Chapter 158
The doctor took off his mask, his expression grave: "The patient experienced a sudden spike in intracranial pressure due to severe emotional distress, which caused acute cerebral edema and temporary shock."
"His condition is stable for now, but he absolutely must rest. He can't handle any more stress."
Indigo nodded repeatedly, her voice choked with emotion: "We understand, thank you, doctor..."
James was moved to a VIP room.
Indigo and I stood by his bed, looking at him.
"Sophia, you should go home and rest," Indigo patted my hand. "You're pregnant, you can't exhaust yourself like this. I'll stay here and watch him."
I shook my head: "Grandma, you're the one who should go rest. You're getting older, you can't take this."
Seeing that Indigo was about to say something more, I quickly helped her toward the door: "I won't be able to sleep anyway, so I might as well stay here with him. You can come replace me tomorrow."
Indigo gave in. I saw her to the car before returning to the hospital room.
I stared at James's pale, handsome face, my mind a complete mess, but I couldn't sleep no matter what.
And so, I watched him all night.
In the early morning, when the nurse came to change his medication, James woke up.
He saw me sitting by the bed and froze for a moment, his eyes gradually shifting from confusion to clarity.
"Sophia..." James's voice was hoarse as he tried to sit up.
"Don't move, be careful." I gently pressed him down, keeping him still.
James obediently lay back down, his eyes fixed on me without blinking, as if afraid I'd disappear if he blinked.
"I've remembered some of it, I..." James said quietly, each word seeming to be squeezed from his throat, "I'm sorry."
His eyes reddened.
"I know nothing I say now will be enough." James turned his head toward the ceiling. "And I know I have no right to ask for your forgiveness. I just want to do whatever I can to make it up to you..."
I listened in silence.
James's voice grew even quieter: "I'll spend the rest of my life making up for what I did wrong."
"Can I take your temperature?" Suddenly, a nurse came in to check his temperature, interrupting our conversation.
After the nurse left, I stood up: "Get some rest. I'm going to head back."
"Sophia," James called out to me.
I stopped: "I stayed with you all night yesterday."
James's eyes dimmed: "I'm sorry. You should go home and rest then."
I didn't go home. I stood in the hallway instead.
I didn't know what to say to him, so I could only find an excuse to leave.
I didn't leave until Indigo arrived.
Over the next few days, I handled work while visiting the hospital for a bit each day.
James was very cooperative with treatment, but he spoke very little, spending most of his time just staring at me.
Whenever I caught him looking at me, he'd immediately look away, at his phone or documents.
We maintained a strange kind of calm between us.
A week later, my final design was approved, and the project officially ended.
I booked a flight abroad for the next afternoon.
When I went to the hospital to say goodbye to James, he was leaning against the headboard, looking at documents.
When he heard I was leaving, the documents in his hands slipped, and papers scattered all over the floor.
"Tomorrow?" James asked.
"Yes, three o'clock flight."
He was silent for a long time before nodding: "Have a safe trip. When you get there... send me a message."
"Okay."
The next day, I packed my luggage and checked out of my room.
There was some traffic on the way to the airport. By the time I got there, there was less than an hour until takeoff.
Check-in, baggage drop, security.
Sitting in the waiting area, I watched the planes taking off and landing outside the window, feeling completely calm inside.
The boarding announcement came on. I stood up, grabbed my carry-on, and walked toward the gate.
James's POV:
For some reason, when I found out Sophia was taking a flight back abroad, my heart felt very uneasy, never stopping for a moment.
My heart was panicking.
I kept feeling like something was about to happen.
I opened my phone, wanting to message Sophia to ask if she'd gotten to the airport.
But a notification popped up.
I clicked on it without thinking.
The news I saw was: A plane had crashed shortly after takeoff due to unknown reasons.
I checked the time and realized this plane's departure time was the same as Sophia's flight.
My vision went dark. I called Liliana.
As soon as Liliana answered, I immediately asked: "Do you know what model plane Sophia's on? What exact time does it take off?"
Liliana made a sound of confusion: "Takes off at three, not sure about the model. What happened?"
"The flight Sophia's on might have crashed."
Liliana's end went quiet for a few seconds, then she asked shakily: "Are you joking with me? How is that possible?"
"Go check the news." My voice was trembling too.
Liliana immediately hung up. When she called me back, she was crying: "What do we do? Is there any chance Sophia's still alive?"
We both knew that once a plane crashes, passengers are almost certainly doomed.
"What do we do? Sophia's still so young, and she has a baby in her belly. The baby hasn't even seen the world yet."
My heart was already numb with pain, and my eyes couldn't even produce tears.
"Wait for news."
"Don't let Grandma know yet; she can't handle this kind of shock."
Liliana agreed.
After hanging up with Liliana, I pulled out my IV needle, and wearing my hospital gown, I flagged down a car. I wanted to go to the scene.
I had Bodhi make arrangements.
When I got to the scene, all I could see was chaos. I could barely stand.
Sophia...
Does this mean we'll never have another chance in this life?
I stumbled forward, trying to go in and find her.
Someone next to me grabbed hold of me.
"Sir, please calm down, don't go in. We'll search for your family member's belongings as soon as possible and give them to you."
"I need to go find her." I kept repeating this sentence.
"Who are you looking for? Let me check if we have any information about her."
"Sophia Brown." My voice was very soft when I said the name.
"What?"
"Sophia Brown..."
"Sophia Brown? Is that right?"
I nodded.
Someone checked: "There doesn't seem to be anyone named Sophia Brown on the passenger list. Sir, are you sure that's the name of the person you're looking for?"
"Could you spell it out?"
I grabbed the computer from his hands and went through the names one by one. Nothing, I didn't see Sophia's name.
I laughed out loud: "There's no Sophia, she wasn't in the accident, she's still alive."
Perhaps from the extreme shift between grief and joy, my body couldn't take it, and I passed out.
When I woke up again, several people were standing around me.
"You're finally awake."
"I was going to call and tell you that Sophia's fine. A stranger used your phone to call me and said you'd passed out. Thank goodness you're okay."
Liliana pushed Sophia forward: "Look, Sophia's alive. She didn't get on that flight."
I stared at Sophia's face, looking her over carefully from top to bottom, as if trying to confirm whether she was really still alive.
I raised my hand and slapped myself.