Chapter 290: A Secret Kiss
Chapter 290: A Secret Kiss
I don't know what the doctor said to Emily in the hospital that day, but after Emily came out of the director's office, there was a determination in her eyes that others couldn't understand.
She insisted on taking James to the small island where they had encountered the shipwreck.
The doctor only vaguely said that a familiar environment and strong emotional bonds might be the last straw to wake James up. This became Emily's most stubborn belief.
Obviously, as soon as this idea was proposed, everyone opposed it unanimously.
James was hooked up to basic life support equipment all over his body. He couldn't even turn over by himself, let alone endure a long bumpy journey.
Although the doctor kept emphasizing that James's consciousness hadn't completely sunk, that he could hear sounds from the outside world but was just trapped by invisible shackles and couldn't wake up, everyone still couldn't feel at ease.
Emily, a frail woman, wanted to row a small wooden boat without even an engine, carrying a man who couldn't speak or move—a vegetative patient—
across the vast sea to a deserted island. This sounded like a fantasy. One wrong move and they could both perish.
But the determination in Emily's eyes didn't waver at all. She firmly believed that this trip to the deserted island would definitely wake James from his sleep. This was their promise to each other, and also her only obsession.
The wind on the beach carried a salty, damp smell, blowing through everyone's hair and making their hearts tighten.
Nicholas squatted on the beach, arms around his knees, watching the small wooden boat slowly slide into the sea. Looking at Emily's thin figure rowing hard, he couldn't help but mutter quietly:
"Is Emily planning to push James into the sea, or is she going to jump in herself, then cry for help, using the crisis to shock James and make him wake up?"
His words carried some teasing, but also a hint of barely noticeable worry.
Samuel got impatient listening to this, kicked Nicholas's butt, and scolded:
"Alright, stop guessing. Emily has her reasons.
Don't worry, Tyler isn't showing up on the beach, but he's already taken Aegis Corp people on speedboats to secretly protect them in the surrounding waters. Nothing will go wrong.
You should go back and stay with your newborn twin sons instead of causing trouble here."
Nicholas rubbed his kicked butt, grinned shamelessly, moved closer to Samuel, and teased:
"You know what, Samuel, you and Layla have been married for so many years. How come you still haven't caught up with my progress?
I already have both a son and daughter, and you two still don't have any news."
Layla rolled her eyes dramatically and snapped back:
"Yeah, you're so awesome. I hope you keep going and have eight sons who surround you every day. Then let's see if you still have time to sneak out and fool around."
With that, she twisted her slender waist, grabbed Samuel's wrist, and left the beach without looking back, leaving Nicholas alone scratching his head awkwardly.
On the surface, Nicholas appeared to have a happy family with a wife and children.
In reality, the night before last, he couldn't resist temptation and sneaked out to drink and have fun with a young model. His wife Thalia caught him red-handed.
The two had a huge fight at home, and Thalia even went back to her parents' house.
The two were still in a cold war.
Nicholas's womanizing and reckless behavior had long been looked down upon by Layla and Briar.
So today, neither of them had a kind word for him, jabbing at him at every turn, wanting to teach him a lesson.
David gently put his arm around Briar's shoulder, his fingers tenderly stroking her arm, softly comforting her:
"Don't worry. We need to trust Emily. She understands James better than any of us, and she wants James to wake up more than any of us.
Since she's confident enough to take James away, she'll definitely bring him back safely and will definitely wake him up."
"No, it's not that I don't trust her. I'm just too worried."
Briar frowned, her voice full of concern, a trace of worry showing in her eyes.
"You and I are both doctors. We both know that patients who've been in a coma for a long time can easily lose their memory after waking up.
I'm afraid that after James wakes up, he won't recognize Emily. I'm even more afraid he'll forget all their memories together. Then wouldn't everything Emily did be for nothing?"
David froze, his expression instantly changed, his tone becoming serious:
"Oh no, I forgot about that until you mentioned it!
I was only thinking about how to wake James up, but I forgot about the possible aftereffects when coma patients wake up."
Briar and David were both professional doctors. They thought things through more thoroughly than others and had more professional concerns.
They worried not only that James wouldn't wake up, but even more that after he woke up, he might bring new hurt to Emily.
On the other side, the small wooden boat on the sea was slowly heading toward the distant island under Emily's hard rowing.
Emily wore a light cotton dress. Her forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat that slowly slid down her cheeks and dripped into the salty seawater.
The long rowing made her arms ache terribly, and her fingertips turned slightly pale from the effort, but she showed no sign of stopping.
Her gaze remained fixed on the blurry outline of the small island in the distance.
Occasionally, she would stop rowing, turn around, and look at her husband lying steadily in the swaying boat.
James's life support equipment was working normally. Sunlight filtered through the sparkling sea surface onto his handsome face, making him look gentler and more fragile than usual.
The panic, fear, and confusion in Emily's heart had completely disappeared the moment she saw James.
In this vast world, no matter how fierce the sea wind or how high the waves, as long as she could stay with James, there seemed to be nothing to fear.
Even if James never woke up, even if they had to depend on each other like this forever, she was willing to stay with him, never leaving.
When she got tired from rowing, Emily put up a large sun umbrella to block the harsh sunlight, then carefully knelt and lay down beside James, trying not to touch the equipment on his body. After adjusting her position for a while, she couldn't help but lean down and kiss the corner of James's lips.