NovelEnglish
Melanie did not come out of the operation theater until two hours later, and she was not brought to the
normal hospital ward. Instead, she was brought to the VICU where her condition would be monitored
for the next 24 hours before she could be transferred to the usual ward.
The doctor told Gwendolyn and Lucy that the surgery had gone well. Now, all that was left for them to
do was observe Melanie during her recovery stage. If her body did not go into rejection within three
months, then the bone marrow transplant would be deemed successful.
That being said, the next twenty hours were a critical period for Melanie as well, particularly where
postoperative complications were concerned.
Having heard what the doctor said, Gwendolyn and Lucy went to the VICU to see Melanie, who was
lying in bed and hooked to all kinds of medical equipment.
A nurse was stationed by the bedside. Under Lucas' strict instructions and with Kevin and Patrick
keeping an eye on things here, Gwendolyn, Lucy and Melanie were practically treated as VIPs in the
hospital.
“Don't worry,” the nurse said. “It's normal for the patient to stay unconscious like this following the
surgery. She'll likely wake up tomorrow when the anesthesia completely wears off.”
Lucy's eyes were glistening with tears as she reached out to clasp Melanie's hand.
Gwendolyn's heart twisted when she saw how distressed Lucy was.
When the two women left the VICU, they made their way over to Lucas' hospital room. Unlike Melanie,
he was already wide awake and sipping soup.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtHe seemed a little drained, and beads of sweat had broken out over his forehead.
A caretaker was feeding him soup when he saw Lucy walk into the room. The moment his gaze fell
upon her, he did not look away.
Lucy approached his bed and took the bowl of soup from the caretaker, saying, “Here, let me feed him.”
She brought the spoonful of soup close to his mouth and said, “Thank you for what you've done for
Melanie.”
The heartache was clearly written on her face. Lucas parted his lips to drink the soup. It tasted better
than it had moments ago.
“It's fine. It wasn't as serious as I thought it would be. The doctor did say that I'm strong enough to
recover in the next few days,” he said soothingly when he saw that Lucy's tears were close to spilling
down her cheeks.
He admitted that he had planned on guilt-tripping her at first, but he changed his mind when he saw her
how pale she looked. Moreover, given how red and puffy her eyes were, he reckoned she had been
crying, too.
In all fairness, the surgery had gone on much longer than expected. The doctor had initially wanted to
carry out the bone marrow extraction and transplant over a course of two days, but with Melanie's
condition, the surgery was done in a day instead, albeit over a longer time frame.
Lucas was sure that Lucy had been anxiously waiting outside the operation theater the entire time. She
must have been worried sick.
At present, Lucy nodded and tried to hold her tears back when she heard Lucas' words of comfort.
Once she had regained her composure, she said, “I hope you'll get well soon.”
The doctor had told her that Lucas would recover within a month, but there were exceptions where
critical postoperative complications could arise as well.
After all, everyone's body had a different reaction to such surgeries. Even though bone marrow could
regenerate itself, there was no telling if Lucas would not be plagued by any other medical
complications.
Lucy was naturally worried for him. He could have easily avoided all this, but he had generally put his
own life on the line just because he happened to be a compatible bone marrow donor for Melanie.
At the thought of this, Lucy suddenly felt that it was only right for her to give Lucas what he had
previously asked of her.
If she were in his shoes, she would ask for repayment of favor as well, preferably in the form of money.
She loved money, after all.
Gwendolyn was standing to one side of the room and observing Lucy and Lucas' exchange. Lucas isn't
so bad after all. At the very least, he was willing to donate his bone marrow for Lucy's sake.
Gwendolyn was standing to one side of the room and observing Lucy and Lucas' exchange. Lucas isn't
so bad after all. At the very least, he was willing to donate his bone marrow for Lucy's sake.
Doing so would only affect his career in the future, and he might not even be able to resume his rank in
the army.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmHowever, he did not dwell on his losses and instead chose to comfort Lucy. Gwendolyn thought this
was rather gracious of him, if not altruistic.
Kevin, who had been sitting on the couch all this time, stood up at that moment and led Gwendolyn to
where Patrick was sitting in hopes of getting them to talk to each other again.
“Hey, Gwen, aren't you tired from standing around so much?” he asked.
Gwendolyn was not strong enough to pull away from him, and in the end, she was forced to take a
seat. She turned around and glared at him resentfully, as though to ask what he was doing and that
she did not want to sit down.
Kevin knew she was irritated, but he was not going to back down that easily! Anything to make Pat
happy.
Patrick, on the other hand, cast Gwendolyn a sideways glance. He noticed that her eyes were rimmed
red, which meant she had probably cried after visiting Melanie at the VICU earlier.
He scoffed, then looked away from her.
He had learned the hard way that angelic women like Gwendolyn were always the scheming ones. She
had seduced him and had him wrapped around her pinky, then abandoned him for some other guy in
the end.
The thought of this fueled Patrick's rage. He reached out and took her by the chin, then forced her to
meet his smoldering gaze.
“Tell me, Gwendolyn, did you ever really like me?”
He almost wanted to say “love”, but he lost confidence at the very last second and decided to switch to
“like” instead.
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