Chapter 4 Melinda's Been Dead For Years

Leanna turned her face away almost immediately.

Why did she run into Shane again?

"No, thanks," she muttered under her breath.

Keeping her head lowered, Leanna stepped forward and picked up her pace, trying to slip away as quickly as possible.

At that moment, a middle-aged woman walked in, accidentally blocking her path. "Leanna? What a coincidence. You are here to pick up medicine for your grandmother, right?"

Shane's eyes moved slowly over Leanna.

She was dressed in a white silk blouse paired with a light blue denim pencil skirt. Large hoop earrings accentuated the graceful line of her neck, and the bold shade on her lips stood out sharply against them.

He suddenly remembered her.

"You were patient No. 156 yesterday," he said.

He saw countless patients every day, but she had left an impression.

She was the only patient who had directly asked if she could see another doctor the next time.

Leanna looked up and flashed a small smile. "You've got quite the memory, Dr. Lloyd."

Remembering people by numbers, really? That level of detachment was precisely what she associated with Shane.

"Follow me," Shane said, already turning away without waiting for her response.

Left with no choice, Leanna followed him into the consultation room.

Shane hung his stethoscope around his neck, his tone casual as he asked, "Were you up late last night?"

Leanna sat down, hunching her shoulders slightly. "The dark circles have always been there."

Her probation evaluation was approaching, so she couldn't afford to slow down.

She couldn't help but wonder what had happened that caused the client to hold back from making a decision.

Shane raised his head and studied her quietly through his glasses.

He couldn't explain it, but something about Leanna felt oddly familiar.

Being alone in the room with Shane made Leanna uneasy. She fiddled with her phone, unable to stay still.

Suddenly, a gentle tune rang out.

Shane recognized the tune immediately and, without thinking, looked toward the phone on the desk, where a large alarm icon blinked on the screen.

Leanna had already brought the phone to her ear. "Hello, Mr. Wallace? Yes, there's still a proposal that hasn't been finalized. Okay, okay. I'll come over right away."

She pretended to end the call. Before she could speak, Shane placed a small medical kit in front of her with a soft thump.

He lowered his voice. "Using an alarm as an excuse to leave?"

Leanna ducked her head even lower.

Could this get any more uncomfortable?

Shane calmly opened the kit. Inside, slender medical instruments gleamed under the light, arranged with precise, clinical order.

A chill crept into Leanna's palms, damp with sweat.

Just then, several nurses walked in together, laughing and chatting.

"Oh my God, there's a really handsome guy outside," one of them said excitedly. "Like, insanely handsome."

"Seriously? Where? Did you get his contact information?" another asked.

"No. He said he came here with his girlfriend."

Leanna hardly noticed their talk about the so-called handsome man. Her thoughts were already spiraling, focused solely on finding a way to escape.

At that moment, Evan walked in with an easy smile, heading straight toward her.

"Hey, Leanna, are you okay?" he asked, standing by her side.

Nearby, the nurses exchanged whispers among one another.

"That's him. So the handsome guy really has a girlfriend. I'm officially heartbroken."

Shane glanced at Evan before he could stop himself.

"I'm fine," Leanna blurted in reply. "I just remembered something I need to handle at home. Let's go."

She reached out, grabbed Evan's arm, and pulled him toward the door.

She couldn't stand being in the same space as Shane for even a second longer.

Evan glanced briefly back at Shane before following Leanna outside.

The moment they stepped out of the community health center, Leanna sighed in relief.

"Are you okay?" Evan asked, lifting his arm and lightly pressing the back of his hand against her forehead.

She stiffened for a second, and then pulled his arm down and strode straight toward the parking lot.

"I'm okay. Let's leave; dinner's on me," she said.

Evan scuttled after her, his tone apologetic and slightly awkward. "Sorry about earlier, Leanna. I didn't want to give my number to strangers; that's why I told them you were my girlfriend."

"It's alright," Leanna blurted, barely processing his words. The only thing she cared about was leaving that place as quickly as possible, putting as much distance as she could between herself and Shane.

Soon after that, she received a wedding invitation from a former high school classmate.

Back in high school, she had created an email account she hardly used anymore, and the invitation was sitting in its inbox.

Logging into an old social media account she hadn't accessed in years, she found it filled with private messages from Lanny.

"Hey, why aren't you responding? Don't tell me you actually died on an operating table while getting cosmetic surgery."

"Melinda, if you're seeing this, please say something. Everyone's so worried about you."

Leanna read through all the messages, one after another, until she reached the most recent one.

"I'm getting married, Melinda. Don't forget to come to the wedding."

The invitation was, without question, a dilemma.

Lanny had always been one of the genuinely kind people in their class. He had never openly defended her, but whenever she was bullied, he had quietly reported it to a teacher and stopped things from escalating.

Not going would be an unfair thing to do.

But if she did go, what kind of ridicule would she face this time?

She spent the night restless, tossing and turning, before finally sending a message to her friend living overseas. "What do you think about me going to Lanny's wedding?"

Her friend replied almost immediately, "When is the wedding? Let me go with you."

"It's next weekend. But concentrate on your work; I'll be fine on my own."

Just a day before Lanny's wedding, there was a get-together event at Time & Taste, a restaurant located in the Lakeside Building.

Coincidentally, Leanna went by invitation to the same restaurant-her former part-time workplace-to join a tasting event organized by their newly appointed head chef.

By seven in the evening, most of the attendees were already there. Even Shane had arrived early for a change.

Former classmates joked casually around him. "Dr. Lloyd, when are you going back to take over the family business?"

Another person laughed and added, "Obviously after he marries Averie. That's the plan, right?"

Shane didn't touch the glass in front of him. He was worried that an emergency might come up at either the community health center or the hospital, and he stayed mentally prepared to leave at any second.

The groom-to-be, Lanny, walked onto the small stage in the middle of the room with a microphone. "Is everyone here now? If so, I'll give a short speech."

"Not yet!" someone shouted from the crowd. "Beth and Melinda still aren't here!"

"Melinda? Who's that?"

"You know, the girl with all the freckles."

"Oh, stop it. Melinda's been dead for years. What is this, a ghost story?"

At those words, Shane's water glass tipped over. Water splashed across the table, wetting the cuff of his white shirt.