Free Web NovelChapter 341: Chapter 339: Both a Chinese and a Western Wedding
Through her hair, Yates Donovan kissed her forehead. "Baby, I’m the one who should be sorry."
There were too many things he needed to apologize for.
After Hayes Hughes reminded him, he realized he had a list of offenses so long he couldn’t even begin to count them.
But she wasn’t one to dwell on things and didn’t care what prompted his apology.
The atmosphere in the hospital room grew heavy, and neither of them spoke again for a while.
After a long, quiet moment, Yates let her go, lifting his head from the crook of her neck.
Mia Grant looked at him, sensing he had something to say.
But in the end, after what seemed like an internal struggle, he smiled and said, "I don’t know why, but I kind of feel like crying. I’m holding it in, though."
"?" Mia tilted her head. ’That’s probably not what he actually wanted to say.’
He naturally interpreted her reaction as a question and answered, "Because I feel like if I’m going to cry at least once as an adult, I’d rather save it for a more important occasion. For example..."
He snapped his fingers. "Our wedding?"
Mia: "..."
"In other words," he said with a mischievous smile, "unless you marry me, you’ll never get the chance to see me cry in this lifetime."
"Oh." Mia rolled her eyes at him. "It’s not like I want to see it."
Yates tutted. "I’m a pretty crier, you know. Almost as good-looking as you."
"You’re insane."
Mia gave him a light kick, making him back off so she could lie down.
"For real. If I started crying, all teary-eyed and beautiful, your heart would definitely break for me."
Mia didn’t look at him. "Right, right, right."
"Hey, baby." The moment she lay down, he clung to her, pulling her into his arms over the blanket and lying down beside her.
"Can we discuss something?"
Mia slowly opened her eyes. She had finally gotten to the real reason he wanted to talk.
"Let’s try a different way from now on, okay? When you’re upset, don’t hurt yourself. Scratch me instead."
Mia blinked.
After a long moment, she said, "What are you talking about?"
His hand slipped under the covers and gently took hold of her freshly bandaged one. "I get emotional easily now, so you really have to be careful. If you make me cry before the wedding, you’ll have no choice but to marry me for the rest of your life."
"Basically, my tears are precious, and you have to take responsibility for them. They’re the fruit of our love. You can’t escape it."
"..."
"If I cry, I’ll go home and have the old man send people over with the betrothal gifts."
"We’ll have both a Chinese and a Western ceremony—a huge, grand affair. For the Western one, whatever style you like, we’ll find a church or a castle abroad and dress you up like a princess. For the Chinese one, here in the country, I guarantee it’ll be on a scale no less grand than an emperor’s coronation."
"And if you’re not too tired, we can even have multiple ceremonies. We’ll do it like a celebrity concert tour, one in every city."
"..."
"Say something, will you? Why aren’t you answering? Did you disconnect? Or maybe you prefer a flash marriage, no frills? That’s not out of the question, I guess. We can skip the wedding, but we have to take a few wedding photos. Just letting me see you in a wedding dress would be enough to satisfy me."
"..."
After a long silence, she seemed to have completely surrendered to him.
"I can’t control it."
At her words, Yates’s hand, which was holding hers, instinctively tightened.
He heard her sigh. "I don’t want to hurt myself either. In fact, I never have. Today was an exception."
"Nonsense. What about the last time you and Kian Keller had a fight over the phone? What did you do in the bathroom?"
"..."
Yates didn’t want to bring it up, but he couldn’t help himself.
"Who have you been talking to now?"
"I haven’t been talking to anyone. I just know you weren’t in a good state that day. Baby, it really hurts me to see you like this."
"..."
Mia’s gaze darted away. She looked toward the television on the side and said after a moment, "That was an accident, too."
"I wasn’t trying to do anything."
She wasn’t really lying, she supposed. She hadn’t wanted to hurt herself.
That time in the bathroom, she had been clear-headed and rational. She knew what she was doing and didn’t consider it an act of self-harm.
Today had indeed been a bit extreme. Due to a lack of oxygen, it felt as if her brain had gone on strike. Her speech became jumbled, her limbs went numb, and her whole body felt cold. Everything she did was unconscious.
She had scratched her hand to try and stay lucid, wanting to use the pain to keep her voice steady and speak clearly.
Unfortunately, she failed.
Her body’s reaction was beyond her comprehension and control.
So, it was an accident.
"I’m not trying to blame you. I just want to tell you that next time you’re upset about something, just slap me. Or slap them. Once you’ve vented your anger, you’ll feel better."
"Don’t worry, they won’t get mad. If you feel good, they’ll feel good too."
’...’ ’That sounds really weird.’
Mia decided she didn’t want to understand.
"Anyway, before you hurt yourself, get a little payback on someone else first."
"That’s illegal."
"If you can’t bring yourself to do it, then the next time I find out someone has provoked you and a situation like today’s happens again, I’ll definitely take matters into my own hands."
"..."
Mia didn’t answer.
After what felt like a long time, Yates heard her sigh again. Her voice trembled slightly as she asked, "You just saw the doctor, didn’t you?"
A flicker of movement crossed Yates’s brow.
"What did the doctor say?"
"Am I really sick?"
"..." This time, it was Yates who fell silent.
He and Mia were cut from the same cloth, so he knew exactly what she was thinking.
It was her own body; she knew she was sick long before anyone else did.
It was just her pride getting in the way. She couldn’t admit it, and she didn’t want to.
What wouldn’t she admit?
That, without her even realizing it, these psychopaths had driven her mad?
That’s why Yates didn’t dare advise her to seek medical help. His earlier probing words had felt as perilous as walking a tightrope. With every sentence he uttered, he was filled with regret and self-reproach.
He regretted it because he was afraid of upsetting her again.
He reproached himself for letting today’s situation happen.
There had been so many chances to prevent it...
He had missed them.
He had missed them all.
That was why he’d only dared to have Hayes Hughes bring it up.
He thought Hayes had a better chance of success. Even if she got emotional, it probably wouldn’t be worse than her reaction today.
"No," he said, keeping his voice steady.
"They said all your vitals are normal, just that you had a bit of an emotional fluctuation. You’re fine now."
"You’re lying."
"..."
Mia thought back and recalled that the doctor who had come in hadn’t really tried to probe her. Or maybe he had, but she hadn’t heard and therefore hadn’t answered.
’He probably wasn’t a psychiatrist.’
She started sighing again. "Help me make an appointment with the psychiatry department."
"!"
Yates let out a laugh, though neither of them noticed that his smile looked worse than a grimace of pain.
"Why make an appointment with psychiatry? If you’re tired, just get some sleep. Why see a doctor when you’re not sick? They’ll just try to scam you. They can convince you you’re sick even when there’s nothing wrong."
As if she hadn’t heard him, she mumbled to herself, "I’ve only recently realized that for a long time now, I’ve been having strange dreams almost every night."
