Chapter 419 I Guess She Resembles Her Father
The kid’s skin was so dark that it formed a strong contrast with the whites of his eyes. Seeing Courtney stretching her arm toward him, the kid thought he was going to get hit, so he subconsciously lifted his hands to shield his head. It was only then did he see from the gaps of his fingers that Courtney was passing the compressed biscuits to him.
As expected, he was startled for quite a while before carefully reaching out to take the biscuits.
Smiling kindly toward him, Courtney pointed at his ankle and then at the cross pendant in front of her chest, signaling that she wanted to help him treat his leg.
However, the kid still did not let down his guard. As if the pain numbed all his pain receptors away, the kid quickly got up and ran away when Courtney was not paying attention.
“I’ve already said that these brats from the refugee camp are all ungrateful rascals. Why do you still bother to care for them?” Chris’ voice emerged from behind.
Courtney did not refute him nor gave him a look of approval but merely lifted her head to look at the sky.
“It’s getting dark soon. Let’s go back to the camp; the director said that there are quite a number of poisonous snakes in the woods.”
“Don’t worry. I have some orpiment; you can take some and apply it on yourself.” Chris wore a concerned look. Thereafter, the two walked side by side back to the camp while chatting.
“The condition here is not very conducive. Those medical staff who have even the slightest connection will not be willing to come here. I haven’t asked you this previously, but I unintentionally read your resume yesterday—why were you sent here since your profession is in child psychology? Did you offend one of the leaders?”
Chris was indirectly trying to get Courtney to tell her story.
Courtney clearly knew that if she admitted it, the next thing Chris would do was definitely to complain about the corrupted health system and ask her to follow him as he would think of a way to send her back to the hospital. Nevertheless, she would not believe these bluffs at all because if Chris really had that ability, he would have sent himself back first.
“Nope.” She denied it and said calmly, “I volunteered to come here.”
“Huh?” Chris was startled. “Why?”
“Why else?” Courtney smiled. “Of course, it is to give back to the community and serve the country. Isn’t that how it is promoted in the promotional video to hire volunteers?” After saying that, she lifted the drape of the tent and walked in.
Truth was, the instructor had reminded her even before she came here that Chris Browne, the surgeon at the border’s rescue station, had some conduct issues and liked to take advantage of women, so she had to be more cautious.
After the sky turned completely dark, the rescue team at the camp was ready to rest.
Leaning on the pillow, Courtney took out her phone. As expected, the phone had no signal. The picture on the lock screen was the family picture shot half a year ago before she left. Tina already looked like a young lady, and her eyes turned into crescent moons when she smiled. Standing beside her was a little girl who was about the height of Tina’s shoulder. The girl looked exactly like Tina when she was younger. The only difference was that the girl was pulling a long face and had an oddly mature and cold look.
“Are they your daughters?”
Hazel Sue, who slept across Courtney, came back after washing up. She craned forward to glance at the picture and asked with a smile, “Which one of them is your daughter?”
“Both.” Courtney lifted her head. “They both are.”
“Oh!” Hazel glanced at the picture again in shock. “I won’t be able to tell if you didn’t say so. These two girls don’t look like each other at all. The elder one resembles you; as for the younger one… I guess she resembles her father.”
Courtney’s eyes turned gloomy at the mention of this topic, and no response was given.
Just then, some noises came forth from the outside. The nurse on duty lifted the drape of the tent and yelled, “The frontline special forces has sent three injured patients over. Quickly get ready for the surgeries.”
As soon as the nurse said that, the other medical staff in the tent immediately sprang up from the bed as if it was a reflex response. Courtney too quickly put away her phone and wore a white coat before following the team to the temporary operating room.
“Two of them are hostages who were seized by the terror group. One suffers more external wounds but has the symptoms of internal hemorrhage while the other one had a bullet shot into his chest and the bullet is currently stuck at the lower side of his atrium. Both of them need a chest operation. Hazel, you and your team will be in charge of the one with internal hemorrhage. As for Charlie, you may go extract the bullet from the other patient. The rest will follow me to attend to the third patient.”
Then, Chris selected Courtney and another two surgeon interns to head to the third temporary operating room.
While checking on the patient, Courtney looked carefully at the injuries and said, “Dr. Browne, his leg was injured by an explosion, but the wound doesn’t seem to be too serious…”
The condition of the other patient who had a bullet shot through his chest was much more critical than this one, so Courtney thought Chris—the most experienced surgeon in the team—should participate in the chest operation instead of clearing wounds here.
However, Chris darted a glance at Courtney and said displeasedly, “How is this not serious? The patient’s condition is clearly critical. If we don’t pay attention and cause the wound to be infected during the operation, his leg would be gone!”
Hearing that, Courtney still wanted to say something, but when she noticed the badge on the patient’s camouflage uniform, she clammed up obediently.
This soldier was a member of the Falcon Special Forces Team. No wonder Chris was so dedicated toward him because no matter how serious his injury was, Chris would be considered performing a meritorious service. Not only would he receive praises, but he might even have a chance to be sent back from here and be promoted to become an assistant director.
This Chris sure knows how to seize opportunities.
The operation ended in half an hour. Throughout the operation, Chris had asked Courtney to help wipe off his sweat numerous times. It was just a minor operation to clean the wounds, and Courtney knew he wasn’t truly sweating that much.
“Done.”
When the operation was over, the patient’s leg was bandaged. At that moment, he was still in a coma and just had to get more rest, so Courtney suggested, “Dr. Browne, would you like to go check out the chest operation next door and see if Dr. Garfield needs any assistance?”
“You guys go ahead. I’ll look after the patient here.”
Chris pulled a chair and directly sat down beside the operation table. Obviously, he was waiting to be appreciated when the patient regained his consciousness. As such, Courtney and the other two interns exchanged glances and walked away in resignation.
As soon as they stepped out of the tent, an anxious voice came forth. “How is his condition?”
It was already dark at that time, and the area was not lit bright enough to clearly see the appearance of the person who spoke up. All that they could identify was a person dressed in a grayish-green suit with camouflage paint on her face.
Nevertheless, Courtney and the other two were surprised to hear the female voice.
Courtney was the first one to regain her composure and answered, “He’s fine. The operation has ended, and our chief doctor is looking after him inside.”
“Can his leg still function in the future?”
“Don’t worry. He just needs to get enough rest.”
Courtney smiled. “You can go inside and take a look if you’re still worried. We need to head to the operating room next door first.” With that, she said to the two interns beside her, “Let’s go.”
“Courtney?”
Suddenly, the female special forces soldier called out Courtney’s name from behind with uncertainty.
The warm and humid wind blew past Courtney’s ears which caused strands of hair to give her a tingling sensation. Stunned, Courtney turned around in astonishment and could only recognize that person after quite some while.
“Tess?”
“It’s me.”
Tessa strode forward and sized Courtney up from head to toe in disbelief.
“It’s really you, Courtney! Your voice was rather familiar just now, but I thought it couldn’t possibly be you, so I didn’t dare to call out for you. Turns out it’s really you!”
