Chapter 83
Samuel arrived at the hospital the next evening. After consulting the hospital's experts, they crafted a detailed treatment plan.
"Ms. Wilson, actually, for the back area, many people choose conservative treatment. Are you sure you want complete new skin coverage? You should remember from when you did your own surgery - the process was pretty tough to endure." Samuel confirmed with me again.
Oscar was quite curious: "How tough was it?"
I answered casually: "They cut away all the scarred and damaged flesh, then cover it with new skin. And it doesn't work in one go - they have to do it bit by bit."
Oscar's eyes showed obvious distress: "That painful? How did you endure it?"
He was the one about to have surgery, yet he was worried about how I endured the pain before.
I smiled faintly. Of course, it was by holding onto the desire for a new life, to live better, to send them all to hell - that's how I got through it.
But I didn't want him to know that: "It was okay. Who doesn't want to look beautiful? With a face like that, anyone would endure it."
"Since you could do it, I can too. Come to think of it, I should be grateful - I get to experience the pain you once experienced. Doesn't that mean we're sharing hardships together?" Oscar was still joking around.
His words touched my heart: "Don't talk nonsense. Who celebrates getting injured?"
Oscar looked at me with bright eyes: "I know you don't want me to have scars. It's fine, let's prepare for surgery soon. If she could endure it back then, I can endure it too."
Samuel nodded: "The surgery isn't very difficult, but the preliminary skin preparation might be a bit rough." Samuel didn't hold back too much, analyzing both pros and cons. "Because his burn area is quite large, if we choose skin grafting, the pre-surgery preparation is actually as important as the surgery itself. We can insert only two expanders through the intact skin on both sides. If we're lucky and the expansion goes well, maybe we can finish it in one surgery."
I turned to Oscar: "Is that okay?"
Oscar nodded: "I'll follow the doctor's advice."
Samuel turned to me: "For such a large area of skin grafting, the skin expansion needs good care. I suggest finding a professional caregiver. And you should know, the expansion process might look a bit unpleasant. If you're worried he might have psychological trauma..."
Samuel spoke quite tactfully.
I smiled at him. I wouldn't get psychological trauma just from seeing him in a rough state: "It's fine, I'm mentally prepared."
Oscar was scared by our conversation: "What do you mean? Will it be very ugly?"
I told him in a relaxed tone, "Not exactly ugly, just that you'll probably have two very large water balloons on both sides of your waist. You can still turn on your side a bit now, but during the preparation, you'll probably only be able to lie flat like this."
Oscar quickly waved his hand at me: "Then you should get me a caregiver, hire a male nurse. You go to work, and come see me after I'm better."
"Are you afraid I can't take good care of you? Although I'm a bit clumsy, at least I have experience." I smiled with pursed lips.
Oscar looked at me helplessly: "I'm afraid you'll be disgusted seeing me look so ugly. I don't want to leave you with psychological trauma."
"I won't be disgusted with you." Seeing Oscar's anxious look, I smiled slightly. "Oscar, no matter what, I can accept it."
Samuel had already quietly left with another doctor, leaving the space to us.
Oscar's lips curved up, his beautiful eyes bright like they held a star: "Emily, if I'm not as perfect as you see, can you still accept me?"
Seeing his serious expression, my heartbeat quickened again. What did he want to say? Was the next thing going to be a confession? If he confessed, should I accept?
His feelings for me, besides occasional flirtation, were mostly understanding. And my feelings for him... besides being moved, could there be more?
In an instant, I thought of all the different possible endings.
But noise came from outside, cutting off what Oscar wanted to say. It was Isabella's voice: "You can't take her away. She just lost her baby, and her body is still very weak. Let her go."
I immediately snapped back to reality. Without extra thought, I quickly pulled away the hand he had somehow grabbed: "Wait a moment, let me go see what's happening."
"Emily..." Oscar couldn't move, lying on his stomach, and could only watch me run out.
Outside were several uniformed police officers. They had Sophia surrounded in the middle, with a female officer on each side holding her arms, practically lifting her entire body.
She looked at Isabella beside her in panic: "Mom, save me. I don't want to go with them, I don't want to."
Isabella blocked their way again, frowning and saying sternly, "It's illegal for you to take people away like this. Please release her immediately, or our legal team will definitely take you to court for abuse of law enforcement power."
One of the officers scolded: "We already called Ms. Brown to come to the station for questioning, but she refused to cooperate. Please don't obstruct law enforcement, or you'll face the consequences."
Isabella still stood in front: "How can you be so heartless? She just had a miscarriage, and her body is very weak. If you put her through this and something happens to her health later, who will be responsible?"
The officer was unmoved: "We'll have professional doctors assess her physical condition, but right now she's a criminal suspect and must come with us to the police station for investigation. If you continue like this, we'll take you along too."
Seeing other officers step forward, Isabella got a bit scared. She took out her phone and quickly dialed: "Jasper, where are you? Hurry up and get here. The police are taking Sophia away, I can't stop them."
I watched coldly. Even at this point, she still wanted to save Sophia. In her heart, did it not matter that I was sold, that I suffered anything, but Sophia couldn't be punished because of me?
Sophia was taken away. She looked somewhat lost as they disappeared, and when the onlookers had dispersed, she caught sight of me preparing to leave.
"Emily, stop right there. Did you call the police to arrest Sophia? You bitch, ever since you showed up, we've been in constant trouble. Emma sent you specifically to harm us, didn't she?" She rushed over, venting all her resentment, raising her hand high to strike me.
I stood still. With one motion, I firmly grabbed her wrist and forcefully pushed her aside, my expression cold: "Mrs. Brown, if you don't want to go keep your dear daughter company right now, you'd better behave yourself."
I really wanted to know - did she even know how to be a mother? How could someone truly not care about their own daughter's well-being, but instead protect the murderer?