Chapter 50 Meeting Y
When this matter came up, disgust flashed across Chris's face.
"Don't take her words seriously! But it would be good for us to meet Y. We can offer a sincere apology. If Y publicly states that she won't hold us accountable and says this was all a misunderstanding, it could help restore some of our reputation."
Meanwhile, Joanna had also returned to her normal work schedule.
She had been away for quite a while and felt bad about troubling the other doctors, so when she returned to the hospital, she brought breakfast for everyone.
Fortunately, her hospital colleagues were all easy to get along with. Between jokes and laughter, nearly three weeks passed.
Joanna received an invitation from Linda with a message: [You must come! You haven't had any work for 3 years, and industry professionals are doubting whether you can design anything new. This time your design is outstanding - you have to let them see that you're my most talented student!]
Joanna couldn't refuse Linda's kindness and could only agree for now.
Besides Linda's message, she also received an unexpected phone call.
Joanna left the office to pick it up. "Dr. Bruce, is there something wrong with my mother's condition?"
Dr. Bruce was the doctor Angelo had helped contact. Later, Joanna had looked into it and found that Dr. Bruce's medical team was among the world's best, with many successful cases. Angelo must have gone to great lengths to contact them. So for all subsequent treatment plans for her mother, Joanna showed no doubts and confidently left everything to Dr. Bruce.
Today, Dr. Bruce called to share her good news.
"Miss Jones, although your mother hasn't passed the critical period yet, these past few days she's been able to receive information from the outside world and respond to it. If you're not too busy recently, I hope you can find time to come talk to her. It might stimulate her to wake up sooner!"
Actually, Dr. Bruce didn't mention that the monitoring equipment predicted Sandra might wake up very soon. As a doctor, he couldn't tell family members too much speculative information.
But just hearing that Sandra could receive outside information was enough to excite Joanna. She said happily, "Thank you, Dr. Bruce. I'll go see her right after work today!"
The two briefly discussed Sandra's condition. Learning that her illness still required ongoing surgery to control it, Joanna's happy mood calmed down a bit.
Her mother was only slowly changing from a vegetative state—unable to move or speak—to a normal cancer patient. She was still far from being completely cured!
All day, Joanna was in a good mood. Right after work, she took a taxi to the private hospital.
In the private room, although there was a lot of monitoring equipment, Joanna could clearly see the fluctuations on the screens.
She spoke up, "Mom, you can hear my voice, can't you?"
The waveform on the machine moved slightly. Joanna was instantly certain that her mother could indeed hear outside information.
Her eyes moistened with joy. "I'm so happy. You're finally going to wake up, Mom. I'm so tired, and I miss you so much..."
Joanna lay by the bedside, holding her mother's hand and bringing it to her own face.
During this time, her life had changed dramatically. Sometimes, when troubles piled up, she felt emotionally exhausted and even considered compromising. But thinking of her mother, she felt she could hold on a bit longer. Once Mom woke up, she wouldn't be alone anymore...
For several days in a row, Joanna went back and forth between the hospital and Sandra's place.
Angelo also heard the news and sent her congratulations.
Joanna maintained her good mood and efficiently handled several surgeries, almost becoming a model worker in the department. If the calendar hadn't reminded her that tomorrow was the design competition award ceremony, she would have forgotten.
Fortunately, the next day was a day off, so she didn't need to request leave.
Joanna booked her ticket, packed her luggage, and was about to sleep when she received a call from Dr. Lawson in the middle of the night.
"Dr. Jones, there's a patient who was in a car accident with multiple fractures all over the body. The scope is too extensive—I'm not confident I can handle it on my own. Can you come to the hospital to help?"
Joanna immediately became alert. In this situation, if she didn't step in, the patient would likely be left with serious aftereffects. She didn't dare delay and immediately changed clothes and rushed to the hospital.
The surgery lasted all night, but the patient's condition didn't improve.
Joanna could only grab a quick meal with Dr. Lawson before diving back into the operating room.
During the meal, she sent Linda a message: [Teacher, I have a surgery I can't leave. I probably won't make it to the award ceremony. If anything comes up, have Katie handle it for me.]
Katie was one of Linda's assistants. When Joanna was studying design, the two had a pretty good relationship.
Previously, Katie had also participated in the works Joanna completed under the name Y, so she was sort of her half-assistant.
Linda knew that patient surgery was more important, so she didn't refuse and told her to focus on the operation.
While Joanna was busy saving lives, Chris and Cynthia also boarded a plane to the award ceremony.
The Blue Ocean Design Contest organizers were in Harmony City, which required a half-day's drive from Austin City. Flying would be relatively faster.
They left early, and when they arrived at the hotel booked near the venue, it was still quite early.
After showing their invitations, the two began networking in the lobby with people in the design industry.
During breaks, Cynthia kept watching people coming in, wondering which one was Y.
"Chris, do you think Joanna might have gotten an invitation somehow and is pretending to be Y?"
Chris frowned and said, "Joanna isn't like you—she doesn't have a great teacher. She was just making excuses because she didn't want to admit her mistake. Don't worry too much about it."
Cynthia laughed. "True, Joanna is being a bit too stubborn. Good thing no one else heard her, or she would have been embarrassed."
Chris didn't want to bring up Joanna at this kind of event and just nodded perfunctorily.
The award ceremony soon began. Linda didn't arrive early, but the host invited her to take her seat after it started. This was common practice—to avoid being bothered by people trying to curry favor.
Both Cynthia and Chris's eyes fell on Linda, searching for Y near her.
Before the awards, the organizers first arranged for models to walk the runway wearing custom-made dresses. The others received lukewarm responses, but only Y's piece caused a sensation throughout the venue.
Cynthia was already guessing that the champion would very likely be Y's piece.
If Y won the award, her plagiarism might affect her future reputation in the design industry.
No, even without Joanna this time, she had to find a scapegoat!
Soon, the contestants with shortlisted works took the stage at the host's signal. After the model displaying Y's piece came on stage, a figure slowly stood up from the audience.
Both Chris and Cynthia looked over nervously.