Mrs. Waters was getting old, and with only Carl as her child, the news hit her hard. She felt a rush of panic and blacked out for a moment. Mr. Waters quickly caught her and administered some medication to lower her blood pressure before she regained consciousness.
“Carl, my son…” Mrs. Waters couldn’t accept this terrible news and leaned against Mr. Waters’ shoulder, trying to hold back tears.
Nana saw the couple’s distress and felt uneasy herself while Jane held onto Nana’s arm, leading her to sit down nearby as they both anxiously watched the direction of the operating room.
It wasn’t long before Carl was wheeled out into intensive care with an extremely pale complexion and an oxygen mask on his face.
Nana wanted to follow him but was stopped by Mrs. Waters who didn’t want that woman who caused their son’s accident anywhere near him.
With red eyes filled with tears, Nana found herself in a dilemma. She couldn’t let go of Carl but didn’t know what else she could do.
Jane walked up to Nana and gently patted her back saying, “Don’t be too upset… I’ll go check on him later after Mr. and Mrs. Waters have calmed down.”
Nana turned around weakly crying out loud, “Jane, I, I didn’t mean it… I just can’t accept this sudden arrival of a child into our lives; I don’t know what I can do if, if Carl doesn’t wake up…”
“It won’t happen,” Jane comforted Nana while patting her back repeatedly saying. “You have to believe he will be okay.”
After almost an hour passed by, Jane managed to convince Carl’s parents to leave his side so that she could administer acupuncture treatment using sterilized silver needles from the medicine department which helped stimulate nerve points in his body.
Carl had been unconscious since surgery but after twenty minutes of acupuncture treatment, he finally showed signs of life again.
Nana sat beside his bed all along watching over him; for some unknown reason, she feared that this man might not make it through this ordeal, as if he were somehow responsible for saving her own life at any cost possible!
After seeing Carl’s left index finger twitch, Jane finally breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at Nana. “Carl still has some willpower left. Although he’s badly injured, his survival instinct should be strong. I just stimulated his pain and tested if he was still conscious. As long as he can make it through tonight, there shouldn’t be any major problems. He should also be able to hear us talking now.”
Jane walked over to Nana and placed her hand on her shoulder, whispering softly, “But I think the person Carl most wants to see right now is you. Encourage him more and maybe he’ll come around faster.”
With tears in her eyes, Nana nodded her head in agreement. After Jane left, she held Carl’s hand tightly and spoke with a choked voice, “Carl, please wake up… Actually… actually you like me; I’ve always known that you’re a good person but my heart belongs to William… And we had that thing happen between us so I don’t know how to accept your kindness or even how sorry I am for what happened…”
“If you can wake up, then I’ll be with you; I’ll marry you! Please wake up!”
Nana didn’t feel like going home at all; she stayed by Carl’s side all night.
In the blink of an eye it was already the 18th, Queena and Patrick’s engagement day.
Recently Patrick had been coming back more frequently; sometimes even joking around with Queena while she was completely immersed in her fantasy of becoming Mrs. Pansy soon-to-be.
“Patrick,” Queena leaned against his shoulder full of anticipation as she asked him, “Do you think there will be many people at our engagement ceremony?”
She had wanted to marry this man for many years now, with Jane no longer being a threat, from here on out Patrick would only have one woman by his side.
Patrick stroked Queena’s hair gently before looking down at her slightly smiling, “Aren’t you asking something obvious? Our engagement ceremony will definitely be the most lively one yet! And lately when things got busy almost everything fell onto your shoulders alone so they’ll definitely all admire your efforts.”
“Really?” Queena smiled with joy, her eyes shining like stars. She couldn’t deny that she had already started imagining her married life with Patrick.
During this time, Queena had been busy preparing for the engagement ceremony. From decorating the venue to arranging champagne, snacks and various decorations, as well as the dolls of the newlyweds, everything was done by herself. Even Antony didn’t “harass” her much in these days.
Seeing Patrick nod his head made Queena even happier.
She thought for a moment and tentatively said to Patrick, “Patrick, we’re having our engagement ceremony tomorrow. Can you take me back to your house… Although your mother and Melissa don’t like me very much, isn’t it better to get blessings from elders in such matters?”
Patrick frowned without saying anything. Seeing this, Queena became nervous and was about to ask again when he nodded his head.
“Okay, I’ll take you there now.”
The two drove back to the Pansy family’s home. From getting out of the car onwards, Queena was always affectionate towards Patrick; holding onto his arm with a gentle smile on her face but confident eyes.
Melissa and Beatrice were sitting together drinking afternoon tea when they looked up and saw Queena coming in with Patrick; Beatrice’s expression immediately became serious.
Melissa clearly couldn’t hold back her anger; her face changed color while speaking louder as she pointed at Queena in an authoritative manner, “Who let you into our home? Get out!”
Queena took a step back gently while saying softly, “I… I just wanted to accompany Patrick home… We’re having our engagement ceremony tomorrow.”
As she spoke, she looked at Patrick who tightened his grip on her hand while looking seriously at Melissa, even displaying an attitude that would not tolerate any disrespect. “Show some respect! Candy is going to be my fiancee tomorrow.”