Chapter 471: She Didn’t Know How To Face Michael
Time passed bit by bit, and after a while, Mr. York’s phone rang.
He saw that it was Zess from Lake City. He handed the phone to Michael and whispered, "Mr. Lucas, Zess’ phone number."
Zess’ phone number?
When he saw that Wendy had fainted, Michael just took her to the hospital. And his mobile phone was thrown aside.
He didn’t hang up the phone at that time. It was probable that Jake and the others heard him yelling at Wendy in a panic.
Now, they must be worried about the situation.
Michael took the phone and took a deep breath, trying to make his tone sound calmer.
After sliding down the answer button, but before Michael could say anything, Jake hurriedly asked, "What’s wrong with Mummy?"
"It’s okay; Mummy is good. Don’t worry." Michael comforted him and said, "We’ll be back in two days, don’t worry."
How could Jake not be worried?
Michael called them up in the middle of the night to ask them to call Wendy, which already implied a problem.
Then, in the middle of the phone call, Michael stopped speaking.
Jake didn’t manage to call Michael successfully several times, so he got through by calling Mr. York.
"Then you ask Mummy to say a few words to us," Jake said.
Michael glanced at the emergency room and found an excuse, "It’s not convenient for Mummy to answer the phone now. It’s still late at night in Lake City. You go to bed first. When you wake up, I will ask Mummy to call you back, okay?"
Jake had wanted to say something else, but Leah cried by his side, "Is there something wrong with Mummy? I miss Mummy so much. I miss both Mummy and Daddy; when will you come back?"
Jake was worried about Wendy’s situation. Watching Leah cry with so many tears, hecouldn’t bear to make Leah sad. He reached out and touched her little head, comforting her, "It’s okay, Mummy will be fine. Didn’t Daddy just say that? Let us sleep first. Wait until we wake up. Yes, Mummy will call us."
"Really?" Leah was still crying.
Jake nodded and said to Leah, "Let’s listen to what Daddy said; shall we go to bed now?"
After that, Jake said to Zess, "Aunt Zess, please take Leah to bed."
"Then I will go to bed now. Will Mummy really call me tomorrow?" Leah blinked, without any doubt in Jake’s words.
Jake nodded again, "She will."
After Zess took Leah to bed, Jake did not hang up the phone immediately.
His voice was child-like but serious, "Leah and Aunt Zess are gone; now you can tell me what happened to Mummy?"
"She... " Michael knew that it was not easy to lie to Jake, so he sighed and said truthfully, "Mummy fainted, and now we are in the hospital. The specific situation will not be known until Mummy leaves the emergency room."
"What on earth happened to you?" Jake said a little harder, "I hope you can tell me the truth."
"This matter is unclear for a while, and it is indeed inconvenient to tell you."
Michael’s tone also became serious, "When Mummy wakes up, I will notify you as soon as possible. Don’t ask more, please."
"My last question, when will you come back?" Jake asked worriedly.
"Soon, when Mummy’s situation stabilizes, we will definitely come back together."
Michael secretly clenched his fists, trying to tell himself that he must take Wendy back to Lake City as soon as possible.
...
This matter was a huge blow to Wendy. As long as she left Rheinsville City and never came back, she could slowly forget about everything that happened there.
Perhaps, she would not be able to forget it completely, but at least time would help diminish those memories.
"Okay, we will wait for you all." Jake sounded reluctant but strong-willed.
"Yup." Michael did not say anything more and hung up.
Michael passed the phone back to Mr. York and turned his gaze back at the emergency room. He had been waiting for the red light at the top of the door to be turned off and Wendy would be out from the room.
Fortunately, the door to the emergency room opened soon after.
"How is she, Doctor?" Michael went up immediately to inquire.
"No major issues. Don’t worry," the doctor assured him. "The patient has not fully recovered from her previous ordeal and was a little weak. She got overly anxious, which led to her fainting."
"That’s good." Michael let out a sigh of relief. He watched Wendy bring wheeled out and asked, "Then when will she be awake?"
