One of the ways of enabling you to retrieve a single item from the database is,
You run the ExecuteScalar() method against the command object in order to retrieve a single figure from the database. as shown in the example below

    string connString = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["YourConnectionString"].ConnectionString;
        string queri = "SELECT COUNT(Orders) as dayOrders from Online_appointments";

        using(SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connString))
        {
            using(SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(queri,conn))
            {
               

                conn.Open();
                int x = (Int)cmd.ExecuteScalar();
                conn.Close();

                return x;

            }
        }
Another way is by running a parameterized query where you seek exactly that item. so it all depends on exactly whats needed.