Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Fortunately, the hospital wasn’t in the business of forcing patients to be admitted. When the doctor saw I was unwilling to undergo any tests, he couldn’t insist. “Then I still recommend you stay for seventy-two hours of observation.”

“Young lady, you need to take care of your own body.”

After dropping that stiff remark, he swept out with the nurses in tow. The man in front of me glanced at his watch. “Ms. Yu, do you want to contact your family?”

“No need. I can manage on my own.”

“You’re sick. This sick. How can there be no one to take care of you? Your parents…”

He seemed a little anxious, and also like there was something he wanted to say but couldn’t.

“What about my parents?”

He paused, then chose to lay it all out. “When you fainted, I called the number in your emergency contacts. The person who answered seemed to be your mother. She said…”

“Something came up at home. She didn’t have time.”

“…Huh?”

At my precise answer, Xie Cheng looked equal parts surprised and bewildered.

And a little pitying.

It felt as if he’d jabbed an old scar. I refused quickly, my voice low. “Please don’t pity me.”

He froze. “That’s not what I meant…”

Maybe it was the cold sweat from the exhaustion after falling ill, but something salty seeped into my eyelids, making my vision sting like it was on fire. In an instant, everything blurred.

“Anyway, thank you for bringing me to the hospital.”

The person in front of me lowered his eyes and looked at me for a moment, then silently handed me a tissue.

Unfortunately, being stone-hearted as I was, I soon blinked the tears back. “And the time you spent here taking care of me can be counted as another home visit. I’ll transfer the lost wages to you through the app.”

His lips moved, but in the end, he said nothing.

“All right.”

That night, Xie Cheng left.

He was very good at taking care of people. Not only had he brought me dinner, he had also filled an entire thermos of hot water for me on his way out.

After he left, the woman in the next bed followed his tall, straight figure with her eyes for a long while, curious. “Young lady, you two looked so well matched. I really thought he was your boyfriend!”

“…He’s not. It’s just an employment relationship.”

“Oh. Yesterday, when you were brought in, I saw you clutching his tie for dear life. You held on the whole way. The entire hospital saw it. Everyone said you two must be so in love. What a pity!”

At ten o’clock that night, the ward lights went out. Soon, the steady, thunderous sound of snoring came from not far away.

All was silent.

Only the roses were still awake.

In the dark,

I looked at the flowers.

The flowers looked back at me.

Ever since I was little, my mother had been too busy running herself ragged to make money. She never would have done anything so refined and sentimental. She had left me to struggle and grow like a weed, raising me to be crude and stubborn.

I had to admit, this was the first time in my life I had ever received flowers. Maybe that was why it felt a little strange.

…I couldn’t quite put it into words.

It was as if, for the first time in my life, I had come to understand a kind of delicacy and tenderness that cut all the way to the bone.