After a fit of coughs, she searched for the source of the smoke and saw a quite large man leaning on the edge, a bit further from where she was.
He continued smoking as he let out the puffs into the air. Didn't he hear her cough? She soliloquized.
Tang Li Na walked towards him and stood behind him.
"Sir?" She called but didn't get any response. She called him again only to be ignored. She frowned.
Frustrated, Tang Li Na patted his shoulder and he finally turned and looked at her.
'Wow'. She said internally when she saw his features. When she had approached him, she figured that his body was killer although he was also in the baggy hospital attire. But she would have never guessed that he was this...this ethereal.
His black orbs stared at her as he silently removed the ear pods from his ears.
Oh.
"Can I help you?" His smooth voice flowed into her ears.
"Ah, yes. The smoke from your cigarette is too strong , sir."
"Oh, my apologies." He said as he put out the cigarette.
"Thank you." She said as she turned to leave to go back to the spot she was at before.
"The view is better from here." The man suddenly said, forcing Tang Li Na to glance back at him. His large back was turned towards her and after a moment of contemplation, she walked to where he stood.
"Woah. It's so beautiful." She said in amazement as she leaned on the railing.
She stretched out her hands as she let the cold breeze flow.
"Even the breeze here is better." She said as she took a deep breath.
The man was watching her intently and unbeknownst to him, a smile formed on his lips.
"I'm Zhuo Li." He introduced.
"Li Na." She replied , purposefully removing her Tang surname.
She was quiet for a while as she remembered that that name had been mentioned in the novel only two times. So, he wasn't the male lead.
"Tang Li Na, I assume. The infamous tycoon of Beijing" He lazily drawled out causing her head to snap towards him.
"Relax." He chuckled when he saw her tensed face.
"Your unique hair color sold you out." He chuckled again as he stood straight and put his hands in the pockets of his trousers.
"Is that so? I'm thinking of dyeing my hair now." She joked.
"Don't. It's perfect the way it is."
"You think?"
"Yes." He smiled. Never in his years of life, would Zhuo Li think that he would find himself smiling ever so brightly with a woman. But he was not complaining though.
"What are you in the hospital for?" She asked when she noticed his sudden silence.
He silently lifted his shirt slightly and showed her a freshly bandaged wound on his abdomen.
"Was shot yesterday. I will be in here for a while." He answered.
"You're strong for walking around with that fresh wound. I was in a coma for six months after taking four bullets." She laughed.
Zhuo Li stared at her in shock. Four bullets ? In that small body of hers?
"Wow. That must have hurt."
"Like a bitch." She replied.
"By the way, are you from around here? I mean from Beijing?" She asked.
"No. I'm on a business trip, well I was, until I was shot, but I'm from Shanghai."
"Zhuo Li. I knew that name sounded familiar. You're that infamous tryant boss of the Zhuo Enterprises, right?"
He chuckled. "I wouldn't say, tyrant but yes I'm the president of Zhuo Enterprises."
"Isn't it funny that the presidents of top companies are in the hospital?" She laughed.
"Yes." He smiled.
"Wanna be friends?" She asked as she sat on a nearby couch.
"Yeah sure. We'll both be here for a while, so why not?"
After chatting for a while, she looked at the time on her wristwatch and stood straight. "I guess it's time for me to go."
"Let's go together." He suggested and they walked to the elevator. When they reached the top floor, they got off and Zhuo Li stopped outside the room that was heavily guarded. The bodyguards saw their boss and bowed their heads.
"Hey, when you're bored yu can come visit me in room 8. There." She pointed where her bodyguards were standing on guard. He nodded and bid her goodnight before entering his room.
Tang Li Na headed to her room, happy that she had at least made a friend.
The next morning, she woke up and as per her routine, her doctor did a check up on her and gave her her medication.
"You have quite improved since the last check up. And if I may say, you'll be discharged next week. But your therapy sessions will continue for a month." Doctor Guo said as he passed his clipboard to a nurse.
"That's good news." Tang Li Na smiled.
"Excuse us." The doctor and the nurse left.
As she lay on the bed, waiting for breakfast ,she heard a knock.
"Come in."
Zhuo Li walked in with a tray of food and headed towards her bed.
"I didn't know you were a part time nurse." She joked as she sat up on the bed.
"I'm not a nurse perse but I'm somehow a doctor." He smiled. "Good morning. I brought you breakfast." He placed the tray on the bedside table and sat on the edge of her bed, facing her.
"Good morning." She replied. " You're a doctor for real?"
"I actually did medicine for two years then dropped the course to take over the business, so I'd say that I know one or two about med." He answered and took one of the apples from the tray and peeled it for her.
"So your dream career was being a doctor?"
"Not really. My father forced me to do it."
"I hate when parents force their kids to do something." She commented.
"But I had no option then since he was in power and there was nothing I could do. But after he almost made the business collapse, my grandfather made me the president when I finished my business studies."
"I bet your father was mad ."
"He still is, to this day." He shrugged.
"Do you hate him?"
"Hate is a strong word but I don't love him either."
" I loathe my father." She smiled, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. Zhuo Li could see hatred and disgust buried deep in her orbs.