Chapter 174: Take Care
"Don’t push yourself too hard, Michael," Mary sighed as she spoke.
"I won’t. It’s all good." Michael smiled and turned to Jake. "Come on. Go with your grandma to get some rest."
Seeing how stubborn Michael was, they all said goodbye to Wendy and left. Michael was the only person remaining with her in the room.
Michael suddenly couldn’t find anything to say despite his urge to be alone with Wendy.
He walked to her side, put an extra blanket on top of her, and then sat down silently on the chair beside her.
As for Wendy, she wasn’t used to her hospital room being so quiet. After all, she had been talking to people for the whole day.
She pouted and whispered, "Michael, are you really my husband?"
To Wendy, the word ’husband’ was not yet part of her regularly used vocabulary.
Michael was still nervous to hear Wendy’s voice, especially now that he had realized how much trauma he had caused her.
He didn’t even know how to talk to Wendy anymore as he didn’t want to worsen the situation and make her condition permanent.
"Hmm.." Michael let out a sound after having refrained from talking to Wendy for a long while.
Wendy frowned as she was confused by Michael’s reaction. "You’re not a talker, are you?" she asked.
"Yes," Michael reluctantly uttered a word.
"Are you really my husband?" Wendy sounded suspicious as she asked again. "I just have this feeling that you’re not treating me like I’m your wife." Wendy then continued, "Sorry. That’s not exactly what I meant. Although I’ve lost my sight, I can tell from what my mom and my best friend, Zen, have told me, that you’ve been taking care of me these past few days. But why are you so distant now that we’re spending time alone. Was there any issues between us before?"
It was understandable that Wendy had questions since all she could do now was listen. What she had heard implied that Michael wasn’t a fan of talking to her directly.
Michael was at a loss after hearing Wendy’s question since he knew that they haven’t had a good run.
It wasn’t because he didn’t want to tell Wendy.
Rather, the drama between them was too complicated for him to elaborate on as he didn’t want to aggravate the trauma that Wendy had already been suffering from.
Frankly, he didn’t want Wendy to remember many of the things that happened before.
"It’s getting late. Maybe it’s time for you to go to bed," Michael tried to change the topic as he didn’t know how to answer Wendy’s question.
However, Michael’s ambiguous response only furthered Wendy’s curiosity.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to recall anything about Michael no matter how hard she tried.
Wendy woke up early in the morning the day after.
She tried to get to the bathroom while navigating in the dark. After she had difficulty balancing herself, she whispered, "Michael. Are you awake, Michael?"
Wendy knew that Michael was the only person who stayed in the hospital for her, so she could only resort to him for help.
However, Wendy’s voice was too quiet for Michael to hear as he was deep in his sleep.
Wendy fumbled about in the dark and touched Michael, who was sleeping beside her bed.
She had heard from Wendy and her kids that Michael stayed up all night for days just to take care of her.
She didn’t have any memory of Michael, but she was curious about what Michael looked like.
She slowly put her hands back as she didn’t want to wake him up and then, she clumsily tried to get ahold of any object around her. However, her blindness made everything very inconvenient for her.
The second she got out of her bed, she hit the chair beside her and fell onto the floor.
She shouted from the fear of the dark and from not knowing what she ran into. .
Naturally, Michael was awakened by the noise, and his heart skipped a beat when he saw Wendy lying on the floor.
He reached out to Wendy and helped her get up as he apologized, "Sorry, Wendy. I fell asleep."
He blamed himself for not noticing that Wendy woke up. "Did you injure yourself?" Michael asked her worriedly. "I’ll page the doctor now."
"It’s alright." Wendy balanced herself by holding on to Michael’s hands. "I want to go to the bathroom," she said awkwardly.
"I’ll carry you there." Michael tried to put Wendy on his back.
Wendy got even more embarrassed. "Um, no need," she said. "Could you just tell me which direction it is? I’ll walk there myself."
Although Wendy had learned that Michael was her husband, given her current memory, he was still a complete stranger to her. So, she didn’t feel comfortable with Michael carrying her all the way to the bathroom.
On the other hand, Michael was even worried about Wendy walking to the bathroom by herself. "It’s better to let me lead you there," he said.
After they got to the bathroom, Wendy gently pushed Michael with her right hand while holding the doorknob with her left. "Thank you," she said as she blushed. "If you don’t mind, can you wait outside?"
Michael knew that it would be inappropriate for him to follow her in after she had already pushed him away.
However, Wendy got lost in the dark as she tried to close the bathroom door and lost her balance. She hit the sink and fell onto the floor.
Michael pushed open the door after he heard Wendy screaming and asked urgently, "Did you hurt yourself?"
"No... I’m fine," Wendy said as she rubbed her belly where she hit the sink.
"Really, I’m fine. Could you wait outside?" Wendy asked.
Michael, however, stubbornly refused because he was too concerned about Wendy’s physical safety.
Knowing that Wendy wouldn’t allow him to watch her going number one in front of him, he asked, "Could I help you get onto the toilet first?"
Wendy nodded after hesitating for a moment.
It was indeed an inconvenience for her to move around being temporarily blind.
Besides, the bathroom of her VIP hospital room was gigantic.
She then allowed Michael to help her get to the toilet as she urgently needed to pee.
Michael let her hand go after she sat on the toilet.
"Please, get out," Wendy urged him as she was reluctant to take off her pants with Michael standing beside her.
Michael hummed and strode out, but then, he snuck back in quietly.
He stood two steps away from Wendy so that he could assist Wendy if another ancient happened.
Wendy took off her pants since she was under the impression that Michael was out of the bathroom. After she finishing peeing, she fumbled about trying to find toilet paper.
Michael’s back was facing Wendy but he immediately turned around after hearing the sound.
He then picked up a roll of toilet paper and handed it to her.
"Thank you," Wendy said without thinking, but she blushed out of cringing embarrassment after realizing that Michael was around.
"Was... was he in the bathroom the whole time?" Wendy thought as she lowered her head. "Wait a minute. I can’t see anything right now. Why should I be embarrassed? It should be him who feels awkward."
She then cleared her throat. "Turn around," she said. "Don’t turn back until I tell you so."
"Sure," Michael answered.
Wendy took a deep breath. After she put her pants back on, she said, "Now you can."
Just as Michael was about to walk towards her to help her get back to her bed, she said, "Wait. I need to wash my hands first."
Even though she had lost her sight, she still wanted to clean her hands after using the bathroom.
