King of My Heart

Chapter 9 - The Graduation Ceremony

Liam Craig's POV

Even though she often claim she has no interest in medicine, during this whole period of the internship she has proved otherwise. In fact, it heartens me to see how serious she is in her learning and how passionately committed she is when she discusses about patients' conditions with me.

The look in her eyes when she attends to patients is undeceiving, I'm as certain as she should be that this is what her calling is for and what she truly wanted to be when I promised to make her a doctor back then when we were young.

As much as I enjoyed watching her by my side, it is true that time flies when you enjoy it. Within the blink of an eye, her internship has ended and what ensued was the invitation to her convocation.

*Graduation Ceremony at Harvard's School of Medicine*

Claire Kinsley's POV

"Claire! Congrats!" Matt shot his congratulation over to me from a distance as he walked over and that cut both Nicki and myself out from our wefie-shots in our graduation gown.

We were all standing in the middle of the field as all the graduates waited for the ceremony to begin.

"Hey Matt, congrats to you too! We made it!" I threw a fist punch at him. Lots have happened during our internship and Matt is definitely one friend to keep for life.

Matt cleared his throat before he started pulling out his funny acts with those imperial accent nonsense again. "It has been an honour to meet my queen in person," He knelt down on one knee as he held and kissed my extended hand and that broke us all up in laughter.

Nicki jumped in and corrected him, "That is no way you speak to the Queen who not only aced her internship but is also going to be crowned as the Valedictorian of our faculty today." She proceeded to do a full-fledged curtsy in front of me.

I chortled hard as I spared them from their formality, "Cut it out, you two!"

While I adjusted my mortarboard from falling, I asked Matt, "Where's Rachelle?"

"She is probably still angry with herself for not being the valedictorian but she will be fine, don't worry about it," Matt winked back at me.

Suddenly a wave of commotion began hustling amongst the crowd. We turned around and realised the emergence of Liam was the reason behind all the hustle. He was strikingly gorgeous and way too attention-seeking just from how effortlessly he walks in his smart dress shirt that clung tightly to his masculinity as he stuck his hands in his pocket with my mum holding on to one of his arm by his side.

Nicki struck her elbow at me as she giggled, "The King is here."

I shrugged back at Nicki at the choice of her words, as I knew she was deliberately teasing me.

Matt let out low melancholic laughter as he joined in the teasing before running off with his tail in between, "I better be scramming off before the King loses his mind at the sight of another man by his Queen. Looking forward to your valedictorian speech later on though!"

Matt knew better where he should be when Liam is around with me because he had quite an unpleasant time when Liam initially misunderstood the camaraderie shared between us as something else back then during our internship.

"Seriously? Do you have to make such a grand entrance?" I snapped at Liam as I felt intensely pressurised at this moment where every freaking girl on this field is gawking at our direction.

"Oh really? Shades on it shall be," He replied impassively as he put on his shades and darn that got even more girls squealing in their man-craziness for Liam. Even Nicki was man-drooling at him!

Darn it... I have to admit that I couldn't fault Liam at all because he really does look effortlessly like a Hollywood star even though he was just in his simple smart dress.

Somehow I just wasn't feeling happy with every gawk and squeal that lands on him.

"Oh Claire, Mummy is so proud of you," My mother was smiling from ear to ear as she hugged me then she turned to Liam and said with much gratitude, "Thank you so much, Liam, if not you, I don't think Claire would be standing here today as a Valedictorian."

Liam smiled back and then mum raised her brows at me, "You really ought to thank Liam, don't you?"

I wanted to retort that but I decided not to, after all, I can't disregard Liam's effort and guidance all these years that really helped me to get to where I am today.

I twist my mouth to my side before I coughed out to Liam, "I guess I can't thank you enough for where I am today."

"I don't think that's enough to show me your gratitude, given how much I have invested in you," He shook his head and said. Then he handed the bouquet of flowers in his hand over to me before he proceeded to adjust my mortarboard that was near to falling off from my head.

"Woah! You got me my favourite daisies? Guess you're not that bad after all," I got exhilarated at the sight of my favourite flower.

"So how do you want me to repay your 'investment' in me?" I threw a casual remark back at him. Meanwhile, Nicki got hold of my mum and started taking selfies with her.

"Ma.... me." He leaned over and said, but I didn't catch what he said because a sudden loud blast of music marked the start of the ceremony.

"Huh? Sorry, I didn't catch what you said earlier on," I leaned my ear over to him as the music at the background was still playing loudly.

He fished his phone out from his back pocket and texted to me, "Cook me dinner at my house tonight."

Well, that's not difficult, considering it as repayment favour. So without hesitation I shot my thumbs up and texted him, "But you will have to drive me to the Walmart first."

His eyes twinkling in the edges as a small smile etches on his mouth, sealing the deal we made.

"Hey Claire, quick, let me take a good picture of you three together!" Nicki shouted over to me.

"Alright!" I replied and then I quickly got Liam and mum into the frame with me.

"How about a shot of just you two?" My mum suggested after the shot.

"Oh ok," I nodded while mum left the frame.

I could see the gleam of mischief upon Nicki's eyes when she shouted over, "Would you two just stand closer? Come on!"

Come to think about it, I don't think I have had a shot together with just Liam alone for ages. The last I know was probably the picture he had in his office.

Then Liam acted upon Nicki's request and placed his hand over my shoulders.

I don't know why but my body reacted to his touch when he did so, a tingling sensation set in and I felt my ears warming all the way up to my temples. I never had been this conscious about his presence next to me until now...