Harry squatted on the ground, tears and blood falling to the floor. At this moment, even if he cried miserably, no one would sympathize with him; he even felt like he deserved it.
And the hospital itself was a place of separation between life and death, where tears were never in short supply, and despair was a daily companion.
In another ward, the young nurse had already completed the discharge procedures with the help of Micah. Micah had rented a wheelchair from the hospital and carefully lifted Hattie off the bed.
Hattie was very light, and while Micah held her, he was careful and considerate, treating her as delicately as one would a fragile vase.
Hattie nestled quietly in Micah’s arms, feeling the tension in his arms.
Micah was indeed nervous. He felt more anxious than he did during surgery – partly because he was holding Hattie, and partly because he was feeling sorry for her. Various emotions mingled within him.
Having known each other for so long, he and Hattie understood each other. They were friends, partners, fulfilling each other’s need for family but not quite fulfilling their romantic desires.
Perhaps they both harbored some feelings for each other, but neither took the initiative to make a move, causing them to miss out on many opportunities.
Both of them were not getting any younger. Hattie was nearing thirty, while Micah was already thirty-two. There had been hints from family members about settling down and starting a family, but these were just unspoken thoughts, at most lightly suggested and never directly brought up. Due to Elisa’s death, Micah’s relationship with his parents had become strained, and both parents felt guilty about the situation.
“I’ll have to make it up to you when we get back,” Micah said as he lifted Hattie onto the wheelchair. The weather was nice outside, not too cold, but Hattie had just had surgery and might not be able to withstand the wind.
Fortunately, Micah had added an extra coat before leaving. He took off his coat and draped it over Hattie.
“Aren’t you cold without your coat?” he asked.
“Not cold,” Micah replied. He was wearing a long trench coat, and he tied it around Hattie’s waist by looping the sleeves around her.
Hattie looked down at the coat draped over her. Micah was sentimental; she remembered helping him pick out this coat two years ago, and he had been wearing it ever since. She had given it to him on his twenty-ninth birthday.
Back then, Micah had mentioned that when he turned thirty, he wanted to have a big birthday celebration. He didn’t need to invite many people, just a couple of close friends to have dinner at home, watch a movie, visit the ocean park, go to an amusement park… But after starting work, he had hardly had time to play around like that. He wanted that day to be a carefree one.
Hattie had teased him, saying, “Is this a birthday celebration or a date?”
Micah smiled, his handsome face lighting up with a sunny smile that went straight to one’s heart, but instead of answering her question, he invited her, “So, Dr. Mason, will you come that day?”
Hattie couldn’t make it that day; she was in prison. Later, Micah visited her in jail, but she had forgotten about his thirtieth birthday and neglected to wish him a happy birthday.
The most frequent thing Micah said to her was, “Hattie, I believe in you. I’ll wait for you to come out.”
Hattie always saw a glimmer of hope in Micah, making her unable to help but wonder, what if she had no relationship with Harry and had not gone to prison… That would have been good.
Her circumstances did not allow her to entertain such thoughts. She hoped that such wishes could remain unspoken.
The young nurse handed Micah the discharge paperwork and medical records in a hospital bag, and he hung the bag on the wheelchair, thanking the nurse before pushing Hattie out of the hospital.
He was still thinking about the fish soup he had simmered for two hours.
“I’m afraid the fish will be all cooked away by the time we get back.”
“You never know, I simmered the fish soup first with a large bone broth to bring out the freshness, then lightly fried the fish, and finally cooked the fish in the simmered bone broth…”
Listening to Micah’s murmuring behind her over the past few months brought a sense of peace that Hattie had not experienced before. She lowered her gaze to watch Micah’s hands pushing the wheelchair. Micah’s hands were beautiful, with long and slender fingers, distinct joints, thin skin showing slightly visible veins on the back of his hand. His wrist bones were also particularly attractive.
Halfway through, Micah suddenly remembered something. He squatted down and found a face mask in his jacket pocket for Hattie to wear. “There are many people outside.”
After putting on the mask and tidying her hair, she wouldn’t be recognized by anyone, and no one would think that Hattie, who had just had surgery, had left the hospital.
Except they overlooked one person-Harry.
Upon hearing that Hattie had completed the discharge procedures, Harry had been waiting outside the hospital all along.
He refused to stay in the hospital. After taking two shots and a few pills, he drove his car to the hospital entrance.
He wasn’t sure when Hattie and Micah would come out, nor did he know where Micah had parked the car. He could only secretly wait in the car at a place they had to pass.
From a distance, he saw Hattie in a wheelchair being pushed out of the hospital by Micah.
When he saw Micah holding Hattie’s hand, a surge of jealousy raged inside him. Gripping the steering wheel, the jealousy at that moment rose, almost making him want to drive the car to crash into Micah.
But he still had some semblance of sanity. Many things were just thoughts, and Hattie already hated him so much. If something happened to Micah, she might really fight him.