The Undecided Lover

Chapter 13

Tee's POV

After an eternity of waiting the ER receptionist called my name.  He informed me that P'Tae had been wheeled from the trauma unit to the recovery room.  From there he would be transferred to a regular room where I could go to see him.  An ER nurse appeared behind the receptionist and instructed me to go through the door just beside the reception window,

I opened the door and saw that it led immediately into a small cubicle with two chairs and nothing more.  The nurse entered the cubicle holding a chart in his hand.  He motioned for me to sit on one of the chairs and he sat on the other.

"The doctor refers to your spouse as a miracle accident victim," he said without any preliminary greeting.  I hoped that the nurse did not notice that I winced when I heard him refer to me as P'Tae's spouse.  

"Apart from a fracture on his left shoulder which we expect to heal without complications because he's young, and also a deep gash on his left temple which required a few stitches, the rest of his body suffered only minor injuries.  He will of course sustain a lot of bruises and will be suffering from a lot of pain but he will be on routine pain management medications."

"You can now proceed to room 270 on the second floor.  You can wait for him there.  He will be wheeled in there shortly," he added.  He stood up and shook my hand.

"Thank you so much," I said and walked out of the cubicle.  I took an elevator to the second floor and made a wrong turn in the hallway but I finally found the room that I was looking for.

I did not sit on the bench that was by the wall facing the hospital bed.  I just paced the room back and forth, waiting anxiously for P'Tae to be wheeled in.

My legs felt weak but I knew that if I sat down I would only stand up again.  My anxiety was starting to get unbearable when suddenly the room opened and two hospital staff wheeled him into the room.

He looked like a mummy covered almost completely in gauze.  I could not describe what I was feeling when I saw him.  It was a mixture of all kinds of emotions.

The two guys who wheeled him in parked the gurney right beside the bed.  Then they gripped each end of the sheet under P'Tae.  One of them said, "On three, one, two, three!"  They lifted the sheet simultaneously and dropped him on the bed not too gently I was afraid.

After they wheeled the empty gurney out of the room, I slowly approached P'Tae.  I was afraid to touch him.  I just stood beside him.  At first only silent tears were trickling down my face.  Then it graduated to a sob, and then my chest started heaving.  I was now sobbing uncontrollably.

I took his hand gently and caressed the top of it with my thumb.  Then I bent down and whispered to his ear,  "Please recover quickly. I have so many things planned for us when you recover."  And with that I moved slowly and planted a gentle kiss on his lips.