“Since you’re calling me, it’s actually quite unnecessary for you to send me an invitation on purpose,” Wayne said, looking at the invitation on his desk.
“No, I believe it is absolutely necessary. I’ve been looking forward to having a daughter for a long time. So you must attend this party.”
“I’ve been extremely busy recently. I’ll be in London at the end of the month on business.”
“Huh? It seems that you’re jealous of me! You’re jealous that I have a daughter, but you don’t…”Karl abruptly came to a halt and did not finish his sentence. He was silent for a moment before saying, “You have no choice but to come. Do you want to be the godfather of my daughter? I’ll give you a fair shot!”
“Maybe,” Wayne murmured, clearly unhappy.
Karl’s one-year-old daughter was the apple of his eye. So, he planned to throw a party for his daughter at the best hotel in town, and he had invited a lot of celebrities. Wayne had initially refused to attend the party and had turned it down several times. He was aware that Karl was considering making him his daughter’s godfather.
Karl was attempting to persuade him to let go of the past and focus on the present. On the other hand, Wayne didn’t think it was a good idea.
In the evening, Jennie quickly crossed the hallway with her coat on and went to Ryan’s room. There was an open suitcase on the floor of the room, which was in disarray. Ryan sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing his sleepy eyes, seemingly unaware of what was happening around him.
“Where has Emily gone?” Jennie asked Ryan.
Ryan yawned, lay back on the bed and answered, “She’s left. She’ll be on a mission.”
“But she hadn’t even packed her suitcase!”
“It was an urgent mission, she didn’t have time to pack it,” Ryan blinked.
“Where’s she going this time?”
“I don’t know.”
“You didn’t ask her?”
Ryan thought his mother was asking too much and said, “It’s confidential! She wouldn’t have said anything even if I had asked her about it.”
Jennie let out a sigh and began packing the suitcases on the floor. She said, “Why is she in such a rush to get out? I was hoping to use this opportunity to discuss your marriage with her parents. I get nervous every time I read the news about her troop. How can you sleep at night like a baby while she’s away? Aren’t you worried about her?”
Shaking her head, Jennie looked down at the bed. And she noticed Ryan was already fast asleep, snoring.
***
Miles away from England, a helicopter hovered in mid-air near the border, the wind blowing the weeds on the ground to float. A rope was thrown from the cabin, and several people slid to the ground from the rope. They quickly hid in the grass after that.
“According to new information, the terrorists are holding thirteen hostages, some of whom are seriously injured. Following the rescue, Group 2 will be in charge of covering while Group 1 will be in charge of treating the injured on the scene. If we find hostages with severe injuries, members of Group 1 will transport them to the nearest medical facility. The border medical team is expected to arrive in the afternoon.”
Emily had her face painted black and green. After giving the order, she moved quickly toward her destination. In her headset, she could hear the team chatting.
“We come here at least three times a year and have saved numerous hostages. Why are there so many terrorists in this place? I really want to kill all of them.”
“Stop talking! There are mines here, so take care.”
“Stop! Don’t jinx it!”
“Ha! He’s envious of your beautiful girlfriend. If something happens to you, he will look after her for you.”
Emily couldn’t take it any longer and exclaimed, “Okay, stop talking now. This mission is unlike any other. This time, there are a lot of hostages, two of whom have been abused to death by the terrorists. They posted the video online, causing widespread panic. Do you believe this rescue will be simple because you’ve met them before? They are aware of our habits! They know everything about us! So, stay focused and stop talking!”
“Yes!”
“Roger that!”
The border aid station was close to the border between the two countries, with only a row of barbed wire separating it from the other side. There were many homeless refugees from neighbouring countries living across the border. A few skinny kids crept through the vines and trees to get over the barbed wire fence.
The medical station had only recently been constructed. The tent was green, with a prominent white cloth printed with a red cross hanging outside. At the time, the tent was unguarded.
The lead kid “shushed” the kids behind him and crept inside the tent on tiptoe. He’d just gotten a few hardtacks when he heard Doctor Vincent’s voice outside the tent, “Hey, who are you?”
These kids seemed to be used to stealing. They quickly flipped over the protective netting like monkeys.
“Because the environment is so bad here, almost no medical personnel want to come here. I never asked you why you came here before. I happened to look up your profile the other day and discovered that you studied child psychology. So, how did you get here?” Vincent asked Anna.
Anna replied calmly, “I volunteered to come here on my own.”
Vincent was taken aback, “Huh? Why?”
Anna smiled and said, “To serve my country and contribute to it, of course. That’s what they said on the recruiting promos.” After saying that, she walked into the tent and opened the curtain.
Before she arrived there, her mentor warned her that Vincent, the chief surgeon at the border aid station, liked to take advantage of women. As a result, she had to be cautious of him.
