Since Nana agreed to marry Carl, he didn’t want to let go. The next day, he took advantage of the momentum and urged his agent to announce their successful engagement on Twitter, even tagging Nana’s social media account.
Nana silently consented to all of this.
However, as soon as the news was announced, it quickly climbed up the trending charts within just three hours and even went viral.
The comments under Carl and Nana’s tweets were flooded with fans’ reactions. Although there were still some protests and dislikes towards Nana, most of them were congratulations because everyone knew that Carl loved her.
Even television media began reporting on Carl and Nana’s wedding news. After all, Carl was a well-known celebrity who deserved front-page headlines in entertainment news.
William returned to the mountainous area where he continued teaching as a volunteer teacher. However, the newly built classroom conditions were significantly better than before. But anyone could tell that William wasn’t his usual self; he rarely smiled or talked with others alone in solitude while nobody knew what was going through his mind.
A TV set provided by the dormitory for teachers was playing entertainment news where a host reported about Carl and Nana’s wedding announcement featuring their faces on screen.
As William watched it closely without moving an inch from his seat staring at Nana’s picture on-screen made him feel sour inside.
He couldn’t marry someone he loved after all…
William became more and more restless and agitated as he watched the news on TV. He decided to grab a beer can that was nearby and took a big gulp. Ever since he left Nana, he developed a liking for drinking. Only alcohol could keep him numb, preventing him from remembering anything or feeling sad.
“William,” a female voice came from outside the room. It was Snow Waters, a fellow teacher and also a volunteer in the mountainous region.
Snow knocked on the door a few times and noticed that it wasn’t fully closed. She heard some movement inside, which made her curious. She gently pushed the door open and saw William sitting on the bed, continuously drinking. The TV was playing the news about Carl and Nana.
“William, what’s going on with you?” Snow was genuinely worried when she saw William in this state. She walked over to him, hesitantly placing her hand on his shoulder, and asked with concern.
But as she saw the news on the TV, everything became clear to her. Instinctively, she lowered her gaze, concealing the momentary sadness in her eyes.
Snow arrived in the mountainous area to teach after William. After meeting him, she developed feelings for this man who was a few years older than her. At first, it was just a sense of dependence, but over time, their relationship grew into something more. However, at that time all their colleagues knew that William had a girlfriend in the city and so Snow could only keep her feelings to herself.
But when William returned, Snow heard from others that he had broken up with his girlfriend. Seeing William now like this made her heart feel heavy; he was nothing like the polite and courteous man she remembered.
She pursed her lips and sat down next to him trying to comfort him by patting his back gently. “William,” she said hesitantly, “don’t be sad… I think maybe your ex-girlfriend is also missing you… she might be feeling just as upset as you are.”
As Snow tried to say more words of comfort, she found herself stumbling over them more and more. She didn’t know if William was sober or completely drunk; his ears were red as he shook his head while laughing self-deprecatingly. “It’s okay… in the beginning I gave up on her anyway; now I’m happy seeing that she has someone else who loves her well enough.”
“But…” He slowly clenched onto the edge of the table, “my heart still hurts…”
William stood tall at 6’2″, yet at this moment tears welled up in his eyes as he spoke with an unsteady voice. Whether from drinking too much or being overwhelmed with sadness, no one could tell.
The TV continued playing in the background while emotions ran high within William causing him to throw his beer can onto the ground suddenly. He grimaced in pain moments later when an old injury on his right leg flared up again.
When Rory had treated William’s leg previously, they’d warned him about potential complications if he drank alcohol or ate spicy foods. They could cause old injuries to flare-up again, but now it seemed like those warnings were ignored.
Snow saw how much pain William was in and felt both surprised and worried for him. She bent down anxiously asking, “William! What happened? Are you okay?”
When Snow saw how red William’s right leg looked due to inflammation caused by re-injuring himself, she couldn’t help but gasp out loud.
She wanted desperately call for help, but since there wasn’t anyone around, she decided to try supporting William by helping him stand upright.
Her shoulder propped against William’s arm, and despite being shorter than him, Snow bore most of William’s weight. They slowly made their way out of teacher dormitory together.
After a long journey, Snow finally arrived at the medical room in the mountainous area. Her footsteps echoed through the empty hallway as she knocked on the door of the duty room.
“Doctor, doctor!”
The light in the duty room turned on and a doctor in his forties wearing a white coat opened the door, looking puzzled at Snow and William. Snow hurriedly squeezed into the room and said to him, “Doctor, please take a look at his leg.”
The doctor helped Snow to support William onto a seat and probed around his swollen leg. William frowned tightly but suppressed any cries of pain.
“Has he injured this leg before?”
Hearing this question from the doctor, Snow hesitated for a moment before nodding her head. “Yes… there was an earthquake in this mountainous area before. His right leg was injured badly but we managed to save it. Doctor, what can be done about his injury now?”
The doctor pondered for a while before shaking his head. “It seems like an old injury that has resurfaced due to traction but our medical facilities here are limited and we cannot treat him properly for this kind of injury. If you have time, I suggest taking him to a hospital in town for thorough treatment instead. For now though I can apply some ointment on it and bandage it up.”
Snow looked worriedly at William but knew how difficult conditions were here in these mountains so she reluctantly nodded her head saying, “Alright… thank you, Doctor.”
In Guavo.
“Nana, don’t worry too much; prenatal check-ups are easy,” Tracy comforted Nana who was already three or four months pregnant by now. Tracy was very concerned about her daughter’s well-being after all that had happened with the Waters family; she didn’t want Nana suffering anymore than she already had been, so she moved over there with her just to keep her company during these times when they went out together for prenatal checkups.