Reiner - Always with Me

Now that the food was right in front of me, I could smell the delicious odor more clearly.

“The food smells good…” I said softly.

“I hope the food will suit your tastebuds as well, Miss,” Laura said, and I could sense that she was smiling.

Well, I won’t know that until I take a bite. Feeling around the tray, I was able to locate the utensils and pick them up.

“It might be a little hot, Miss. Please be careful,” Laura warned as she guided my hand towards the food bowl.

“Thank you…I think I can take it from here…” I said, as I thanked her.

Slowly, I brought the food to my lips before softly blowing on it. When I tasted it, I had to say that it tasted even than I had imagined that it would. Perhaps it was the fact that I haven’t had anything besides hospital food for too many meals, but the food tasted amazing. I couldn’t help but smile at the comforting taste of the food. It really does remind me of home.

“Wow! I guess you really took my selfish complaint to heart, didn’t you? This food tastes amazing…” I said happily before continued to eat more of the food.

“Really, Miss?” Laura said happily.

“Yes. Finally, food tastes like food again. Hospital food has been really harsh on me,” I said before laughing a little.

Laura laughed along with me. I don’t remember the last time I was able to laugh along with someone else carefreely like this. Even if that person is just my maid right now, I hope that I would be able to laugh like this in the future with other people in my life as well.

Looking back, it’s really funny how good tasting food could make me feel so warm inside and fill my heart with hope. Hopefully, when I’m able to leave the hospital and remove these eyepatches from my eyes, my life and future would be bright and full of hope.

…

So much for feeling so hopeful the day before. My morning check-up with the doctors brought nothing but bad news.

“Extend my stay? In the hospital?” I asked incredulously.

I didn’t understand much about the technical side of what the doctors were telling me about the test results but what I could make out was that it didn’t go as predicted. This meant that they needed more time to monitor my recover. All in all, my stay in the hospital must be extended by a couple of days.

“Yes. I’m very sorry, Miss Natalia but your stay in the hospital has to be extended by a couple of days,”

the doctor said, sounding regretful.

What does that even mean? How many days is ‘a couple of days’ exactly?

I wanted to scream from my own frustration. Lately, the hospital wasn’t just killing me with boredom, but it was suffocating me. How many days have I spent drowning in the darkness like this? It felt like I was losing my mind.

“Isn’t there something that you can do? You know, anything that can speed up my recovery?” I asked, sounding desperate.

“We’re doing everything that we can, Miss Natalia. Your father has been…very particular…about making sure that your health is in perfect condition before you leave this hospital,” the doctor replied firmly.

Ok, so Lucien is involved…

That makes sense. It definitely sounds like him to be overly worried about everything.

“Can’t I go home and do some self-recovery at home?” I asked, stubbornly.

“Recovery at home is part of the process, Miss Natalia, but it only happens when you are able to leave the hospital. Now that we still need to do daily check-ups on you, it is better for you to remain in the hospital, at least for the next couple of days,” the doctors explained calmly.

I sighed loudly, not bothering to hide my disappointment.

“What about my eyes? When can these eye patches be removed?” I asked.

Come on! There’s got to be something that they can do for me. If I can’t go home, then please give me my eyesight back at least.

“Oh, good point. About that, we are thinking of removing your eyepatches in two days’ time,” the doctor said.

“Well, that’s better than nothing…” I mumbled softly to myself.

“That’s it for today. Please rest a lot and make sure that you eat enough. As requested, I’ve granted special permission for you to have food brought in from outside of the hospital. Hopefully that will help with healing your body and spirits,” the doctor said warmly.

Oh…so I was right. Special permission indeed for real food…

“Thank you, doctor…” I thanked him. I knew that he was trying his best to heal me, and I also knew that he must be facing immense pressure from Lucien and perhaps Edward as well.

“Well then, can you take Miss Natalia back to her room now?” the doctor said.

Today was one of the days that Laura had some errands to run in the morning. She did mention that she would be back to join me early in the afternoon with a special surprise. I had no idea what she meant but had decided to leave it to her to surprise me.

There was a short silence in the room before I felt the presence of someone behind my wheelchair.

Since I wasn’t able to see, they had figured that it was more convenient for everyone, including myself, to have me transported via a wheelchair whenever that I needed to leave my hospital room. Since I didn’t like the idea of myself feeling along the walls with my lack of sight, I readily agreed to using a wheelchair and being wheeled around.

…

“Well then, can you take Miss Natalia back to her room now?” the doctor said.

As the nurse that was called upon began approaching Natalia’s wheelchair, Reiner held up his hand to stop her from approaching. With a slight nod, he gestured that he will be the one who will take care of taking Natalia back.

--To be continued…