"Oh! That's because he misses his parents very much. You have your parents and grandparents with you all the time, but he only has his grandparents to keep him company. You should be strong for your family. If you don't have the operation, you won't be able to get well soon. Your parents will be very sad if that happens. Do you want to make them sad? Don't you want to see them again?" Sheffield explained.
The girl burst into tears. "Yes, I do! I love my mom and dad a lot! I don't want to make them sad! Boo…hoo…"
"There, there. A girl should never cry, because that's not cute! As long as you agree to have the surgery, everything will be fine. Then you can see your mom and dad every day. Be strong for them, all right?"
"Okay," the girl agreed, muffled sobs wracking against her chest. "Will you do the surgery for me?"
Sheffield smiled and said, "Yes. I will be in charge of this operation. It's almost time. Let's go back and get everything ready, okay?"
"Okay! Thank you!"
Sheffield picked the girl up in his arms and carried her back towards the renal transplant department. "You are a very polite girl! When you see your father and mother later, you have to comfort them and tell them that you will recover very soon. Can you do that?"
The little girl wrapped her arms around Sheffield's neck and said, "Okay! As long as you stay with me all the time, I can do it."
"Don't worry! You will just take a nap, and when you wake up, I will be by your side…"
As the doctor walked farther, their voices faded. Debbie stared at them pensively as mixed emotions surged up in her heart. 'Sheffield is not only good at what he does, but he is also handsome and kindhearted. He is much better than that Calvert. If only he would be my son-in-law!' she mused.
Driven by curiosity, Debbie decided to find out whether Sheffield had a girlfriend or not. If not, she wouldn't mind fixing him up with Terilynn.
Debbie decided to wait until he was off duty after she overheard him saying that he was going to have an operation later.
At around 8 p.m. in the evening, Sheffield took off his lab coat, changed into his clothes and walked out of the office.
Just as he stepped outside, he was stopped by a voice calling out to him from behind. "Hello, Dr. Tang. "
He turned around to see an elderly woman smiling at him. After straightening his clothes and making sure everything looked fine, he walked up to her and politely said, "Hello, Mrs. Huo!"
"What a coincidence, Dr. Tang. Did you just get off work?" Debbie gave him a broad smile. The more she looked at him, the more good-looking he was. He was even more handsome than Carlos.
"Oh, I just came out from a surgery. Why are you still here at this hour?" He seemed to have hit the jackpot. Sheffield had been looking for an opportunity to approach Debbie, but to no avail.
Now that Debbie had come to him, he wouldn't think twice about seizing the opportunity.
Debbie stammered, "Um, I have a friend hospitalized in the cardiovascular department. I came to check up on him. I was just leaving."
'Leaving?' An idea popped into Sheffield's head. "I guess you haven't had dinner yet? I'm free right now. If you don't mind, I'd like to invite you to dinner."
Debbie's smile grew wider as she was glad to hear that. "Okay, I'll take you up on that invitation. Let's go! Do you like Western food or Chinese food?"
In order not to make a mistake, Sheffield said, "I'm not very picky about food. What would you like to eat?"
'Not picky about food?' Debbie grew even fonder of him when she heard that.
"Hey! What a coincidence! I'm not a picky eater either. How about we find a place nearby? Did you have something on your mind for dinner? It's on me!" They walked out of the hospital together happily.
Sheffield felt as though his future mother-in-law was much nicer than his future father-in-law. Unfortunately, picking a place to eat was a lot harder than it seemed at first. After all, the most high-end restaurants in Y City were all inside the Shining International Plaza, which was owned by Debbie. Sheffield realized that she must have gotten tired of eating there. "If you don't mind, one of my friends has a homemade cuisine restaurant on Phoenix Road. How about I take you there?" he suggested.
"Good idea!" Debbie was secretly pleased with his suggestion. She always thought that dishes in a homemade cuisine restaurant tasted far better than those in fancy restaurants.
"Mrs. Huo, can you eat spicy food? I should warn you beforehand that most of the dishes there are spicy!"
"No problem with me. I actually like spicy food. Terilynn is the same. She takes after me when it comes to food!" Sheffield courteously opened the door of his convertible for her and made sure she was properly seated.
Debbie observed his car as Sheffield started the engine and said, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience. My car was damaged a few days ago and it is still in the 4S shop. I have no choice but to drive my sports car. Are you feeling cold? I can lower the roof if you want."
"It's okay. I'm not cold. I'm wearing enough layers." Debbie didn't mind. She understood that young people loved sports cars. Besides, it wouldn't take long from here to the restaurant, which gave her no reason to make a fuss.
The sports car roared out of the hospital parking lot and headed for their destination.
Debbie and Sheffield hit it off straight away, chatting happily with each other. On the way, they stopped at a red light.
By some remarkable coincidence, Evelyn, who was in a car just behind them, rolled down the window and looked out.
She noticed the yellow convertible parked in front of her car on the left. The man seated in the driver's seat had a big smile on his face.
It was hard to determine who was sitting next to the driver as Evelyn could only see the back of the person's head. However, the long, black hair of the person was clear indication that it was a woman in the passenger seat.
Evelyn's hand quivered. 'Who is with Sheffield now? He seems quite happy. Who is that woman?
Is this the reason why he hasn't contacted me for days and hasn't come to see me?'
As the traffic light turned green, the sports car sped away. Evelyn wanted to ask Tayson to tail the sports car, but they had already fallen behind two or three cars. By the time they got out of the intersection, the yellow sports car had disappeared.
The first thing Evelyn wanted to do was call Sheffield and ask him who he was with.
On second thought, she sent him a message. "Are you busy now?"
When she didn't get a reply from him after a long time, she went back home and walked into the living room with a heavy heart.
Meanwhile, Carlos was sitting in the living room, going through some files. The moment he heard a noise on the door, he looked up eagerly, but when he realized it wasn't Debbie, he frowned.
"Father, why are you reading your files here?" Evelyn asked.
"Your mother hasn't come back yet." Carlos had no idea who his wife was having dinner with. Why else wasn't she back home yet?
"Oh, where did she go?" asked Evelyn.
Carlos' face soured at her words. Debbie had been acting quite secretive these days, and she hadn't told him where she was going. This hadn't bothered Carlos much in the past few days as she would be back home in the early hours. Today, however, Carlos checked the time on his watch and found that it was almost 9 p.m. and his wife was still not home yet. With brows furrowed, he called Debbie on her cellphone. "I'm having dinner," Debbie answered abruptly before she hung up on him.
