Love at First Sight? Mr. Harrison Has Been Scheming All Along-Chapter 205: "President Harrison Says He Wants to Talk to You Alone.
Ryan Sterling nudged the skateboard forward with his right foot, sending it to Rory Linden’s feet.
Leo Linden had been learning to skateboard for so long, but Rory Linden had never once tried it.
She had always been a good student, but her athletic skills were lacking. With poor motor coordination, she had never thought of trying this kind of sport.
Leo Linden, however, was very excited. "Mom, try it!"
Rory Linden placed her foot on the board and felt it wobble slightly. She quickly pulled her foot back. "I... maybe I shouldn’t."
’I’m not wearing any protective gear. What if I fall and get hurt?’
’A scrape or two wouldn’t be a big deal; I’m not that delicate.’
’But if I injure my arm or hand, it’ll affect my work, and that would be a disaster.’
"It’s fine. Just give it a try, get a feel for it."
Ryan Sterling stepped on the tail of the board with one foot and raised his arm to a level where she could easily hold on for support.
The gesture was very measured, intended only to let her steady herself.
Rory Linden glanced at her son, hesitated for a moment, then stepped onto the board.
The moment she stepped on, she didn’t move, and the skateboard remained stationary.
But when she tried to shift the board...
her entire body suddenly became uncoordinated!
"Careful!"
Ryan Sterling grabbed Rory Linden’s arm with one hand and pinned the skateboard with his other foot.
Once he was sure Rory Linden wasn’t going to fall, he immediately let go. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
The entire incident happened in the span of a second or two.
After steadying herself, Rory Linden quickly waved her hands. "I’m really not suited for this sport."
Ryan Sterling also felt apologetic. "I’m sorry. It was just a spur-of-the-moment idea. I’m so glad you’re okay. Otherwise, I really wouldn’t have been able to sleep tonight."
His suggestion had been on a whim.
Of course, there was a little selfish motive behind it.
’For instance, if Rory Linden took an interest in skateboarding, I could teach her.’
But that one second had completely extinguished any hope.
A few meters away, Sean Harrison’s car was parked on the side of the road by the square, silently watching everything unfold in the distance.
From his position, he couldn’t see everything perfectly, but he could clearly make out the physical contact between the two.
His grip on the steering wheel tightened.
-
Rory Linden stayed with Leo at the square until nine o’clock before heading home.
Just as she walked through the door, she saw the lights were on.
It took her a second to remember that Auntie Wagner was home.
Auntie Wagner came out of a room, took the skateboard and protective gear from her hands, and explained:
"This afternoon, the Young Master said he wanted to take Leo skateboarding. Leo wanted to go too, so I agreed. If you don’t think that’s a good idea, Ms. Linden, I won’t let Leo go next time."
"It’s fine. Let Leo go. Leo likes spending time with Ryan Sterling."
Rory Linden had come to terms with it.
At Leo’s age, getting hurt was a low-probability event, after all. His happiness was what mattered most.
Auntie Wagner asked again, "Then... do you need me to help Leo with his bath?"
"I’ll wash myself!"
Leo Linden blurted out.
Rory Linden said, "You can just give him a new set of pajamas."
Auntie Wagner got the pajamas for Leo Linden, watched him go into the bathroom by himself, and soon heard the sound of running water.
She couldn’t help but remark, "Leo is so much like the Young Master. The Young Master also started bathing by himself when he was three or four."
"The Young Master is Ryan Sterling, right?"
Rory Linden confirmed.
"Yes. Back then, the Master was very busy, so it was just me, the Madam, and the Young Master at home. When the Young Master was about this age, he said he was a big boy and insisted on bathing by himself."
Auntie Wagner sighed with emotion. "I can’t believe he’s grown up so much in the blink of an eye."
"It’s good for boys to learn about privacy early on."
Rory Linden went to change her clothes as well.
Afterward, she transferred the payment to Ryan Sterling for tonight’s lesson.
She knew perfectly well that Ryan Sterling didn’t need the money, but an agreement was an agreement.
Ryan Sterling accepted it just as promptly.
He even made sure to add a "Thank you" afterward.
-
With Auntie Wagner at home, Rory Linden’s stress was indeed much reduced.
If she had things to do in the morning, she could leave early.
She also gradually started taking night shifts.
Rory Linden had been working at the hospital for over a month, and everything was falling into place.
「Early July.」
Rory Linden finished her morning clinic hours and was preparing to head back to the inpatient department.
It was noon, the hottest time of day. With temperatures soaring toward forty degrees, the hospital grounds were nearly deserted.
As Rory Linden reached the entrance of the inpatient building, she noticed what looked like a bundle under a tree in the corner.
’Based on her experience, that size...’
A bad feeling rose in Rory Linden’s heart, and she quickened her pace.
Just as she had suspected, swaddling clothes wrapped a tiny infant, one who seemed to have just reached full term!
In this scorching heat, the baby was wrapped in such a thick blanket, its eyes shut tight. ’Did it pass out from heatstroke?!’
Rory Linden looked left and right. Seeing no one, she immediately called a colleague, then unwrapped the baby’s blanket and began checking for a heartbeat and other vital signs.
Although the baby’s heartbeat was incredibly faint, it was still beating!
Without a second thought, Rory Linden scooped up the baby and rushed toward the emergency department.
After a series of tests, the results came back quickly: the child was confirmed to have a congenital heart defect.
The security department also came to report on their investigation of the surveillance footage.
Ten minutes before Rory Linden found the baby, a young couple had brought the child to the tree and left it there.
To find the parents’ identities, they would need to file a police report and rely on the police to track them down.
With today’s advanced big data and facial recognition systems, even if the young couple was heavily covered up, they would likely be found.
But...
this phenomenon of abandoning children at a public hospital was all too common.
They found many every year.
These children all had one thing in common: most of them suffered from some kind of congenital disease.
Many weren’t abandoned at birth. Their parents had truly sold everything they owned to pay for treatment but had simply run out of money. Unable to bear watching their child die, they chose to leave them at the hospital’s doorstep.
But...
the hospital didn’t really have the means to save them either.
By the afternoon, the baby’s parents had been found.
As everyone expected, both parents were disabled and from an impoverished family. They hadn’t had prenatal checkups, and after the baby was born with a medical condition, they had initially wanted to seek treatment.
But they were deterred by the high cost of medical care.
Because of this infant, the cardiac surgery department held a short meeting.
The vice-director stated clearly that the hospital simply didn’t have enough reserve funds to treat the child.
The only option was to seek donations from corporations, but...
most companies had their own foundations that corresponded to specific diseases.
It was difficult to persuade a company to fund the treatment of one particular child.
Unless the child had a very special status, such as being the orphan of a martyr.
Rory Linden understood completely.
Nevertheless, the baby was temporarily admitted to the hospital’s cardiac surgery department.
That night, Rory Linden was on duty.
She saw the infant’s mother sitting in the hallway, wiping away tears.
Rory Linden understood the mother’s desperation, but she also felt utterly powerless.
Children were abandoned here periodically. Even if she used her own money to help this child, she couldn’t help all of them.
-
However, news arrived soon after.
A week after the baby was found, Rory Linden was summoned to Director Owen Coleman’s office.
"Dr. Linden, the Stellar Group from Veridia has proposed establishing a foundation. They are willing to pay the surgical fees for every child in our hospital with a congenital heart condition."
When Owen Coleman reached this point, Rory Linden was still happy.
But then, his tone shifted. "However, Stellar has one condition. As for the specifics, their President Harrison said he wants to discuss it with you personally."
