A feeling of guilt and self-blame arose in my heart. I felt horrible thinking about how anxious Christopher must have been these past few days. If it were not for my impulsive actions, he would never have had to go through all that.
I could not imagine how he endured the past eight days. Perhaps he was standing by the bedside and blaming himself for not having protected me. Or maybe he had been smoking in the corridor and watching me through the glass. All the while, he was probably praying for me to wake up soon.
When the nurse came to give me my medicine, she saw me looking out the window. She quickly hurried over to shut it. “Don’t expose yourself to too much wind. If you get infected, your husband will cause a huge scene in the hospital again. Last time he brought a gun here. Dr. Jennings almost passed out from the fear.”
“Christopher wanted to shoot a doctor?” I was taken aback by this news.
“Yes. Your husband really loves you. You have no idea how saddened he was when your heartbeat stopped in the emergency room that day. He was close to ending his own life on the spot. All the medical staff were so shocked.”
I shuddered. My hand went numb, and the cup I was holding fell to the floor. It smashed into pieces on the ground. Christopher almost ended his own life for me?
No one had told me about this, nor did I tell Christopher that I knew. The two of us just hugged each other softly in hopes that we could provide some comfort to the other.
A few days later, I received a parcel. Ustranasion was written on it, so I knew that it was an overseas parcel. Christopher handed it over to me and told me to open it myself. I did not recall having any friends overseas though. The only person I could think of was Remington in Anglandur. However, I did not see why it was necessary for him to write in Ustranasion to me even if he were to send me anything.
When I opened the parcel, I was frozen in surprise. It was a painting. Not just any painting, but the one I painted myself eight years ago. It was the Autumnal Panorama.
This painting held many memories and tears for me. Unexpectedly, it had now returned to my possession. Did Isabelle send this back to me to return it to its rightful owner?
I carefully ran my fingers over the painting. For a moment, I was lost in my emotions. The top right corner where Crystal’s name used to be had been professionally removed. Now, it revealed my own name that I wrote all those years ago. It was almost as if the painting had never left me.
“I never thought I would see this again, especially not with my name on it.” I looked toward Christopher and said lowly, “Chris, I rejected the invitation to join the National Youth Art Exhibition and Contest. I even rejected it when they wanted to award me first place.”
“I know.” Christopher carefully kept the painting back in its box. “Even if you didn’t, I would have rejected them for you. You deserve a bigger audience. Competitions like those are of no help to you.”
In my time at the hospital, I was very well taken care of.Both Christopher and Julia took care of everything in detail. Even the food I ate was full of variety. Everything was just right for me and not too heavy either.
That day, Christopher pushed me into the garden to get some sunlight. To be honest, I was capable of walking already, but he was still unsure. He insisted on treating me like an incapacitated human being. I could not argue with him, so I did as he pleased. Anyway, I was glad to be taken care of.
Caring for me was probably the only time when Christopher was the least worried.
After some time, I started to get thirsty. Christopher set me down under a tree before leaving to go get me water. I shut my eyes slightly. The warm sunlight was making me sleepy. Suddenly, I felt someone’s shadow tower over me. I thought that Christopher had come back, so I said, “I want orange juice. Can I not drink plain water? I’ve been taking so much medicine that I’ve lost almost all sense of taste.”
I heard no response. Instead, the person in front of me just continued staring down at me. I could not help but open my eyes. Against the harsh sunlight, I saw Lucas’ familiar face. However, he didn’t look too good, and his face was pale. Clearly, something had happened.
“Lucas, why are you here? You…” I sat up to take a proper look at him. “Are you sick again?”
“You’ve seen him, haven’t you?” He cleared his throat before continuing, “You’ve seen my uncle?”
