Jin Liwei pulled his hysterical baby girl in his arms and wrapped her trembling body in a tight embrace. His face tightened to prevent himself from grimacing from the pain. He saw the doctor step forward, about to stop them from aggravating his injuries, but Jin Liwei shot a cold glare at the older man.
The doctor sighed and shook his head before silently excusing himself and the nurse from the room to give the couple some privacy. Xu Tian with his ugly wounds also followed suit and pulled Dom with him out of the room.
“Ssshh.” Jin Liwei ran his hand up and down her back, trying to soothe her. “I’m sorry for worrying you. But look at me. I’m safe and alive. That’s what’s important.”
His chest tightened in distress when he felt her tears soaking his shoulder. “I’m okay. I’ll be okay. So please don’t cry anymore.”
“You…you can’t die, Liwei,” she cried, her voice shaky. “You can’t! You’re not allowed to die and leave me!”
“Yes, yes. I won’t.”
“I’ll kill you if you die!”
His mouth twitched.
“I’m serious!”
“Yes, of course,” he quickly said. “I know that you’re serious.”
He inhaled sharply hearing her words which shot straight to his heart and filled it with a mixture of love and pain. Love—for positioning herself as his wife with such a serious and emotional tone even when they weren’t officially married yet. And pain—for thinking of the possibility that he would leave her a widow so soon.
“I won’t leave you,” he swore to her in his most solemn voice.
That seemed to finally calm her down. The trembling of her body eased, and she started to relax in his embrace. Her tears also slowed down, no longer soaking his shoulder so much. He could still hear small whimpers escaping from her lips, though.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“What for?”
“You’re the one injured so I should be the one taking care of you.”
“Ssshh. Don’t think too much. I’m fine.” He kissed her hair.
“I love you.”
He smiled. “I love you, too. So much.”
“Did you say something?”
She didn’t answer. Instead, her head lolled back at the same time her knees buckled. His arms caught her on instinct.
“Xiulan? Hey. What’s happening to you?”
His heart stopped for a few beats before it started galloping inside his chest like it wanted to jump out. He looked down and her body sagged on him like a rag doll.
“Don’t do this to me. Wake up, baby.” He shook her and patted her cheeks but she didn’t respond. His jerky movements caused his injuries to hurt but he didn’t give a damn. His heart continued hammering, even as he grew increasingly frightened seeing her pallor and feeling the cold touch of her skin.
No.
This wasn’t happening.
No, no, no.
Not again!
###
When Iris’ eyes fluttered open, her mind felt hazy. She found herself lying on a bed and looking up at a white ceiling. Her brows furrowed in confusion at the unfamiliar place. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you’re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It’s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]
“Where am I?” she croaked before noticing that she was hooked to an IV drip. “What happened?”
The small bag of clear fluid hanging above was almost empty, indicating that she had been unconscious for quite some time. A tiny prick of pain also caught her attention from where a cotton ball and tape were stuck on her inner forearm. It looked like her blood was drawn.
“You’re awake!” A shadow fell over her. “Thank God. I was so worried.”
She looked at the person sitting on the bed beside her. It took a few seconds before her memory returned. She remembered feeling upset and crying in her man’s arms. After losing control of her emotions which seemed to happen quite a lot lately, she somehow managed to calm down after being comforted by him. All she could feel after calming down was tremendous relief that her man returned to her safe and alive. As she relaxed in his embrace, the dizziness hit her and everything went black.
“Huh? What?” Her wandering mind returned to the present upon noticing that her man was talking to her.
“You said something just now when you woke up,” Jin Liwei said. “It’s in Russian, I think.”
“Oh.” She didn’t realize that she spoke in Russian while her mind was not in a fully-awakened state yet. Jin Liwei could already recognize the language even though he couldn’t understand it. He already got used to hearing her conversing with either her big brother or Ketchup in Russian whenever they felt like it.
“How are you feeling? The doctor said that you only lost consciousness and that you’ll soon wake up. But I…I thought that you fell into coma again.” His voice was hoarse and his eyes reddened.
Iris’ chest tightened seeing him like this. She could feel the fear and worry for her emanating from him. What upset her even more was that he was supposed to be the patient today yet here she was lying on his hospital bed.
Why had she become so useless like this? It was so infuriating! Ugh! She wanted to punch something to ease her frustration.
They were interrupted when the door opened. Both of them looked over and saw Wang Yingjie walk inside wearing his white lab coat and holding a folder. They greeted each other.
Jin Liwei eyed the folder. “You have the test results?”
