Crashing into an Old Flame
Chapter 227: Elite guards

Chapter 227: Elite guards

The ride to the hospital was drowned in silence.

Maxim’s gaze never once shifted to Diana throughout the ride as he focused on the road ahead. But his pale knuckles gripping the steering wheel tightly reflected his emotions.

Diana tried to initiate a conversation with him a few times when they left the apartment but when he kept giving her the cold shoulder, without even listening to what she had to say, she just stayed quiet and looked out of the window.

When they reached the hospital, Diana reached out to open the door but her wrist was locked in a tight grip.

She glanced at Maxim, wide-eyed, ’’Let us talk...’’

Before she could finish speaking, he dropped her hand and stepped out of the car. Walking around the car, he came to the other side and opened the door for her like he always did.

Looking at his stoic face, Diana did not know whether to laugh or cry. She wanted to rip his hair off out of frustration but kiss him at the same time. Such conflicting feelings... felt so foreign to her yet they strangely warmed her heart.

She stepped out of the car without hesitation.

As Maxim closed the door and turned to leave, Diana grabbed his hand. When he halted in his tracks, she opened her mouth to speak, ’’What I was trying to say...’’

’’Dr. Warner!" A voice interrupted her words.

Diana’s grip on Maxim’s wrist loosened as she turned to look at the newcomer.

Veronica was rushing towards them, sporting a head full of messy hair. Her elegance was nowhere to be seen at the moment as she looked so pale and frightened like she had just survived a disaster.

The look on her face made Diana straighten up. For some reason, she had an ominous feeling rising in her chest.

’’It... It’s an emergency,’’ Veronica quickly uttered when she noticed Maxim’s narrowed eyes. She knew he was not really fond of her in any way.

Maxim was an impassive person, except for a few rare interactions with the Director and certain special combat altercations with Alex occasionally, he didn’t really pay attention to much. For Veronica, he was initially indifferent towards her but after she messed with Diana a few times, she could sense the harshness in his gaze whenever he looked at her.

Much to her shock, he had personally made a move to come and ask her to stay away from Diana and she had not really done anything lately.

But at this moment, Veronica did not dare to linger on the matters of the past nor did she have the leisure to be afraid of Maxim.

With a life hanging by a thread in the operation theatre, all Veronica knew was that she was the one responsible for it. Never once in her whole career had she caused such a blunder.

Maxim shifted his attention to Veronica when she mentioned ’emergency’.

Veronica gulped before she narrated the whole incident to Maxim, ’’After Dr. Rick left, Dr. Qin took over the case but... but... most of the doctors working in the night shift had already left so no one was available to assist Dr. Qin. We tried to contact you but...’’

As she trailed off, Maxim’s hand had already shifted to his pocket to reach for his phone. But it took him a moment to realize that he did not have his phone with him. Ever since he became a doctor, there has never been a day that he went somewhere without his phone, so as to not miss any emergency calls. But today...

After Diana told him that she wanted to go back to Beijing, those words kept echoing through his mind over and over again like a persistent alarm and he could not focus on the rest of the world.

’’And... And...’’ Veronica stuttered.

Looking at her pale face and broken explanation, Diana could not be certain if Veronica was just intimidated by Maxim or if the situation was not that simple.

But she concluded that it was the latter. Although for some reason, Veronica seemed to be fidgety around Maxim but Diana had never seen her being so scared before.

Just as Veronica was trying to make her words comprehensible, she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. Her eyes widened and she looked at Diana in surprise.

Diana awkwardly comforted her. If someone told her that she would comfort the woman who splashed wine on her and hated her to the bones, then Diana would have told them that she was no holy mother.

But apparently, life and circumstances can be just as unpredictable.

’’And what?’’ Diana looked at Veronica as she stepped back from her and grabbed Maxim’s hand to stop him.

Maxim seemed like he did not even want to have a whole picture of the situation before rushing inside. But Diana did not want him to leave without having an idea of what he was getting himself into. Because Veronica’s expression obviously did not sign towards anything simple.

Diana’s instincts told her that the situation was far more complex.

Maxim glanced at the slender fingers that were firmly locked around his wrist. Was it fun for her to hold him so tight just to let go in the end?

He closed his eyes and forcefully repressed the complicated emotions growing in his chest.

When he opened his eyes, his gaze was calm as he glanced at Veronica, ’’Explain.’’

"When Dr. Qin went to the operation theatre, he was surrounded by a few men... They...’’ Veronica took a deep breath and forced herself to continue, ’’They appeared out of nowhere. They are well-built and from their uniforms, they seem to be elite guards. One of them punched Dr. Qin...’’

If it was some other time, Diana would have burst out in laughter at Alex’s misery for being punched when he was just dutifully intending to treat a patient. Who asked him to chastise Maxim in front of her?