Valentine's Chocolate

Violet stepped out of the elevator when it dinged. She looked around and saw nurses and doctors talking two meters ahead of her. She walked straight to the counter and smiled at the nurses. "Hi," She greeted. "I'm looking for Ryan Chen. Is he in?"

The nurse with jet-black hair looked up. Her eyebrow rose questioningly. "And you are?"

"Oh, I'm his," she paused before she could tell the nurse her relationship with Ryan. She couldn't announce that she was his fake girlfriend, could she? "I'm uh..."

"Miss Violet Xu?"

Violet turned around at the mention of her name. Another nurse was standing before her with a smile. It took her a few seconds before she recognized the nurse. She was in charge of her when she was admitted to the hospital not long ago.

"You're Violet Xu, right? Ryan's girlfriend?" The nurse asked. "I was in charge of you when you were being hospitalized last week."

"I remember." Violet flashed a smile.

"I'm Michelle Su. A friend of Ryan," The woman introduced herself. She held out her hand and they shook hands. "How's your head injury?"

"It's better now."

"What are you doing here? Do you have another appointment with the doctor?" Michelle looked worried.

"Oh no. I was looking for Ryan. Do you know where I could find him?"

"Of course. Come with me. I'll lead you to him." Michelle ushered Violet towards the elevator and the girls walked in silence until they reached a long corridor. "I'm really glad that you came to see him, "Michelle broke the silence between them. " Ryan has been in a foul mood today." She swept her gaze around the place and spoke in a hushed voice, "One of his patients passed away this morning."

Violet stared blankly at the nurse. She couldn't think of anything appropriate to say at this time. She tightened her grip on her purse and looked away. "Oh..."

"I hope your presence can cheer him up. Maybe you can talk to him and advise him to go home and rest or something. He has been here for thirty-six hours without much sleep."

"What?" Violet wasn't really close to Ryan. Nor did she wish to be close to him. But she can't help but worry about him a little bit.

"You seemed like a really nice person," Michelle said as she stopped at Ryan's door. "We should definitely hang out sometimes."

"Why not?" Violet said easily. She waved her hand when Michelle left her at Ryan's door. She took a deep breath to muster some courage and rapped her knuckles on the door.

"Yes?" A voice responded from inside. "Come in."

Violet pushed the door open and saw Ryan sitting behind his desk. She walked into the room and feigned a cheerful smile. "Hi!"

Ryan replied to her with a groan. "What do you want?"

"My parents told me to drop you a visit. You know that I cannot ignore them since we are both worried that they are keeping their eyes on us." Violet decided to ignore his unfriendliness. She looked around the surroundings and took a few steps towards him. She noticed that black ring around his eyes and recalled what Michelle had told her earlier. "Uh... Michelle told me what happened. About your patient. I'm sorry to hear that."

Ryan groaned and muttered something under his breath. He closed his eyes and decided to pay no attention to her.

"So… How are you?"

"I'm fine."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. Not really."

"Well," Violet hesitated. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes. Now that you have seen me, please go away." He looked up when he sensed that she was still standing in front of him. "What do you want from me?

"I'm here to deliver this to you," She went through her purse and took out a small package tied with red ribbons. "My parents told me to bring this to you since we are dating. Mr. Chen, it's Valentine's chocolate."

"Thank you. But I don't like sweet stuff," he said but took the package anyway. He thought that he could perhaps give it to his niece later on.

Violet raised a brow. "Really? I thought you liked chocolates. I noticed how happy you were when your niece gave you chocolate the other day. Just try one. I'll leave once you try one."

Ryan looked at the chocolate hesitantly.

He wondered if Violet would leave if he took a bite of one of the chocolates.

Ryan unwrapped the package and inspected the chocolates. The scent of the sweet and bitter chocolate got into his nose and he started to salivate. "I think I'm going to take just one bite of them." He held the chocolate in his hand and said, "But I'm doing this just because you have come all the way here to bring me these chocolates. And I'm just trying to express my gratitude."

Violet rolled her eyes at his remark. "Stop with the excuses. I know how hard it is for you to resist the temptation." She watched Ryan popped one chocolate truffle in his mouth and asked, "How is it?"

"It's good." He continued to munch on the chocolate. Ryan liked that the chocolate had a bitter-sweet taste on it. "Strange. It got this spicy taste in it."

Violet nodded. "Of course. They've got red pepper in it."

"W-what?" He took a paper towel on his desk and took out the chocolate from his mouth. "Are you trying to trick me?"

Violet laughed. "Of course not. My brother bought them during his trip overseas. They're very safe to eat." Violet took one of the chocolates and bit into it. "See?" She rolled her eyes when he gave her a skeptical look. "I'm surprised that you didn't like them. Chocolate and spice are both perfect to improve your mood. They're good for you.'"

Ryan eyed her suspiciously and took another piece of truffle.

Violet bit her smile as he watched him. She was glad that he was back to his normal self. But she wondered if he was really okay.

She knew that once she left the room, Ryan would start thinking about his deceased patient again, and that would get him into a bad mood. Violet was no fan of Ryan, but she knew that it was not a good idea to leave a grieving person by himself.

Violet took a deep breath. "We should go now."

"Go? Where are we going? I don't remember making any plans with you."

"We have now. I have somewhere I want to go and I want you to come along with me."

"Why should I go along with you?"

"Because you're supposed to be my boyfriend."

"But I'm not."

Violet sighed knowing that it would be hard for her to convince him to come out with her. "Listen here. I'm going to give you two options."

Ryan motioned her to continue.

"It's either you come with me." Violet paused and smiled. "Or stay here and I will tell your mother that you canceled a date and stood me up."

Ryan snickered. "What date? We don't have any appointment."

She nodded. "True. But I can make up a story about this nonexistent date. I bet that your mother would rather believe my words than yours."

Ryan leaned forward and placed his hand on the table. He clenched his teeth to suppress his anger. He understood that Violet was blackmailing him. "You wouldn't dare."

Violet blinked. "Oh, we'll see about that."