Chapter 85 She Still Loves
Harriet looked at Tristan lying unconscious in the hospital bed.
His face was pale from excessive blood loss.
For some reason, Harriet suddenly remembered what he looked like after he became a vegetable.
Just like now, his face was drained of color, like an exquisite work of art with no life in it.
That day, the Lancaster family's hearts were broken, and so was Harriet's.
She secretly hid in the bathroom and cried for a long time, but could only grieve alone, without even the right to take care of him.
Later, when Haven suggested that marriage could bring good luck, another girl might have resisted or felt wronged, but she was happy inside.
She could finally be by the side of the man she loved, openly and honestly.
As his wife.
Harriet's eyes welled up with tears. Even after all the sad things that had happened over these three years, she still couldn't forget the joy she felt when she first married Tristan.
Harriet collected herself and shook her head firmly. "Grandma, Tristan is like this because of me. If I divorce him now, it will only hurt him more. I won't leave him at a time like this."
Just like over three years ago, everyone else could give up on Tristan, but she couldn't.
"But Harriet, Tristan is no longer a whole man. You're still young, with a long life ahead of you. You can't throw away your whole life just to repay his kindness." Haven tried to persuade her. "Listen to me, get divorced. If you really want to repay him, you can still treat him as his doctor afterward."
Harriet was slightly stunned.
Haven was thinking of her, not even considering her own grandson.
She also knew that divorcing now was the best chance to escape from Tristan. After all, once he woke up, it wouldn't be so easy to divorce.
But for some reason, her heart hurt so much.
She didn't know why her heart ached, she only knew she couldn't just leave him like this.
"Grandma, I can't divorce him now." Harriet heard her own voice. "When I married Tristan, he didn't know about it. If we divorce while he's still unaware, that wouldn't be fair to him."
"We've been husband and wife. Even if we really need to divorce, I have to wait until he wakes up. I can only divorce him when he's conscious and willing to divorce."
"Alright." Haven didn't push her. "I respect your decision. I'll stay here and watch over him. You go get some sleep."
"Okay." Harriet said. "I'll go back, take a shower and change clothes, then come right back."
"Okay."
Just as Harriet reached the door, Haven suddenly called out to her. "Harriet."
Harriet stopped and turned to look at her. "Grandma, what is it?"
Haven smiled at her. "Harriet, I hope you think carefully about whether you're unwilling to leave because you want to repay Tristan, or because deep down, you've never let him go."
On the taxi ride back to the clinic, Haven's words kept echoing in Harriet's ears.
Was it to repay him? Or had she never let go?
Maybe both.
Ten years of love couldn't be let go just like that. It's just that all this time, she had been forcing herself to remember the hurt Tristan had caused her.
If it weren't for last night's accident, she believed she could firmly divorce him without wavering.
Harriet took out her phone and opened the video Ian had sent her.
It showed what happened last night, captured clearly by the surveillance camera.
The moment the criminal rushed toward Harriet, Tristan's voice was almost out of control.
He rushed forward to protect Harriet without any hesitation.
If he had been even a second later, that knife would have stabbed Harriet.
Harriet's tears fell onto her phone screen.
She couldn't fool herself. Her heart wasn't hard enough to easily erase this scene.
This was the man she had loved deeply for ten years, and he had used his own body to block the knife for her.
She couldn't help but be moved.
All those moments of loving Tristan seemed to break free from some sealed place in her heart and fill her entire being.
It turned out Haven was really good at reading people.
It turned out she had never let go, just forced herself to stop loving him.
It turned out she still loved him.
When Harriet returned to the clinic, her colleagues immediately gathered around to check on her.
"Harriet, you were too naive. Coming to knock on our closed door late at night, there had to be something wrong."
"You can't blame Harriet. I saw the surveillance footage. That person sounded so pitiful and said there was no time to go to the hospital. Any doctor would let them in."
"Yeah, doctors have compassionate hearts. Sometimes when saving people, you can't think about all that."
"Thank goodness Harriet is okay. Lucky Mr. Lancaster rushed out to protect her."
"Mr. Lancaster is really a good man. If it were my husband, he probably would have run away."
Harriet chatted with them for a bit, then went back to her room in the back courtyard and took a hot shower.
Haven called, telling her to get some good sleep first and come to the hospital later.
Harriet was indeed exhausted. After eating the food Ian brought, she lay down and slept for over two hours before being woken by a phone call.
It was Nolan calling.
Harriet answered. "Mr. Johnson."
"I heard about what happened last night." Nolan said. "It's a blessing that you're okay. Harriet, you must be more careful from now on."
"I will."
"I didn't expect it would be Tristan who saved you." Nolan asked. "Harriet, you're going back to him, aren't you?"
Harriet didn't say anything.
"Actually, I know even without you saying it. With your kind nature, you'd be willing to spend your whole life repaying him." Nolan chuckled. "More importantly, you still love him."
Harriet was slightly stunned. "Why would you say that?"
"That day at my house, when Haven called saying something happened to Tristan, maybe you didn't even notice, but you were shaking all over." Nolan sighed. "You didn't even know what happened to him, but just hearing he was in trouble, you started to worry and fear."
"When it comes to feelings, sometimes outsiders see things more clearly. So I could see very clearly that you still love him, you just don't want to admit it. Actually Harriet, I wish so much that you really didn't love him anymore."
Harriet didn't deny it, saying softly, "I'm just following my heart."
"I understand. If you need anything, call me anytime."
"Okay."
Harriet hung up the phone. She wasn't sleepy anymore, so she just got up.
Tristan would need to stay in the hospital for several days. She packed some things, asked Ian for time off, and headed to the hospital.
On the way, Harriet received a call from the police.
The two criminals last night had come prepared.
They knew Harriet was Tristan's wife and wanted to kidnap her to extort money from Tristan.
They had been staking out the clinic for over half a month, knowing that Harriet stayed alone at the clinic at night, so they pretended to be patients and knocked on the door.
Harriet's heart was filled with mixed feelings.
Did she regret opening the door? Of course she did.
But at the time, she hadn't thought that much. She was just afraid that her refusal might delay treatment for someone who needed help.
What she regretted most was dragging Tristan into this and causing him such serious injuries.
Not just physical injuries, but psychological trauma that would stay with him for life.
Harriet closed her eyes in pain.
No matter what, she had to cure Tristan.
When Harriet arrived at the hospital, Tristan was already awake.
Their eyes met, and Harriet felt like she was in another lifetime.