Chapter 566: How Are Things?
"What’s wrong, Wendy?" Zen’s mother heard her voice and became worried as she asked, "Did something happen? Tell Auntie everything, don’t cry."
"Auntie, Zen is in the hospital now. She has already been in a coma for over twenty days." Wendy sucked in her breath and sobbed after saying this.
"What?" Zen’s mother heard this and the phone in her hands slipped down and crashed onto the ground.
Hearing the noise from the room, Zen’s father immediately stood up and asked, "What’s wrong? You can’t even hold the phone properly?"
"Some... something happened... " Zen’s mother felt her knees giving way as she walked back several steps.
Zen’s father hurriedly went to her side and held onto her, bringing her over to the sofa to sit. "What’s wrong? Tell me, what exactly happened?"
"Zen is in the hospital now." Zen’s mother pointed at the phone.
Zen’s father was calmer than Zen’s mother as he hurriedly went over to pick up the phone, "Hello?"
"Uncle Tanner, I think you better bring Auntie over to Lake City’s hospital! I’ll let you know the full story and all the details once you’re here okay?" said Wendy.
"Just pack simply and I’ll get someone to bring you over."
"You’re such a liar! Our Zen is still on a business trip!" Zen’s father angrily howled.
"You sound so young, why would you become a con artist?!"
With that, Zen’s father prepared to hang up the call.
Wendy never thought that they would think she was a con artist.
She hurriedly explained, "Uncle Tanner, I’m not a liar. I’m Wendy, Zen’s university friend. I even went over to your place before, do you remember? You mentioned Zen is on a business trip. Actually, she was never overseas. She had all along been in the hospital at Lake City. Those text messages were sent by myself. If you don’t believe me, I can send over a message now too."
With that, Wendy logged into Zen’s account and sent over a message.
Using Zen’s account was something that Michael helped her hack.
Zen’s father received the message and had to believe her.
"You... you’re saying Zen is in the hospital?" Zen’s father’s tone became tight and sad.
"You and Auntie should come over to the hospital now. I’ll inform you the details once you’re here." Wendy was afraid that they would be more worried if she told them everything now.
"Sure, sure, sure, we will go over right away." Zen’s father hurriedly said.
The call was disconnected and Zess patted Wendy on her shoulder to comfort and assure her.
Sighing slightly, Zes said, "Wendy, don’t be too upset, you’re still pregnant."
Wendy took a deep breath and sighed. She controlled her emotions and looked over to Zess. Forcing out a smile, she said, "I’m alright."
With that, Wendy’s phone suddenly rang again.
Looking at the screen, the call was from Michael.
"Michael..." Wendy said when the call connected.
"Wendy, where are you now? Are you home?" asked Michael.
"I’m still in the hospital, I wanted to visit Zen."
"I’ll go find you now."
"Okay." Wendy said, "Michael, can you give the bodyguards who are protecting Zen’s parents a call? Ask them to bring her parents over to Lake City now."
Michael knew that even if he didn’t do so, Wendy would also do it.
"Aren’t we not allowing them to come over to Lake City to visit Zen?" Michael asked and frowned.
"Come to the hospital and you will understand."
"Okay, I’ll come over now."
"Sure." Wendy was still upset and didn’t say much.
After the call disconnected, Wendy went over to Zen’s hospital ward.
...
Standing in front of Zen’s hospital bed, Wendy stared down at the pale-looking Zen with all the medical equipment attached to her body. Her eyes started to well up.
Zen had done many wrong things. These wrong things were beyond redemption but Wendy could actually understand her. That is because in the past, she had experienced love for Michael as fiercely as Zen’s love for Christian.
For Michael, she was willing to do anything.
The only difference was that she was luckier than Zen. She was lucky that she fell in love with Michael. While Zen fell in love with a devil.
Zen already knew she was wrong and had already faced the consequences of her actions. Wendy really hoped that she would regain consciousness and live a better life. However, Zen no longer wished to face this world.
Sitting on the bedside chair, Wendy held onto Zen’s hands tightly. Her hands were pale and skinny. The outline of her bones was obvious against her pale, thin skin.
It was kind of scary to look at her hand. Wendy sucked in a deep breath. The doctor had advised her to remind Zen of all the happy memories in the past.
Wendy smiled slightly and her eyes twinkled. In a gentle and calm voice, she started talking.
"Zen, do you remember? In the past when we were in university...
At that time we were bunk buddies.
We were vain but didn’t have much money. As we were about the same height and weight, we would often save money together, buy clothes together, and then exchange them with each other to wear.
At that time, so many people were envious at how close our friendship were. When we had classes that we didn’t enjoy, we would skip the class together and go out for hot pot.
