Chapter 155: Your Boyfriend is Really Handsome
The persistent smell of disinfectant irritated her nostrils as Isabella struggled to open her eyes. Everything was white, and there was a pulse oximeter clipped to her finger.
Isabella tried to lift her hand to rub her aching forehead, but someone immediately grabbed her arm and gently pulled it back down.
"You're on an IV drip right now, so be careful," a nurse said, standing beside Isabella's bed and skillfully switching out her IV bag.
"What happened to me?" Isabella asked.
"You collapsed from exhaustion. You need to adjust your work schedule and get more rest in the future."
The nurse handed her some medication and smiled after watching Isabella take it.
"The guy who brought you in must be your boyfriend, right? He's absolutely gorgeous—looks like he could be a model on TV!"
Isabella paused, surprised by the nurse's sudden comment.
But she quickly realized who the nurse was talking about.
Richard had also been working late at the office last night, so he must have been the one who brought her to the hospital.
"Actually, he's not—" Isabella started to explain her relationship with Richard, when the hospital room door suddenly opened.
Richard strode in, and the nurse's smile widened even more at the sight of him.
"In our department, we see so many patients every year, including plenty of young people who end up with strokes from overwork. The lucky ones can be saved, but the unlucky ones... well, they don't make it."
"Your girlfriend is so young and beautiful—you really need to convince her to rest more and take better care of herself. Don't let her think she's invincible just because she's young!"
The nurse continued her advice while Richard nodded along, showing no intention of correcting the relationship assumption.
After the nurse left, Richard returned to Isabella's bedside and sat down to peel an apple for her.
"You should take what the doctor said seriously. Olivia is still so young—what would happen to her if something happened to you?"
"We're so close to getting the final experimental data. It could lead to new breakthroughs in energy storage performance for advanced materials. This field is still completely untapped domestically. If we can break through this bottleneck quickly, we might be able to secure patents and open up an entirely new market for Infinity Ventures Corporation..."
The moment Isabella opened her mouth, she couldn't stop talking about the lab work.
This was her first real career after leaving her marriage, and Isabella treasured this opportunity immensely.
Even with Joseph's invitation to return to racing, Isabella hadn't slackened her efforts at work one bit.
Richard shook his head helplessly. "If you keep this up, I'm going to have to force your entire lab to take mandatory vacation time. No matter how urgent the work is, you need to rest. If you collapse, do you expect me to run the experiments?"
Isabella knew Richard had her best interests at heart. Though she wanted to argue, she finally just nodded and reluctantly agreed.
"Everyone in the lab was terrified last night. Emily wanted to stay here all night to watch over you, and the rest of them are already running on empty too. I'm telling you now as your boss—your most important task right now is to rest."
"For my condition, shouldn't a little extra rest be enough? I don't really need to be hospitalized, do I?"
After finishing with work talk, Isabella's thoughts turned to Olivia.
Her daughter would definitely worry if she couldn't see her.
"The doctor said your condition is quite serious right now. You need to stay in the hospital for observation for at least a few days. Proper rest here will help your recovery."
Richard finished cutting the apple into small pieces and held up a fork with a bite-sized piece, ruthlessly refusing her attempt to check out early.
"Can I at least get up and walk around?" Isabella asked.
She really couldn't stand being cooped up in the hospital room all the time.
"That should be fine."
Meanwhile, outside in the hospital corridor, Nathan walked along looking thoroughly miserable.
"Laura, staying in the hospital is so boring! There aren't any other kids to play with, and all I can do is watch cartoons all day. Can I please be discharged now?"
Nathan had never realized how much he actually wanted to go to school.
Laura crouched down to Nathan's eye level. "But when you're in the hospital, doesn't Daddy come see you every day?"
Before, Laura had to rely on luck to see William at home, but now, thanks to Nathan's hospitalization, she could see him every single day.
She felt this was a perfect opportunity to show William how much she cared about Nathan.
Maybe it would even increase her importance in his heart and take their relationship to the next level.
Laura placed her hands on Nathan's shoulders, her voice dropping slightly. "Nathan, don't you want me to be your mom? If you just listen to me and be good, you can be with Daddy and me every day from now on."
Nathan hesitated for a moment, but ultimately took Laura's words to heart. He nodded seriously and agreed to her request.
"I'm willing to stay in the hospital for Laura."
Laura's smile became even more radiant as she gently patted Nathan's head.
"Good boy! I knew Nathan was the sweetest child in the whole world!"
As she stood up, Laura suddenly caught sight of the patient information posted beside the next room.
Isabella's name jumped out at her, and she thought she must be seeing things.
After double-checking in disbelief, she confirmed that Isabella was indeed the patient in that room. Through the window in the door, she could even see a man sitting beside Isabella's bed.
A surge of excitement erupted in her chest, and Laura's mood immediately lifted.
"Nathan," Laura bit her lip, her expression somewhat strange, "I think I just saw your mother in the room next door. But... even you and your father don't know she's hospitalized, so how come it's some other guy taking care of her?"
Without giving it a second thought, Nathan stormed toward the hospital room door. Standing on his tiptoes, he reached up to turn the door handle and burst inside.