Wendy remained silent for a while.

"When I started interning here, her father, Mr. Zhang, happened to be transferred to my department. I have been responsible for monitoring Mr. Zhang's case. That's why the head admitted me into the operating room. But we never expected that there would be any situation of rejection. I was right there when he passed away. I was the doctor, and he was the patient. But there was nothing I could do."

Gavin realized that Wendy was feeling guilty.

She thought that she was a doctor whose unshakable duty was saving lives. But when the patient died in front of her, she could do nothing but stare.

"Let's call it a day. It is not that I am being considerate for her loss, but I shouldn't be the one whom she lashed out at." Her lips puckered. "I just feel sorry because she was my patient's family."

"What happened to the smart-looking girl? This is when you should be smart. Gavin poked her head. "Of course, saving lives is a doctor's duty, but doctors are not God. It is impossible to save every dying patient with an incurable disease from death."

Wendy didn't talk back, looking down at the ground. "I know."

It didn't seem like her. But it only took Gavin a short while to figure out the reason. "Was it your first time seeing something like this?"

Wendy nodded.

Gavin recalled that the first time he had seen a person fall down in front of him covered in blood, he was creeped out with a chill all over him and was unable to speak for a few seconds.

Witnessing the passing of lives resonates with people about the fragility of lives.

That's why Gavin kind of understood how Wendy felt at that moment.

Subconsciously, Gavin reached out to Wendy and patted her on the head, saying, "Don't be silly. It was not your fault."

Wendy froze.

Not because of what Gavin said, but because of what he did.

This gesture to many sensitive people was doting and a sort of consolation. When she was little, her dad always patted her head like that, encouraging her gently to take the initiative to try.

She felt courageous whenever her dad patted her like that.

But then, her dad had got really busy. The form of his encouragement changed to one of material compensation, such as an outrageous credit card limit, and purses, shoes, and clothes from well-known luxury brands, etc. Her dad could offer all these things effortlessly, but couldn't have dinner properly with her.

Being patted, encouraged, understood, and consoled seemed to be something that was long lost.

If it weren't for Wendy's mom calling, she would have been mind-frozen like this for longer.

She picked it up. "Wendy, are you all right? How did this happen?" Her mom sounded anxious and worried.

"I am fine. It's all sorted anyway." Simultaneously, Wendy heard flight boarding announcements from over the phone, and asked confusedly, "Mom, are you at the airport?"

After a momentary pause, she said, "Yeah, I am heading to America." Then her melodic voice became gentle and soft. "Are you really okay? Maybe I should just change my flight and come check on you?"

"I am fine, really. Cousin Su called her friend to come over and have it all sorted. Just do your thing."

"I told you not to work in the hospital and that you shouldn't be a doctor, and you, in return..."

This discussion was inevitable every time they talked over the phone, and it always ended up in a quarrel. Wendy was phobic about this kind of conversation, so she interrupted her mom hurriedly. "This incident has nothing to do with my job. It was just the patient's family being unreasonable. By the way, why do you go to America so frequently lately? We don't have much business cooperation there."

"......"

After a prolonged silence, Wendy heard her mom sighing. "I don't go to America for work. There are some things... Anyway, I'll tell you later when I see you." She dreaded that if she told Wendy on the phone, catching her unprepared, she wouldn't be able to take it.

Wendy didn't ask further, hanging up, and smiled at Gavin. "Thank you for today."

If it weren't for Gavin, she wouldn't have been able to handle all that.

"Nothing else but a 'thank you'? That's unacceptable." Gavin checked the time. "You owe me a dinner. I am starving right now. Buy me dinner."

"You are cheeky, aren't you?" Still, Wendy came up with an idea when she was complaining, telling Gavin, "Go get your car."

Wendy told Gavin where to go after getting in the car. "I have tried this. This definitely is the best Thai food in the city center," she said proudly.

Gavin was speechless. "Miss. Xiao, do you have no courtesy to ask what I want to eat?"

"I am paying. I am making the call," "Miss. Xiao" answered with conviction.

"......" She had a point. Gavin couldn't rebut.

In fact, Thai food was quite acceptable to Gavin. Probably because of the environment in which he had grown up, he wasn't picky at all. If he were as picky as Wesley, who could make a long list of food that he didn't eat, he would have died in the orphanage.

20 minutes later, the car parked in front of the restaurant. Gavin followed Wendy. Before they had answered the reception about how many people were in their party, they heard somebody yelling. "Special Assistant Gavin, right here!"

Looking inside, there was a group of young-looking people dressed in smart suits sitting at a table around the corner, waving at Gavin elatedly. Seemingly, they were very close to Gavin.

The first thing that Gavin saw was the sparkle in their eyes, which exposed their desire for gossiping. He struggled because he forgot that they were having Thai food today. If he had realized it, he would have taken Wendy to have street food rather than have dinner here.

Wendy took a glimpse at Gavin with a mind full of questions. "Your colleagues?"

"Those are the assistants and secretaries of your cousin-in-law. They work on the same floor as me," Gavin said in a way as if he had gotten into trouble.

