Chapter 151: Chapter 151: Waiting
*Bael’s POV*
"Mr. Wuchen, are you there?"
"Wh—what did you say?" The words come out wrong. They sound scratched and raw. It does not sound like his own voice at all.
"Your wife, Mr. Li Runze, has been brought to City General Hospital following a serious traffic accident."
The name does something to him that nothing in his entire life has ever managed to do. The phone is already lowering from his ear before the woman finishes speaking. Bael does not remember deciding to move, he is just suddenly moving. He pulls his car door open with a violent yank, and throws himself into the seat.
"Sir, if you could just—"
"Which hospital!" Bael screams into the phone. His voice is completely unrecognizable.
"The North City General Hospital, sir, but—"
He slams the phone down on the passenger seat, he does not hear the rest. The woman’s voice is still talking softly from the screen, but his brain cannot process the words anymore.
The engine roars to life. The garage gate is opening too slowly—agonizingly slowly. Bael hits the gas before the metal bar is even halfway up, the side mirror clips the concrete wall with a loud scrape, but he does not look back. He does not care. There is no room in his head for anything else.
His hands are shaking on the steering wheel.
He looks down at them once while stuck at a red light, and he barely recognizes them. These are the hands that sign contracts worth millions of dollars, these are hands that have never trembled in front of a rival or an enemy. They are shaking violently now, and no matter how hard he grips the leather, he cannot make them stop.
*Runze.*
The name loops over and over in his mind without an end. Uncle Ming does not exist right now. The company, the stolen money, the papers—it is all gone. Xue Lian does not exist. There is only a massive, freezing terror sitting in his chest, making it impossible to breathe.
He runs the red light.
With one hand, he grabs the phone and calls Runze.
It rings once. Twice. Three times.
No answer.
He throws the phone back onto the seat and grips the wheel with both hands, his knuckles turning completely white. The car surges forward, dodging through gaps in traffic that are not safe. He does not care about safety.
He tries calling Liang Feng. No answer.
He tries calling Qiao Jin. No answer.
The silence on the other end of the line feels heavy, like a thick brick pressing down on his ribs.
*Don’t take too long.*
The memory hits him out of nowhere. It was Runze’s voice from just a few hours ago, sounding so soft and sweet, asking for something so simple.
*I won’t*, Bael had promised.
He runs another light, his heart hammering against his chest. He doesn’t think about anything except getting there. His hands won’t stop shaking, his chest hurts, and Runze is somewhere across this city, hurt and alone.
The hospital finally appears.
Bael does not park the car properly. He leaves it right in front of the emergency doors, the engine still running as he leaps out. He throws the door open and runs—actually runs—through the sliding glass doors. He has never run like this in public in his entire adult life. He bursts inside and slams his hands down on the front desk.
"My wife," he gasps, his breath catching in his throat. "Li Runze. Where is he?"
The nurse behind the desk looks up. The moment her eyes land on his face, her expression freezes. She recognizes him instantly, everyone in the city knows Wuchen Bael. A look of pure worry and intense caution washes over her face, and Bael’s stomach drops straight through the floor.
"Mr. Wuchen," she says quickly, her voice dropping to a low, careful whisper. "Your wife is in the ER trauma room right now. The head doctors are already inside working on him. You need to wait in the hallway just past those doors."
"What is wrong with him? Is he awake?" Bael’s voice cracks.
"I don’t have those details yet, Mr. Wuchen. The trauma team is with him right now," the nurse says quickly, her voice hushed but professional. She gestures toward the row of plastic chairs in the hallway. "Please wait right here. The doctor will come out to speak with you the moment they can."
Bael walks toward the chairs, but his legs feel like paper. He cannot bring himself to sit down. Instead, he presses his palm flat against the white wall to keep his balance. The hospital around him is loud and flooded with harsh, buzzing fluorescent lights, but inside his head, everything feels completely dark and frozen.
A few minutes later, the heavy double doors swing open. A senior doctor in green scrubs walks out. He looks tired, his face serious, and when he locks eyes with Bael, he knows exactly who Bael is.
"Mr. Wuchen," the doctor says, stepping over quickly.
"How is he?" Bael gasps, his fingers digging into his own arms. "Runze. My wife. Is he okay?"
"We are doing everything we can," the doctor says, trying to keep his voice steady. "Your men are being taken care of as well. Mr. Liang Feng has broken ribs but he is stable and talking. Mr. Qiao Jin took a very hard hit on the driver’s side—he has a severe head injury and we are taking him to surgery right now."
Bael feels a sharp hit of worry for his men, but his heart is pounding so hard for his husband he can barely think.
"And Runze?" His voice breaks. "He was in the back. What about Runze?"
The doctor’s expression grows noticeably more serious. He glances down at the chart in his hand before looking back up.
"Your wife suffered significant head trauma during the crash. He was unconscious when paramedics arrived at the scene and has not regained consciousness since. Right now, our team is working to stabilize him and assess the full extent of his injuries."
Every word lands like a hammer blow.
Bael stares at him. "How bad is it?"
"He is in critical condition," the doctor says carefully. "The combination of severe trauma and pregnancy makes the situation more complicated. We have to proceed very carefully while evaluating possible internal injuries."
The hallway suddenly feels too bright, too cold. Bael’s throat tightens painfully.
"The baby..." The words barely make it out. "Is the baby alive?"
For the first time, the doctor hesitates.
"We detected a fetal heartbeat when he arrived," he says slowly. "But at this stage, I can’t tell you anything definitive. Our priority right now is stabilizing your wife. Until we do that, we won’t know the full impact of the accident."
Bael feels the floor tilt beneath him.
"So you don’t know."
The doctor doesn’t answer immediately.
"No," he says at last. "We don’t know yet."
The silence that follows is unbearable.
The doctor places a hand briefly on Bael’s shoulder.
"We’re doing everything we can, Mr. Wuchen. Please wait here. I’ll update you the moment we know more."
Then he turns and disappears back through the double doors, leaving Bael completely alone beneath the bright, blinding lights of the hallway.
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