Jason Harris saw her familiar expression and clicked his tongue against his left cheek with a mocking laugh.

The man turned his head and spat a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva into the trash can, then tapped a cigarette out of his pack. With his slender fingertips, he rolled the cigarette butt, lowered his head to bite the cigarette, and the silver lighter made a "click" sound.

Still that same careless, nonchalant demeanor.

He was waiting for Samuel Clark to speak.

Samuel Clark looked away, her tone unexpectedly distant: "Thanks for tonight. I'll be leaving now."

After she finished speaking, even Samuel Clark herself was a little stunned. She had imagined countless scenarios of them meeting, but when it actually happened, they didn't even bother with small talk.

Samuel Clark turned to leave, but Jason Harris stepped closer. The scent of tobacco on him was strong, his sharp presence making it hard to move.

From the ground, his shadow suddenly enveloped her. His lashes lowered, casting a faint shadow under the light, and his tone carried a hint of gritted teeth:

"Are you on a blind date?"

Chapter 2 Confession

Samuel Clark thought last night's encounter was just a fleeting brush, but unexpectedly, she saw Jason Harris again at the hospital the next day. Samuel Clark had just come out of the operating room, transparent hand sanitizer still in her palm, not yet rubbed in, when the head nurse rushed over, her tone anxious: "There's a patient in the outpatient department who stuffed a light bulb in their mouth and is in a panic. Dr. Song can't get it out and is calling for you."

"Okay, I'll be right there." Samuel Clark quickly rinsed her hands under the faucet and headed straight for the outpatient department.

The office door was pushed open. Samuel Clark walked in with her hands in her pockets and immediately saw Jason Harris, as well as several nurses and doctors gathered helplessly around the patient—a young girl, who was so anxious that tears welled up in her eyes, making broken, unclear sounds.

Meanwhile, the man accompanying her was still teasing the girl, his cold, familiar voice ringing in her ears: "Little Ming downstairs, who's three and a half, plays this game too. You two might as well form a group and debut together."

The girl couldn't speak, but shot him a reproachful look.

The subtle intimacy between the two didn't escape Samuel Clark's notice. She lowered her eyes, hiding her emotions.

Samuel Clark walked over, took the protective gloves handed by a nurse, and approached the patient, lifting her chin to examine her carefully. She found the light bulb was stuck perfectly in the girl's mouth, just the right size.

At this moment, Jason Harris also noticed her. Samuel Clark deliberately ignored his gaze and turned to ask an intern behind her, "Did you use paraffin oil?"

"We did, but it didn't work," the doctor replied.

Samuel Clark lowered her head, as if the hair tie at the back of her head had loosened, a strand of hair falling across her cheek. She observed the light bulb in the patient's mouth again and said, "Go get a surgical bag."

Five minutes later, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Samuel Clark gently coaxed the patient to relax while slowly inserting the surgical bag with a root canal tool. Once the surgical bag had completely wrapped the light bulb, Samuel Clark said:

"Bite down hard."

The girl kept shaking her head, her eyes full of fear—what if it exploded when she bit down? Samuel Clark reassured her, "It'll be fine."

Even after some comforting, the girl was still too nervous to comply, whimpering with tears in her eyes, nerves stretched taut.

Samuel Clark glanced at her earrings—silver leaf-shaped ones—and casually remarked, "Your earrings are really pretty."

The girl, mouth agape, was instantly distracted. She took out her phone, opened an app, and tried to speak, her words broken but still understandable—I'll find you the link.

While the girl was focused on finding the link for Samuel Clark, Samuel Clark took advantage of her distraction, placed her hand on the girl's jaw, and, without hesitation, forcefully pushed down. There was a "crack"—the sound of glass breaking.

The girl froze for two seconds, then realized what had happened and let out a piercing scream, "Aaaaah!" Jason Harris patted her head and let out a soft, mocking laugh: "Alright, I'll take you for ice cream later."

The girl immediately quieted down, no longer making a fuss.

He rarely comforted people; just a few kind words and women would surrender on their own.

The rest was left to the outpatient doctors. Samuel Clark took off her protective gloves and tossed them into the trash, shoved her hands into the pockets of her white coat, and left the outpatient department.

The girl, still shaken, watched Dr. Xu's cool figure leaving and muttered, "Soft girls can't be trusted. I was seriously looking for her the link, and she gave me a gentle knife instead."

Samuel Clark returned to her office and worked for over half an hour. On her way out, as she passed the nurses' station, a young nurse called out to her, "Hey, Dr. Xu, someone was looking for you just now! It was the family member of the girl with the light bulb in her mouth. Here, they left something for you as a thank-you gift."

Samuel Clark looked over and saw a row of lychee and white peach flavored milk, along with a blue hair tie. Her gaze lingered, not moving away for a moment. Several young nurses huddled together, teasing, "Dr. Xu, that guy was really handsome. He just gave Xiao Zhang a little smile, and she nearly lost her soul."