Chapter 2
By the time Wally brought Felicia to the hospital, half an hour had already passed.
Everyone in the emergency room was in a state of panic.
"The mother's oxygen levels are plummeting. The baby is suffering from severe hypoxia," one of the doctors called out.
"She's crashing. Get the bronchodilator!" another doctor shouted.
A nurse said, "No, she's losing consciousness, and the baby is stuck.
"If we give her the medication now, it could put her pregnancy at even greater risk."
Wally stood off to the side, his suit stained with blood. He gripped Felicia's hand, his voice trembling with rage.
"I don't care what you have to do. make sure they're both safe.
"Felicia, don't be afraid. I'm here with you."
Everyone in the room was scrambling for ways to help.
Felicia gazed up at the blurry lights overhead, pain twisting in her abdomen as her symptoms kept flaring up, making her cough nonstop.
At that very moment, the hospital room door was suddenly pushed open.
Crying and protests broke out all at once.
"Miss Norris, you can't be in here. Please leave," a nurse said urgently.
Emma sobbed, "Wally, why aren't you here with me? I'm so scared all alone.
"Are you abandoning me? Now that you have Felicia and the baby, you're going to forget about me, aren't you?"
Emma had actually stormed into the room.
"Emma, what are you doing here? You need to leave right now. Felicia's being resuscitated," Wally said urgently, jumping up to try and get Emma out.
"No! I want to stay with you. I'm scared to be by myself," Emma cried.
"But this isn't the time…" Wally hesitated.
At his hesitation, Emma broke down in tears. "I knew it. You don't want me anymore. You're all I have.
"If you don't want me, then what's the point of living anymore?"
And like that, she ran out of the room.
"Emma!" Wally jumped up in a panic, desperate to run after her.
"Mr. Norris, you can't leave yet. We've got a critical alert here. You need to sign as her family," the nurse said, blocking his path and thrusting the form at him.
Wally looked frantically toward where Emma had disappeared, then back at Felicia, who was fighting for her life on the hospital bed.
It had only been a few seconds, but to Wally, it felt like years.
then, a startled shout came from outside.
"Wait, who ran out onto the balcony?" someone yelled.
Wally's expression changed in an instant. He tore his hand free from the nurse's grip and looked at Felicia lying on the bed.
"wait for me, Felicia. I'll be back soon."
With that, he dashed out of the room.
Felicia lay on the hospital bed, a single tear slipping down her cheek.
Wally didn't know that she could hear him.
He wouldn't even give her the time it took to sign his name.
Even though this signature was about her life.
Felicia wondered if this was Wally's way of repaying Emma.
Despair pressed down on her chest, suffocating her, but the desperate urge to survive forced her to act.
With shaky, trembling hands, she slowly raised her arm. "I can sign it..."
Felicia was jolted awake by the sound of people arguing outside.
Someone shouted, "Paying back a debt? What debt? Emma started that fire.
"If you hadn't come back in time, Felicia would have been killed in that blaze.
"Do you even know what you're doing? Your wife and kid are barely hanging on in the operating room, and you leave them behind to run after Emma.
"Have you lost your mind?"
Wally's voice cracked as he yelled, "Do you think I want things to be like this?
"Felicia keeps trying to push Emma away. If I don't do this, Felicia will never be able to tolerate Emma.
"My parents forced Emma to go abroad, and she was almost trafficked. When I finally found her, she was barely hanging on.
"If I turn my back on her now, she'd be suicidal every single day.
"This is the last time. Cover for me one last time. Once Emma and I get married next week, she'll finally feel safe.
"As for Felicia, I'll spend my whole life making it up to her."
Felicia stared up at the ceiling, the weight of the truth crushing her, making it hard to breathe.
She clutched the blanket tightly, her eyes brimming with tears and disbelief.
Felicia realized that this was all a lie.
Everything was fake. Emma never saved her.
But for the past year, she'd been haunted by that so-called "debt of gratitude."
She spent anniversaries alone, took solo trips, and even spent her marriage alone.
Even while she was being resuscitated in the operating room, no one was there for her.
And in the end, her baby didn't make it.
As she gently lifted her hand, she realized her face was soaked with tears she couldn't hold back.
Someone asked, "Wally, do you really love Felicia?"
Wally let out a helpless sigh. "Felicia's the only one I'll ever love in this life.
"But Emma is my responsibility. I can't abandon her. This is the last time. make sure Felicia doesn't come in for her checkup next week.
"I'll pretend I'm away on business, and she won't notice anything."
Felicia stared up at the ceiling, her heart sinking into hopelessness as she closed her eyes.
She decided not to show up next week.
She also decided not to be there for him anymore after that.