Alex had planned on keeping a low profile, but now that seemed impossible. And hey, why waste a perfectly good opportunity to earn Critical Points delivered right to his doorstep?
‘Eric Vaughn really is such a helpful guy.’
“It was the least I could do,” Alex said smoothly, his voice having a pleasant, magnetic quality. “My friend doesn’t usually come out for just anyone, but when I asked, he dropped everything. Even if he was halfway across the world, he would have rushed back overnight. Luckily, his skills are truly amazing, and he was able to cure your cancer.”
[The Protagonist ‘Eric Vaughan’ has a Mental Breakdown. Congratulations, you have earned 999 Critical Points.]
‘Heh!’ Alex thought. ‘Why does this feel a bit like sleeping with someone’s wife while the husband is listening outside the door? Exciting!’
‘Well, let him listen,’ Alex mused. ‘As a good little pawn, he probably shouldn’t know the real story, but I’m feeling generous today. Let the pawn know the truth.’
This time, Ann was completely silent.
She knew her own condition. Besides looking it up online, she had secretly asked the doctors back at the city Hospital.
They told her that even if surgery was successful, best case scenario, she’d have a few months left.
Other cancers might have a chance, but liver cancer, especially late-stage? It was basically a death sentence.
To have all the cancer cells cleared from her liver in just a week… that wasn’t just a doctor, that was like a god descending to earth! Someone like that… even vast amounts of money couldn’t necessarily hire them, could it?
Ann was very observant. She noticed that when the man spoke about asking his friend for help sounding simple, there was a hidden flicker in his expression, something unnatural, a touch of bitterness mixed with helplessness.
It clearly hadn’t been as easy as he made it sound. The price he paid must have been enormous.
Strange… just moments ago, she saw him as a potential predator, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. But looking at him now, he seemed… better. More trustworthy. More likable.
‘Maybe I really am getting old, she thought. My first impression must have been wrong. Such an outstanding man, willing to go to such lengths for Riley, to save an old woman like me with one foot in the grave… he must be truly sincere towards her.’
Ann felt her worries ease. Looking at Alex now, her eyes were filled with kindness, the affection of an elder looking at a junior family member.
“Mister,” Ann said warmly, her decision made.
“Please you are way older than me… you don’t have to be so formal to me… you can just call me Alex.”
“B-but…”
“No but or anything ma’am.”
“Thank you, truly. From now on, I’ll have to ask you to please take good care of Riley.” Entrusting her granddaughter to this man, Ann felt completely at ease.
If she couldn’t trust a man like this, then perhaps there were no good men left in the world.
[The Protagonist ‘Eric Vaughan’ has a Mental Breakdown. Congratulations, you have earned 6666 Critical Points.]
Hiding outside the door, Eric Vaughn nearly dropped the medical bags he was holding. His face turned deathly pale.
The sharp, physical agony he sometimes felt was nothing compared to the crushing pain tearing through his heart right now.
“Damn it!” Eric Vaughn gritted his teeth, feeling like swearing out loud.
He had paid such a high price. He even risked tearing his rear end, climbing over ten flights of stairs every single night just to give that old woman acupuncture.
All this, just to win the heart of the beautiful woman he liked.
But what happened? After a whole week of hard work, someone else had beaten him to it.
“Son of a…”
Eric Vaughn felt like he was falling apart. He just couldn’t accept this. Since coming down the mountain, he had set his sights on two women. But the same man had snatched both of them, the women he considered off-limits to anyone else!
Taking his women was one thing, but now this bastard was trying to steal the credit for his hard work too?
This was too much. Eric couldn’t take it anymore.
He had never hated someone this much in his life.
If looks could kill, Alex, who was inside the room, would have died a thousand times over by now.
“No way. Damn it. Trying to steal my girl and glory for saving her? You wish!” Eric couldn’t hold it in. He was the true hero here… saving lives with one hand and taking them with the other. When had he ever been treated so unfairly?
Trying to steal my work? Do you think you’re my professor or something?
Eric stopped holding back. He didn’t even care about his ripped-open butt anymore. Holding up a bag of poop in one hand and a bag of pee in the other, he slammed open the partly closed door of the hospital room and charged inside.
Instantly, everyone in the room turned to look at him.
Alex looked completely confused. Mostly because Eric looked so weird – holding bags of waste, wearing a patient’s gown from the psychiatric ward.
“Hey! How dare you come in here?”
Eric had rushed in fueled by pure anger. But when he saw the goddess he’d been dreaming of right there, he suddenly forgot what he wanted to say. He just stood there, frozen, one hand holding the waste bags high, the other hand covering his sore butt.
The air turned incredibly awkward.
Ann, lying in the hospital bed, sucked in a sharp breath. ‘Why is there a crazy person in this hospital?’ she thought.
Riley got scared and quickly hid behind Alex, peeking out with just half her head at Eric, who definitely didn’t look normal.
“Who are you? Who let you in?” The attending doctor with glasses saw his chance to step up again. He pointed at the strangely dressed Eric, his face full of dislike.