The Artist's Wife (BWWM)

Chapter 34~ About

This is another flashback to thirteen years ago, guys. It's veryyy important to the plot.❤❤❤

Apart from libraries, another place I hated with all of me was hospitals. I didn't know maybe it was the sick, unhealthy stench that the place reeked of or that I was secretly scared that one day, somehow, I would join those dying patients. Whatever the reason was, I didn't know but my paranoia for hospitals was certainly on the high side.

Watching my father slowly die on the hospital bed was certainly not making the hospital ambience any nicer. Staring at his eyelids closed in rest or sleep, I wasn't sure, and his thinning brown hair, I felt like crying once again. I had cried a lot already but it didn't seem enough.

The call had come over a week from the paint factory where he worked as one of the supervisors, he had fallen from a crate and sustained massive body injuries. He had been here a week now and I had seen no signs of improvements, he still looked as bad as they brought him in. The doctors had assured me several times that he would be fine but that didn't stop me from coming here after school every day.

Mother was another case entirely, she would only come here, chat with the doctors, receive some undeserved sympathy about her sick husband and then disappear once more. I asked her why she was behaving that way two days ago but she only gave me a sharp reply about trying to source money for my sick father and how I should be grateful and stop sticking my mouth where it wasn't wanted.

I kept my mouth shut after that.

"Lance," my father croaked out, jerking me out of my train of thoughts. Lance, who was biting on the end of his pen and frowning at his Algebra assignment looked up.

"Sir?"

Most times, Lance accompanied me to the hospital after school and we usually went home together late in the evening, he didn't it so I wouldn't get lonely and his parents didn't mind. Having company made me feel better sometimes and I could almost pretend that I wasn't facing any problems currently.

"Do me a favour and take Rina home, I don't like how she has been staring at me." He coughed at the end of the lengthy sentence and I raced out of my chair to pat his right hand. He was bandaged on the stomach only, the doctors said his problems were internal and although he had gone under surgery, I didn't see any visible changes that he was getting better.

"I'm not leaving you, Dad," I muttered, staring at his light brown eyes. "You'll beat this, you'll be fine." It sounded more like I was reassuring myself than him and I dabbed at the tears at the corner of his eyes while trying to hold mine in at the same time.

"Rina, let's go get something to eat, you've not eaten all day," Lance said, obviously trying to distract me as he closed his Algebra notes.

"I'm not hun--" I was saying when the door creaked open and Maggie Hammond, one of the nicest nurses in the world came in. She was in charge of this ward and had to be one of the nicest people I had ever met. She stared over at my Dad with her kind, blue eyes and then landed on Lance and me before smiling.

"You know, you guys should really go out more, spending too much time here in the hospital is not good for kids your age." She smiled at me kindly. "Rina, James will be okay, stop worrying."

"And let's go eat," Lance injected.

As if to announce just how hungry I was, my stomach grumbled loudly and the next thing I knew, I was being seized by the wrist and led out of the room by my lanky Korean best friend. We walked up to the hospital's vending machine and in few moments, I was sitting beside Lance on the uncomfortable, blue, plastic hospital chairs nibbling on some M&M's with my head on his shoulder.