Chapter 20
The man kissed her forehead, his voice hoarse. “Be good. Stop pretending to sleep. Alive or dead, you can’t escape. You’re mine, Mary. Please, stop pretending.”
When his lips brushed Mary’s eyelid, her lashes fluttered uncontrollably.
Ralph noticed instantly, pupils contracting.
Suddenly, the hospital door swung open as the attending physician strode in with nurses.
“Mr. Ralph, please step outside. The patient requires examination.”
Ralph refused to release her hand, insisting, “My wife’s eyelid moved!
She moved!
She’s waking up!”
The doctor checked the monitors cautiously. “It’s merely a physiological reflex.
Mr. Ralph, please cooperate with treatment.”
Ralph glanced back at Mary-no further signs of consciousness.
The room plunged into silence after Ralph’s heavy footsteps faded.
Mary sighed inwardly.
She could hear everything, perceive everything, yet her soul felt detached, unwilling to stir for anyone or anything in this world.
After the examination, Ralph returned, his voice tinged with hope.
“Mary, that wedding ring you threw away as trash? I rescued it from the garbage collector!
Then I lost it again fetching you from the battlefield!”
“The fighting’s over now. I sent men to dig for it two days ago-guess what?
They found it!”
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He slid the diamond-glittering ring onto her finger, cradling her hand in his bandaged palm.
“Nothing’s changed, Mary. Everything’s back. Everything will return!
You’ll come back to me too, won’t you?”
Evening fell without Mary opening her eyes.
She refused to glimpse this world she no longer cared for.
Blood-red sunset stained the room through the window.
Nutrient solution dripped steadily into Mary’s veins.
Ralph slept beside her bed, face buried in the warmth of her neck, breath whispering against
her ear.
“You know?
I’m sorry. I’m begging you to live again for me…
“1
His broken plea faded. Warm droplets fell near Mary’s ear-Ralph’s tears.
Her fingertip twitched faintly.
Something shifted deep within her consciousness.
Yet Mary remembered-Karen pressing a hair curler to her skin until agony drenched her in
sweat.
He’d accused her of laziness, of neglecting Karen’s unborn child.
Called her a faker!
Memory after memory sealed her heart anew.
Night deepened. Ralph’s phone buzzed relentlessly-emergency board meetings, cross-border negotiations, billion-dollar contracts…
All ignored.
Mary’s breathing remained steady.
Until the nurse came in for the routine checkup, something happened that made her
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frantically press the emergency button.
Mary listened to that piercing alarm ringing in her ears…
Wave after wave.
She wanted to open her eyes to see, but no matter how hard she tried, they wouldn’t open.
Then, the space beside her emptied as Ralph was carried away on a stretcher.
