Chapter 25

On the other end of the phone, I could hear my mother playing blackjack, her impatient voice a counterpoint to the shuffling cards. “Joshua, why are you calling me?”

“Mom, when are you coming to the hospital to visit me?” My grip on the phone tightened, my palm sweating.

The shuffling continued; it was noisy, but I still heard her reply clearly. “You’re fine, so there’s no point in me visiting you. Besides, you have so many people around you. One more person doesn’t make a difference.”

“But—”

Before I could finish, the call ended. The cold, repetitive beeping echoed in my ears, each tone a sharp blow to my heart.

Over the next two days, Sophia visited me, chatting, feeding me soup, and cutting fruit. Slowly, I began to believe her affection might be genuine. But on the fourth day, after she fed me soup, she left the room and saw a familiar figure. Things took a strange turn.

Through the slightly ajar door, I saw Edison. Red-faced and pitiful, he gazed at her. “Sophie, I miss you so much. You haven’t seen me in such a long time and haven’t replied to my messages. Is it true that you don’t want me anymore?”

Sophia frowned, her eyes filled with mixed emotions. She clearly hadn’t expected him at the hospital. Since I’d woken up, or perhaps since she realized Edison wasn’t as perfect as she’d thought, her obsession with him had faded somewhat. But, like any woman in a tangled relationship, things were complicated. “Sophie?”

After he called to her again, pleadingly, she replied helplessly, “How did you end up at the hospital?”

He perked up, like a dog finding a bone, jumping to her and grabbing her hand. “Sophie, you’ve lost so much weight recently.”

Sophia subtly pulled her hand away, tiredly rubbing her temple. “I’ve been busy lately, running between the company and the hospital. I haven’t been resting well.”

He immediately noticed the change in her behavior, sensing her coldness. Was it because she felt sorry for me and decided to give him up?

A sense of crisis rose in him. He instinctively turned toward the ward. His eyes met mine through the door gap. He raised an eyebrow, a provocative smirk playing on his lips, then purposely stepped forward, affectionately ruffling her hair.

“Sophie, I know you’ve been busy, so I made you some nourishing soup. Let me take you home to have it, alright?”

Sophia seemed to remember something, glancing toward the room. Fortunately, I quickly looked away and wasn’t seen.

The next moment, I heard her gentle voice from afar. “I’ve been too tired lately. I don’t want to keep running around anymore.”

Edison’s eyes flashed with unease, but he quickly resumed his pitiful expression, gazing at her carefully. “Sophie, I’ve been worried about Joshua’s situation, so I’ve been coming to the hospital secretly to check on him these past few days. I was afraid you’d be upset, and I didn’t want you to collapse from exhaustion at the hospital. I wanted to visit you several times, but I was afraid of bothering you, so I just stayed far away and watched you. See, I’ve been so obedient, haven’t I?”