Nathan rushed in, clearly distressed when he saw me. He reached for my hand, but as soon as I remembered that he had just left another woman’s bed, I instinctively pulled my hand away. He didn’t seem to notice my rejection and instead looked at me with deep concern.
“What happened? How did you get into a car accident?”
I quickly came up with an excuse and gestured to him with sign language, “Same as you. Something urgent came up.”
His guilty expression flickered briefly before he carefully inspected me from head to toe. Satisfied that I was mostly unharmed, he finally relaxed.
“You scared me to death. What would I have done without you?”
Before I could think of a response, the nurse knocked and entered.
“The patient’s family needs to handle the payment,” she said before leaving.
Nathan glanced at me. “I’ll take care of it. Wait here, okay?”
I nodded lightly and as soon as he left, the mask of composure I had been wearing crumbled.
On the bedside table lay my phone—it was the one Nathan had just brought, probably fixed now.
I picked it up and pressed the power button. As the phone powered on, a flood of messages popped up. One message, in particular, caught my eye. It was from Clair.