"Good night." "Good night." The door clicked shut before Yin Xiamo, leaving the bedroom suddenly vast and hollow.
A tremor ran through her as she slowly slid down onto the floor, realizing with a jolt that she felt utterly drained, as if everything inside had been scooped out.
She sat there, blankly staring.
Her gaze drifted aimlessly toward the deep crimson velvet curtains.
That color...
so dark red...
like blood...
Her heart clenched tightly.
She couldn't grasp what was happening, only that a nameless dread was seizing her, as if somewhere, something terrible was unfolding... "Luo Xi..." "Luo Xi—!" The heart monitor in the ICU suddenly screamed, the undulating line spiking into a terrifying, flat stroke.
Doctors rushed in frantically, nurses shoving the frightened and horrified Shen Qiang and Jennie away! "Luo Xi————!!" Her voice cracked on the desperate cry.
Shen Qiang's face streamed with tears, while Jennie clamped a hand over her mouth, sobbing.
Through the thick glass of the intensive care unit, she watched doctors vigorously compress Luo Xi’s chest.
His face was ashen, his eyelashes clamped shut; he showed no sign of life, one arm dangling limply off the edge of the bed.
The doctors placed the defibrillator paddles against Luo Xi’s chest.
Once, twice—his body convulsed like a puppet with each electric shock before slumping back down, lifeless...
The bedroom.
Yin Xiamo woke with a violent start from the nightmare! She was drenched in sweat, her face paper-white.
Everything in the dream had been so terribly real, so tangible that every detail seemed etched before her eyes: Luo Xi, covered in blood, gushing torrents of crimson that spread like countless frantic vines, drowning the entire world in a shocking scarlet hue...
No...
she couldn't let her mind wander there anymore...
Yin Xiamo’s chest heaved rapidly.
She fought desperately to pull herself out of the horrifying vision, her face pale, forcing herself to adopt the coldest logic to soothe her terror: no one in this world can truly stop living just because someone else is gone...
And she no longer had the right to think of anyone else...
From this day forward...
she was a married woman... "Little Cheng, you have surgery tomorrow, are you nervous?" In the hospital room, Zhen En finally managed to utter the words.
Perhaps because Xiamo, who had just married, and Ou Chen were both present, Yin Cheng looked remarkably well in the sunlight.
Yet, she couldn't shake a sense of unease, avoiding Xiamo’s eyes.
She hadn't told Xiamo about the incoming call during the wedding, even deleting the call record when she returned Xiamo’s phone.
It would be fine, she rationalized; she simply didn't want any complications to spoil Xiamo's wedding.
Luo Xi...
Luo Xi must have just called out of boredom...
But why did that persistent anxiety linger? It felt as if she had done something wrong... "Not nervous.
The surgery will definitely go smoothly," Yin Cheng said, smiling brightly as he looked at his sister and Brother Ou Chen standing side-by-side. "Because I still need to watch my sister and brother-in-law’s baby be born, and wait for the little one to call me Uncle." Yin Xiamo’s cheeks instantly flushed deep crimson.
She instinctively glanced at Ou Chen.
He was looking back at her, his eyes shining deeply.
Startled, she quickly turned her head back to Xiao Cheng. "There are still a few final checks to do.
It’s almost time; I’ll push you there." "Okay." Yin Cheng nodded with a smile, seeing his sister's shyness, and didn't press the issue, rising from the bed to settle into the wheelchair.
He actually felt he could walk, but the doctors insisted he use the wheelchair to conserve his strength for the following day's operation.
Summer of Bubbles III