Mia had a slew of fine dining choices to choose from, and she made sure that she ate well for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She did it all. All except for the nightclubs on the resort. She wasn’t in the mood to get hit on by anyone. She also didn’t trust herself anymore when she drank in public. The last thing she wanted was to have a repeat of what happened to her when she flew to Miami and ended up getting drunk and fucking a friend of her arch nemesis, Jasmine.
***
The doctor acknowledged the police officer who stood guard outside Jasmine’s hospital room. He walked up to her bed, where her mom stood on one side and her father on the other.
Jasmine’s parents were grateful she was alive, but they were angry with her for putting herself in that position where she’d almost been killed. And they were even angrier with her for resisting their demands that she leave Nico alone for good.
“Jasmine, you heard what the doctor said,” her father reminded her. “You were a fraction of a centimeter away from having that bullet pierce your jugular vein, and then what? We wouldn’t be standing here talking to you right now.”
The doctor patiently waited for an opening to interject.
“But I’m okay!” Jasmine stressed.
As it turned out, Jasmine was extremely lucky. The bullet that had hit her in the neck had actually been more of a deep graze wound. But the bullet had managed to tear off a large piece of flesh from the right side of her neck.
Jasmine’s mom and dad were taking turns tag-teaming her while also bashing Nico.
Thankfully for Jasmine, her doctor stepped in. “Excuse me. If I may just interrupt,” he respectfully said.
“Sure, sure,” Jasmine’s father stepped to the side to allow the doctor to get closer to Jasmine.
“I know this is an extremely emotional and traumatic thing that you all have experienced as a family. And although Jasmine’s condition had been upgraded to stable, it’s important that she gets her rest. The more she can relax without dealing with anything emotional, then the quicker she will return back to normal.”
“Thank you for saying that. Now, Mom and Dad, stop stressing me!”
Powerless, Jasmine’s mother and father looked at each other. There was an awkward silence in the room.
The doctor tried to put everyone at ease. “So, does anyone have any medical questions for me?”
“Yeah. When can I go home?’ Jasmine asked.
The doctor smiled. “We’re doing our best to get you home as soon as possible.”
Jasmine’s mother shook her head. She asked the doctor if the surgery was still planned for the next day, and if he could re-explain what the surgery entailed.
“Yes, the surgery is still on for tomorrow morning. And what we are going to do is repair Jasmine’s deep ulnar branch.”
Her mom asked, “And what is that again?”
“Well, there are two main arteries that enter the hand—the radial artery and the ulnar artery. You can think about those two arteries as being the trunk of the tree, so to speak. And then think of two big tree branches that grow out of the trunk of the tree. We have to repair that branch that grows out of that main tree trunk.”
Jasmine’s father nodded his head to tell the doctor that he understood.
Her mother said, “And, if I understand correctly, that branch that you are going to operate on, it also has other smaller branches that stem off of it?”
“You got it.” The doctor smiled. “You should have gone to medical school,” he joked.
“So is that the only purpose of the surgery?’
“Ugggghh!” Jasmine sighed in disgust. “Ma, what’s with all these questions? He’s Chinese, so you know he’s smart. I’ll be fine. Goodness!”
Jasmine’s mother was embarrassed, but the doctor smiled. He didn’t take offense to what Jasmine had said.
“Yes, that is the only reason for the surgery, and after the surgery, of course, we will have to have a splint for about two to four weeks for the bone fracture in her hand to properly heal.”
Jasmine shook her head. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”