Love My Friends with Benefits

I turned to look at the nurse who was speaking. She didn't notice and continued, "Her family's rich enough, but she has a terrible son. He actually allowed his wife to make his mother end up in the hospital." The woman next to her lamented over this.

The nurse downed her coffee, stood up, and shook her head. "Based on what I've seen, she only has a couple of months left."

My heart sank. Without a second thought, I stood up and stopped the nurse. "Wait a minute!"

"What's wrong?"

Startled, she looked at me in confusion.

I licked my lips, unable to dispel the bitterness in my mouth. "I'm that patient's granddaughter. Please, can you tell me what's wrong with my grandmother?"

The nurse's eyes took on a sympathetic look and said, "She's too old and she has a history of health problems. She can't even be operated on." Grandma's health was already so poor?

My heart twisted painfully and I asked, "Is there... is there really no other way? There has to be, right?"

I couldn't even bring myself to believe that.

The nurse started to lose patience. "Why would I lie to you? What's in it for me?"

...

I thanked her despondently and walked back over to my seat.

Grandma was really done for...

I lowered my head as my tears flowed and fell into my coffee.

In the Jones family, the only people who truly treated me well were Grandma and Aunt Nancy. And now, Grandma was going to leave me...

I didn't know how long I sat there.

Suddenly, the clock rang thrice.

I was shaken out of my reverie and jumped to my feet as if I'd been shocked by electricity.

It was finally three o'clock.

I hurriedly grabbed my bag and flew towards the hospital's elevators. On my way there, I bumped into several people.

I wasn't even in the mood to apologise to them. I bulldozed my way to the ICU.

In the ward, Aunt Nancy was all alone with Grandma.

Aunt Nancy looked haggard and exhausted. She waved a hand at me. "Queena, come and have a seat."

Grandma lay on the hospital bed with her eyes closed, deeply asleep.

I forced my tears back and sat down next to Aunt Nancy.

"Your father and Gail just left. Apparently, Leonard wanted to see them." Aunt Nancy held my hand. "They've just left. I wanted to give you a call, but you showed up on your own."

...

I nodded guiltily.

"By the way, Queena, what are you doing here? Did you know that they would be leaving?" Aunt Nancy asked.

I shook my head and denied it without hesitation. "No."

There was no way I could tell her that Leonard had gotten them to leave because of me.

The truth was much too dirty and complicated.

I couldn't even imagine what Aunt Nancy would say if she were to find out about it.

Aunt Nancy didn't even suspect a thing. "I guess not. How would you know about something like that? Oh, I need you to take over for me for now, Queena." She rubbed her temples. "I was afraid something would happen yesterday and I waited in the corridor the whole time. I haven't even had the time to sleep yet."

I moved my mouth, wanting to tell her about the nurses' conversation, but I didn't know what to say. All I could say was, "Okay, you get some sleep."

There was a small cot in the ward. It was meant for patients' family members.

Aunt Nancy lay down on it and soon fell asleep.

I sat by the bed on my own and looked at Grandma's pasty, wrinkled face. I couldn't hold my tears back any longer.

On this day, Grandma stayed asleep. She hadn't even woken up by the time I left.

I couldn't help replaying the nurses' words in my mind as I sobbed uncontrollably.

When I got home, I found that Leonard was already waiting for me there.

He waved a hand at me. "Come here."

His gesture was no different from someone who was calling out to their pet.

I ignored him, put my bag and coat away, and got myself some tissues to wipe my face.

Leonard frowned. "Have you been crying? Why?"

"It's nothing." I didn't want to tell him the truth, so I wiped my tears and started stripping.

After all,

Leonard wanted was sex. If so, I'd just give it to him.

His voice turned stern. "Queena!"

"I told you, it's nothing."

I didn't have the strength to quarrel with him and just answered him dully.

Leonard walked over to me and stopped me from unbuttoning my clothes. "What's wrong? Is your grandmother in bad shape?"

His voice could almost be described as gentle.

This was my first time hearing Leonard speak like this since meeting him.

I shook my head. "You don't need to know."

He stilled and let me go. "She's not just your grandmother. She's Phoebe's, too."

So he was asking for Phoebe. No wonder why he'd suddenly changed his demeanour.

I responded noncommittally, still not planning on telling him the truth.

"Queena!" Leonard's tone turned frosty.

My eyes hurt like hell from all the crying, and I wasn't in the mood to cater to him. "Don't worry, Phoebe's never liked Grandma. She couldn't care less about Grandma living or dying." Leonard gnashed his teeth. "Queena!"

"I'm all out of strength today." I didn't want to waste any more time on him, so I flopped onto the bed and lay there spread-eagled. "You can do whatever you want with me." Leonard did not speak.

I heard his footsteps stop by the bed and closed my eyes. However, he didn't act as I'd anticipated.

After a while, I looked at him in confusion. "What's wrong with you?"

He stood by the head of the bed and looked at me sinisterly. "Stay away from that Austin."

What right did he have to interfere in my socialisations?

I didn't even bother to point out how ridiculous he was being.

"I said, stay away from other men."

Leonard pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit up. "Queena, don't act like you can't hear me."

Was he going to go on like this?

I reminded him, "Mr. Nell, if my memory serves me right, we only have a business relationship. You don't have the right to stop me from being with other people." Leonard did not speak.

I was so dizzy that I fell asleep without even realising it. It was midnight by the time I woke up.

My stomach growled. I was starving.

I clambered out of bed and headed to the kitchen to forage for food.

When I got to the dining room, I found some eggs and bacon on the table. A ludicrous thought popped into my

Had Leonard cooked these?

The thought of Leonard bustling around the kitchen with an apron on made me shiver with disgust.

I pushed it out of my mind. Pigs would fly if Leonard had cooked this.

I got myself some cutlery and sat down to eat.

The food was already rather cold and it didn't taste good. The bacon was especially salty.

I frowned, unable to force myself to finish the food when I was halfway through. I threw it all away.

What a waste of time.

I was still starving and ordered some takeaway.

mind.

A few minutes later, my phone rang. The call was coming from a number that I didn't recognise.

Was it normal for takeaway to be delivered so quickly nowadays?

I answered it. "Hello."

"Unblock my number."

Leonard's deep voice rang out on the other end of the line. After that, he hung up.☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