Despite all the cries and yells behind, Horace took Clara out of the ward after shutting the door to isolate the noise made by Laura. But he didn’t stop walking until they couldn’t hear any voices from Laura.
Letting go of his hold, Horace seated himself on the bench in the corridor and pressed his temples lightly to ease his tiredness. He was totally worn out mentally and physically. It was uneasy for Clara to watch Horace like this. She knew it must be a rough day for Horace for what he had been through this day and for knowing the truth.
Sitting next to Horace, Clara wanted to comfort him but didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t there when the things happened back then, so she didn’t know how bad was Horace hurt. What she could do was to stay with him, accept the pain, digest it, and let it go with him together.
The corridor fell into silence for a while before Clara asked out of worry, “Are you okay? Horace?”
While Horace finally looked up at her, squeezing out a smile, and said, “Yeah, I’m fine.”
To Clara, the smile seemed really sad.
She couldn’t help but say, “Hey, it will all be over soon. Just let it go and move on.” She knew her words may seem a bit lame but at least better than nothing. She just couldn’t let Horace be so lonely. She shared the pain and the grief with him.
“Yeah, I know.” Horace looked thankfully at Clara, nodding his head. “I can handle it, so don’t be so worried. It isn’t that bad after all. I get to know the truth about the kidnap and that is what I’ve been looking after for years.”
“Sure.” Clara also nodded. She didn’t know how to answer while Horace didn’t seem to talk, so the air become quiet again.
After a while, Clara spotted a nurse who was walking back and forth the corridor anxiously, as if looking for someone. A better look confirmed the nurse as the one who had transfused Helena with glucose. Clara stood up while doubting in her heart, “Is she looking for me?”
After a few more rounds of searching, the nurse also noticed Clara. She trotted down the corridor, asking, “Are you Helena’s family? I think it’s you.”
“Yes, that’s me.” Clara nodded.
“Thank God, I’ve been looking for you. Why are you here? You are not supposed to leave the patient alone in the ward, you know?” The nurse couldn’t help but complain.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was dealing with other issues. What’s wrong?” Clara said apologetically.
“The patient was awake. You should check on her. There’s nothing serious but she is still weak after the operation. You really should take good care of her. It isn’t a long time before she comes to the hospital again. You are her daughter, right? Keep an eye on your mom, okay?” Checking the medical records, the nurse said, frowning. It’s natural for the nurse to mistake Clara as an unfilial daughter since Clara left her mother alone in the ward.
“Yeah, I’ll be more careful. Thank you.” Clara knew the nurse was implying she was an unfilial daughter. Though the nurse didn’t know what was going on between Clara and her mom, she still felt a bit wronged. But it was inappropriate to explain every detail to the nurse, so she could only listen without vindicating herself.
“You are welcome. Just go to your mother. She may use some help.” Given the polite attitude of Clara, the nurse stopped criticizing her and left after telling her some dos and don’ts.”
“Shall I go with you?” Horace asked, standing up.
“No, it’s fine. You can rest here.” Horace was so exhausted that Clara couldn’t let him go to Helena. She could imagine what would be like when she went back to Helena’s ward that they would talk about nothing but Laura. It made her headache only thinking about that so not to mention Horace, who would definitely not want to hear about Laura anymore.
“I’m not tired and I’m worried about you. We should go together,” Horace said, heading to Helena’s ward.
Pulling him back, Clara resorted to excuses, “I…I want to talk to her alone.”
Horae stopped, and agreed after a moment’s thought, “I’ll wait for you at the front door. Call me when you’re done. I can drive you home.”
“It’s okay. I can go home myself.” Clara refused his offering. She was not clear about the relationship between Horace and her, so it would be better to keep some distance.
“Go to Helena. I’ll wait for you there.” As if he didn’t hear the refusion, Horace left without further explanations, leaving Clara no chance to refuse again.
Clara stared at Horace as he walked away, her heart filling with sorrows and bitterness, which nearly drove her to tears. For so many reasons, like timidness or coincidence, she didn’t really get to sit down and talk to Horace about why he had forced her to abortion. She was afraid that everything would be ruined if there was not a misunderstanding and it was Horace who didn’t want the kid.
Should she forgive him for the sake of Neo, or perhaps, for herself? She couldn’t resist his gentleness, just as she couldn’t help but fall in love with him the first few years. But she had been so happy back then, now she only felt miserable.
Taking a deep breath, Clara held back the tears. It was not the time to think about the relationship, she should go to Helena first.