In the quiet hallway, Brett leaned against a wall, his head lowered. Shadows veiled his entire face, making the passing janitors hesitant to approach him.
Izabella was being resuscitated, and Brett looked at his own fingers - this was the ninth time she'd needed resuscitation in the ninety days since she'd been hospitalized.
Each time Izabella was taken into the emergency room, Brett regretted it so much that he wanted to kill himself. He'd never felt so powerless, like a piece of wood floating in the sea.
Liam came by again today and found it weird to see Brett standing in the hallway. Usually, whenever he came, Brett would be guarding Izabella in her room, barely moving at all. Why was he taking a breather in the hallway today?
Liam, a sharp-minded person, sensed something was wrong even before he got close.
He stopped about a meter away from Brett and asked, "President Windham, what are you doing here?" It was an odd question for a subordinate to ask, especially when he shouldn't be prying into his boss's business. Even if he was curious, he should have kept it to himself.
Just as Liam thought of changing the subject, Brett spoke up in a hoarse voice, "Izabella's awake."
"Your wife's awake? Then why…" Liam abruptly stopped speaking when he saw the light above the emergency room door not far away. This explained why Brett was standing there instead of going in to accompany Izabella.
Watching Brett continuously rub his temples, Liam couldn't help but say softly, "Don't worry, President Windham. Your wife will be fine since she has woken up."
To have woken up after three months of coma was already a miracle. What else could be impossible?
"Your wife will be alright," Liam offered consolation.
But Brett didn't hear a word of it as his heart ached, not just for Izabella's critical condition, but for the insurmountable rift between them.
Seeing Izabella's face when she woke up, he knew they could never go back.
Izabella could never forgive him. During her battle with stomach cancer, her own husband had pushed her into the abyss, where she was tormented and left in despair.
An hour later, Izabella was finally wheeled out of the emergency room. She was still pale, her lips bluish, and her brows furrowed in her sleep as if she was struggling in a nightmare.
The sight of delicate Izabella once again pierced Brett's heart. Izabella's condition was just a temporary reprieve, and she could still face more dire situations like today.
What's more, her late-stage stomach cancer was already beyond help, and no one knew how long she could live.
The doctor told Brett about Izabella's condition truthfully, but he was so out of it that he just stared at her blankly, as if he was in a trance.
It was Liam who ended up remembering all the details. In summary, the damage Izabella had suffered had gone beyond the average person's tolerance.
The doctor mentioned two types of damage: one was her stomach cancer, and the other was the five doses of medicine injected into her brain.
Her late-stage stomach cancer had been discovered a year ago in a hospital check-up, and it was impressive that she had hung on for so long.
The five nerve-destroying medications, however, had further devastated her body.
On top of that, as Izabella had a history of depression, her brain nerves had become quite fragile due to the medication.
"What consequences will that lead to?" Brett asked, willing to take all responsibility, even if it meant facing a mentally unstable mad woman. As long as Izabella didn't die, everything was fine.
However, Brett's thinking was quite naive.
The doctor said, "The medications have caused Ms. Salotti's disorientation and memory disorder."
"What do you mean by 'memory disorder'?"
"Based on our preliminary assessment, there are two possibilities. The better one is complete amnesia, and the worse one is remembering only the frightening things that happened, like just now."
Fear was an inevitable negative emotion for people, but being continuously immersed in fear, tension, anxiety, and horror, Izabella would surely die even without stomach cancer.
"How can we make her forget everything?" Brett wondered whether they could start over if Izabella forgot everything.
If she were truly amnesiac, he would take care of her and protect her this time, never letting her to be hurt again.
However, the doctor shook his head, "These are things we can't control, Mr. Windham, we suggest that you temporarily take a step back. I'm worried about what would happen if Ms. Salotti wakes up and sees you." The implication was clear.
Brett nodded, unable to be close to Izabella when she was awake and not knowing when she would wake up again. He dared not stay in her room and paced out to the hallway, watching her from afar.
The hospital's psychologist came to provide counseling for Izabella, but her situation was very different from most psychiatric patients.
Both her body and mind had suffered severe traumas, etched into her soul indelibly, and even thinking about it was excruciating.
Upon seeing another person, Izabella would scream in fear, and she would beg for mercy when the doctor took out sedatives to inject her.
"Don't give me the shot, it hurts too much."
Standing outside the door, Brett felt cold all over his body as Izabella's pleas seemed like sharp knives stabbing his heart relentlessly, making him bleed internally.
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