Chapter 53 Are You Unrequited Love?
Matilda turned around to see Leonard's thin, serious face.
She always felt a bit intimidated whenever she saw him.
However, this time Leonard unexpectedly praised her. "Matilda, you did very well just now—you were the calmest among all the students."
Being praised left Matilda somewhat flattered.
"Thank you, Prof. Morales."
Leonard raised an eyebrow. "Don't get cocky. The next class is about detoxification—not ordinary poisons, but various international toxins. You must listen carefully."
"Detoxification?"
Matilda hurried to keep up with his pace, asking as they walked, "Prof. Morales, do you know about a poison called Neurodelirium Alkaloid?"
"Of course I know it. Even the slightest contact with that toxin causes mental confusion, and severe cases can be fatal."
"I have a friend who's not in life-threatening danger, just has insomnia. Can that be treated?"
"Insomnia? That's because the toxin affects the central nervous system and could potentially trigger cardiovascular and cerebrovascular problems. This type of condition is challenging in both modern and alternative medicine."
"So how would you detoxify it?"
Leonard looked at her. "You asking this means this friend is very important to you. If you want to know, listen carefully in class tomorrow. But I should warn you in advance—currently, neither modern nor alternative medicine has a definitive treatment plan. Don't get your hopes up too high. We can only learn and research as we go."
Matilda nodded. "Okay, Prof. Morales. I will."
Ethan was still standing there watching her.
Her eager pursuit of knowledge while chasing after Leonard filled him with admiration.
Matilda had always been a stubborn, unyielding girl since childhood. The more people said she couldn't do something, the more she wanted to prove them wrong.
Ethan thought that even if her heart belonged to someone else, just being able to quietly watch her was a kind of happiness.
...
Over the weekend, Zoey invited Matilda shopping again.
This time they focused on food, with Zoey having found a Brookford City food guide online and searching for various restaurants throughout the streets and alleys.
They sampled deep-fried shrimp balls, ice-cold lemonade, banana cream pie, and vanilla custard pudding from an old shop.
Both girls ended up with round, full bellies.
Matilda laughed and asked, "Didn't you say you were dieting? Aren't you worried about gaining weight after eating so many sweets today?"
Zoey helplessly threw up her hands. "It's all my dad's fault! I told him I was dieting, but he keeps buying delicious things to tempt me. I couldn't resist and gave up."
"You're not even fat—stop dieting randomly. Damaging your health isn't worth it."
Zoey pouted. "I'm 5'5" and weigh 110 pounds."
"That weight is perfectly normal. You're not an actress—why do you need to be so thin? Isn't being a little soft and cute better?"
"Then why are you so thin?"
"Me? Maybe life's been tough on me." Matilda smiled.
...
While they were talking, they suddenly saw a crowd gathering ahead.
They heard someone frantically shouting, "Is there a doctor? Anyone a doctor?"
Matilda instinctively rushed over.
Pushing through the crowd, she saw a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl lying on the road, unconscious, with her mother crying anxiously beside her.
Matilda shouted, "I'm a doctor, please make way."
The people around immediately cleared space.
Zoey followed but could only watch from the side since she couldn't help.
Matilda checked the girl's pupils and complexion, determining it was just heatstroke.
She told the people around, "Help carry her to the air-conditioned mall up ahead. If anyone can get some ice-cold water, please lend me a few bottles."
Everyone pitched in to help carry the girl while someone went to a nearby convenience store to buy several bottles of ice-cold mineral water.
Once in the mall, Matilda placed the bottles at the girl's armpits, inner thighs, neck, and other heat-dissipating areas, then gently pressed several points on her hands and wrists while massaging her temples.
The girl woke up shortly after.
Once awake, Matilda immediately gave her some water.
She was about to ask the girl's mother to buy a peppermint cooling drink when she looked closely and realized—wasn't this Susan Johnson?
That meant the girl she'd just saved was her half-sister.
Susan had recognized Matilda earlier, but because of the emergency, she hadn't said anything.
Now seeing Matilda looking at her too, she said awkwardly, "Matty, what brings you to Brookford City?"
"Training here," Matilda answered.
"Oh, come have dinner at home when you have time."
"The professors are keeping a close eye on the training schedule. I might not have time."
"Where are you training?" Susan asked again.
Matilda didn't answer, only saying, "Ms. Johnson, I need to get back to the dorm tonight. You should quickly go buy your little sister a peppermint cooling drink—it'll help her feel much better."
"Oh."
Just then, the ambulance that bystanders had called arrived. The paramedics examined the girl and asked Susan if they needed to go to the hospital.
Considering her daughter was fine now, Susan didn't want to spend the money.
Matilda pulled Zoey away.
Zoey asked curiously, "Matilda, did you know that mother and daughter? It felt like you were familiar but not really familiar?"
Matilda said casually, "Just the way you said it."
...
Wentworth's field camp.
Today they were resting after completing an outdoor mission.
During break time, Wentworth pulled out a photo from his pocket—his wedding photo with Matilda. He usually kept it hidden, only taking it out occasionally to look at.
While he was looking at it, someone suddenly snatched it away.
It was a subordinate named Danny, who had a playful personality and loved joking around. He'd noticed Wentworth looking at the photo but didn't know who was in it, so he'd been waiting for the chance and finally grabbed it.
"Look everyone, the captain has a photo with a girl!" Danny said excitedly.
Other team members quickly gathered around to see.
Wentworth sat there without trying to grab it back.
"Captain, Mike said you went back to get married—is this the girl?"
"Captain, you didn't even have a wedding banquet or treat us to candy."
"This girl is really beautiful. How did she fall for you?"
"What do you mean? Isn't our captain good-looking?"
Wentworth just smiled quietly and let them make noise.
Finally, they got bored and returned the photo to Wentworth.
"The captain's just a block of wood—he doesn't deserve that girl!" Danny muttered.
Wentworth smiled as he put the photo away.
Danny asked again, "Captain, you take out the photo to look at during rest time—you must really love her, right? Does she know you like her this much?"
Wentworth said calmly, "She probably doesn't know."
"So it's unrequited love?"
"Something like that."
The team members all found it unbelievable—their captain was young and accomplished, strong and capable, with both talent and good looks. How could he have unrequited love?
Wentworth lay down, placing his hand over where the photo was, looking up at the sky.
He hadn't slept well for many days.
...
After class today, Matilda was heading to the cafeteria when she heard someone calling her from outside: "Matilda!"
She turned to look and saw Connor Spencer.