Chapter 170

CHAPTER 170 In the Woodland hospital.

Veronica woke up to find herself on what seemed like a hospital bed with all the heart rate monitor, blood bags, and saline that caught her eyes. Dust was dancing through the golden rays streaming through the vent-holes.

She didn’t have the strength to move her body straight away. She felt weak.

The nurse entered her room and was slightly relieved to see Veronica waking up. “How do you feel, miss?” she asked in a gentle voice.

“Why can’t ... move?” she asked in a painful voice.

“Ah, your body must still be in shock,” the nurse said. “Give it some time, and you should be able to move. But I must say you’re quite lucky. We were running low on blood bags last night. If the guy who brought you here didn’t have the same blood and wasn’t willing to donate his blood, you would have entered into a coma before we found blood for you. Whoever he was, he donated 3 units of blood without hesitation.”

As the nurse kept telling how lucky Veronica was, she remembered crashing into a petrol station the previous night and injuring her head, neck, and shoulder and went into a shock. If not for the airbags coming into play, she would have probably died instantly. She remembered someone pulling her out of the car and dragging her away before the flames erupted and the petrol station exploded, releasing a huge pillar of fire up into the air for hundreds of feet.

It was an extremely close call. If not for her savior, not even her body would have been found after the explosion “Is he... still here?” she asked with effort.

The nurse shook her head. “He left after giving his blood, even though we told him he should take rest. He slipped away after the nurse went out. He must have had something important to do, and yet he donated blood. He’s a high-value man. You don’t come across guys like that who are willing to sacrifice time for others without expecting anything in return.”

“Do you... know his name?”, The nurse thought for a second and said, “It’s Akash, I think.”

A frown creased Veronica’s forehead. (It couldn’t be him, could it?) Her heart beat in an uncontrollable rhythm. Her tongue felt sour.

Selena entered the room and rushed over to the bed. “My baby...” she hugged her and was in tears. Veronica’s head was bandaged, and she looked small and vulnerable. “How did this happen?”

“A cat came in the way, and ...” as Veronica explained, Selena pitied her daughter.

“You got yourself in an accident to not run over a cat?” the nurse was also pleasantly surprised and pitied her.

Veronica didn’t have the energy to keep talking, so the nurse didn’t let Selena talk for long.

“Delle is right outside, so call her if you need anything,” Selena told her daughter. “If you want me here, just tell her to call me. I will come as fast as I can.”

me “Why didn’t dad and others come?’ Veronica asked the question that had been bugging her.

“They are taking care of Nolan’s funeral. Once they’re done with that, they will come to see you.”

Once the nurse and Selena left the room, Selena asked the nurse how long should Veronica stay here. The nurse said, in her opinion, Veronica would need to stay at least a week to see if everything was alright with her body and that the doctor would then decide the time she could go home.

Veronica, on the other hand, was thinking about Akash. “I got him beaten, but he still saved my life. If | was in his place, would I have done the same?” she couldn’t be so sure. She didn’t even know that Akash’s arms were both cut by her brother. She was under the impression her brother had beaten Akash brutally to teach him a lesson for betraying her.

Now, she wanted to meet him and apologize to him after recovering enough. Hopefully, he would forgive her, she thought.

Meanwhile, in Jane’s apartment.

Rebecca was reading from an image she had taken a while ago. “Waking up to see your wonderful face, I feel like the luckiest man alive. I still find it hard to believe that I’m married and am living with someone who can bring joy into my world like no other. I hope I will never lose you, or I will be losing the greatest part of me. Let’s love each other like no other.”

Rebecca finished reading and put on a prideful smile as she looked at her best friend who was still on the bed and covered in spots much more than before.

“This is just one of the poems he wrote in his diary back when we used to live in the same room...” Rebecca said. “I captured them all on my mobile. To be honest, I didn’t find them all that precious when I found the diary, but as time passed, his words grew weight in my heart.”

“Why the hell are you telling me all this?” Jane grew visibly frustrated.

“Because I want you to realize that he isn’t interested in you, and he won’t ever be,” Rebecca confidently said.

“Huh, you’ve done nothing by yourself to keep your relationship going,” Jane’s words were sharper than a dagger, “yet you are talking like you deserve him. Most men wouldn’t want a woman like you in their life. In fact, they’d run far away once knowing how selfish you are. Benjamin is a fool, which is why he’s still sticking around.”

“Then what about you?” Rebecca had a deep frown on her face. “Weren’t you my best friend? How could you be so close with someone who’s supposedly so selfish?”

“Hmph,” Jane looked away and didn’t say anything..

“If I was really selfish, I wouldn’t be sitting here, taking care of you, would I?” Rebecca continued. “I didn’t sleep last night. I could hear birds cackling outside in the middle of the night. It felt like they were mocking me for looking after someone who was coming after her own husband, yet I’m still here... trying to explain myself, hoping to set things straight, to take things back to how they once were.” Despite her verbal and emotional efforts, Jane didn’t seem to be responding at the frequency she wanted.

“Say something.”

Jane turned her head to look at Rebecca. “Give me Benjamin. I will give him all the satisfaction in the world.”

Rebecca’s expression warped. “You were always like this. You think sex is everything. That’s why you are still single.”

“Actually, I don’t think that way anymore...” replied Jane, her eyes seemingly carrying an honest look in them. “I called Benjamin here to sleep with him, but then I fell sick, and he took care of me until you showed up. During those few hours, he made me feel special, even though he knew I was trying to cause trouble. He was willing to go against his interests for my sake, and that’s something I don’t see in many men. These days, people want their partner to change for them but are unwilling to change themselves for their partners. But Benjamin isn’t like that. He did everything he could to keep his marriage going. He’s still doing that. I mean what kind of a guy can be so submissive to his wife much less his wife’s family so much because he loves his wife? He is the type of guy every woman wants deep down in their heart because he can go to any lengths for his wife. And that’s why...” she looked straight into Rebecca’s eyes.“ I can’t give up on him just yet. I hope you’ll continue to disappoint him so he’ll start considering giving me a try.”

Rebecca’s tongue poked the inside of her cheeks as she controlled her anger. “I won’t wish you good luck, but I wish you will recover soon.” She stood from her seat. “I think I’ll do something nasty if I stay here, so I’ll go and send a maid to tend to you.”

Saying that she walked out of the room.

Jane exhaled audibly. “She’ll send a maid? Does that mean she’s going home now? What if her whole family gets chickenpox?

Huh, why should I care?”