Chapter 5
Chapter 5
When Cordelia left the hospital, it was already past eight in the evening. The sky had started to drizzle,
and she took the bus back to the office. As soon as she stepped into the office lobby, she spotted
Ronan, tall and straight, with one hand in his trouser pocket and the other holding a mobile phone,
chatting with the receptionist. The bright and dazzling lights in the lobby made him look even more
superior and aloof.
Suddenly, Cordelia felt a rush of nerves. Over the past few months, she hardly had any face-to-face
contact with him. Why did she keep bumping into him lately?
As he walked past her while on the phone, Cordelia quietly said, "Mr. Evans," but wasn't sure if he
heard her. After taking the elevator upstairs, she turned around to find that Ronan had disappeared into
the deep night.
The rain was heavy tonight. She wondered if he had an umbrella.
Her father used to forget his umbrella when he went out, and she had to run after him to hand it over.
He would pat her head and say, "Della's all grown up and starting to take care of her old man now."
Tears blurred Cordelia's vision.
Cordelia worked till four in the morning. She didn't plan to go back to her rented room, but to take a
short nap in the office and then continue working. No sooner had she laid down on the desk than her
phone rang and woke her up.
Seeing that it was Dr. Devon calling, Cordelia immediately picked up. Over the past two years, when
Dr. Devon called, it was either about her mother's deteriorating condition or a reminder to continue
paying the hospital bills.
"Cordelia, after you left yesterday, your mother started to have a fever. Our preliminary suspicion is that
there is phlegm accumulation in her lungs..."
"Is it serious?" Cordelia asked anxiously, standing up from her seat.
"Calm down. We've already given her emergency treatment, and her condition is temporarily stable.
But the surgery from yesterday and this month's hospital bill adds up to over sixty thousand. Can you
pay for it all at once? You've been delaying payment, and it's hard for me to defend you at the
hospital... Also, your mother's situation is quite unusual. You and your brother are both working. Can
you hire a caregiver? Regular turning and cleaning can prevent a lot of infections..."
Cordelia was stunned. After working all night, her eyes were lifeless. The news hit her like a bolt out of
the blue. Forget sixty thousand, she couldn't even come up with six thousand right now. She felt
trapped.
Her monthly internship salary at Lumos Enterprises was only six thousand five hundred, and she had to Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.
pay rent. Plus, her salary wouldn't be paid for another half a month. Even if she could get her CPA
certificate and earn a lot of money, that wouldn't happen until next year.
She also knew that Dr. Devon had done everything he could to help her. If it weren't for him vouching
for her, her mother might have been kicked out of the hospital long ago.
Sixty thousand was a fortune. She had already borrowed money from all her relatives, and no one was
willing to lend it to them now.
Feeling helpless, Cordelia suddenly remembered what Ronan had said last night. Compared to five
million, sixty thousand was a drop in the bucket.
Cordelia's resolve began to waver. She had once believed she could earn five million, but now it
seemed like nothing more than a pipe dream.
Her mother needed a caregiver, something Dr. Devon had mentioned before, but she had been unable
to afford it. Now, the consequences of not hiring a caregiver had become apparent; her mother's lungs
were accumulating phlegm due to a lack of proper care. Therefore, hiring a caregiver was a necessity
for her mother.
Cordelia knew that Ronan was well-off and that he could easily find a woman to marry. Last night, he
said that he had "already asked many people." She wondered if anything had changed since last night.
With that thought, Cordelia anxiously got up and went to the door of Ronan's office.
It was just past five now, and Ronan's office was still empty. Cordelia stood at the door, waiting for his
arrival. Just as Cordelia was so tired that she could barely stay awake, Ronan arrived.