Although Rayna looked at the employees of the PR department with a smile, there was a hint of displeasure in her eyes.
The manager hurried over. When he saw Rayna and Curtis, who had returned to Norwal City, he gulped nervously. “Mr. Faymon, Ms. Garland.”
A mere icy glance from Rayna was enough to scare the manager. All he could do was rub his hands and swallow his saliva from the overwhelming anxiety.
“You seem busy, Mr. Campbell,” she remarked coldly.
The manager, William Campbell, wanted to agree to her statement, but he dared not do so.
“The entire PR department doesn't seem busy to me, but you're sweating as if you're swamped with work,” Rayna went on in an even frostier tone. “Glory is having a PR crisis, yet the employees in your department still have the leisure to talk about other departments.”
Employees of the PR department, including the one that was babbling earlier, lowered their heads in silence.
“The PR department's duty is to handle public relations issues. As for the other departments, they have their own managers supervising them. Your department has no business meddling in another department's affairs. What you should do is carry out your own duty properly.” Rayna hated it the most when employees gossiped about other departments and sowed discord within the company. Since she caught one of them red-handed, she immediately took the opportunity to warn them. “I don't want something like this to happen again.”
With that, she turned on her heel and walked out of the PR department. William hurried after her right away, and she cast him an indifferent glance before instructing, “Send electronic copies of the latest PR articles to my email.”
William answered in acknowledgment and left quietly.
When the couple was left alone, Curtis looked down at the woman holding his arm. “Why did you suddenly lose your temper?” he asked.
There was nothing too problematic about employees gossiping among themselves. Besides, the female employee was not wrong. Those in the R&D department were indeed partly at fault for the incident. After all, they were the ones responsible for storing the sample they had developed.
As the sample was tampered with, the products made based on it were contaminated with the unknown element contained within.
“I admit that the R&D department is partly at fault, but that employee's words will stir up negative emotions within the entire PR department. They might even be swayed by her. What if some of the employees of the PR department let their dissatisfaction with the R&D department affect their work and write PR posts that instigate other people to point the finger at the R&D department? Do you think that will be beneficial to Glory?”
With those few sentences, Rayna elucidated her intentions.
Curtis froze for a moment. Just as he was about to speak, she retracted her hand from the crook of his arm and added, “I remember you were the one who taught me these things. Why are you against them now?”
Looking at him skeptically, Rayna said, “Curtis, have you noticed that...”
She gestured at her own head and continued, “This organ of yours seems to be deteriorating lately?”
Curtis' gentle expression darkened in an instant when he saw her movement.
At the sight of his scowl, Rayna burst into laughter. She walked ahead and turned around to make a face at him.
She then strode forward while he trailed after her. For a moment, he thought that she looked like a child when she laughed.
“Be careful. There's a corner on the right side. You might bump into it,” he warned from the back.
Right after his words fell from his lips, he heard a yelp from Rayna.
Curtis hurried forward and saw her sitting on the floor, holding her knee and groaning, “Ow, it hurts!”
“Did you hurt yourself?” Curtis lifted the hem of her pants to check her knee, and Rayna pulled the fabric up in cooperation, revealing the conspicuous red mark on her knee.
The sight of her injury made his heart ache terribly. “I told you to be careful. Let's visit the hospital,” he said while scooping her up in his arms.
Rayna leaned against his chest, nodding obediently.
Other than the single pot of flowers in the corner, there was nothing else she could have hit. Yet, she had no idea how she even bumped straight into the protruded part of the wall and with her knee at that.
At the hospital, the doctor gave Rayna a quick examination and an X-ray.
Upon seeing the X-ray report, the female doctor pushed her glasses further up her nose bridge and glanced at Rayna before looking at Curtis.
Her microexpressions did not go unnoticed by Rayna, who urged, “Just go ahead and tell us. There's no need to hide anything from me.”
“The growth plates in your legs have yet to close. At your age...” The doctor's voice trailed away as she looked Rayna up and down. “Are you two really a married couple?” she questioned Curtis.
Bewildered by the doctor's words, Rayna turned to look at Curtis, who had stayed quiet the whole time.
“Why aren't you saying anything?” she asked, nudging him.
Curtis snapped out of his trance. When he saw Rayna and the doctor staring at him, he asked, “Doctor, did you just say that my wife's growth plates aren't closed yet?”
“That's right. Normally, people her age should have closed growth plates around their knees but look at the gaps here. They obviously haven't closed.” Directing her gaze to Rayna, the doctor queried, “You bumped your knee earlier?”
Rayna recalled what happened earlier and recounted, “While I was walking, I suddenly felt like my legs were gone. Then, my legs went weak, as if I had lost control over them. The feeling only lasted for an instant, and then I bumped into the protruded part of the wall.”
A solemn look appeared on the doctor's face at that point. “From the X-ray, it seems like the growth plates in your legs are still open. I think that has something to do with your little accident earlier.”
“For us to better understand your condition, you'd better get a comprehensive check-up,” the doctor added and began writing on Rayna's medical records.
Curtis took it over afterward and gave it a scan, but he was not able to read what the doctor wrote.
“Bring this prescription to the pharmacy and get your medicine. We'll try conservative therapy with medications and see if it works. There's a possibility your growth plates just appear to be closed,” the doctor explained, handing a prescription to Rayna.
Rayna did not understand what the doctor's last sentence meant, but she figured it was her body trying to heal itself. Moreover, she realized something was wrong with her body, a fact that she had never noticed before.
After they bought the medicine at the hospital pharmacy, Curtis asked Rayna to wait for him in the car. Though he told her he was going to the restroom, he headed to the doctor's office instead.
Upon seeing his return, the middle-aged doctor instinctively looked behind him. When she was certain Rayna was not with him, she speculated, “Sir, you must be here to ask about your wife's condition, right?”
Curtis pulled a chair over and sat down. “Earlier, you mentioned something about open growth plates. Under what circumstances does that usually occur?”
“It might be due to diet or other medicines, most likely those with hormones,” the doctor responded solemnly.
Curtis' face hardened at that. So that thing in Rayna's body does have side effects.
He had a hunch that the incident of Rayna bumping into the wall earlier was just the beginning.
Although the doctor did not know what was on his mind, she remained silent when she saw his frosty expression for fear of disrupting his train of thought.
As time ticked by, the other patients outside her office began feeling impatient. “Are you done? We're still lining up here to see the doctor,” one of them urged.
It was only then that Curtis recollected himself and stood up. After thanking the doctor, he turned around and left.
When Rayna saw Curtis walking back to the car, she opened the door for him. “What took you so long?”
“The restroom is under maintenance, so I had to go to another floor,” he said casually.
That caused her to arch a brow, and her gaze fell on the restroom signage not far away. From their location, she could see the restroom.
There were no signs at the door indicating that it was under maintenance.
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