I still remember, when you had a crush on a senior, you forced me to help you deliver your confession letter to him. In the end, your crush fell for me and decided to pursue me instead. Luckily he wasn’t my type. If not, if I really got together with that senior, our relationship would not have stayed so strong all these years.
However, I still remember you were mad at me for several days because of this. I had to treat you to three hot pot meals before you forgave me. Now, you probably don’t even remember who this senior is. When we were young, our crushes seemed so pure and simple.
There was still another summer when I went home with you and your parents loved me so much. They even asked you to take better care of me. Do you think all parents are like this?
When you came home with me at one time, my mum also told me to treat you better. I still remember when we previously went to the lake to fish for prawns and fishes, but your toes were pinched by a crab and you cried.
Then, my mum didn’t want you to continue fishing anymore but you were so stubborn and wanted to fish till we had enough for dinner.
Finally, you gave up and decided not to fish anymore, and just stood by the river watching me fish. You were born and raised in the city and hence was so curious and interested in my town life. I even brought you to climb trees to pick fruits and catch dragonflies.
Zen, you should remember all these right?
Hurry, wake up. Once you’re awake, rest well and recover properly. Then, I’ll bring you to my home again.
We can continue to pick fruits and catch dragonflies together. You loved eating the crabs and prawns we caught. We can catch more together.
This time, the crabs will definitely not pinch you...
Wendy spoke so much but Zen had no reaction at all. Even though it was expected, Wendy still felt disappointed and upset.
Her tears flowed down her cheeks uncontrollably and landed on Zen’s hand.
Wendy sighed heavily and carefully reached out to wipe away her tears.
...
What had happened in the past, Wendy knew it was of no use.
She smiled as she shook her head. Her smile turned bitter as she felt that it was not worth it for Zen.
"Zen, why are you like this? For a guy like Christian, is it really worth it to give up the rest of the world?" Wendy choked on her words as she said, "You still have me, and your parents and friends. The world is so beautiful. As long as you wake up, I will accompany you and stay by your side as you start afresh. We can find someone else, someone who truly loves you and whom you can love back.
A simple and normal man who loves you truly and is willing to spend his whole life with you. Don’t you love my old town? You can still go over there to teach. The children would definitely love you and I believe that you will become a very successful teacher as well. You can teach the children to draw, to design and when you’re free, you can plant some flowers, vegetables, and even grow fishes or prawns. There are so many things left in the world for you to do.
If you still choose to lie down here like this for the rest of your life, Zen, I will really look down on you and be disappointed in you. You are actually just a self-indulgent coward."
As usual, there was no reaction from Zen.
Wendy did not give up. She held onto Zen’s hands and continued to describe to her the beauty of life. It was not long before Michael came over.
He heard Wendy talking to herself and lightened his footsteps. He walked over to Wendy’s side and reached out to place his hand on her shoulders. Even though Wendy would often come over to look for Zen and talk to her about the past, this time, her tone and words were clearly different.
Recalling his earlier phone call with Wendy, Michael could guess that Zen’s condition had deteriorated.
Wendy saw Michael had arrived and reached out to wipe away her tears before standing up.
Seeing Wendy’s tear-stained face, Michael felt a pang of pain in his heart as he reached out gently to caress her face before saying softly, "Wendy, I know you’re worried about Zen, but you’re still pregnant. You should at least think of your child and not let yourself get too emotionally upset."
Wendy gave a weak nod and agreed.
"How is Zen now?" Michael asked as he looked down at Zen on the hospital bed.
"The doctor said that if she doesn’t wake up in the next three days, she would slip into a vegetative state." Wendy simply explained. "Her body is alright but she is trying to escape reality. Hence, I plan to bring her parents over to see if this can trigger her to awaken."
"Sure, that’s good." Michael consoled Wendy, "Don’t be too worried."
"How about your side? How are things?" Wendy slightly raised her head and asked Michael.
"Things are following my current plan for now." Michael added, "The international anti-drug team wants us to show further evidence. Otherwise, they will not take action."
"Don’t we have evidence already? I thought we had already investigated and found out about Christian and Clement’s corruption?" Wendy asked with a slight frown.
"Well, this is quite a complex issue, I’ll explain to you the details when we’re home.
The problem now is that in order to retrieve more evidence, we have to find Christian’s safe."
Michael glanced over at Zen once again and said, "I had initially thought that if Zen could regain consciousness, maybe she would know where Christian placed his safe.
However, with Zen like this, we can’t ask her at all.
I’ve arranged for a team to find the safe but the world is so big, it will indeed be difficult to find a safe."
