Reprimanded

Back at L City Hospital, Ryan Chen was standing in front of his mirror as he inspected the red mark on his face. When he thought back about what had happened yesterday, Ryan almost could not believe that some girl had dared to raise her hand to slap him.

Up till now, he did not think what he had done wrong. He was merely speeding up the supposed dating process by offering some money to that girl. They were going to break up after all as he had no plan to marry the girl that his mother introduced him to.

Just as Ryan was busy checking at the mark, his friend, Chase Zhao, walked into the room and paused as he saw his friend's face.

"What's wrong with you?" Chase asked. "Don't tell me that you got into a fight with some patient's family?"

Ryan scoffed at his friend. "It's nothing." He turned around to leave the room but Chase was fast enough to block his way. "Move aside."

"Judging from your expression, it doesn't look as if you were fighting with some patient's family." Chase raised his brow as he continued to study his friend's expression. "Or else, I would hear about it. After all, news traveled fast in this hospital."

Ryan sighed, knowing fully well that his friend was not going to let him slide without him telling anything. "I was attacked by some crazy lady. I don't know what happened?"

"Really?" Chase looked at him in disbelief.

"It's up to you whether you want to believe it or not," Ryan shrugged. "Look. I really got to go."

Chase held up both hands as he moved aside.

"Thank you," Ryan said as he slipped away from the room. He muttered a few cursing words as he headed back to his room and turned on his computer to look at some data.

Ryan was in the middle of checking on his shift when his phone rang. He picked up his phone without even bothering to check the caller ID and was greeted by a familiar, angry voice.

"You are so dead, Ryan," the female spoke.

Ryan frowned at the threat. "Who is this?"

"It's Katie, your sister. Didn't you check on your caller ID before answering?"

"I'm sorry. I was preoccupied with something else and I pressed the answer button without even looking at the caller ID," Ryan heaved a long sigh as he leaned back on his chair. "What do you want?"

"Do you know how upset Mom was with you last night?"

"Is this about that date?" Ryan figured that the engagement would be off now that he had upset that girl. He knew that his mother would be disappointed with his action, but what happened has happened. Therefore, to avoid his mother's wrath, Ryan spent the night in the hospital.

His mother hadn't called or texted him even once to ask him how his date went but had heard of what was going on.

Ryan could only assume that the girl must have told her parents about what happened. Of course, Ryan was expecting the girl to badmouth him for what he had said.

"Yes. I've heard everything about it. And I have to say that you're in big trouble this time, Ryan."

"Well then you must know that it wasn't my fault," Ryan defended himself. "She walked away from the café shortly after I arrived."

"Ha, ha, ha," Katie feigned a laugh. "Very funny. There's something you need to know. Your mother hired someone to spy on you to see how your date goes."

His face went pale in an instant. "Mom did what?"

"You think Mom would trust you with how you would behave?"

His face turned pale at the news that his sister had brought to him. It was then that Ryan recalled how there was a waiter who stood not too far away from their table yesterday.

"Word has it that you insulted the girl and her family, which was why Mom is very furious with you," Katie said. "Look, I know that you are not a hundred percent in agreement with this arrangement, but what on earth were you thinking? Why on earth would you pull something to upset and embarrass your mother in front of her friend?"

"I did not—"

"Shut it, Ryan," Katie cut him off. "What you did was embarrassing. Mom had to go over to her friends to apologize for what you did to Miss Xu. And I'm very ashamed of what you did."

"Look. I'm very sorry. I wasn't thinking."

"Well… that was very clear, wasn't it?" Katie interjected. "If you meet her and you do not like her, you can explain. But you have to splutter all that nonsense about her wanting our family's wealth? You're an idiot. God! I can't believe that you're my brother."

"I just didn't want to go along with Mom's plan. And I thought that this was my only way out."

"Well, you can save whatever excuse you have for yourself because I have another bad news for you. Mom wants you to visit the girl's house today with her and apologize for your action."

"What?" Ryan paused. His gaze turned dark at the thought of meeting that girl again. "Why do I need to apologize?"

"You did something wrong. Of course, you need to apologize. Don't forget that you were the one who upset the girl." Katie reminded him. "So, you should be the one apologizing. Take responsibility for your actions, Ryan. Mom said that she won't be speaking to you until you apologize."

Ryan groaned in frustration.

"Listen," Katie said. "I will pick you up at six at your mother's command. So there's absolutely no way for you to get away from this. And don't try to lie and say that you have patients, because we've checked your schedule. You're free after six today."

Ryan's mouth gaped open in shock. He had never thought that his sister would go that far to check his work schedule.

"Let me give you a piece of advice," Katie continued. "Don't mess this thing up. And don't ever try to make another excuse and upset your mother even more. She was really disappointed in you with what you pulled on your date. We all are. This is your only chance to make up for the mess you created."