"A crush on me?" Luke asked after he regained his bearings.
He laughed, "I was just kidding, of course," he gave Luke a conspiratorial wink. "My name is Dr. Chu." He glanced at Luke's slanted shoulder, and said, "Let's have a look on the shoulder of yours, Mr…"
"Luke Ravenport."
"This way Mr. Ravenport," he said and turned around and led them to the corridor where the Orthopedic Department was written on the wall in large letters in white letters.
Jess and Luke followed the doctor to the consultation room of the orthopedic department in silence. In there, Luke was sent for an x-ray while Jess filled out Luke's personal information for hospital records in the doctor's office.
"Miss Zimmerman, I'll leave you here, for I still have to do my rounds. I will have the nurse sent Mr. Ravenport in here once they are done patching him up," he said with a kind smile on his face.
"Thank you, Dr. Chu," she returned the doctor's kind smile, however, when Dr. Chu left his office to check on his patient, Jess was left wondering, why he knew her name when he didn't ask for it, and she didn't introduce herself.
She shook off the nagging question in her brain and went back to filling up Luke's personal information for him. She was able to answer most of the information that was needed on the file.
Once done, she was left with nothing to do. She casually scanned the interior of the doctor's office and noticed a picture frame on the shelf behind Dr. Chu's chair. The photo caught her attention because a man she knew was on it.
She squinted her eyes at the picture on the metallic frame to see Dr. Neves next to Dr. Chu. The young boys both had huge goofy grins on their faces; they posed for the camera with their arms draped over each shoulder. They were wearing soccer uniforms.
"So, they are friends?" she mumbled to herself in the quiet office.
"What are you murmuring to yourself?"
Jess was startled when Luke suddenly spoke behind her. And when she turned her body to face him, guilt flooded her face.
"I'm so sorry, Luke," she said in a timid voice.
He pulled the chair across from hers, "I do look good in it, right? I can tell people that I was in a brawl here in San Lucas, and this broken shoulder was nothing because I beat the other guys' face to a pulp," he told Jess, nodding his head like the lies he came up with was such a brilliant idea.
She chewed her bottom lip, and sighed with regret, "I'm truly sorry Luke," she reached out to his arm, nestled in a blue arm sling to keep his shoulder in place.
"How long will you have to wear the arm sling?"
The doctor said I had to wear this arm sling for a few days, but for my dislocated shoulder to heal, it would take twelve to sixteen weeks," he shook his head in amazement. "You got me real good there, Little Miss Jessie."
She bit her lower lip, and with eyes begging for forgiveness, "I'll take good care of you in those weeks," she raised her right hand, in a pledge of her words.
"What? You are going to feed me pasta for the whole sixteen weeks?" a rolling chuckling rumbled his chest.
"I know how to cook other food, and we can always order delivery." she rolled her eyes at him. "What did the doctor here say about your follow-up check-up since we are returning to the States tomorrow?"
"It's not a problem. They will give me an endorsement letter, the result of my x-ray - which we are waiting for and the meds that the nurse fetched for me at the pharmacy - and I can just go to any hospital in the states to take care of my shoulder."
"Okay, that's good. I can ask my friend to recommend a good doc — tor," she stopped talking when he saw the expressions on Luke's face.
"Jess, this is an accident. There is no reason for you to feel sorry. I'm actually glad to know that you are veryyy capable of protecting yourself." he said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes, "BUT, I don't want any of your recommended doctors or whatever — no offense meant, but now that I have an idea of your lifestyle, I have a feeling that this recommended doctor would be excessive as Siena would say."
She pursed her lips at Luke's rejection but she couldn't disagree with him because it is indeed true that the doctor she has in mind was a well-known Orthopedic specialist.
"Fine! You can go to your own choice of doctor, but you are staying with me until you got better," she said with finality.
"Little Miss Jessie, my commoner ass can't afford a doctor of my choice. I will just go to a hospital that is within my health card capabilities. Besides this is nothing. Thanks to God, since it's my left arm, I can do my usual thing without much discomfort." he exaggeratedly rolled his eyes to guilt trip Jess.
Their conversation was interrupted by a soft knock and the creak of the door.
"Mister Ravenport," A young nurse with Asian facial features entered the room with a small bag of medicine and a brown envelope containing Luke's x-ray film. "Here is the result of your x-ray and also your medicine. You can leave the hospital anytime."
"Let's go, Jess," he stood up from the chair, "Let's settle our bill so we could go home and do more shopping before we go home,"
"Uhm, your hospital bill had been settled," she informed them with a smile.
"Settled? But I haven't paid anything," he asked, confused. He turned to Jess and asked, "Did you already pay the bill?"
"Nope. And I don't think we need to pay." she smiled at the young nurse and mouthed "thank you."
"What do you mean?" He followed her out of Dr. Chu's office.
In the hallway, Jess stood for a moment. "Because I think Ellise owns this hospital." she shrugged nonchalantly.