Chapter 42
As soon as Larissa left Travis‘ room and went by the nurses‘ station, she was stopped by the nurse
who’d given her the ice packs earlier.
“Oh, perfect timing.”
The nurse beckoned. Confused, Larissa walked over to her.
“Here!” The nurse handed her a bill. “You can pay downstairs.”
Larissa looked at the bill in her hands. It was yet another five–thousand–dollar bill.
“I think you’ve made a mistake.” She smiled at the nurse. “I’m not related to Travis. I think it’s better if
you have his parents pay for this.”
“What?” The nurse was evidently surprised. “Aren’t you his wife? I heard his parents say he’s married,
but his wife-” She hesitated, looking embarrassed.
Even though the nurse did not say anything else after that, Larissa was well aware that whatever the
Hardys had said about her, it couldn’t have been flattering.
“I’m so sorry. You’re the only one besides his parents to visit him in the hospital, and you’re a woman
too, so I just assumed,” the nurse apologized awkwardly, blushing as she placed the bill back.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt“It’s fine.” Larissa remained her composure. “Oh, and-” She prepared herself to voice the question
she’d been harboring in her mind since she heard of Travis‘ accident. What kind of injury does Travis
have anyway?”
Since he was in the spinal surgery ward, Larissa supposed there was a problem with his spine. And
problems related to the spine–they sounded serious enough to her.
“I heard he’d been in an accident and fractured his spine. Some of the nerves in his spinal cord were
damaged too. He’ll probably be paralyzed for the rest of his life.” The nurse paused and glanced in the
direction of Travis‘ room. When she was certain that no one was coming out anytime soon, she
lowered her voice and continued, “Poor Travis. They say he’s married, but ever since he’s been
admitted, his wife has not been here once. It was always just his parents. They took care of him, and,
speaking of his parents, they look like good, honest people–they really do, but their tempers are simply
unbelievable! They would start fighting in the ward, almost never for good reason, and they even got
physical a few times. Sometimes, the commotion would be so great that the other patients in the ward
who aren’t bed- bound would get out of bed to watch. One of our patients even left the room because
of them, and the other initially wanted to switch rooms, but was forced to
stay there as we don’t have any other available beds.”
Larissa did not pay much attention to what the nurse said next. Her attention was entirely focused on
the phrase “paralyzed for the rest of his life“.
She suddenly understood why Mrs. Hardy had been so adamant about getting her to the hospital.
Travis was paralyzed. His life was pretty much over.
And from Mrs. Hardy’s reaction to Amber, Larissa guessed that Amber was either the reason why
Travis had been in an accident, or she’d completely ignored Travis after the accident.
Mrs. Hardy had come looking for her because she had hoped that Larissa would be responsible for
Travis for the rest of his life.
She sneered coldly. It looked like they’d really thought this through.
When Mr. Hardy finished smoking and returned to the ward, Larissa was already
gone.
Mrs. Hardy was still unconscious, and the ice pack on her forehead had slipped down to the side of her
face.
Mr. Hardy was shocked. “Where’s Larissa? Where did she go?” he asked Travis
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmhurriedly.
Travis lay supine on the bed, motionless, his lifeless eyes staring blankly at the
ceiling.
“She left.” His tone was expressionless, resembling that of a zombie.
Mr. Hardy immediately flew into a temper, the volume of his voice rising. “And you let her leave, just like
that? Do you even know how hard your mother has worked to get
her in here?”
“Who asked you to go out for a smoke, then? Travis mocked. “Do you think I could’ve stopped her in
my current state?”
Mr. Hardy’s face turned a violent shade of purple, his rage preventing him from speaking for a long
time.
“Just you wait!” His hands shook as he pointed at Travis. “Wait till wakes up. See if she doesn’t scream
at you!”
your mother
Travis‘ expression remained unchanged, unaffected by his father’s words in the