Filed to story: A Second Chance with My Billionaire Love
Still doubtful, Halston intentionally headed to the hospital food court during dinner.
“I’d like some seafood dumplings,” he said to the staff through the window.
The staff was immediately confused upon hearing his order.
“Do you guys not have seafood dumplings?” Halston asked again, emphasizing his words this time.
“No.” The staff glared at him as if he were a fool, pointing to the menu. “Everything’s on the menu. Order anything you want.”
Scanning through the piece of laminated paper, Halston realized that it was, in fact, filled with foreign cuisine. There wasn’t a single dish originating from Aeos, let alone seafood dumplings.
‘So that nurse was lying?’
Halston returned to the main hospital building and found the nurse who delivered those dumplings to him every day.
“I think we need to talk.”
The nurse’s expression stiffened anxiously. “Mr. Guajardo, what… what would you like to talk about?”
“You know why I’m here.”
“I don’t know. I don’t know anything at all.” The nurse shook her head, pretending to not understand. She knew exactly what Halston wanted to talk about; he clearly wanted to know who had been giving him those dumplings.
However, she had promised Joan that she would take this secret to the grave. She took a divine vow, and … she couldn’t possibly tell him the truth.
“C’mon, be straight with me. Where did those dumplings come from? I’ll give you a handsome reward.” Halston placed his hands in his pockets, speaking nonchalantly as if negotiating a deal.
“No way!” The nurse shook her head. “I swore to God that I won’t tell you.”
“It’s fine! Just donate some money to Him. I’m sure He’ll forgive you.”
“Oh! What blasphemy! Please stop asking! I can’t tell you.” The nurse quickly ran off after saying a prayer.
She then found Flossie, who was smoking underneath the stairwell. The nurse panicked as she said, “Hey, I finally found you! I’m so sorry, but I can’t help you anymore!”
“What’s wrong?” Flossie calmly breathes out a beautiful swirl of smoke.
“Mr. Guajardo and Miss Murphy are starting to feel suspicious about your dumplings, especially Miss Murphy! She thinks I made them for Mr. Guajardo to seduce him! So you have to either tell them the truth or stop sending him those dumplings,” the nurse sincerely advised.
“Alright then, let’s stop.” Flossie accepted this nonchalantly. Since Seraphina was out of danger, the man shouldn’t be so anxious that he wouldn’t eat or sleep. Hence, the dumplings weren’t required in his current situation anymore.
“By the way, Joan… Do you know them? What’s your relationship with them? Don’t tell me you have a crush on Mr. Guajardo?” The nurse couldn’t help but pry.
“No way!” Flossie quickly denied. “I just thought he looked very pitiful when he couldn’t eat or sleep because his fiance got into an accident. Since we’re from Aeos, I intended to give him a taste of home, to increase his appetite, you know?”
“Is that so…” The nurse nodded gently. “Right, what would Van do if you had a crush on him? Mr. Guajardo has everything, but Van only has you. He’d be devastated if you leave.”
“That’s why I won’t be leaving him.” Flossie smiled softly as if trying to convince both the nurse and herself. “I have to go see Van now, or he might throw another tantrum.”
Flossie then stood up and stubbed out her cigarette, her slender figure disappearing into the dark…
Halston, on the other hand, waited for an entire day but never received the bowl of dumplings he longed for.
He was still able to endure the wait when he realized that the dumplings hadn’t arrived in the afternoon. However, as supper time arrived, he just couldn’t believe that none had been delivered to him.
The man was losing patience.
“What happened? Why are there no dumplings today?” Halston stopped and questioned the patrolling nurse while Seraphina was resting.
“W… Well…” The nurse rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. “They stopped serving it. Why don’t you check out our other offerings, Mr. Guajardo? We have steak, hamburgers, spaghetti…”
“I don’t want any of that. I just want dumplings, seafood dumplings.” Halston completely shed his image as a CEO and started demanding for his food like a child.
The nurse was speechless. “Please don’t tell me you haven’t eaten for the whole day.”
“Exactly. I’ve been waiting for the entire day! I’m starving!” Halston confessed. After all, if he couldn’t have his favorite dish, other foods could never be substitutes… And he was not a man who would settle for second.
“Then, hold on, I’ll go ask the food court for you.” The nurse agreed for now, worried that the stubborn man might put his health at risk.
“Okay, I’ll be waiting. Remember, my life is in your hands,” Halston said with a serious face.
As he had finally headed back into Seraphina’s ward, the nurse sighed in relief and rushed to Jovan’s ward, which was on the same floor.
“Joan, can you come out for a bit? I have something I need to discuss.” The nurse stood at the doorway and gestured towards her.
Flossie had just finished massaging Jovan at the time, so she turned to him and said, “It’s getting late. You should get some rest.”
“Mhm, good night, my dear,” Jovan replied sweetly and happily went to bed.
Flossie walked out and closed the door behind her, looking towards the nurse in confusion. “What is it this time?”
“What else? It’s the seafood dumplings again!” The nurse made a diss at how childish Halston seemed, then shrugged. “What do we do now? Mr. Guajardo is a grown man, but he’s threatening me with starvation! Should we give it to him?”
“Has he really not eaten the whole day?”
“Yeah! Not just that, he hasn’t even had a single drop of water!”
“Ugh! He’s so childish!” Flossie couldn’t help but wish she could scream curses at the man’s face.
‘If I knew that he would be so ungrateful about it, I would’ve just left him to starve in the first place!’
After a few moments of pondering, she just couldn’t bring herself to ignore him.
“Wait here, I’ll get some for him. And tell him this is the last time. He’s not getting any more even if he starves himself!” She huffed in anger.
After that, Flossie ran through the dark streets and arrived at the restaurant nearby.
Normally, restaurants didn’t operate during that hour, especially not so late at night. Hence, she wasn’t quite sure if the Aeos restaurant was still open.
After ten minutes or so, she reached the restaurant and noticed the storekeeper cleaning up and was about to close the store.
“Miss! Please wait!” Flossie panted. “I want a bowl of seafood dumplings.”
“Joan, why are you so late? We’re just about to close up,” The storekeeper said regretfully as she greeted her regular customer.
“You can still make one more, right? Please, Miss, just this once!” Flossie begged with sincerity.
“You can come back tomorrow. It’s just some dumplings. People won’t die just from not having one, right?”
“No, no, someone might really die without those dumplings… Basically, it’s super important, so please make one more! I’m a regular, aren’t I? You wouldn’t let me go back empty-handed, would you?”
“Oh, you, alright, alright! Come on!” The storekeeper shook her head helplessly and opened up her kitchen again just to fulfill Flossie’s request.
In actuality, the storekeeper wasn’t the only one who cared for Flossie. The entire town loved her and would do anything to help her out.