walked languidly along the corridor with music blasting through her earphones.

She had finished reading the book that Sarah bought her hours ago and figured that if she had to stay in her room for one more minute, she might go out of her mind!

If boredom could kill, she would be dead by now.

She wanted to leave the hospital quickly.

Violet could not comprehend why her mother was so persistent in admitting her to the hospital when it was clear that she was perfectly fine. Just because Ryan worked at the same hospital, her mother had requested the hospital to give her a full checkup.

A soft chuckle escaped her.

It annoyed her. She also found that it was such a waste of time and money to stay in the hospital for a long time. There should be a lot of people who needed the hospital bed more than her.

She didn't want to cause any trouble for Ryan. But mostly, after how he had accused her as a gold-digger during their first meeting, she really didn't want to owe anything to that egoistic idiot.

However, she had reluctantly agreed to her parents' request when she saw the worried look on their faces.

Violet descended the stairs carefully.

Her eyes roamed about the hall, as she searched for a vending machine. Her lunch which the hospital provided tasted bland to her and she needed to find some snacks.

Her face brightened up once she saw a vending machine in front of her. She flashed her phone to the machine and opted for a bar of chocolate.

Just then, Violet heard the sound of a few people talking not too far away from her.

Her ears perked up at the familiar voice just as she grabbed her chocolate from the machine. When she saw that person standing not far awy from her position, her first instinct was to hide behind the wall.

Violet certainly didn't want to make any conversation with Ryan Chen right now and would prefer to pretend as if she did not know him.

She pressed her back against the wall to wait for him to walk pass.

It wasn't her habit to eavesdrop, but his conversation with a couple of elderly could faintly be heard from the position she was standing now. She could hear how soothing his voice was when he was comforting the elderly on their daughter's condition.

It was different to the way he would usually speak to her.

Violet noticed the elderly couple's expression when he told them that everything would be alright. The elders seemed relieved and happy that Ryan talked to spend his time talking to them.

There was a hint of surprised in her face.

Violet had never expected that someone like Ryan could be very gentle.

Seeing that Ryan was not going to leave anytime soon, Violet decided to tore her packet of chocolate while observing the of man her dad wanted her to marry.

Since they had to get along well for a while, it would be better for her to figure out just what sort of person he was.

...

Ryan was on his break when he decided to visit Violet in her hospital ward. He found her sleeping soundly on the bed and decided to check up on her files that he took from the nurse earlier. He stared at her sleeping face for a while and his gaze went back to the file when he noticed that she was awake. "You're awake?"

Violet rubbed her eyes sleepily and nodded. "What are you doing here?"

"Checking up on you," he answered. His eyes roamed throughout the room. Other patients shared the same room as her. Most of them were accompanied by their family members. "Where's your mother?"

She shrugged. "I'm not sure. I think she went out to make some calls. Probably checking on my father or something like that."

His eyes went back to the records. "How do you feel? Better?"

"I've been better," Violet answered briefly.

"Do you still have that headache and dizziness?"

"No."

Ryan nodded. "How about nausea?"

"No. It all stopped after I got some rest." She rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. "I've answered all questions to one of the nurses an hour ago. Will you tell me when can I get out of here?"

Ryan bent a bit and checked on Violet's bandaged head. "You're lucky your head injury isn't that serious."

"I've told you that I'm perfectly ne and I can still work in my condition," Violet said. "You don't have to drag me to hospital and have me hospitalized you know?"

Ryan glanced at her and decided to ignore her remark. "Did you get a good sleep?"

Violet nodded.

"Good to know that," Ryan said. He gave the file another look over clipped it under his armpit and turned to leave the room

"Hey," Violet called as she tugged the hem of Ryan's coat to prevent him from walking away. She looked up and found him staring at her. "Listen. I—I'm sorry for being persistent when you were just trying to help me. I know that you're just trying to be nice to me. But I don't know what got into me. I guess I was trying to look cool in front of my employees. I mean, one moment I was lecturing them, and the next thing I know, I fell and landed flat like an idiot."

"You are an idiot." He commented and laughed when she gave him a dagger look from her. "Don't worry about it. It's normal to feel anxious and upset after a head injury."

"And uh..." Violet paused. "Thank you."

Ryan nodded. He opened his mouth hesitantly as if to say something and look around the room. When he was satisfied that no one was watching him, he went back to Violet and pulled a chair. He searched through his pockets and pulled out some papers. "I've been meaning to give you this yesterday."

Violet took the paper from Ryan and gave him a confused look. "What is this?"