"That depends on her," the doctor replied. "But she should be awake in about three to four hours."
"When she wakes up, can she eat?"
"Yes, as long as it is not too oily or spicy," the doctor specified. "Her body is still weak. It will be best if she can have some nutritious soup that is easy to take in."
Michael nodded. "Thank you, Doctor."
"No problem at all. It’s my duty."
Michael followed the doctor to the ward. His bodyguard had already brought both their phones over. Michael thought Jake must be worried for Wendy and had not slept yet. He quickly texted Jake to update him that Wendy was already out of danger.
Michael looked at Wendy who was lying on the hospital bed. His heart ached.
Gripping tightly on Wendy’s hand, Michael only hoped that Wendy would be awake soon. What Michael wanted was simple, to have a peaceful and happy life with his family.
Michael did not want to disrupt Wendy’s rest. Hence, he got up and walked out of the ward quietly. Mr. York followed behind. When they were in the hallway, Michael instructed, "Go buy some nutritious soup for her. Vegetable soup, Chinese soup, meat soup... buy them all. Not sure which soup she would want to try when she’s awake, so just buy what you can find."
"Okay." Mr. York nodded and turned to leave.
"Wait." Michael hesitated and said, "I’ll prepare the soup myself."
Michael thought since Wendy would wake up in three to four hours, he would have time to make soup for her. He was not familiar with Rheinsville City, and he was not confident which Chinese takeout or restaurant would be more authentic. Wendy had always liked Chinese food. Though Michael did not cook often, the food he prepared were quite good, and more importantly, Wendy did not mind his cooking at all. Thus, if he were to prepare the soup himself, it would suit her palate better.
Upon deciding, he put his plan to action. He instructed Mr. York to stay at the hospital and to inform him at once if Wendy woke up. Then, he booked a hotel room with a kitchen. Michael made chicken soup, packed it in a thermal soup flask, and rushed back to the hospital to wait for Wendy to be awake.
"Wendy, you’re finally awake." Michael had been monitoring Wendy all this while.
When her eyelids made the slightest movement, he noticed. He was over the moon when Wendy opened her eyes.
...
"I..." Wendy could tell that she was in a hospital after looking around and from the familiar smell of antiseptic. She tried to recall what happened. She said she needed some time to be alone, and she went back to her room. When she was in the room, she squatted down and leaned against the wall, hugging herself into a ball.
Her mind was confused, and the scene of Clement being in her house that night kept floating up. And when she woke up, here she was.
"I fainted?" Wendy asked.
Michael nodded and reached over to help Wendy sit up carefully. "Your body is still healing. Have some chicken soup. I made this myself. I hope you like it."
Michael went over to the side table to pour the soup into a bowl. He scooped a spoonful and blew it gently to ensure that the soup was not too hot for Wendy. He brought the spoon to Wendy’s mouth and said, "Wendy, have a little to replenish your strength."
Wendy looked at Michael. She could not bear to reject him, so she took a few sips.
Seeing that Wendy had almost half the bowl of soup, Michael was pleased.
"I can’t have more..." Wendy did not have the appetite to finish it and shook her head. Michael nodded, and he put the bowl down on the table.
The atmosphere in the ward was quiet. Michael tried to initiate a topic to lighten the mood. He smiled and said, "Oh right, Jake and Leah called and asked when we are going back. I promised them that we will be back in a couple of days. I told them we will give them a call once you are awake. It should be morning now in Lake City.
Shall we call them?"
Michael did not mention anything about Clement, as if nothing had happened, but Wendy could not let it go.
Wendy shook her head. She could not control her emotions. She was afraid she would lose control of herself and break down in front of the kids.
"Okay, we can call them later. When you get better, let’s go back to Lake City, okay?" Michael was hoping to soften his approach by using the two kids as an excuse. "Leah was crying when she called last night. She said she misses you."
