“Mando!” Genevieve exclaimed as she knelt and caught Armand’s arm.
Coldly, he roughly shoved Genevieve’s hand off. “I told you before; I don’t need it.”
She watched as he fumbled around the wheelchair, stubbornly trying to help himself into it. Alas, Armand was too heavy, and every attempt to stand ended in a painful fall. The wheelchair even fell sideways.
Several minutes later, his arms and knees were covered in bruises.
Genevieve could not imagine how he felt when he woke up in the hospital and suddenly lost his ability to stand.
Her heart ached as she watched him try again and again.
After close to twenty falls, Armand finally got himself into the wheelchair with his own strength. Genevieve had also returned with a first aid kit.
“It’s not as if you’re paralyzed and wheelchair-bound for life. Falling isn’t embarrassing at all,” Genevieve muttered. She pulled his arm closer and applied a soothing spray to his bruises.
She could not help but add, “Ask someone to help you if you really can’t get up. Don’t end up with more injuries.”
“That’s fine.” Armand insisted, “I’ll never stand on my own two feet if I keep asking someone to help me.”
Genevieve pursed her lips silently.
She was about to keep the first aid box when she noticed a fresh wound on Armand’s forehead. It was bleeding, and she hastily disinfected the wound before covering it with a plaster.
Armand’s other senses sharpened in the absence of sight.
He felt Genevieve’s featherlight breath on his face, which tickled. He also smelled her characteristic scent of wild roses, and it gradually soothed his frustration.
Armand reached his hand before him and managed to grab Genevieve’s hand. He pulled it toward him and kissed her on the back of her hand.
Then, he pulled her right onto his lap. With his lips still on her hand, he asked gruffly, “Can you give me another chance, Darling? I want us to be a true married couple.”
The sensation of his lips on her hand tingled, and it was exacerbated by the stubble that dotted Armand’s jaw.
She stared at him affectionately and replied, “I gave you a chance back in Springwyn.” Sadly, he could not see her expression.
If he told me the truth back then, I would’ve forgiven him.
Sadly, he didn’t.
Then, Genevieve added, “If I give you another chance, can you bring someone back from the dead?”
It was a question that had no answer, and Armand remained silent.
Spying his stiff expression, Genevieve roughly tugged her hand out of his grasp and left the room.
Since her return from Baykeep, Genevieve had been busy at work. She was exhausted, and now that Armand was home from the hospital, she decided to give herself a day’s break.
The housekeeper deliberately prepared nutritious and easily digested foods to accommodate Armand’s condition.
When Armand eventually wheeled himself into the living room, Genevieve took over and wheeled him to the dining table. She sat beside him and said, “What do you want to eat? I’ll take it for you.”
“It’s fine.” Armand groped around the table and located a fork. “Just let me know where the dishes are.”
Genevieve’s eyes flickered with an indecipherable emotion as she told Armand about all the dishes on the table.
Armand easily picked up the side dishes with his fork and ate quietly.
He did not look so different from a human with normal sight.
After lunch, Genevieve ordered the rehabilitation equipment as instructed by Timothy.
The equipment company quickly delivered her order at about two in the afternoon.
Once they set up the rehabilitation equipment in the gym, Genevieve wheeled Armand to the room. She described the gym layout and told him the location of every piece of rehabilitation equipment.
Armand memorized her words and dismissed her. “You can leave now.”
“Okay.”
Genevieve knew he did not want her to see him fall and left the gym.
