Chapter 458 Personal Revenge
“Are you having lunch, Dr. Hunter? Come, let’s eat together!”
Inside the cafeteria, as soon as Courtney sat down for lunch, she was interrupted by Eunice Goodman, the most gossipy nurse in the hospital.
From past experience, the former knew that sitting down for lunch with Eunice would ultimately result in a storytelling session where a crowd of people gathered around to talk about various workplace gossip. Those who ranked as chief or higher were particularly liable to be criticized to bits by Eunice.
Meanwhile, the woman in question was settling into the seat beside Courtney as she commented, “I have the newest gossip concerning Chief Hass, Dr. Hunter.”
“Now, hold on, Nurse Goodman,” Courtney interrupted as she tapped against the meat on her plate with her utensils and reminded, “Have you forgotten that the last time you gossiped about Chief Hass? She caught you red-handed and castigated you at the last summary meeting not more than two weeks ago.”
Of all the people to gossip about in the hospital, Linda Hass was one of the worst choices. After all, her father was the executive vice president at the hospital and her mother was the head nurse. The family’s word went virtually unchallenged at the hospital and it was bad enough that Eunice didn’t tread carefully around them, but for her to gossip about them meant she certainly had to be the boldest person in the hospital.
“Well, that was only because I was spreading rumors the previous time! This time, I saw with my very own eyes that Chief Hass with a man—”
“What did you see?”
“Well, she’s with a man!”
“Doing what?” Courtney glared at Eunice expressionlessly. “In general, you talk like that only when you’re trying to suggest something without explicitly saying it.”
Duly chastised, Eunice complained, “You must be the most boring person in the whole hospital, Dr. Hunter. Don’t you find the work here so dull that you need a little bit of stimulating gossip to turn your impression of hospital work around?
“I don’t find hospital work dull because interesting jobs often come with a high risk.”
“You say that like it’s true. Doctor-patient relationships are so tense right now that we are at risk as well!”
“That’s different.”
The fact was that Courtney’s personal experience and state of mind were very different from that of the doctors and nurses who entered the hospital as soon as they graduated. However, because she was usually easy to get along with, didn’t argue with anyone and rarely liked to gossip, Eunice was still willing to spend time with her.
“Don’t you find this news scandalous? I mean, have you ever seen Chief Hass interact with a man who wasn’t her patient? I saw one entering her office as I was leaving Cardiac Surgery just now, and oh my goodness! You should have seen him!”
“Was it a tall, bookish, and fair-skinned man wearing glasses and a black suit?”
“It was! Did you see him? Were you as stunned as I was?”
Calmly, Courtney took a sip of her soup. “That’s Chief Hass’ boyfriend.”
“What?” Eunice’s expression morphed into one of seeming disbelief that she was not the first to hear of such news, and she sprung up from her chair as she exclaimed, “What?! Chief Hass has a boyfriend? Why didn’t I know that?”
Looking around the cafeteria, Courtney grumbled with embarrassment, “Well, now the whole hospital knows about it.”
After lunch, Eunice continued to follow Courtney, asking non-stop about matters such as the man’s age, character, occupation, and even family background, sounding for all the world like an immigration officer with how invasive she was being.
Evasively, Courtney only told her, “I don’t know. You should ask somebody else.”
As Eunice continued to pursue Courtney relentlessly down the corridor, the latter suddenly received a phone call from none other than the target of their gossip herself.
Excusing herself, Courtney stepped aside to answer the call. “Chief Hass…”
Before she could say more than that, a thoroughly indignant voice shouted at her so loudly through the phone that Courtney was forced to hold it away from her ear, “How dare you collude with Caleb to play with my feelings, Courtney Hunter?!”
The question was followed by a violent round of scolding filled with so many swears that Courtney had to wonder where Linda picked them up from.
When Linda was finally done scolding her, Courtney attempted to explain, “I was forced to, Chief Hass. You—”
“Shut up! Who held a gun to your head and forced you to do such a stupid thing?”
“Didn’t you put a gun to my head when you forced me to pretend to be you on a blind date?” Courtney couldn’t help retorting. “If I’m being honest about it, I think you and Mr. Menzie are two peas in a pod—a match made in heaven, that is.”
“F*ck you!” Even through the phone, Courtney felt like Linda was spitting directly on her face. “You don’t need to go back to the clinical laboratory this afternoon. Report to the inpatient department instead. Remember—you’re responsible for all health indicator entries of Scott Duncan in Ward 1.” With that, Linda hung up.
Speechlessly, Courtney stared down at her phone. What is going on? This is getting personal!
“What were you talking about when you said you pretended to be Chief Hass on a blind date, Dr. Hunter?”
Upon lifting her head and finding Eunice’s curious face right in front of her, Courtney grimaced. “Do you find the way Chief Hass reprimanded me to be funny? Go and ask her yourself if you have the guts.
Despite shuddering, Eunice appeared to genuinely consider it for a moment before deciding that her livelihood was still more important than the entertainment gossip brought her. And so, she waved a hand and dismissed with embarrassment, “Forget it. I’d like to keep on living for a few years longer.” With that, she made her excuses, saying that she had something else to do.
Conflicted, Courtney glanced down at her phone once more.
When Caleb dropped by in the afternoon, she had no idea things would be linked back to her. Now, she had stuck her foot in it and there was no dodging responsibility even if she wanted to.
…
In the president’s office at Sunhill Enterprise, Alexander tossed the documents before him to the ground. Because of all that business with Courtney, he had had several days of documents piled up without having dealt with them. Now that he was looking through the papers, he was unsatisfied with them.
Outside the office stood a row of senior executives waiting to be reprimanded.
As a manager exited the room, the crowd flocked to him to ask questions, only to have him shake his head with a pained and thoroughly defeated expression.
Everyone met each other’s gazes and sighed in despair.
“With President Duncan’s mood being good one day and bad the next, I’m so stressed out that my hair is going to fall out.”
“You don’t say! I only rushed to get the department plan ready and delivered now because Holland told me two days ago that President Duncan was in a good mood. But now—”
And it went on and on.
Standing guard by the door, Eric, too, felt quite helpless upon hearing the conversation.
He wondered whether this team of managers would have their families go to the hospital and seek retribution from Courtney if they knew Alexander was approaching his work in this manner only because of her.
At any rate, Eric was wise enough to wait until the scoldings were done and the managers had all left before taking a cup of tea to Alexander.
“Where’s Caleb? Has he still not returned?” Alexander asked, glancing at the time.
Apprehensively, Eric explained, “Perhaps he’s been delayed by something.”
And then, he promptly fell silent at Alexander’s dark look.
Upon returning from the hospital at midday, Alexander had summoned Caleb to his office, only to have the Legal Department tell him that Caleb wasn’t there and that the lawyer’s phone was off. Thus, Eric had sent Caleb a text message hoping he would hurry back as soon as he saw the message.
Presently, Alexander’s expression grew so dark it almost resembled the night.
