CHAPTER 18. Are you embarrassed if your husband is disabled?

The next morning Paula woke up.

She moved her body a little, but her back still hurt tremendously. It was so intense that she soon woke up completely.

After she woke up, she realised that she was lying in a hospital bed with Mark.

The hospital bed was a single bed, and it was small enough for both of them to sleep there. Therefore, she hugged him very tightly, and their bodies were very close to each other. Even she could clearly hear her husband's heartbeat through his chest.

His heartbeat was beating steadily, and it was the same rhythm and range as hers.

Subconsciously, she smiled.

This was the first time someone had hugged her while she was sleeping. It was also the first time she heard someone's heartbeat from such a close distance.

She looked up at Mark's face.

His side face was handsome and graceful, and his collarbone revealed his sensuality and charm. His eyebrows were long and slanted, and his eyelashes were also long. The shape of his lips was perfect.

In the morning sunlight, his eyes were very charming.

"One moment! Her eyes! I haven't seen his eyes yet!" she thought.

Paula suddenly came to her senses. "You..."

Mark was already awake.

Mark was amused by her ridiculous appearance. He couldn't help but place a kiss on her forehead. "Still hurting?"

"No, not too much anymore."

Paula didn't know if it was because of the kiss or the greeting, but in short, her heartbeat quickened, and she definitely blushed.

"Good."

He caressed her pretty face. "Why don't you admit your mistake last night?"

Paula pursed her lips. "It's because I wasn't wrong!"

"But if you had admitted it, you wouldn't have suffered such physical pain." Mark stroked his wife's beautiful face.

"I am a man of integrity." Paula gave him a stubborn look.

"I can accept it. No matter how much it hurts. However, it is impossible for me to admit what I did not do, and it is also impossible for me to say that what I did right was wrong."

Paula soon added, "It is the saddest business if someone abandons their principles. My principle is that I will not admit it if it is not my fault."

Her serious look was adorable, and very attractive, Mark sighed. "You are beautiful."

Mark kissed his wife's beautiful lips, which made Paula close her eyes. Accepted with pleasure.

***

Originally, Paula's injury was expected to take a week to heal. However, her body was strong, and the wound was almost completely healed after three days.

She packed her things early on the day she went out. Arriving home, she immediately threw herself on the bed thinking, "No wonder Mum doesn't like staying in the hospital. It's too oppressive."

She let out a sigh of relief, and just as she was about to continue her emotional sigh, the phone in her bag rang.

It was her aunt's phone.

It had been a few days since she had called her. Paula pursed her lips and carefully answered the call. "Aunty..."

She thought her aunt was calling again to ask about her progress with Mark. Hence, she stuttered. "For the past few days, I haven't..."

"Paula..." The female voice on the other end of the line sounded sobbing.

"Your mum collapsed again just now. They're trying to revive her in the ER!"

Paula's jaw dropped in the blink of an eye.

"But why..."

By the time she promised to marry Mark, her mother had been transferred to the best hospital in Ayriz City. Her condition was becoming more and more stable. How could something like this happen so suddenly.

"Come quickly. Her illness is really dangerous. It could be any time..."

Her aunt cried and dared not finish her sentence.

Paula's heart skipped a beat.

She quickly hung up the phone and hurriedly ran outside. At the bathroom door, she bumped into Mark, who was out.

The moment they collided with each other, she completely lost her balance, and was about to fall heavily to the ground.

At that critical moment, Mark threw his stick and pulled her towards him. She then fell backwards from the impact as she collided with him.

Fortunately, she used her other hand to brace herself against the wall, and this is what kept them from falling to the ground.

"What has happened? Why are you in such a hurry?"

"My mum..." Paula's voice was filled with sobs. He looked at her.

"Can you ask the driver to send me to the hospital? They're trying to save my mum in the ER right now."

She was so anxious that her face was flushed, and her voice was full of anxiety. Seeing that, the man also became flustered, and nodded. "I'll send you there."

Paula pursed her lips. Just as she was about to say something, the man had already pressed the doorbell.

The driver, Robert, quickly said, "Sir."

"Take us to the hospital." Mark glanced at Robert.

Robert immediately entered the room and helped him get the coat and silk used to cover his eyes. After that, he immediately got into a wheelchair and pushed Mark with large strides, down the stairs using a special elevator.

In the blink of an eye, Robert had pushed Mark out of the door.

Kelley put a coat over Paula's body. "Mum, be careful."

It was only then that Paula came to her senses. She didn't even manage to say thank you to Kelley as she grabbed the phone and rushed out.

She hesitated when Mark suggested that she take her to the hospital. After all, she felt that it would be inconvenient for her to go out since she was a disabled person.

However, it took Robert less than two minutes to complete the series of actions.

In fact, it was very quick.

He sat next to Mark with mixed feelings. "Are you just taking me and will you come back after the car stops or..."

Mark waved at Robert to start the car. "You're so nervous. How can I let you go alone?"

Paula pursed her lips. "And yes... are you willing not to get out of the car?"

Her mother was now in that state, which meant that her aunt had to contact her other two aunts in addition to her.

Her other aunts didn't know that she was married yet.

If Mark went to the hospital with her, her other aunts and their children would definitely ask a lot of questions when they saw her, so much so that they would mock her viciously for marrying a cripple.

"Why?"

The air in the car suddenly became cold, and Paula could clearly feel that the man next to her, whose eyes were covered in black silk, was a little displeased.

But, in order to avoid further trouble, she could only prepare. "It's not a big deal. It's just that all my relatives can be there. Villagers have no etiquette, so..."

Mark's lips lifted slightly. "Are you afraid of being offended?"

She lowered her head, clasped her fingers, and nodded silently. "Hmm."

The man glanced at her. "I won't claim that for you."

Silently, Paula rolled her eyes. She might refrain from being bullied for his sake, but her relatives would definitely not shut up for her sake.

Her other two aunts had always been mean and unkind. When her mother was seriously ill back then, they needed several thousand dollars for her mother's medical expenses. His two aunts had each given his uncle one thousand five hundred dollars. They had asked their uncle to think of something to raise the rest of the money they needed.

His uncle was an honest farmer, and he had no way of raising that much money.

If the people of the Aliston family had not appeared, her mother would not have survived to this day.

Even her other two aunts treated her biological mother like this. They disliked her even more because she was just an adopted girl, not a biological child.

Moreover, they asserted that she, who was not part of the family, was the cause of her Mum falling ill.

Just when Paula was hesitating and trying to figure out how to stop Mark from going with her, the car stopped, and she heard his deep voice say, "I'm here. It would be too rude if I didn't get out of the car to meet them."