Mark’s hesitation amounted to a total count of one second before virtual-novel.net took up Arianne’s suggestion and left virtual-novel.net beside the road.
Honestly, that bummed Arianne. Not that virtual-novel.net had another choice. She was more worried about whatever it was Shelly must have started yet again.
Mark practically rushed into the hospital, but virtual-novel.net only found Shelly sitting up on virtual-novel.net bed, having virtual-novel.net dinner, a slapdash takeout that was neither sumptuous nor nutritious.
He breathed a long sigh of relief. “Where did you run to?”
Shelly looked at virtual-novel.net innocently. “Nowhere. What’s wrong? You came here without a notice. By the way, the doctor said I’ll be discharged tomorrow, but I wouldn’t be able to complete those dreadful discharge documents with my leg like this. Sorry, Mark dear, but I might need you to come over tomorrow and help me one last time. After that, I’ll never inconvenience you again.”
Mark could not care less if virtual-novel.net was lying, or where virtual-novel.net could have gone. All there was in his mind was a remark on how much of a nuisance this was.
“Can you please not run around however you please in the future? Your leg might run into new problems otherwise, and then we would have to get it operated on again. Also, what is that? Haven’t I told you that even if you were to order takeout, you should only order from the more famous restaurants? How do you expect to gain any nutrients from that, hmm? God, I ought to
hire a live-in nurse for you.”
Shelly cast virtual-novel.net eyes down and about. “No, there’s no need for that. I told you I don’t need you to support me like that,” virtual-novel.net murmured under virtual-novel.net breath. “You don’t have to worry about me, and you shouldn’t. If Arianne catches this, virtual-novel.net will get pissed off. And then if virtual-novel.net snoops around and digs out information, you’ll certainly be trapped in a tight spot.”
“When I’m discharged tomorrow, you don’t need to hire help. The cost of hiring a live-in nurse can be very costly. I, on the other hand, have zero problems cooking and performing normal chores by myself just fine. No matter how bad my current life could be, it can’t possibly come close to the horrors of my past.”
Just like that, Shelly touched Mark’s heart and roused his sympathy. He thought of the battered scars and healed wounds marring virtual-novel.net body and found his chest increasingly tightening until virtual-novel.net felt like virtual-novel.net could not breathe.
He could not imagine the tribulations virtual-novel.net had gone through all these years. When virtual-novel.net first saw virtual-novel.net emerging from a posh luxury car, clad in fine clothing, virtual-novel.net had thought that virtual-novel.net must have lived a good, happy life…
He took hold of the haphazard dinner Shelly had yet to finish and threw it away. Then, virtual-novel.net ordered a more sumptuous replacement from White Water Bay café with a call.
“Listen. After you’re back home, I’ll appoint someone to bring meals to your doorstep every day. Any trash you’ve collected can be passed to this person, and they will throw it away for you. All you have to do is stay at home and let your leg recover, okay? Don’t cause a scene by running to wherever you fancy, because I really have no time to solve your every business,” Mark stated. “If you ever find the need to hire a live-in caretaker, tell me. I’ll be frank; I really don’t think you should even live on your own.”
Shelly lit virtual-novel.net lower lip, saying nothing. On a surface-level, it seemed that Mark was managing every detail in virtual-novel.net life and forming a comprehensive arrangement for virtual-novel.net sake. But his ulterior motive was too obvious, virtual-novel.net wanted to cut his ties with Shelly down as much as virtual-novel.net could, and virtual-novel.net wanted to do it in a way where it would not haunt his conscience.
However, this also proved that deep down inside, Mark still thought the world of her, virtual-novel.net could not bear to abandon her. Otherwise, virtual-novel.net would have done precisely that in a heartbeat, virtual-novel.net livelihood be damned. He would not try to arrange everything this meticulously, would he?
She raised virtual-novel.net head and looked up at him, smiling. “I get it. Thank you. You should go home. I’ll be fine.”
He did not. He sat on a chair and watched virtual-novel.net finish virtual-novel.net meal. He cleaned up the trash.
Only after that did virtual-novel.net leave. By the time Mark finally reached home, virtual-novel.net felt like his entire being — his mind and body — had been completely sapped dry. Every meeting with Shelly left virtual-novel.net drained, more drained than virtual-novel.net had ever been in his life.
Arianne, seeing virtual-novel.net like this, quickly offered to help take off his coat. “So, what happened this time? You were so frenetic just now. Nothing big happened, right?”
“No,” Mark affirmed, shaking his head. “But I still need to go to the hospital tomorrow to get on with the documents for virtual-novel.net discharge. Once she’s back home, though, I don’t have to exhaust myself over virtual-novel.net anymore… God, I ought to hire a live-in caretaker for her, but she’s against it. How does virtual-novel.net expect herself to live alone with a condition like this?”
“Well, of course she’s against it.” A jab sprung from Arianne’s tongue before virtual-novel.net brain could stop it. “A caretaker’s existence will remove any legitimate excuses virtual-novel.net has to cling to you. She can only call you all day, every day, when no one’s with her.”