Hamish held and carried Lila, while doctors and nurses gathered around Elisa, lifting her onto the bed for urgent wound treatment.
A thin, long wound on Elisa’s hand was oozing blood, with the needle nowhere to be found. Her hand was swollen and purple, cold to the touch, and the flowing blood felt chilling.
Trembling, Lila clung to Hamish, shivering and repeating Elisa’s words about wanting to kill her. She looked as if she had just escaped from the brink of death. Hamish could only hold her tighter and reassure her, “It’s okay, I’m here. She won’t dare to hurt you.”
Lila leaned against him, listening to the thunderous beating of his heart beneath his left chest, gradually calming down. Hamish patted Lila’s shoulder, but his gaze turned cold as he looked at the woman being held down on the bed by the nurse. After a while, Hamish’s expression froze as he noticed something off about Elisa.
Elisa’s body trembled violently. Although she was weak and limp, her hands clung tightly to the nurse’s sleeve in front of her as if she were desperately clutching a lifeline. Her eye sockets were even redder than before, and tears streamed down like a raging flood.
Like a startled rabbit, Hamish furrowed his brows and unconsciously released his hold on Lila, walking towards the bedside. Elisa caught a glimpse of Hamish and suddenly screamed. Her voice was already hoarse, but now it sounded like gravel stuck in her throat, filled with sorrow and hoarseness.
She kept retreating as if she had seen a ferocious beast, even though her back was already against the wall. The room fell silent, filled only with Elisa’s hoarse cries. She held her head with both hands, fingers tangled in her hair, resembling a lion driven into madness.
Hamish looked at the fallen intravenous tube on the ground, picked it up, and squeezed it in his palm. The more composed his face appeared, the more chaotic his inner turmoil became. “What’s wrong with her?”
No one answered him, but the expressions on the doctors and nurses’ faces said it all.
“Get a sedative! Hold her down!” The nurse quickly reacted and handed the syringe to the doctor, who held Elisa’s hand and found a vein to inject it.
Elisa’s pupils began to dilate, and she gradually calmed down, releasing her grip on the nurse’s hand. She lay on the bed, her trembling body gradually returning to stillness. She stared at the ceiling with teary eyes, unrelated to any emotions. Those tears were the pain she had endured, manifested through her body-stomach ache, abdominal pain, headache, heartache, throat pain. She had never experienced so much pain at once in her life, and now she had tasted it all at once, how could tears not flow?
“How can an adult cry endlessly like this?” She had hurt Lila and even wanted to kill her, yet he didn’t scold her. But here she was, crying incessantly, as if they were bullying her. From Hamish’s perspective, Elisa was just pretending to be pitiful.
Elisa didn’t blink her eyes, her pitch-black pupils resembling two deep holes, unsettling to behold.
“Stop pretending, Elisa!” Hamish became impatient and ignored her tears. In his memory, Elisa was someone prone to getting teary-eyed, and he seemed to have forgotten her initial sunny and cheerful appearance.
The doctor couldn’t bear it any longer and pointed outside, speaking coldly, “Sir, please leave. Don’t cause any more trouble here!”
Hamish felt annoyed and spoke in a low voice, “You want me to leave?”
The doctor’s expression remained unchanged, as if he had long been accustomed to such situations. “Sir, the patient has clearly been deeply traumatized and doesn’t want to see you. If you insist on staying, it will only cause her more harm. It’s not beneficial for her if you truly care about her well-being, so please leave. There are professional nurses here to take care of her.” Although the doctor’s words sounded calm, the disdain in his eyes towards Hamish couldn’t be concealed.
Although it was not appropriate to pry into a patient’s personal matters, Elisa’s injuries were evident to everyone present. Inside and out, she looked “broken,” like a ragdoll that had been patched up multiple times.
The doctor’s duty was to save lives and help the injured. There was a person in front of them who needed help, and they wouldn’t be afraid of offending this man, no matter how much power he held.
The doctor’s few words silenced Hamish, and the atmosphere in the ward suddenly became strange. Lila couldn’t bear it and was afraid of exposing herself by staying there any longer. Shegently tugged at Hamish’s clothes and said, “Hamish, let’s go outside. Let’s not disturb the doctor from treating Elisa.”
Hamish nodded and left the ward with Lila.