"I..." Wendy did not want to cry, but tears rolled down uncontrollably on her cheeks. When she got better... It would take a couple of days to get better physically. But what about mentally? If Wendy returned to Lake City now, she would bring the negative feelings with her, which would not be ideal.
"Why don’t you go back first? I want to be alone for the time being." Wendy closed her eyes as tears continued to stream down from the corners of her eyes. But whenever she closed her eyes, it would bring her back to that night.
"How can I go back alone? As husband and wife, we should go back together."
Michael laughed. "Besides, Leah and Jake are waiting for their mommy. They..." Wendy tried to curb her emotions, but she realized she could not keep them in. In her heart, there seemed to be a demon waiting to be unleashed.
Alas, Wendy could not control it anymore. She broke down and suddenly started shouting, "I told you to go back first! Didn’t you hear what I said? I need some time to calm down. Why did you bring me to the hospital? I don’t want to see you, don’t you know? I want to be alone... alone! Get it now?"
"Wendy, calm down...." Michael was taken aback by Wendy’s reaction. It was the first time he had seen Wendy acting like that.
....
Wendy tried to pull the needle from the back of her hand and struggled to get off the bed. Michael immediately went forward to hug her. "Wendy, would you please calm down? We won’t go back yet, okay? We are not going back."
"Get out. I don’t want to see you. Go away!" Wendy thought she could control her feelings well. She thought she would be able to face Michael calmly, but she was wrong. She could not do it.
"Wendy..." Michael could not possibly leave her now, especially when she was in this state.
"If you are not getting out, I will!" With that, Wendy turned her body to roll herself off the bed. Michael could only look helplessly at Wendy. She had been cooperative and seemed okay earlier when she was having soup. Why the sudden change in attitude?
Wendy just woke up, and her body was still weak. With her state now, where could she go?
Michael could only give in to Wendy as he said hurriedly, "Okay, okay... I’ll leave right now."
Wendy’s emotions stabilized a little after she heard that.
"Wendy, you have a good rest. I’ll leave now. When you are feeling better, we can sit down and have a chat, okay?" Michael continued.
"What is there to chat about?" Wendy wailed. "Chat about how I was humiliated by Clement?"
"That is not what I mean. I..." Before Michael could finish his sentence, Wendy interrupted him, "Michael, there is something I have been wanting to ask."
"Go ahead. What is it?" Michael prompted.
"Why did you appear in Rheinsville City that day? How did you know what happened?" Wendy interrogated. "You have people spying on me in the dark, haven’t you?"
"I wasn’t spying. I just wanted to ensure your safety," Michael explained. "Previously, I never asked them to report back on your whereabouts. Their main job was to protect you."
"And after that?" Wendy cried as she asked, "Did you start to monitor my whereabouts while ’protecting’ me? To check if I was doing anything adulterous with Todd behind your back? Or if I was seeing other men at all? Michael, you never trusted me at all...." "That’s not true. I have always trusted you." Michael did not know why Wendy would bring this up all of a sudden. "I merely wanted to protect you from danger."
"Hur...." Wendy knocked her fist onto Michael as she howled, "Since you have sent someone to protect me, why was the incident not prevented and I was not saved in time? What purpose does it serve? What use do you have as a husband?"
"I..." Michael was at a loss. He did not know how to reply Wendy. After a while, he said, "Sorry...." "What’s the point of your apology?" Wendy took the bowl of chicken soup from the table and threw it at Michael. "Get lost. I don’t want to see you. Get out of the room!"
Michael did not want Wendy to be further agitated. He stood up and walked toward the door. As he made his way out, he said, "Okay, I’ll leave. Please calm down."
"Go!" Wendy grabbed a plastic cup from the table and threw it at Michael again.
After Michael left, Wendy sat on the bed alone. She hugged her knees and started crying. She was not actually blaming Michael for sending someone to monitor her movements. She just did not know how to face Michael. If she had asked Michael nicely, Michael would not leave for sure. She could only resort to acting violently to make him leave.
