It was after eleven o’clock at night when Yusuf Zuck left Everest Zuck’s house and drove toward Houhai. Jerome Hart’s clinic was located at Houhai, and the reason he was able to rent the place so quickly and get the license and everything was thanks to the help of Jade Cooke’s family.
Jerome’s grandfather, David Hart, had long returned to Jiangxi, and as for the clinic here, it was completely left for Jerome to operate on his own.
When Yusuf called in the morning, Jerome seemed to be in a bad mood, and he hadn’t gone back to stay at his place for the past couple of days, living at the clinic instead.
Yusuf had nothing to do that night and didn’t know where else to go, so he headed for Houhai.
A little after midnight, Yusuf arrived at Jerome Hart’s clinic, a storefront facing the street with a signboard already hung up, covered with a red cloth. Through the lights above the signboard, Yusuf could see that the clinic was named ’Unity Health Clinic’.
It must be affiliated with a community or neighborhood office, under the jurisdiction of Unity Street.
The clinic’s rolling shutter door was closed, so the inside was not visible, but there was light shining from beneath, indicating that Jerome had not gone to bed yet.
Yusuf parked his car by the road and, upon reaching the clinic’s door, knocked hard twice.
The rolling shutter door clanged loudly, especially jarring in the silence of the night.
"Who’s there?" A woman’s voice called out. Official source is novel·fire.net
Yusuf was taken aback, that voice wasn’t the nurse’s, but then... what was she doing inside the clinic now?
"Jerome Hart’s girlfriend? Didn’t they argue over the phone? She couldn’t have come over so soon, could she? Or perhaps it’s a prostitute, this guy never learns?" After a quick spin of thoughts in his head, Yusuf immediately responded, "Is Jerome Hart here?"
"Yusuf? Why have you come?" Jerome’s voice came from inside, followed by the rolling door being pulled up.
The lights inside the clinic were bright; it had just been renovated. Near the entrance was a desk, likely serving as the consultation desk, and to the left was the pharmacy, with a counter for dispensing traditional Chinese medicine behind it. On the right side of the first floor were sofas and the like, with a restroom in the back and so on.
Of course, there was also a second floor, which probably had hospital beds and such.
Inside the door stood a woman, about the same age as Jerome, wearied a tight high-necked sweatshirt and jeans below. She was quite tall and lovely, but her face was somewhat marred; she had applied makeup, crying until she looked like a panda with smudged eyes!
After opening the door, Jerome sized up Yusuf and scolded, "Are you sick, coming here in the middle of the night?"
"Who is this?" Yusuf didn’t respond to him but instead asked the woman.
"Emmet Burch, my girlfriend. She arrived yesterday," Jerome introduced her indifferently.
"Hello, you are Yusuf Zuck, right? I’ve heard about you from Jerome," Emmet Burch said, nodding at Yusuf.
Oh, what’s wrong with you two? Did you have a fight? Jerome, I have to say, she came all this way, and you’re arguing with her?" Yusuf walked in and sat down on a chair in front of the consultation desk.
Hearing Yusuf’s words, Emmet Burch wiped her eyes again, looking aggrieved, while Jerome said with a headache, "Bro, can you stop adding to the mess, please? If there’s nothing important, go back to bed. If there’s something, just say it." His mood was really bad and he showed no sign of friendliness.
"I just wanted to know when you’re opening the clinic. I’m waiting to give you a red envelope!" Yusuf said with a smile.
"Yusuf, he didn’t even get my consent before opening a clinic here!" Emmet Burch suddenly cut in, also looking furious, "I’m studying in Jiangxi, and he opens a clinic here. I’ve already found a job back home, and now that he’s opened a clinic here, what am I supposed to do in the future?"
Yusuf interjected, "Why don’t you come over here then?"
"What about my job? If I come here, what am I supposed to do? Play third wheel to him and that little nurse? Keep an eye on them flirting?" Emmet Burch asked loudly.
"What did you say? You’re being completely unreasonable, there’s nothing going on between Paisley and me!"
"No? You think you can fool a ghost? With a salary of fifteen thousand a month, and you were so chummy with her even before the clinic opened. You say there’s nothing going on; no one would believe that, Yusuf. That nurse, Paisley, you know her? The way she and Jerome are all flirty with each other, what’s that all about?" Emmet snapped, as if he had lost his reason, shouting loudly.
Jerome was livid, he hadn’t wanted to argue in front of Yusuf, but this woman was simply too irrational.
"So I’ve been chummy with her, you say. What do you want to do about it?" Jerome retorted angrily.
"Break up, I want to break up with you!" Emmet shouted furiously.
"Stop, stop, stop, you two stop it right now!" Yusuf immediately called for them to halt, and at the same time, he was suffering from an immense headache.
This woman, when she gets jealous, it’s truly frightening.
"That’s Emmet, right? Paisley is my girlfriend, when has she ever flirted with Jerome? Hart, you’re being dishonorable, aren’t you?" Yusuf said while winking at Jerome.
"See, I told you Paisley is with Yusuf, what does she have to do with me?" Jerome glared at Emmet: "Bringing this up in front of Yusuf, what are you trying to make him think?"
Emmet showed no signs of admitting she was wrong, sitting there huffily in silence. It seemed she had a significant problem with Paisley Kirk.
Jerome continued, "As for that business of opening a clinic in the capital, that was Grandfather’s decision."
"In a nutshell, you either come back with me, or we break up!" Emmet said loudly.
"Let’s break up then, stop using that to scare anyone. And you..." Jerome, pointing at her and fuming, said: "Forget it, if you want to break up, just leave!"
"You said it, Jerome Hart, I hope you don’t come looking for me in the future. From now on, we go our separate ways." Emmet, also filled with anger, picked up her bag and clothes from the table and ran out!
Yusuf did not stop her. To be honest, he felt Emmet was a bit... a bit excessive, like a woman who took things too seriously.
When Emmet ran out, Yusuf also stood up, tossed the car keys to Jerome, and said: "Go after her. It’s late, and she’s not familiar with this place. Don’t let anything happen to her. Have a proper talk with her, I’ll watch the place for you."
"Sigh." Jerome sighed heavily, grabbed the keys, and ran out.
Yusuf sighed as well. Jerome had mentioned that he had been with his girlfriend for several years; they started back in college, so Jerome must really cherish this relationship!
"Ring, ring, ring～" Just shortly after Jerome left, while Yusuf was sitting at the medical counter, smoking, the phone in the prescription room suddenly rang.
Thinking it was Jerome’s iPhone, Yusuf walked over and answered it.
"Yuer, is it a good time to talk? How’s it going?" As soon as the call connected, there came a man’s voice from the other end, soft and seemingly sneaky.
"Who are you?" Yusuf glanced at the mobile number and the name tagged in the contacts, which read "Big Brother".
The other side suddenly fell silent for a few seconds before the person continued: "My name is Nicky Vance, you’re Jerome Hart, right? Yuer and I..."
"Bang～" Before this Nicky Vance could finish, the clinic’s door was pushed open, and Emmet, with a face full of nervousness and anger, charged towards Yusuf.
"What are you doing? What gives you the right to take my phone? What gives you the right to answer my call?" Emmet yelled at Yusuf, seemingly out of nowhere.