46

Nolan had the day off while Henry did not. So the enormous house was empty with only little scuffings of feet betraying the presence of servants. Nolan was delighted that he took up a perch by the private elevator, waiting for the ping of someone coming up. For the most part the elevator went up and down but did not reach the top floor. Nolan had fallen asleep when the soft whoosh of the doors opening immediately had him awake. He reached the opening of the elevator at the exact same time as Michael.

He couldn't help but smile to see that Dr. Wu was wearing a witch's hat and costume when she got off the elevator. Michael looked deeply disturbed as in one hand a cigar dangled. She put it out before replacing it into its metal box in her purse which looked like a gigantic cake.

Nolan couldn't help but feel as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders as she walked in. She was like a breathe of fresh air in the atmosphere of Henry's ancestral splendor. Nolan quickly grabbed her hand and explained, "This is Dr. Janna Wu. She is here for a consultation to examine my sister, Ellie. I'm just going to show her the way to get to there."

Wu whistled as she peered inside the stately manor. Her neck was cranked in every direction as his had been when he had first come. She looked out of place, a kid in a costume come for Halloween. But the dark look was strangely alluring--dangerous and sure. It was powerful that she wasn't even bothered by the butler. She looked back at Nolan, "I see you have some connections." She raised an eyebrow at his thrifted open hoodie. She pinched him, "Are you related to whoever owns this?"

Nolan wondered whether Wu would be as sympathetic as she had been before at the office at the hospital. But he quickly pushed that aside. It was beyond the doctor's understanding, he didn't want to dissuade her from treating his sister. "I do not. My sister is a friend of the man who generously let us stay with him. I'm just a grad student and get paid minimum wage to do micro research at NYU. I have loans and loneliness. But I do try to spend time here because I want to spend as much time as I can with my sister before she is gone."

As they walked into Ellie's room, Nolan could see her face was set in a mask of polite interest. Nolan's heart sank. The look meant his sister was just entertaining this because he was forcing her to. She really didn't want any more doctors to tell her what she already knew. Ellie didn't think this doctor would be any different from the couple she had dealt with before. Nolan was quick with introducing doctor to patient.

Dr. Wu's triple layer chocolate cake bag opened at the bottom to reveal her stethoscope. She turned to Nolan and shooed him out. He looked at Ellie in confusion as he had been present during all of her examinations. He was indifferent to the process. "Come on, get out. I don't care what other doctors let you get away with. I want your sister and I to have some time alone. I know what the doctors told you. To be honest it's probably not all of it. I'm more interested in what she has been told."

Nolan's eyes narrowed as he became even more interested. He opened his mouth to argue, but paused when he heard Ellie begin to laugh. "I think you're my favorite doctor I've ever had. I love your bag. It's so fun. Who is the designer?"

"It's Kate Spade surprisingly. I like to have fun when I can. My job is so tedious. I came straight from the hospital so it gets boring" Dr. Wu took off her overcoat and revealed her teal scrubs underneath.

"Oh wow." Ellie said impressed. She turned to Nolan to give him a reassuring smile. "I like her. You can be out for a bit Nolan. Go have Michael make you some of his famous iced coffee. It's heaven. You should go try it. I'm alright here with Dr. Wu. I know she's a professional."

Nolan sighed as he walked out the door. Michael, the ever perfect butler--the one who put all of the others of his profession to shame--stood outside with the aforementioned iced coffee on a tray. He tipped it forward in offering, "The madam requested this for you. I hope it is satisfactory and please let me know if there is anything more that you require."

Nolan took it and nodded as Michael folded the tray. He pointed to another tray where Nolan could put the emptied glass. Michael had that much confidence. And Nolan after taking his first sip, had to admit, rightly so. He took his drink and walked into Henry's portrait gallery. It was a circular room which had framed paintings and photographs of all the members of the Wong family. There was a Duke, followed by several soldiers and shrewd eyed businessmen. There were small painted portraits followed by richly embroided tapestries and delicately painted scrolls. It was worth to get more steps on his FitBit, Nolan mused to himself as he looked at himself in the pane of glass separating him from a set of ten dolls made of soft fabric. The metal memorandum on the side explained that they were toys for children made from bags of rice during the war. It was all in all, rather boring.

He wished that he had talked Henry into getting Deul to stay instead of going back to China, but knew that was beyond his limits. Nolan remembered, he hadn't even told Henry that he would be bringing a doctor here. However, he didn't want his brother-in-law to show he cared about his sister. It would tarnish the image Nolan had of him as a heartless monster. He needed to keep him at a distance if he wanted to keep his hold on his sister.

After finishing his coffee, Nolan wandered back to the side table to replace the glassware. He didn't really know what to do next so sat on a comfortable bench that had materialized out of nowhere. Nolan put his head in his hands.

Dr. Wu slid the obnoxiously large door open and Nolan quickly approached her. Her eyes were softer than when she had arrived. Nolan hoped this meant something nice so he asked, "How is she?"

Dr Wu retreated back into the room. "Come back on in, Mr. Chen. I think it's good for both of you to hear this."

Nolan walked inside and saw Ellie's eyes were puffy and red. This meant she had probably cried from some sort of exertion. He was quickly by her side. He began to rub calming circles into the palm of her hand and she responded by squeezing his hand so tightly it hurt. He knew Ellie saw when he flinched.

Wu took the stethoscope from around her neck and placed it inside her bag. She joined her hands behind her and began to walk the length of her room. Maybe she was collecting her thoughts. Maybe not. Nolan wondered if Dr. Wu felt this trip had been worth the time.

Wu spoke her mind. "When you were initially in your accident, there was an x-ray done to assess the damage. You were in a car accident so there was a lot of metal that entered your body from fragments that flew about during the accident. However, when we x-ray metal, it blocks visibility of underlying tissues. Therefore, the metal was removed first before a second x-ray was done. An error on the technician and surgeons was that they did not remove all of the metal and that they did not detect that there was a piece of metal left behind." Dr. Wu made a deep sound of disapproval as she turned to look at the Chens. "After my examination, I found the location of the metal is even with your anatomy in your back which is the reason why you are in constant pain. I don't think that you are paralyzed at all. It's impossible. I think initially because there was swelling after the initial surgery to remove the metal blocking the x raying. I think the paralysis of your lower extremities must have been a byproduct of that initial post-surgery recovery. I checked your body in that area and I think you no longer have scar tissue in that area."