"Special Assistant Gavin, what are you doing standing there? Come on over!" Daisy waved at Gavin vigorously.

Seeing this situation, memories rushed back to Wendy. Joanne once mentioned to her that Gavin has been attractive to many ladies. Obviously, the statement had been proved now.

Gavin and Wendy didn't move, so Daisy walked over to them. "Special Assistant Gavin, are you on a date? If you don't mind, come and join us."

Wendy panicked. "Miss, I think you've got it wrong. I owe Gavin one, so I'm buying him dinner. That's all. We are not in the kind of relationship that you think."

"Oh..." Daisy grinned. "It doesn't matter. We can still have dinner together."

Before Gavin and Wendy could reject her, Daisy dragged them to her table.

As soon as they sat down, ridicule was poured on Gavin. "Special Assistant Gavin told us that he was assigned some work by Mr. Brian and couldn't have dinner with us. So, I guess accompanying a beautiful lady for dinner is the work that Mr. Brian assigned?"

Gavin sneakily kicked that colleague under the table, then introduced Wendy to everyone. "This is Mr. Brian's cousin, Wendy."

Acknowledging the fact that Wendy was Brian's cousin, the group stopped teasing them, but they were also assured that there had to be something between Gavin and Wendy.

Any one of them could help Wendy handle her problems. If they were innocent, why did Brian specifically ask Gavin to help Wendy?

Wendy might be snarky when talking to Gavin, but she was definitely a talkative and energetic person when socializing. Additionally, Brian's secretaries were everything to all men as well as sociable. Soon, Wendy was acquainted with one of the female secretaries, talking about things from gossip to cosmetics and shopping, topics that every woman would love to talk about.

There were some people beating around the bush, trying to glean the information from Wendy about her relationship with Gavin. But she only mentioned that she ran into some problems today, which were solved by Gavin. Then, she took him to dinner out of gratitude. That's all, a purely innocent relationship.

In light of Wendy's position, the group dared not make fun of her. They could only pretend to buy what she said.

After dinner, the female secretaries exchanged numbers with Wendy, suggesting that they should hang out more often whenever they were free.

Witnessing this, the male colleagues asked purposefully, "Wendy, do you like any ball games?"

Wendy nodded. "I like playing badminton."

"We always play badminton together after work." The male colleague said half-jokingly, "Maybe we should exchange numbers and can go to play badminton sometime?"

Before Wendy said anything, the male colleague felt a knife-like stare from Gavin.

"You see," his purpose accomplished, the male colleague pointed at Gavin and yelled, "Special Assistant Gavin gave me that glare! I say, he is definitely jealous!"

"No, you misunderstood." Gavin explained calmly, "I gave that glare on behalf of Mr. Brian. Before I left the office today, Mr. Brian asked me explicitly to take good care of Miss. Xiao and keep her away from evil-minded wolves."

"......" They all became speechless when they heard "Brian".

Not only did the group become speechless, but Wendy as well. Only she knew that Gavin meant more than that. She was once tricked by Qin Yang and gave him her number. It was Gavin alerting her and reminding her that Qin Yang was not a good guy later.

Gavin ignored the expression on their faces, then grabbed Wendy's wrist. "Let's go."

He pushed Wendy into the car and left, driving her back to her apartment.

On the way, he remembered that when Joanne was a freshman in college, Brian asked him to look into Joanne's daily routine back in those times, and he said that Joanne was either in the dorm or in the library. At most, she would do some tutoring job at the Pangs. He teased that Joanne's life revolved around nothing but studying.

Brian heard and gave him an emotionless look. "You don't understand. This is the best."

But now he understood. The fewer social activities Joanne had, the less likely she would interact with another guy, which also meant that it was less possible that she would be tricked and stolen away by the other guys.

Therefore, he sent Wendy back. The decisions of having her staying at home and blocking the chances of her exchanging numbers with others could not be any wiser.

The yellow sports car parked in front of the apartment. Wendy unfastened her seat belt, said, "Thank you," and was about to get out of the car.

"Wait." Gavin stopped Wendy. Hesitating for a while, he cleared his throat and said, "I am fine."

Wendy looked confused. "You lost me."

"Didn't you... hmm... call Joanne and ask her if I was sick?" Gavin stared at Wendy seriously. "If you are worried, next time you can just call me."

Gavin had no idea why he was being so unlike himself. But after he let that all out, he weirdly felt sweet and satisfied.

Wendy blushed and was annoyed by that impulsive call, but she remained calm and sneered. "Gavin, you seriously think that I was worried about you? It's just that you are my ride all the time and I didn't want to be infected, so I casually asked my cousin if you were sick."

"That's it?"

Gavin seemed calm. But actually, the sweetness and satisfaction vanished, and were replaced by a bitterness that he had never realized.

"Otherwise?" Wendy asked rhetorically, "What else do you expect?"

Leaving Gavin a mysterious smile, she left.

Gavin gazed at Wendy's carefree-looking back and gritted his teeth. "That woman!"