Chapter 2

Only after the human stampede was over did a passing cleaner help me up.

I went to the emergency room alone and sat in the observation unit.

On the bed beside me, a young woman was gently saying to her sick boyfriend, "The water's cooled down. Take a sip, okay?"

My throat was painfully dry. With the hand that did not have an IV in it, I opened my phone and saw Jewel's messages: [Beau, where are you?]

[The schedule is clear. Parade at three, roller coaster at four.]

[How long are you going to keep delaying everything? Jason had to search all over for you and did not even get to watch the entire parade.]

A fever had once kept me from keeping up with her. Back then, she had said the same thing. "Resting isn't part of the schedule. Stop messing things up at the worst possible time."

I swallowed the bitterness and replied: [I'm at the hospital.]

After I closed the chat, I saw a new post on my social media feed. Jason had posted a photo of the two of them.

He and Jewel were wearing matching headbands and holding ice cream cones with bites taken out of them.

The caption said: [Someone says she doesn't eat sweets, but she still behaved and finished one with me.]

I did not like sweets either, but when I asked her to get some cotton candy with me, she flatly refused. "Standing in line is a waste of time. I don't do inefficient things."

Half an hour later, the observation unit's door opened.

Jewel and Jason walked in one after the other.

Jason's eyes were a little red as he rushed to my bed and literally threw himself on me. "Beau! Why are you in the hospital? You scared me to death!"

Half his body landed on my right arm, and blood immediately started backing up into the IV tube. I gasped and shoved him away on instinct.

Jason stumbled into Jewel, and she steadied him. Then, her face darkened. "Beau, what are you doing? Jason's here because he was worried about you. Why are you taking your temper out on him?"

I raised my left hand and showed her the back of it. "There's blood backing up into the tube now."

Jewel immediately stopped. She stared at the red section in the tube, and panic flashed through her eyes.

Jason immediately bit his lower lip, and tears welled in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Beau! This is my entire fault! I was so worried I didn't notice the IV! I'm so clumsy... You can hit me or yell at me! I won't complain!"

Jewel sighed and patted his back. "It's not your fault. Stop crying."

Jason pressed his lips together and said, "If you don't want to see me, I'll go."

He then turned and ran out of the observation unit.

Jewel watched him leave with a faint frown, but in the end, she did not follow him. She pressed the call button and had a nurse adjust the IV needle.

After the nurse left, Jewel pulled over a chair and sat beside me, sounding impatient. "Why didn't you tell me earlier that you were sick? If something was wrong, why couldn't you just say so? Why did you have to go this far just to get attention?"

I looked at the IV bag. "I told you, but you didn't take it seriously."

Jewel froze, then softened her tone. "I thought you'd be fine after taking the medicine. Not to mention today's schedule was quite packed, and every activity had a set time. I was only trying to keep us on track."

She reached out to touch my forehead. "It won't happen again."

I turned away from her hand.

Last month, I had literally curled up in bed due to extremely bad stomach cramps, but she had left me home alone because she had to go to Jason's welcome home dinner.

When she came back that night, she had said the same thing. It won't happen again.

My phone screen suddenly lit up.

It was a message from the bridal boutique. "Hello, Mr. Chauvin. The suit you ordered for your engagement has arrived. Would you be available to come in for a fitting this weekend?"

Jewel casually picked up my phone. She glanced at the screen and replied yes for me. Then, she said, "I'm not working overtime this weekend. I'll go with you to the fitting. We can make up for the anniversary we didn't finish today."

I took the phone back and stared at the message, finding everything so laughable.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" When Jewel noticed my silence, impatience crept into her voice. "You spent half a month choosing that suit. Now that it's here, what's with that face?"

I closed my eyes. "I'm tired."

She stopped talking, but she did not leave. Instead, she reached over and tucked my blanket in.