Reiner - A Good Change

“You mean that…you don’t think that it was an accident?” I asked, showing my shock.

“It could be…but the probability of it being a mere accident is quite low. Regardless, when these things happen to a family member, it is the family’s responsibility to investigate it,” Lucien explained sternly.

“Let’s not burden her with these issues. She’s still recovering,” Edward said sternly.

“I’ve got a surprise for you,” Lucien said, and I could feel his warm hand on my shoulder.

“Really? What is it?” I asked, curiously.

“Umm…Miss Natalia…”

I heard a familiar voice and I smiled immediately.

“Laura! That’s you, right?” I said excitedly.

“Yes, Miss,” Laura replied shyly.

“From today onwards, Laura will be here to help take care of you…and of course, to keep you company,” Lucien announced.

“That’s great but honestly, when I can go home? It’s so boring here. There’s nothing for me to do,” I grumbled.

The men just laughed like it was very funny.

“A few more days, Natalia. Please try to hang in there,” Edward said.

I let out depressing sigh. A few more days it is then…

…

Later that day, I heard the sound of the door opening and then closing and figured that someone had entered the room. Since I was sure that the three guys had left the hospital already, the visitor must be Laura or a member of the hospital staff.

I sat up in bed curiously as I waited for the person who had just entered to say something or to at least alert me of their presence; however, the person did not say anything even after I had waited for a while.

The room was quiet as if I was alone and that made me start to doubt whether I had just imagined the whole thing just now.

Maybe…no one entered the room or anything…

“Laura…is that you?” I asked. It surely sucks not being able to see anything.

There was no reply. There was no sound at all. Honestly, that left me slightly freaked out. However, I decided to try again…

If it isn’t Laura then…

“Excuse me…is someone there?” I asked, making sure that I was speaking loud enough for anyone that was in the room to here.

Silence. Maybe I imagined it? It’s got to be my imagination because having a ghost enter my hospital room is so uncool…

I hugged my arms around myself as I shivered slightly. Sighing loudly, I lay back down onto the bed and closed my eyes.

…

The next day, just like the days before it, I had problem eating my food. However, today was slightly different because there was someone here to complain about my eating habits.

“It looks like you haven’t even touched the food. Does it not suit your taste after all?” Laura asked, clearly worried.

This time I didn’t have to worry about the identity of the person who had entered the room; it was Laura for sure.

This just made me feel worst. I felt like I was a burden to everyone including my own maid. It wasn’t my intention to make her work more difficult for her. However, the hospital food tasted very bland.

Basically, it had absolutely no taste at all. I understood that perhaps this was intentional for health purposes but that didn’t make it easier to stomach.

The tasteless state of the food added to my already-lacking appetite made it even more difficult for me to eat anything. The result is the tray of pretty much untouched food that Laura is seeing. Trust me, the food was so tasteless that it was hard to figure out exactly what was being served because I couldn’t see. By this time, I could put food in my own mouth but that was about it.

Laura would feed me if she judged the meals to be too complex. Honestly, I hated being fed by her because it made me feel so useless.

“If I’m being honest, then, yes. The food is absolutely tasteless. I mean, how am I supposed to eat something like this?” I complained, honestly.

I sounded like a spoiled and whiny princess, and I didn’t like the sound of myself. However, it was the truth. I was sick of being stuck in the hospital and I just wanted to go home.

…

Life in the hospital was so boring that I felt like in addition to my body, my braincells were rotting away at a very fast pace. Because I couldn’t see, I couldn’t do anything. Having Laura with me was a good change and I appreciated her efforts; however, due to her schedule, she couldn’t stick by my side all the time.

She provided good company while she was there. At least, I could talk to her and ask about what was going on with the outside world. However, Laura was a very shy girl. Apart from not having much confidence to talk to me because I was the lady of the house that she served, her shy personality also made conversing with her for extended periods of time difficult.

Most of the time, she would either excuse herself or I would excuse her after I felt that she began feeling too uncomfortable around me. As time went by, our conversations naturally died down. Due to our lifestyle, there wasn’t much that we had in common that we could talk about, unfortunately.

For the next meal, Laura came in to serve me food and I could tell that something about the food was very different, and in a good way. From the moment that she stepped into the room, the smell of the food caught my attention.

Finally, food smells like food.

Unlike the countless meals in this hospital before, the food smelled like real food and well-prepared food. For some reason, it reminded me of home. I wondered when these types of food were allowed in the hospital and then I didn’t wonder about it anymore. The food smelled wonderful, and it made me want to see it.

“I’m here to serve your food, Miss,” Laura said politely.

I was already sitting up in bed. Laura made shuffling sounds as she began positioning the food table on top of my bed before I heard the sound of the tray being placed on top of the table.

--To be continued…