Incurable Chapter 19 Part 1

The office was silent. From the corridor came the occasional rush of gurney wheels, the frantic rolling sound threaded with a patient’s low moans and a nurse’s soft instructions.

Mu Wan sat on the exam bed, hands braced at her sides. Her shoulders lifted slightly, collarbones subtly raised, forming a graceful hollow at her throat. She lowered her eyes to her raised foot.

A plain, ordinary bandage sat on the pale top of her foot. The edges lay neat and flat, covering the red mark and the cool sting of the red antiseptic Liu Qianxiu had dabbed on.

Most doctors had a touch of cleanliness obsession. Liu Qianxiu didn’t, not exactly.

He was simply disciplined.

And because of that, everything he did was clean, precise, without a shred of waste.

Mu Wan wiggled her toes, then looked up at him. “Will it heal before you get off work?”

She’d come early. It was only 4:30. Liu Qianxiu still had an hour before he officially got off. She wasn’t leaving.

She planned to wait right here, in his office, as a “patient.”

Liu Qianxiu lifted his gaze to her, set his things down, and answered calmly. “Mm.”

He agreed. Mu Wan lifted her foot a little higher and grinned.

At the doorway, Xiao Yun stood watching.

Inside, the woman sat on the exam bed in a fitted ginger-yellow dress, her waist slim enough to wrap one hand around. Black hair spilled down her back, leaving only narrow shoulders exposed. She was tall and thin, yet even from her back alone, you could feel the sheer, effortless allure.

A woman’s charm wasn’t something clothes gave her.

It was something she gave the clothes.

The red dress last time, the ginger-yellow today. On anyone else, it would be imitation.

Xiao Yun lowered her lashes.

When she came over, she’d heard the nurses gossiping about a stunning woman walking into Doctor Liu’s office. Their voices were sharp with jealousy and admiration, but their conclusion was the same.

Doctor Liu wouldn’t pay her any attention.

Liu Qianxiu was like an immortal, with a depth most people didn’t have. A man like that wouldn’t be shallow enough to fall for a gorgeous face.

Staring at Mu Wan’s back, Xiao Yun’s eyes flashed with faint contempt. She knocked.

Both people inside turned.

Xiao Yun pushed the door open and walked in.

“Doctor Liu, the department head wants you. He needs to discuss the surgical plan for next week’s operation.”

As she spoke, her gaze slid toward Mu Wan. She offered a polite smile, then looked away.

Whatever had happened at Masyale’s restroom last time had been filed away as if it had never existed.

Mu Wan didn’t smile back. She watched Liu Qianxiu, concerned about a different issue.

“Will it take long?” Mu Wan asked.

Liu Qianxiu rose. The light from the window shifted as his body blocked it. He looked down at Mu Wan.

“Not long. Wait here. We’ll leave together in a bit.”

His voice was low, meant only for her. But the office was too empty, too open, and sound traveled without restraint.

Xiao Yun’s gaze changed.

Liu Qianxiu stood by the exam bed. Mu Wan still braced her hands behind her, chin tipped up toward him. Even without sunlight, her eyes were bright—black as ink, clear to the bottom.

“Okay,” she said.

Liu Qianxiu withdrew his gaze, picked up the documents from the desk, and said to Xiao Yun, “Let’s go.”

Xiao Yun blinked, then recovered. Her lips moved before she managed a single word.

“Okay.”

Right before leaving, she looked at Mu Wan properly for the first time.

Mu Wan was smiling at her. The dress caught the light. She looked like a small wildcat—sharp and sweet at once.

Sharp to Xiao Yun.

Sweet to Liu Qianxiu.

Out in the corridor, Xiao Yun walked at Liu Qianxiu’s side. Nurses passed, greeting them. Xiao Yun looked at him and smiled.

“Doctor Liu, it’s not really appropriate to leave Miss Mu alone in your office.”

Liu Qianxiu glanced at her—his gaze like wind, sweeping lightly across her chest.

Xiao Yun’s smile tightened.

“I’m only reminding you. A doctor’s office isn’t somewhere just anyone can come and go… unless they’re very close.”

“Mm.” Liu Qianxiu looked away, his tone bland. “Then she has no problem.”

Xiao Yun’s chest seized.

Her throat trembled.

She lowered her eyes.

Liu Qianxiu hadn’t lied.

Mu Wan played two rounds of Plants vs. Zombies on the exam bed, and he was back.

The door clicked. Mu Wan lifted her head, eyes lighting up.

“You’re back.” She pocketed her phone and hopped off the exam bed.

Her foot was fine. She slipped her heel on, the bandage peeking out.

Liu Qianxiu swept his gaze over it, answered quietly, and set the documents down. Then he took off his white coat.

“Can we go now?” Mu Wan asked.

“I can leave early.” He’d only returned from his trip this morning. He hadn’t even been scheduled to work this afternoon, but the hospital called him in. He hung up the coat and said, “I need to stop by a friend’s place to pick up the cats. Are you coming?”

Without the coat, he wore a linen shirt and trousers, still in that same light, comfortable style—clean and faintly otherworldly.

Mu Wan’s eyes wandered to the line of collarbone at his open neckline. She didn’t answer his question.

Instead, she asked, “Is it a boy or a girl, friend?”

Liu Qianxiu looked at her, expression steady.

Mu Wan felt a flicker of guilt under his gaze. She was about to explain herself when he answered.

“A man. However, the cats are under his wife’s care.”

“Oh.” The jealousy in Mu Wan’s chest settled, then turned sweet all over again. She answered lightly, as if it didn’t matter.

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