Your Guise Is Slipping, Miss Pearl (Pearl and Richard) novel Chapter 1281

Pearl shook her head, trusting her gut feeling. "I think she's acting strange. Could you keep an eye on her for me?"

Doctor Hanson agreed to help, nodding. "Of course, I'll watch her closely. She won't try anything under my watch."

"Thank you, Doctor Hanson. I'm going to grab some food for Esther."

"Don't worry about it," replied the doctor as he stood.

Pearl headed to the hospital's cafeteria to pick up some light snacks, considering Esther was still recovering and needed easy-to-digest food. Before leaving earlier, Esther requested sweet and sour pork and donuts.

At the cashier, Pearl's card was declined several times. She then offered cash instead.

"We only accept cards, not cash," the cashier stated firmly.

With no one else in the quiet cafeteria to borrow a card from, Pearl pleaded, "Please, my friend just woke up very hungry. Can you make an exception this time?"

The cashier, unmoved by Pearl's plea and accustomed to the harsh realities of the hospital, refused again. "I can't. If my bosses find out, I'll be in trouble and they'll dock my pay."

Pearl tried to reassure her, "If there's any problem, I'll cover twice the cost."

The cashier snapped, misunderstanding Pearl's intention. "You think you can just look down on people like me and throw money around to get what you want?" She then took the food away and said, "I don't think you need this now. Go get food elsewhere."

Unable to convince the cashier, Pearl left and found another place to buy food, taking an extra half an hour. When she returned, she heard a commotion near the nurse's station, but Esther's room was silent.

She left the food at Esther's door and approached the chaotic scene at the station. A nurse was restrained on the floor, and Doctor Hanson looked shocked.

"What happened here?" Pearl asked.

"I'm so sorry, Miss Pearl. I failed to keep a proper watch, and this happened. Luckily, I intervened in time," the doctor explained, glaring at the restrained nurse. "She tried to bring viruses into Esther’s room!"