Chapter 26 026
Danica's POV
By the time I was completely dressed, Alexander had left the room. I won't deny I felt empty, disappointed even but good gracias. I won't be late.
It's just 7:30am, I have ten more minutes to get to the Royal clinic. It would be more than enough. I took one last look at myself in the mirror, my eyes catching my bracelet in the process.
It has always been there, right around my wrist, but it has always stayed hidden because I never wore dresses that left my arms revealed. All the dresses I had were a compilation of whatever Joey finds unattractive and ugly. Weird long gowns with long sleeves that always left me looking like a shapeless buffalo.
But right now? I did choose the least classier dress of the countless ones in that dressing room, but it was a dress that defined my upper body perfectly before flowing down effortlessly to a few inches below my knees. The sleeves are three-quarter in length and it left my bracelet in an obvious display.
I've always loved and cherished this piece. It was the second of the two things my mother left me before she died. That pretty dress I haven't gotten a chance to wear and the bracelet she made me promise never to lose, no matter what happens.
'They might take everything from you, Danica. But never let them take this away from you, I want you to cherish this bracelet as long as you breathe. Protect it the same way you would protect me if you had the chance, Danica' Her words echoed somewhere around my subconsciousness and I sniffed back my tears.
"I'd be stupid to lose something this pretty, Mom. Even if it really is tacky" I murmured inaudibly, smiling into my reflection in the mirror before taking a deep breath.
Seven minutes later, my first mission was confidently accomplished. I got there right on time... Or so I thought.
"And why the hell are you just coming, Danica?" Doctor Renee asked proudly, the moment I stepped into the royal clinic.
"I'm coming in now because it's the appointed time?" I responded in a tone that gives all the vibes of 'Isn't-that-so-obvious-already?’.
"Are you going to keep this up and check in whenever you like, while your patients wait for you like they have nothing else to do, Miss?" She continued, sarcasm hanging in every word she said.
"But...."
"The resume time is 7:40am, if that's what you wanted to argue about. Does that mean you should come in at exactly 7:40? As a competent doctor, you should be here before everyone else, preparing to take in more patients while analyzing data of the current ones!" She scolded, her voice holding a harder depth that wasn't difficult to recognize.
This isn't about me coming late. This was about me getting a taste of the bitterness in her heart from yesterday's ordeal and I don't mind any of it as long as she doesn't try to disrupt my work with the first patient of the weak as a trial candidate.
It was going to be a brain twisting, difficult trial that would obviously last for hours. I can't let her damp my spirit even before it began, so I simply bowed slightly while muttering a sincere apology.
"Sorry won't help you get ready!" She yelled and I pressed my lips into a thin line.
Of course, it won't.
My entire demeanor remained calm, free spirited and unaffected despite her words and maybe that's part of what made her angrier but she said nothing more. No condemnation, no indulgence, no encouragement, no nothing. Not even when a patient was rushed in.
The thrill remained there. The thrill of having to take care of something so difficult was there, prickling my skin, making the task seem less overbearing even with the older doctor's brooding presence.
Right after analyzing the patient's condition with just one close look, I shut everything off, going back to the times at the thick forest, when I was always alone with a trapped, injured wolf that desperately needed my help. I went back to those lifeless trees that gave me all the encouragement I needed.
Even with my eagerness, I took my time patiently, waiting for a balanced reaction from each dip of my hand or from each cut from my scalpel before taking the next step.
My hard work and patience paid off. The surgery ended within two hours, successfully. And all other duties took the rest of the day until 4pm that evening.
I dragged my heavy feet through the hallways, shoulders slumped, lips slightly parted in a hurried breath and joints aching from the arduous work for one day. Gawd, I was so tired I couldn't wait to collapse on my silky soft bed... But fate on the other hand was a bitch who never had a regard for my privacy. It just had to lead Joey to me in times like this when I was on the brink of committing murder of any form.
"What are you doing here, Joey?" I asked in a lazy drawl, my voice barely audible.
My body needed rest… not this. Not Bitchy Joey.
"Me? Why? I fit in here more perfectly than you would ever, Danica. I should be asking you what the heck you're doing here, you little gold digger" she bellowed meanly, her eyes glowing with a familiar hatred.
"Shouldn't it be obvious by now, sis? I'm seen and accepted to be around here. Isn't that how I'm still currently alive and kicking? Though I'm not really sure about you" I responded so calmly, one would think I was singing a baby to sleep. But in reality? I was fighting the murderous demons that clawed at me incessantly.
I've always been restless, taking every hit, every insult, every degrading word like the good girl I was groomed to be, by my own family but right now, I was anything but restless. I have no idea why and where I found this urge, but it was there. The urge to fight back. The urge to show her I wasn't one to mess with. The urge to let her see how wrong it was for her to come in here in the first place. But I didn't do any of that. I simply stared and got hurt, like every other time in the past.
"Everyone knows you forced your way into the royal clinic, Danica. If you know what's best for you and for the Grayson family, leave that clinic and confess that you've been fooling around about going through with the trial!" She muttered at once, in that tone that gave no room for arguments. If it was in the past, I'd do whatever she says so easily because I didn't want to see my father get mad at me but right now, I had no care in the world.
"Well, I don't see the fun in that. Quitting? It sounds weak, just like you've always dimmed me to be, little sis" I muttered playfully, raising a brow at her and I openly watched her fume like a parachute ready to explode.
Now this is what you call a perfect stress relief. Watching your enemy go me
ntally crazy because of you, can be very satisfying to watch.