novelraw Chapter 54: Hands All Night
Chapter 54: Hands All Night
early morning.
VIP single room at the Third Municipal Hospital.
A faint smell of disinfectant filled the air.
The curtains weren't fully drawn, and a faint beam of morning light shone through, illuminating the dust particles floating in the air.
Wen Ning woke up.
The moment I regained consciousness, I felt sore all over, as if I had been taken apart.
Especially the left hand.
Numb, stiff, as if I had lost all feeling.
She moved her fingers.
But they found they couldn't pull it back.
Wen Ning turned his head with difficulty.
At the bedside.
Jiang Ci sat on a hard, uncomfortable chair.
He was lying face down on the edge of the bed, his face buried in his arms, seemingly asleep.
And his hands.
Their fingers were intertwined.
He gripped her left hand tightly.
That strength didn't loosen even in his sleep.
It's like a drowning person grabbing onto the only piece of driftwood.
Wen Ning felt as if her heart had been pricked by a needle.
She looked at him.
Jiang Ci, who was always meticulous, a clean freak, and even had to smooth out the wrinkles in her shirts.
He looked so disheveled that he was almost unrecognizable.
The black shirt he was wearing was the same one from last night, soaked through and dried by his body heat, clinging to his body in a wrinkled mess.
It still had watermarks from the dried rainwater and even a few mud spots on it.
Her hair was messy, with the ends sticking up.
On the exposed back of his neck, the veins of fatigue were faintly visible.
He kept watch all night.
I held her hand all night.
Wen Ning's nose felt sore.
She endured the numbness in her arm, trying to gently pull her hand away so he could sleep more comfortably.
however.
My fingertip just twitched.
The person lying next to the bed woke up with a start, as if electrocuted.
"Ningning?!"
Jiang Ci practically jumped up.
The movement was so sudden that the chair behind him made a screeching sound.
He raised his head.
Those eyes were bloodshot, and there were dark circles under them.
His gaze shifted from confusion to panic in an instant, only settling slightly when it focused on Wen Ning's open eyes.
"woke up?"
His voice was terribly hoarse, like two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together.
"Where do you feel unwell? Are you dizzy? Does your heart hurt?"
A series of questions.
The tone was hurried.
Wen Ning shook his head, his throat so dry he could barely speak.
At this time.
The ward door was pushed open.
The doctor came in for rounds.
"It's good that you're awake."
The doctor looked at the data on the monitor.
"The fever has subsided, and the heart rate has stabilized."
Jiang Ci stood nervously to the side, like a primary school student who had done something wrong and was waiting to be scolded.
"Doctor, she yesterday..."
"I already said, it's psychogenic syncope."
The doctor flipped through the patient's medical record, his tone serious.
"The patient was already in poor health, and then he got caught in the rain and the cold. Most importantly, he was under too much psychological pressure."
"Insufficient blood supply to the brain due to excessive emotional stress."
The doctor looked up and glanced at Jiang Ci, who was covered in a mess.
Implicit in meaning:
"When young people are in a relationship, it's okay to argue, but don't push each other to the brink."
"Be more careful next time, don't let her get agitated. If she faints again, her heart won't be able to handle it."
Jiang Ci's face turned deathly pale instantly.
Bloodless.
His hands, hanging by his sides, clenched into fists.
The nail is digging into the flesh.
It's him.
He forced him to do it.
It was his insistence on getting to the bottom of things, his insistence on hearing the reason for the "breakup," that drove her to this point.
"I see."
Jiang Ci lowered his head, his voice muffled.
"Thank you, doctor."
After the doctor left.
The ward fell into a deathly silence once again.
Jiang Ci did not sit down.
He didn't say anything.
He turned and went into the bathroom attached to the ward.
The sound of rushing water could be heard from inside.
A few minutes later.
He came out.
I washed my face with cold water and straightened my hair a little, but the bloodshot eyes were still glaringly prominent.
The wrinkled clothes looked particularly jarring.
He was holding a glass of warm water.
There's also a cotton swab.
He walked to the bedside, but did not sit down.
Instead, he knelt on one knee on the bed footboard, making himself slightly lower than Wen Ning who was lying down.
"I can't drink water."
He looked at her chapped lips.
"Let's moisturize it first."
He dipped a cotton swab in warm water.
He applied it little by little, carefully, to her lips.
The movements were incredibly gentle.
I was afraid of hurting her.
Wen Ning looked at his face, which was so close to hers.
Looking into his focused eyes.
The scenes from last night's rainy night are replaying in my mind like a movie.
A decisive breakup.
The cruel reason.
And then there was his desperate "Enough!"
But now.
He acted as if he had amnesia.
He never mentioned what happened last night, and treated her like a fragile porcelain doll.
Wen Ning felt a tightness in her chest.
If this isn't explained clearly, what is it?
Did they break up or not?
She opened her mouth.
The voice was weak and hoarse.
"Jiang Ci..."
Jiang Ci paused, holding the cotton swab.
He visibly stiffened the moment he heard her voice.
"I……"
Wen Ning wanted to talk about what happened last night.
I want to say, "Let's break up."
"Shut up."
Jiang Ci suddenly interrupted her.
He threw the cotton swab into the trash can.
I picked up the water glass, took a sip, and tested the water temperature.
Then bring the straw to her mouth.
"Drink water."
His tone was somewhat stiff.
It even carries a hint of escapism.
"With your voice so hoarse, how can you say anything?"
He dared not look her in the eyes.
He just stared at the straw.
"If you have anything to say... we can talk about it after you've recovered."
"You're not allowed to say it now."
Wen Ning looked at his tense profile.
I could tell he was afraid.
He was afraid that if she opened her mouth, she would say, "I don't love you anymore."
He was using this clumsy method to forcibly press the pause button.
Wen Ning closed her eyes.
He put the straw in his mouth.
Warm water flowed into my throat.
It took away a bit of dryness, but it couldn't take away the bitterness in my heart.
Jiang Ci watched as she obediently drank the water.
His tense shoulders slowly relaxed.
He took her cold hand in his again.
Tuck it into the blanket.
Tuck the blanket in.
"Go to sleep."
He whispered in her ear.
"I'm right here. I won't bother you."
This is a silent compromise.
It was also a...
He humbled himself to the point of groveling in order to keep her.