Chapter 257 Breaking the Ice
Erica had a habit of wearing an eye mask when sleeping during the day. Her hospital bed was by the window where the light was really strong, so to block it out, she pulled the blanket over her head. At first glance, it actually looked kind of creepy.
When Maddox walked in, he saw someone on the hospital bed covered with a white sheet. He froze on the spot, overwhelmed with sadness. His heart felt like it was being stabbed with needles, and his feet felt like they were filled with lead, every step was difficult and heavy.
Leopold opened his eyes at the sound and was about to tell him to keep it down so he wouldn't wake Erica, but then he saw Maddox's tears start flowing. His lips trembled, and he threw his arms around the figure and started crying.
Maddox was crying his eyes out, sobbing, "Erica, why didn't you wait for me? I didn't even get to see you one last time. You could have at least left me a message. Now that you're gone, what am I supposed to do? Erica!"
The man's crying echoed through the hallway. Caroline came out of the doctors' lounge and heard it too. She felt sad and thought to herself, 'Another poor family.'
In the hospital, all kinds of life stories unfolded every day, and the walls of the hospital were the places that had heard the most prayers.
But as she got closer to Erica's room, the crying got louder. Caroline felt something was off, didn't that voice sound like Maddox?
When she finally saw the scene in the room and made eye contact with Leopold, he shook his head, signaling her not to interrupt them.
The crying also caught the attention of other patients and their families nearby. They didn't dare get too close but stood at the doorway looking in the direction of the sound. To avoid disturbing other patients' rest, she closed the door behind her.
"Maddox, you're here," Caroline said.
Maddox cried even harder, "I came too late, I came too late!"
To be fair, he did come late, when Erica was brought to the hospital by ambulance, they couldn't reach him for ages.
But that didn't warrant crying so hard that he was covered in tears and snot.
Caroline put the topical medicine on the bedside table and was about to say something comforting when she heard Maddox say through his tears, "Erica, it's all my fault, all my fault. Don't worry, you didn't get to wear a wedding dress when you were alive, but I'll make sure you're wearing one now. Erica, what am I supposed to do without you? How am I going to face the days ahead? I'm the one who killed you."
Caroline froze, slowly turned her face, and said, "You're talki..."
Before Caroline could finish, the person under the blanket exploded, "Maddox, are you looking to die—!"
The crying stopped. Maddox sniffled and looked up, saying to Leopold, "I think I just heard Erica yelling at me. How am I supposed to live without her? I really love Erica so much. Leopold, I really love her."
Erica threw off the quilt, glared at Maddox angrily, and said, "Look, I'm not dead yet."
Maddox blinked and sniffled again, "Erica, you're okay?"
Erica's chest was heaving, "What do you think? Or are you seeing a ghost?"
Maddox grabbed her in a hug, buried his head in her shoulder, and cried even harder, like a wronged child. He cried harder and harder, soaking Erica's hospital gown with tears. She tried to push him away in disgust, but Maddox only held her tighter.
He choked out, "Erica, I'm sticking with you for the rest of my life. I'm never leaving you. When I walked in and saw you like that just now, I didn't even have the will to live anymore. I can't stand the thought of losing you, it hurts too much. Thank god you're okay, thank god you're okay."
Erica could feel his panic and the relief he felt knowing she was safe. If he didn't love her, he couldn't have acted out that scene just now. And because she was sure of his love, that barrier in Erica's heart was smoothed over.
"Alright, I'm fine. Stop crying and let me sleep for a bit. I've been so tired lately."
After Erica finished speaking, she patted Maddox's back gently.
He let go of her, wiped the tears from his face with the back of his hand, helped Erica lie back down, and carefully tucked the blanket around her. "You sleep. I'll be right here watching over you."
Erica closed her eyes. Pregnancy hadn't just increased her appetite, it also made her really sleepy. Before long, she had fallen asleep again.
Leopold handed him a tissue. "Stop crying, wipe your tears."
Maddox took the tissue and blew his nose hard, "You did that on purpose just now, didn't you? You deliberately let me misunderstand and cry while holding her."
He was silent for a moment, then raised an eyebrow, "From the moment you came in, I didn't say a word. How did I make you misunderstand?"
"You didn't say anything, but you didn't stop me either. You could have just said she was sleeping, and that would have been it. You made me think something happened to Erica. I cried for so long, nearly cried myself to death!" Maddox reached out to Leopold again, asking for two more tissues.
Leopold pulled out two more for him and said with disdain, "Don't you have a brain? If something really happened to her, would she be lying here like this?"
Maddox was about to argue back, but then thought about it and realized he had a point, "I..."
"You what? You're just dumb." Leopold wasn't letting him off the hook and was about to continue when Caroline stopped him.
"That's enough from both of you. Keep it quiet and let Erica sleep for a while." Caroline glanced at Leopold, who scratched his eyebrow and mumbled quietly, "Not my fault."
Caroline calculated the time the nurse had mentioned and said to Maddox, "You stay with Erica. I'll go get the test results."
"Let me go." Although Erica and Caroline were best friends, running errands should be his job. "Which floor? Where do I pick them up?"
Caroline handed him a piece of paper, "Take this QR code to the machine on the fourth floor and scan it, and they'll come out."
"Got it, understood."
Maddox hurried out of the room.
Only three people were left in the room. Erica was sound asleep. Caroline turned to look at Leopold, and he started feeling uncomfortable under her gaze. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Caroline lowered her voice, "You definitely did that on purpose just now. No use denying it."
Leopold neither denied nor admitted it. Through his conversations with Erica, Leopold could sense that Erica's feelings in her relationship with Maddox were gradually cooling, but Maddox truly liked Erica, and Erica genuinely cared about him too.
Right now, the only problem was they didn't have time to communicate properly, which led to them being out of sync. If he wanted to help ease the tension between them, this wasn't a bad opportunity. Though it wasn't exactly honorable, it was definitely effective.
Caroline said, "When Maddox gets back in a bit, I'll go home and cook. The doctor said Erica needs to eat nutritious food lately."
With Maddox at the hospital to look after things, Leopold drove her to the market. Caroline wanted to buy a black chicken to make soup. They came back upstairs carrying bags of groceries.
As soon as the car entered the residential complex, the security guard saw Caroline's car and immediately called Nash's number.
The guard covered the phone and said, "Mr. Hearst, the owner of parking space 39E, is back."
Nash had just met with a client nearby. When he heard this, he turned around and headed toward the complex.