He was not a rigid by-the-book person after all. Jeff may have pointed him the way, but Gregory was not dead set on that single way to be at the mercy of others if there were other paths to go down.
He had once thought about asking Sean to treat Vickie.
However, the doctor he invited was no lesser than Sean in terms of medical skills. In addition to that, Sean was an eccentric character and lived a reclusive life in the desert.
Gregory had only heard of Sean’s reputation but had never seen him in person before, let alone have any kind of contact with him. With it being a hard enough task just to find him, it would be even tougher to ask him for help.
Nevertheless, it was a whole different story now since Sean was Nell’s stepfather. Therefore, he had toyed with that idea when he first met Sean at the entrance to the theatre.
However, it was simply rude to bring the matter up right away on the first encounter. Gregory had considered speaking with Nell and the rest once he was back so that they could enquire on his behalf.
It never occurred to him that a call from Nell and her party would first come in before he had a chance to ask.
Feeling comforted, Gregory mulled over how his teaching to this apprentice was not for nothing. She still had her mentor in mind when the situation called for it.
Gregory gave a straight answer to Nell’s proposal.
Following the end of the call, Nell went next door to look for Cathy and Sean.
After listening to what she was there for, Cathy turned to Sean and said, “Sean, Miss Thomas has a kind face. I like her. Why don’t you take a look?”
Sean carried the same stone-cold look on his face, but the words that came out of his mouth were gentle as could be. “Sure, I’ll examine her tomorrow.”
Turning around, Casey gazed at Nell. “Your Uncle Miller has agreed to it. Set up a time with Miss Thomas tomorrow and we’ll be there.”
Nell happily nodded and bade them a good night before taking off.
The next day, Vickie agreed upon a time with them and met them in their hotel room. Since the medical equipment had no use in detecting Vickie’s illness after all, Sean had to see her in person to figure out.
Since Vickie and Gregory were the ones asking for help, it was not right to request Sean to travel far, thus they went straight to him.
Nell went down to pick them up and took them to Sean and Cathy’s room. The group sat on the sofa while Sean and Vickie took a seat opposite each other at a nearby table.
Sean first took her pulse before examining other areas of her body such as behind the ears, her nails, and so on.
Not far off was Nell watching in great fascination. She muttered to Cathy. “Mom, Vickie seemed to be suffering a grave illness. What can Uncle Miller observe just by taking a look?”
Cathy chuckled in a low voice. “Between looking, hearing, questioning, and checking the pulse, the sense of sight isn’t as simple as it sounds. Although I don’t know what illness Miss Thomas has or am I proficient medically, I do know that if a person has issues in their internal organs, there will be corresponding changes to their outer exterior. Even if it’s just a minute change, it can be picked up through careful observation.”
Having understood, Nell nodded. “Oh, I see.”
It did not take long before Sean was done with the examination.
Everyone was dumbstruck by his statement. Gregory looked awful while the color was drained from Vickie’s face.
Nell gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder before turning to Sean and asking, “Uncle Miller, you must have done some research on this disease since you have a clear idea of it. Is there no cure for it?”
Sean coldly scoffed, “Cure? This illness has no cure because it's not an illness. This thing won’t go unless you drain her blood, scrape off her flesh, and remove her bones.”
A gloominess overtook everyone’s expressions.
Vickie frowned. “Why? Doctor Miller, can you explain it clearly?”
Sean threw a glance at her. For some reason, Nell could sense that Sean’s attitude towards Vickie had changed ever since finding that the latter was part of the Flinders family.
He seemed to have switched from the friendliness in the beginning to giving her tit for tat, harboring an indistinct animosity. Although she did not know where the animosity was coming from, Nell trusted her instincts.
Sean coldly blurted out, “This isn’t an illness. It’s a type of mutated cell that was inherited hidden within your body. This mutated cell has been hibernating since you were born and has been waiting for a moment when it would suddenly blow up and engulf the other cells in your body. Your viscera will then swiftly deteriorate and you will age quickly and die in less than half an hour.”
Vickie turned as white as a sheet. It was exactly the same as Jeff described before.
Realizing this, Gregory came forth and anxiously inquired, “Aren’t there any methods to kill these cells? The kind used against cancerous cells?”
Sean coldly scoffed, “Kill? How do you kill them? These cells in her body aren’t just in one area. Instead, it’s her entire body from her bloodstream, her heart, to every strand of her hair. In other words, she has a symbiositic relationship with these cells. She’ll die if you kill the cells. Are you going to kill her too?”
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Spoiled by the President