Chapter 293 I Have a Girlfriend Now
Lacey messaged: [Still awake?]
Jason replied: [Insomnia's been my constant companion lately.]
Lacey: [In that case, I'm heading to a midnight screening. Care to join me?]
Jason's fingers hovered over the screen, hesitation evident in his delayed response.
Lacey quickly added: [It's a horror film. I've heard the midnight showings are practically empty-like having a private screening. I don't want to end up scared stiff with no one to call for help!] She included a playful tongue-out emoji.
A smile tugged at Jason's lips as he read her message. After a moment's consideration, he simply replied "Sure" before getting up to change.
While driving to the theater, his phone rang unexpectedly. Upon answering, he immediately made a U-turn and accelerated toward Grace Hospital.
The caller was Mike, bearing shocking news: Yara Griffin, the student who had
confessed her feelings to Jason earlier that day, had attempted suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills. She'd been rushed to Grace Hospital, though details remained unclear.
At the hospital, a female student was waiting to escort him inside. As he hurried through the entrance, Jason quickly texted Lacey: [I'm terribly sorry, but I won't make it. A student has attempted suicide with sleeping pills. I'm at Grace Hospital now.]
A crowd had gathered outside the operating room-teachers, classmates, and Yara's family. The woman sobbing uncontrollably was presumably Yara's mother.
Mike handed Jason a neatly folded note. "Yara left this for you."
Rather than reading it immediately, Jason pocketed the letter and strode toward the operating room.
"What's her status?" he asked.
"She just arrived. The doctors are preparing to pump her stomach," Mike explained.
Having previously worked at Grace Hospital, Jason was well-known among the medical staff. The attending physician invited him to assist with the procedure.
Fortunately, Yara had been brought in quickly enough. After having her stomach pumped, she was out of immediate danger.
While waiting for her to regain consciousness, Jason read her letter-three pages of heartfelt emotions, the ink smudged in places where tears had fallen as she wrote.
Jason was the unwitting catalyst for this situation, yet he
the procedure. Upon seeing Jason
"Mr. Foster!" she exclaimed.
appeared fragile against
world had ended. She poured out her
Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough already?" he snapped, stamping his foot
embarrassing about first love," Jason
seemed like a glimmer of hope in his words, Yara
before. I don't think I'll ever be able to love anyone else. Please tell me what's
didn't immediately dismiss her. Instead, he
guard. "I'm not sure," she admitted quietly. "Maybe it's your appearance, or perhaps your voice. All I know is that I fell for you
Mike's earlier intervention, Jason
vigorously. "You're lying. You've been at the university for months, and I've never heard anything
"He's not lying."
how to maintain his well-intentioned deception, a
instead," she explained kindly. "It's fine-we'll have plenty of other opportunities
a long moment before slowly lowering her gaze in defeat. "Listen," Lacey said with remarkable gentleness, "nothing
toward her parents, a flicker of remorse crossing her
arrived. After greeting the teachers and Jason, they
she said caused Yara to look at Lacey with sudden
said. "I just need time to move on. You should go now. For my parents' sake, I promise to take
She seemed genuinely resolved.
relieved. "Good.
Lacey left
days. It seems you're quite the
just shows how today's youth lack resilience they can't handle even
or bad, has value," she said thoughtfully.
silent, though her words
mother left with my younger brother, leaving my father and me behind. From that point on, I had to learn to take care of myself
memories, Lacey smiled faintly and turned to Jason. "How about you? I believe everyone hits rough patches while growing up. If you haven't faced them
box, lit a cigarette,
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