As soon as Louis was admitted to the hospital, he was taken to the ICU.
Elisa was stopped outside, looking in, her voice hoarse with pain as she asked, “How did he end up at Kakapo?”
Micah had told her that Louis’s surgery would take ten hours, and if he could wake up within 48 hours, he would be out of danger. She had left for Kakapo and, by calculation, it had only been about 50 hours since then, taking into account the round trip. Did Louis take less than 25 hours from the surgery to waking up? Louis was weak even before the surgery, and Elisa couldn’t imagine how he managed to board the helicopter to come and get her with his frail body.
Elisa squatted down, covering her eyes, her palms hot and uncomfortable. She was still wearing Louis’s coat, which had kept her warm before, but now, no matter how tightly she wrapped it around herself, she couldn’t avoid the cold.
Brittany crouched down beside her, gently holding Elisa. “Brother appeared at Kakapo to come and get you. Dr. Baker had said that the surgery would take ten hours as a conservative estimate, but in reality, it only took seven hours. None of us expected him to wake up so quickly, but looking back, it does make sense.”
As Brittany spoke, tears fell from her eyes. She rubbed them, choked up. “While he was unconscious, Dr. Baker specifically instructed us to talk to him more at his bedside, make some noise. His consciousness was weak, and if it disappeared, there was a high possibility of him becoming a vegetable or dying directly. We said a lot to him by his ear, but it was of no use until finally, he complained of a sore throat. When we put on your voice, he woke up.”
“When he woke up, he wanted to come find you. We couldn’t stop him, and Mom and Dad didn’t want to stop him as they had in the past, so they arranged a helicopter.” Brittany knew Elisa loved Louis, and saying these things would only make her sadder, but she didn’t want to keep it from her.
“He was somewhat delirious in the helicopter for a few hours, with earphones in his ears listening to your voice and your live broadcast on the plane. He barely made it through. When he got off the plane, I couldn’t believe how he managed to stand steadily and walk step by step to you, pretending to be fine, not showing any signs of pain…” Brittany was always conceited, but these days her skin was dull, with dark circles under her eyes. She had been with Louis all this time, and now, with tears in her eyes, her eyes were tinged with red.
Elisa’s heart spasmed, causing her body to sway in pain. Louis, a man who could put life and death aside just to be by her side and protect her.
She stood up, looking at the tightly closed door of the ICU, and in her mind, she saw Louis calling her name, staggering, his body unsteady, coming to find her.
Everyone thought he wouldn’t be able to bear the pain and would collapse, but he persisted until he reached her, not letting anyone notice anything unusual about his body.
“Sister Elisa, Brother loves you so much, he won’t leave you. If he can make it through the first time, he can make it through the second time. You have to believe in him.”
Elisa’s eyes were red, her makeup smudged. She forced a smile, her voice muffled, “I have always believed in him. He has always kept his word, hasn’t he?”
It wasn’t even winter yet, but her hands were freezing, and no matter how hard she tried to hold them, she couldn’t. She reached into her coat pocket and found something inside. When she pulled it out, it was a hawthorn-flavored candy.
Her tears, which she had just held back, were about to flow again. Louis knew she liked sweet candies and disliked bitter ones, so he always kept candies in his pocket. Whenever she felt down, he would give her candy to cheer her up, just like when she was a child.
In their house, there were candies like this in various places.
-Little Crybaby, here’s a candy for you to eat. Stop crying.
Trembling, Elisa tore open the candy wrapper and put the candy in her mouth. Just like before, once the outer sugar coating melted, only the sour taste of hawthorn remained. But she had never forgotten this taste, craving it for over ten years, even though she was allergic to hawthorn.
After eating the candy, she wouldn’t cry. The candy was very sweet.
Liar, this time the candy wasn’t sweet at all, it was sour and bitter, sour and bitter, so bitter that it seeped into her heart. Louis, this candy isn’t good at all. Can you get me a new one?
She was still as easy to placate as ever; as long as she was given a sweet candy, she could be comforted and would not cry.
Deity… I have never asked you for anything in my life, can you not take Louis away? I only need him, only him, he’s all I have left.
Elisa leaned against the cold wall, waiting outside for three hours, her feet almost numb. Finally, the door to the ICU opened.
Micah walked out, Elisa had been waiting outside with countless questions in her mind, but seeing him come out, she couldn’t ask anything.
She dared not ask… What if things didn’t turn out as she hoped?
Micah walked out without noticing Elisa, and she looked toward the White family. When the White family approached, they noticed that one person was missing, and he turned to see Elisa.
She stood behind him, clutching the candy wrapper, her eyes red like a rabbit’s, her eyelids swollen. She looked at him timidly, as if she were a frightened child, so lost and unsure of where to put her hands.
Micah looked at her and, for some reason, the image of “Elisa” resurfaced in his mind. She had been dead for almost six years; six years was too long, and although he often reminisced, the “Elisa” from before was becoming increasingly blurry in his memory. Yet now, every single frame about her was becoming vivid with the person in front of him.
Micah… his name sounded like silence. The greatest mistake he had ever made in his life was also in silence.
Silently watching Elisa grow up amidst the insults and abuse of her father and brothers, silently watching her cry in the bathroom, silently watching her marry Hamish… In the end, everything was irreparable, and Elisa ultimately became a regret.
Elisa, if only I had known, why did I, even her name was full of regret, not just Elisa, but also them.
Micah swallowed the bitterness in his mouth and motioned for Elisa to come over.
Elisa lifted her stiff legs and walked over, her whole body moving like a puppet being pulled by strings.
“Doctor, how is my brother?” Brittany asked anxiously, several pairs of eyes red as they looked at him.
Micah removed his mask and smiled with relief, “Don’t worry, his will to survive is strong. He’s out of danger, and no virus has been detected in his body at the moment, but we still need to observe for ten days to two weeks.”
Mrs. White breathed a sigh of relief first, the tension in her body relaxed, and Mr. White quickly caught her as she started to fall back.
“Are you alright?”
Mrs. White shook her head.
“You should rest for a while. Don’t collapse before he wakes up.”
Mr. White asked, “Dr. Baker, thank you. Can we go in to see him?”
“You may.”