Once it was completely dark, the medical team returned to their tents to rest. Anna leaned against the pillow and turned on her phone. Her phone still had no signal, as she had expected. On her screen was a family photo taken six months ago, with Tammy smiling happily at the camera and Isabella looking as if she didn’t want to talk to anyone.
Lora, her coworker, came over, looked at her phone, and asked, “Is that your child? Which one of them is it?”
“Both of them,” Anna replied.
Lora stared at her screen once more, stunned, “Really? These two girls have nothing in common. The younger girl looks like you. I’m guessing the other one resembles her father.”
Suddenly, they heard a loud noise outside. The on-duty nurse opened the tent door and yelled, “Three wounded people have been brought to us by special forces from the front lines. Get ready for surgery.”
The doctors and nurses inside the tent immediately stood up. Anna put her phone away, put on a white coat, and followed the crowd to the makeshift operating room.
“Two of the injured are hostages. One person suffered from a traumatic injury and showed signs of internal bleeding. The other had a bullet grazing the lower side of the atrium through the chest. Lora, look after the person who is bleeding internally. You, go get the bullet. The others, follow me to the last one.”
Vincent asked Anna and the two surgical interns to go to temporary operating room three together.
“His leg was blown up by the bomb, but it’s not serious,” Anna said after examining the patient.
This person was not even seriously injured compared to the other two. Anna believed that Vincent, as the primary physician here, should be treating the other two patients rather than this one.
Vincent looked unhappily at Anna and said, “This is a serious situation. The instruments here are simple. He could contract an infection if the surgery goes wrong. He won’t be able to walk that way.”
Anna had something else to say. But when she noticed the insignia on the wounded soldier’s camouflage, she stopped talking. She recognized the soldier as a member of the Blue Eagle Special Forces.
The operation went on for half an hour. Throughout that time, Vincent asked Anna to wipe his sweat. Anna had no idea why he was sweating so much for such a minor procedure.
After the operation, Vincent wrapped the injured man’s leg in bandages. Then he let the injured man lie down to rest because he was still asleep from the anaesthesia.
Anna suggested, “Should we go see the surgery next door? We might be able to help.”
“You guys go ahead, I’ll stay here.” Vincent pulled up a chair and sat next to the operating table. Anna and the other two interns exchanged glances before walking away.
They had just walked out the door when they noticed someone walk in and asked, “How is he doing?”
It was late, and the lights were dim outside. As a result, Anna couldn’t see the person who spoke. All she knew was that the person was dressed in a grey-green outfit and had face paint.
Anna came back to her senses and said, “He’s fine. The operation is over, and the doctor is here taking care of him.”
“Will he be able to walk again?”
Anna said with a smile, “Yes, he will, as long as he gets enough rest. You are welcome to see him, but we should leave for the next operating room now.”
“Let’s go,” she said to the two interns.
“Anna?” The soldier hesitantly called out her name.
Anna’s hair blew in the wind as the warm, humid evening breeze blew in her face. Hearing that, she froze and looked back in surprise, taking a long time to recognize who it was.
“Emily?”
“It’s me!”
Emily took a big step forward and looked up and down at Anna as if she couldn’t believe she was going to meet her. She said, “Isn’t it really you, Anna? I thought I misheard it but it turns out it’s really you. What a happy coincidence!”
After turning around and staring at Emily for a moment, Anna asked, “Emily? Is that you?”
The Blue Eagle Special Forces had many female soldiers who had previously served here. Anna had never imagined that she would meet Emily here.
Emily wrapped her arms around Anna and didn’t say anything for a long time.
“All right, let’s go inside.”
“Okay.”
The operating room smelled like sterile water and blood, just like any other hospital. And the soldier was still unconscious on the hospital bed. After checking his injuries, Emily exhaled a sigh of relief and sat down face to face with Anna.
Emily said, “I didn’t expect to meet you here, Anna! I mentioned to Ryan about you before I got here. We hadn’t seen you in years and were wondering what you were up to. Wow! It turned out that you’d become a doctor.”
Anna laughed and explained, “I’ve always to be a doctor. I was a medical student in college before dropping out because I was pregnant. After I left Birmingham, I studied in a medical school again.”
“Then are you a surgeon now?”
Anna shook her head, “No. Surgeons must complete at least eight years of medical school. I’m now studying child psychology.”
Puzzled, Emily asked, “So what brings you here? It doesn’t appear to be a high demand for psychologists in this area.”
Anna lowered her voice and said, “It’s just an opportunity for me. As long as I can work here for a set period of time, I’ll be able to apply for an internship when I return to England.”
“What? You’re going back home?”
Anna knew what Emily was thinking and quickly explained, “Well, I’m going back for a while. Tammy will be in England for a year for asthma treatment, and I am looking for an internship. I need to finish my internship in the UK for a year so that I can spend time with her without missing work. My mentor gave me this great opportunity.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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