Chapter 4
Next thing I knew, I was waking up in a hospital bed.
Sunlight stabbed through the window, so I yanked the blanket over my face.
Suddenly, a nurse came over and ripped the blanket away.
"Now, you're trying to hide?" she snarked.
"Guess you forgot you're a patient when you went out drinking, huh?"
I forced a nervous, awkward smile.
"I won't touch another drop, seriously. Lesson learned," I mumbled.
A few days ago, I'd just left the bar when I started vomiting blood. It scared the hell out of the cab driver.
He spun the car around and sped me straight to the ER.
After lying in bed for ages, my body finally felt up to moving around, so I figured I'd go downstairs and stretch my legs.
As I walked past a VIP room, I came to a sudden stop.
"Landen, can I leave the hospital now? I'm really getting tired of being here," Emily said.
"The doctor said you're still a bit anemic. Just take it easy for a couple more days," Landen answered.
Emily looked a little displeased.
"Most people are anemic anyway. It's really not a big deal." She shrugged it off.
My feet felt glued to the floor.
Through the crack in the door, I saw Landen softly caress Emily's forehead.
"Be good, just listen to me and stay a couple more days," he said.
Emily stuck out her tongue, acting all playful.
"So, is Olivia really about to kick the bucket?" she asked.
"Yeah, I looked into her medical records. She's got maybe a month left, if that," Landen said.
I just stood there, staring at Landen's face.
He was always impossible to read, always playing it close to the vest, but when he talked about me dying, not even a hint of emotion showed on his face.
He was completely impassive; not a flicker of emotion crossed his face.
Not even his breathing faltered; he stayed perfectly calm, like nothing could touch him.
Whether I lived or died, it never made the slightest difference to him.
"But she truly loved you," Emily said.
"I heard from Alex and the others that once, they were just joking around, saying you needed a liver transplant, and she said she'd give you half her liver without a second thought," Emily added.
"When they asked me, I hesitated... I was just scared of the pain," Emily mumbled.
Emily lowered her head.
Her shoulders trembled, like she was about to cry.
Landen moved over, sat on the edge of the bed, and wrapped his arms around her.
"Dummy, I love you. You don't have to do a thing for me," he whispered.
"If it ever came to that, I'd be the one making the sacrifice for you," he added.
I turned and walked away.
I found myself at the far end of a different floor's hallway.
The world outside was shrouded in a dull, yellowish haze.
The bitter fate had bound us all these years.
Maybe all of this was just because I loved Landen, and he never loved me back.
My feelings for him only made things worse. He never cared about me, and my love just pushed him further away, until he started to hate me.
It was just a little bit of hate at first, but now? He probably wished I'd just drop dead already.
The sun finally broke through the clouds.
I was just packing up my stuff, getting ready to leave the hospital.
"What are you doing?" someone asked.
I turned around and shrugged.
"I'm heading home to rest up. Can't get any sleep in this bed," I said.
The nurse shot me a look that could kill, then grabbed my bag and threw it right back on the bed.
"You really think you can just walk out of here? Take a good look at yourself. Are you even fit to leave?" she barked.
"Even if the Grim Reaper's got you scheduled for midnight, the hospital can stall him for a few days," she said, her voice sharp as ever.
"But at home? The Grim Reaper can snatch you whenever he feels like it," she added.
We stared each other down for a good while, neither of us willing to back off.
In the end, I finally broke down. I just dropped to my knees, big fat tears rolling down my face.
"But I don't want to keep going. Please, just let me go," I begged.
I clung to the hem of her uniform.
She froze, totally caught off guard.
"Y-You still have family, you know? You should think about them," her tone gentler now.
I shook my head.
"Been on my own since I was little," I muttered.
She sucked in a breath, stunned.
"So there's really no one you care about? No one at all?" she asked.
I shook my head. "There's no one left."
This time, her eyes filled with tears.
"No wonder nobody came to visit you while you were unconscious," she said softly.
She crouched down and pulled me into a tight hug.
She promised she'd help me with the discharge papers.
When night fell, I left the hospital.
Landen and Emily stayed behind.
The hospital walls felt like a barrier, separating us into two completely different worlds.
But this time, as I walked away, it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
I finally let go of some things I'd been holding onto for way too long.