As soon as the ambulance stopped in front of the entrance of the hospital, paramedics rushed to carry and transfer the unconscious young man to a stretcher. Without missing a beat, the patient was pushed towards the emergency room while Sheryl and Isla followed behind. The doctor kept shouting "Excuse me, excuse me!" as they made their way urgently inside the emergency room.
Sheryl ran as she tried to catch up with the medical workers. She then moved towards the doctor and asked, "What's the matter with him? How is he?"
"We can't be certain and specific at this point, but all we know is that he may have a heart disease and needs to get an operation right now," the doctor replied in haste and proceeded to instruct the rest of the staff.
Sheryl watched as the doctor used the telephone to ask about an available room, and after the blink of an eye, the patient was transferred into an operating room. The doctor stopped Sheryl and Isla, telling them that he would inform them right away after the surgery.
As the physician entered the operating room, leaving them behind in the waiting area, a nurse walked towards Sheryl and Isla. "Miss, are you the patient's relative? We have a policy here in the hospital, saying that we can't operate on the patient without the bills getting paid first, at least in half," she said.
Sheryl turned towards the door of the operating room and thought, 'Looks like the young man is seriously ill and needs to get an operation right now.'
Without any more hesitation, she grabbed her purse and followed the nurse towards the nurse station. The nurse started to type away on the computer. As the nurse processed the payment, Sheryl mused, 'Saving a life is doing the good thing. Regardless whether the young man chooses to work with us or not, I will help him out. I can't stand the thought of him dying when I have the chance to give him a possible longer life.'
Finally, the nurse handed the bill to Sheryl as she said, "Here is the bill, miss. Please, have a look."
Sheryl took it and scanned through the paper. Without uttering a word, she walked towards the cashier's window.
"Sher," Isla called from behind as she tried to stop Sheryl.
Sheryl paused and turned to Isla. "Yes?"
Isla looked at Sheryl with hesitation and asked, "Are you sure you're going to do this?" Isla wasn't a mean person, and she cared for the young man as well. But considering that he was a stranger to them, she was afraid that Sheryl might get fooled.
Sheryl gave Isla a weak smile and replied lightly, "Yes, I am sure, so don't worry." Sheryl didn't care if she was just being tricked. All she cared about was the thought that the young man might lose his life if she didn't pay the medical fee for him right now. If she did end up lose some money, at least she had saved a patient.
Moreover, she believed that the young man was not a liar.
'The young man was about to start his own business, but he had some argument with his partners and failed to open the company, ' she thought.
Sensing that Sheryl had already made up her mind, Isla nodded and decided not to stop her. She waited until Sheryl came back after taking care of the bill.
Getting the signal, the doctor and his team started the operation immediately.
Sheryl and Isla sat as they waited. They even took turns standing up and walking back and forth just to ease their own anxiety. For an outsider, they both looked like the patient's family.
Seconds turned to minutes and minutes turned to hours as they waited. The longer they waited, the more worried they became about the young man.
Isla stopped pacing back and forth and sat beside Sheryl once more. After glancing around and found no one else, she turned to Sheryl with a scowl on her face. "Do you think he will get through this, Sher? What if he dies on the table?" she blurted out.
Sheryl's eyebrows furrowed into a frown and then she immediately replied, "Come on, Isla, what are you talking about? Why are you thinking like that?" Sheryl's reaction made Isla's eyes widen in surprise. At that moment, Sheryl looked as if she was the patient's real family.
She kept her stare at Sheryl and noticed the worried look in her eyes. She pointed out that Sheryl was becoming way too concerned about the young man, which reminded Sheryl of her place.
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