Chapter 68: I Got It
Her tears flowed into her mouth and ears, but a cloth covered her head, and no one could see her face.
The duration of the surgery was very short. The doctors and nurses were soon moving around again. As she opened her eyes, she saw a lamp above her head, and people were cleaning up around her.
Someone helped wipe her tears and held her hand. She asked her, “Are you in pain?”
Arianna recalled her childhood injury experience. At that time, she was in pain, but she didn’t say anything, just crying in silence. That day, her mother wiped her tears in the same way and asked her the same question.
It felt as if her mother was standing next to her. She tried hard to call her but could not make any sound. Only her lips moved.
A strange voice said, “Look, she is trying to say something.”
The woman said, “It looks like she is calling for her mom, poor girl.”
This time Arianna identified the voice. The woman who wiped her tears was the hotel owner. It turned out she was there all along.
****
Later, someone else took her hand, but it was colder than hers. Arianna knew who he was without looking at him, but she did not have the strength to get rid of him.
Arianna had a long dream. This time she really dreamt of all her loved ones, even including the uncle she had never met. She was first a baby that continued to fail as she learned how to walk. Then she watched others play piano in the house as she studied languages when she was four years old. Then she was on her tiptoes practicing ballet in her adolescence.Belonging to NôvelDrama.Org.
She then became an unmotivated young woman, bumming around the streets and avoiding her family when she came home. In each of these scenes, her family members were watching her as audience members. In fact, she was the real audience member in this dream as she watched herself at different ages.
It was nighttime when she woke up. There was a dim light turned on next to her bed, and the sound of an oxygen pump filled the room. The electric clock on the wall showed the date and time. She had gone through half her life in just an hour and a half.
Travis Cooper sat on a chair beside the bed with one hand on the side of the bed and the other holding his forehead. Again, he seemed to have fallen asleep. This time, he forgot to hide in the backlighting. His shirt was not tucked and had two buttons opened. His hair was a tangled mess.
Arianna sighed. In the past decade, she was sick in the hospital only twice, and each time when she woke up, Travis was there.
She was in a split room, but the other bed was empty, leaving her alone with Travis.
Unplugging the oxygen tube from her nose, she tried to move, but her wound opposed her action. Finally, she took a sharp breath and fell back into the bed.
Travis was awakened by this tiny sound. His eyes quickly landed on her but did not show any concern.
“What do you need?” Travis asked in a flat tone.
Arianna pointed her finger to her lips. She was very thirsty.
“Sorry. The doctor said no water for twenty-four hours after the surgery. Is there anything else you need? Do you want a doctor?”
She opened her mouth, but she still could not speak. She could only move her fingers.
Travis handed her a pen and magazine so she could write instead.
She tried a few times, but she couldn’t hold the pen. She held out her index finger and drew something on the back of Travis’s hand.
He understood what she meant and opened his palm.
Arianna’s finger traced three words into his hand. ‘Let me go.’
The effect of the anesthetic was still there, and her finger positioning was not accurate enough. She really had to concentrate and write slowly.
She looked into Travis’s eyes, but there was nothing to see.
Before she even finished the third word, Travis closed his palm around her index finger and slowly said, “I got it.”
****
Arianna didn’t figure out at that time whether he was actually going to let her go or if her helpless condition aroused him. But he made a clear promise to leave her alone as soon as she recovered.
So, Arianna insisted on leaving the hospital two days after her surgery. Her wound was nowhere close to being healed. Every little movement brought her waves of pain. However, the attending doctor agreed to send her home, giving her contact information of other hospitals and a prescription for pain medicine. She was scheduled for a checkup at her regular hospital.
A young nurse kept peeping at Travis while telling Arianna the gossip about the old female doctor. She told her she was an authoritative expert in the country and was transferred here for an unknown reason. She had great skills in her specialty, but she hated men, especially those who were good-looking.
Previously, Travis questioned the conditions of the hospital and the doctor’s expertise and wanted to transfer Arianna to a different hospital, which majorly offended the old lady.
The hotel owner came to see Arianna each day, bringing her a beautifully crafted bouquet of wildflowers when she was discharged from the hospital. The gift was from her daughter.
She somehow knew that Travis thought Arianna was pregnant at first. But the woman also knew that Arianna was on a contraceptive, and though he stayed with her the whole time, she still referred to Travis as a stranger.
The lady could not stop treating them as a couple and advised Arianna, “You both are so beautiful, and he treats you so well. You make an excellent couple. Why don’t you forgive him already? There’s still a long way to go in your life. Have a baby. I think it would be very cute between the two of you.”