"Oh, yeah, it’s you, Joan! I can finally see properly. Hey old friend!" The two were especially friendly with her.
Nearly everyone in the hospital knew who Joanna was, as she had been frequenting the place with Jovan for his dical treatnts and checkups. Hence, all of them were familiar with each other by now.
The woman then continued to talk to them for a bit. With that, not only did she find out where Seraphina’s surgery was ongoing, she even found out which hotel they were currently staying at in the town.
"I’m going to check up on Van now. Bye, guys!" Joanna nodded softly at the nurses and left the stairway once she was done smoking.
Initially, she was going to head back to Jovan’s ward, but her body walked toward the operating rooms unconsciously.
She hid around the corner, peeking out of the wall carefully. She quickly noticed Ace, who was standing by the doors.
He was still wearing the casual white dress shirt she had seen in the morning. However, it was now drenched in blood, as were his hands. It was obvious that he had been standing guard the entire ti, sparing no ti to clean himself up.
She could tell that he was quite concerned about Seraphina, seeing how he was pacing back and forth with a tense expression.
It had likely been six hours since he brought Seraphina to the hospital. This ant he hadn’t rested or consud anything for the past few hours...
’This guy! He only recovered six months ago, and now he’s endangering his health again! Damn it, I’m worried for him!’
Joanna pondered as she bit down on her lip and headed downstairs to a nearby restaurant she frequented. She then decided to buy a serving of seafood dumplings.
From what she rembered, despite not liking Aeos cuisine, Ace was rather fond of dumplings, especially seafood ones. She believed he would gain an appetite as soon as he slt those.
Ace was still panicking in front of the operating rooms. Ti crawled by, and until midnight, there was still no news on Seraphina’s condition.
"Damn it! This is all my fault! This is my fault!"
If he hadn’t bought that mug for Seraphina, she wouldn’t have ended up in a car crash.
This was supposed to be a lovely honeymoon, as they had already chosen the most romantic city for their grand wedding. Unexpectedly, they were t with an accident at their very first stop.
He couldn’t possibly imagine what he would do if sothing bad were to happen to Seraphina. He wouldn’t know what to tell her parents at all.
’Seraphina had been through so many hard tis with . I can’t lose her!’
Just then, a nurse ca over and gently patted him on the shoulder. "Mr. Moran, the surgery is going to take a while. I noticed you have been waiting a long ti, and you must be hungry. Here are so dumplings."
Ace turned around and stared at the bowl of dumplings, his heart warming up at the sight. Receiving traditional food in a foreign country during such a dark ti was rather aningful.
"Thank you. Did you make this?"
Despite Ace’s cold nature, he couldn’t possibly maintain his hostility when faced with such kindness.
"Uhm..." The nurse looked rather uneasy, replying. "Our hospital provides these for... our Aeos patients, and it’s our hope that you can taste sothing from ho and relax a little."
"Thanks." Ace took the dumplings and opened the lid without hesitation. He then quickly scarfed them down, as he was indeed feeling rather famished at the ti.
"It tastes great." The man nodded, a lump forming in his throat.
This bowl of dumplings had truly hit him right where he was weak. As he rembered, he had never told anyone that the only Aeos dish he liked were dumplings, specifically seafood dumplings.
Yet the hospital here was providing him with his very favorite. ’I guess... This world is very kind...’
Watching as Ace happily finished the dumplings, Joanna started smiling behind the wall around the corner as well.
’That’s right! Good food always helps to lt your worries away!’
A couple of hours later, the doors to the operating room finally swung open. As the doctors exited, Ace imdiately approached them nervously.
"Don’t worry, she’s still alive, but her back and legs are severely injured. The patient will be required to stay in bed for a while," the doctor spoke up. "As her guardian, you’ll have to take care of her during this period of ti."
"Thank goodness she’s okay." Ace let out a sigh of relief as a weight instantly got lifted off his chest.
Joanna, who was still standing in the corner, gulped. ’What? Murphy hurt her back too?! This is such a coincidence!’
Moreover, she had no clue that all the orthopedic wards were on the sa floor, which ant that... Jovan and Seraphina’s rooms would be near.
’That ans we’re going to bump into each other no matter what?!’
Joanna didn’t wish for any awkward situations to happen, so she tried her best to arrive early and leave late, staying by Jovan’s side as much as possible. If she had anything she absolutely needed, she would ask the nurses for help instead.
With that, three days passed. Though she’d put in all that effort to avoid him, the two never bumped into each other.
Being the considerate fiance he was, Ace was peeling an apple for Seraphina. Despite the pain inflicted by the injuries, the woman found his actions very sweet.
A nurse happened to co by to change her IV drip, and when she saw the affectionate sight, she sighed in envy. "Mr. Moran sure does treat Miss Murphy well. Are you people from Aeos always that sweet when it cos to love?"
Seraphina smiled. "Isn’t love supposed to be sweet? What does it have to do with race?"
The nurse explained. "Well, you’re right, but that’s because we’ve seen another loving couple from Aeos as well. That’s why it made such an impression on us..."
"In our town, this couple had always been known as the standard. Their nas are Joan and Van. Their story is quite touching, actually. Van is handso but disabled and blind. And Joan had always taken great care of him, swearing to never leave his side. It always brings tears to our eyes when we ntion them.
"Coincidentally, Van got injured and was admitted to our hospital. Joan even bought him so cake and fed it to him just to make him feel better. Our male staff was green with envy. They all wished they could have a girlfriend like Joan too." The nurse continued speaking, her expression filled with loving hope.
"They’re the standard?" Seraphina was intrigued. "If they’re from Aeos too, we might just beco friends!"
"Joan?" The man’s mory had always been strong, and was able to rember that this was the na that belonged to the woman he t in the marketplace. He couldn’t help but feel as though his heart was longing for sothing.
"What’s wrong? Do you know her?" Seraphina was sharp enough to notice the man’s attitude change, asking carefully.
"No." Ace shook his head. "I just think the na is interesting."
"Hey now, don’t go running around to other girls while I’m bedridden! You’re stuck with forever now!" Seraphina whined to the man with a sweet voice. "Say, if I end up disabled and blind one day, would you take care of or abandon ?"
"Of course, I won’t abandon you, you silly thing. I’d take care of everything for you like a little baby. After all, you didn’t abandon during my darkest tis."
"Y... Yeah!" Seraphina replied with a guilty expression. She knew that their relationship was based on re lies, rendering her rather insecure the entire ti.
As noon approached, the nurse brought a warm bowl of delicious seafood dumplings. These days, the dumplings had always arrived either in the afternoon or evening, as if they were specifically scheduled to be delivered to him.
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