If only

Beijing Tiantan Hospital.

Ava was very busy since morning seeing patients in the outpatient department when an unwelcomed guest appeared there. She felt a headache was coming from seeing the smiling face of the devil in front of her. She wondered what new scheme was on his mind today.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Jones?" Ava swiped Liam's card and asked with an indifferent and cold face.

"Ava, is this how you treat your future brother-in-law?" Liam said with a smile as he got more comfortable in the chair.

"No matter who you are, right now you are just my patient. Moreover, I never heard Oliver call you his brother." Ava said with a sneer.

"That kid is so impolite, I wonder sometimes righteous woman like you how did you become like this?" Liam pretended to be sad.

Ava didn't respond instead she looked at him calmly and waited for him to tell her the reason for his visit today.

"Look at you, you are becoming more like him every day," Liam said with a sarcastic smile on his face.

"Are you here to talk about this rubbish? Liam, I am really busy please leave if you have nothing to talk about." Ava said a little annoyed.

"Wow you are very impatient, aren't you?" Liam kept smiling at her. He liked to annoy her, he thought she looked really cute when she was annoyed or angry.

"Liam you are mentally sick and incurable so please check into a mental hospital rather than annoy me here." Ava insulted him on his face. She couldn't take his playful attitude anymore.

Liam looked at her wide eyes and pretended to be scared. His acting was so natural if Ava didn't know him she would think he was really scared of what she had just said.

"You are really cruel Ava."

"Liam stop acting and say what you have come to say here." Ava swiped his card again to see off the patient.

Ava's eyes flashed impatience. She thought how different these two men were. Liam was good at portraying a warm image whereas he was vicious inside full of planning and plotting, On the other hand, Oliver always gave away a cold and indifferent attitude but in his heart he was so caring and warm.

"What the hell Ava, You didn't even check what is wrong with me?" Liam saw Ava swiped his card he felt very upset. Was she so eager to send him away?

"Don't worry Mr. Jones, I don't think you have any physical problem," Ava said scornfully.

"How do you know that? I have been feeling chest pain recently, will you check it for me please," Liam said as he touched his heart. He was telling the truth.

Ava frown and stared at him with doubt for a while then she remembered his father has a heart problem so he might be telling the truth. Ava picked up her stethoscope to check his heart condition. She was a bit surprised to see that Liam was indeed telling the truth, his heart does have some symptoms and unfortunately, she assumed it's the same problem as his father, coronary heart disease. He must have inherited it genetically from his father.

Ava took out Liam's magnetic card and swiped it again. She started to write the details on his medical book, then looked at him and said very seriously, "Liam, you have some symptoms of your father's disease. To be sure I need to run some tests on you but most important thing is that you will have to quit smoking. Smoking is very dangerous for your heart right now."

"How would I quit smoking? I have been smoking for a long time." Liam's face was a little heavy.

He had been smoking since he was 16 years old and he was addicted to it. Whenever he was upset, he would smoke cigarettes after cigarettes to calm himself down. He didn't know if he could go without smoking even an hour.

"Liam, be serious. This is your life, don't you want to live a long and healthy life?" Ava said in a little desperate tone.

"Ava, I understand you are a doctor, so you value life very much. But sometimes it's really painful to live and at that time to make it another day, smoking becomes a necessity." Liam said indifferently lowering his eyes as he hid all the bitterness of his heart in them.

Ava felt helpless, Liam looked really pitiful at that moment and she wondered what kind of pain he has been hiding in his heart. "Look, Liam, if you don't listen to me, I'll have no other choice but to tell your father about your illness."

"Don't... Please don't tell him anything. I'll try to quit smoking." Liam said showing his sunny smile.

"Do these tests and send me the reports. I have prescribed some oral medicine for now, after seeing your report I'll change them if required. You must take the medicine on time and never miss a day. Do that for a month and if you still have chest pain come again for further consultation." Ava lowered her head as she wrote everything in his medical record book. Then she turned the pages to check his previous history and frowned.

Liam already knew about his disease. Last October, he had seen another doctor who has confirmed that he has coronary heart disease. However, he was not taking any medicine. Coronary heart disease could be dangerous and could even cause death if wasn't treated on time but if it's detected early, with proper treatment it is possible to cure it.

"Liam, you knew about this! Why aren't you getting treatments then?" Ava asked a bit confused. What kind of person doesn't want to get treatment after knowing, he had such a serious disease?

"Chill Av's! What's the point? I'll die sooner or later, everyone does and sometimes, it's not a bad thing to leave early." Liam said with a playful smile as if he didn't care at all.

"Liam, how could you say that? Your father is so old yet he cooperates with the treatment and cherishes his life. You are still so young how can you give up on your life like that? This world is so beautiful, there are so many things in here to live for, are you telling me that you have no reason to live?" Ava got a little excited. He was right she valued life very much because she had seen death from too close.

Liam looked at Ava's excited face and thought, he would have a reason to live if she was in his life if she would look after him if she would scold him like that for not taking care of himself, if only she would smile just for him and if only they could grow old together. If only she could be his.