Mag-log inThe distinctive smell of disinfectant and the sterile scent of the VVIP hospital room felt sharp in the nose, creating a cold atmosphere that seemed to freeze the blood of anyone inside. Three days had passed since the night that emotional explosion erupted—the night Camelia awoke from her long coma, only to discover that the little world she had longed for had shattered into pieces.Since then, an invisible wall had formed inside the spacious room.Camelia lay stiffly on the bed, facing the large window that revealed the gray city sky outside. The middle-aged woman no longer cried; her tears seemed to have dried up, swept away by the storm of anger that had now transformed into a silence far more frightening. Every time Calvin approached, carrying a tray of warm porridge or simply trying to straighten his wife’s blanket, Camelia consistently showed the same attitude: she tightly closed her eyes, pressed her lips firmly together, and flatly refused any in
The sound of the wall clock ticking in the corner of the VVIP hospital room seemed unbearably slow and agonizing. Half an hour had passed since Dr. Hendra left after conducting a thorough examination of Camelia’s physical condition. According to the doctor, the woman’s vital signs had begun to stabilize medically, her blood pressure was gradually returning to normal, and her organs were responding well after two weeks of being deeply unconscious in a prolonged coma. However, that medical calm was completely out of sync with the storm preparing to erupt inside the pristine white room. Camelia lay in bed with the backrest raised halfway. Her face was still pale, but as time passed, the fog of confusion in her mind began to dissolve. Fragments of memories from before she lost consciousness that night gradually came together in full inside her mind—the suffocating pressure in her chest, the pool of fresh blood on the bedsheet, and the overwh
The bright white light from the fluorescent lamps on the ceiling of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) room felt piercing as those eyelids slowly began to move. There was no thunderous sound or grand surprise to welcome those precious seconds. The first sounds were merely the soft hiss of oxygen flowing through the respirator tube and the constant beeping of the electrocardiogram monitor.The slender fingers that had previously lain rigidly limp on top of the white bedsheet suddenly twitched faintly.Calvin, who for the past two weeks had not moved even for a second from the chair beside the bed, immediately jolted upright. The middle-aged man leaned forward, his eyes widening as he stared at his wife’s face, his breath suddenly caught in his throat.“Camelia...?” Calvin called in a hoarse voice, trembling violently, almost inaudible.Slowly, Camelia’s eyelids opened completely. However, the gaze behind her eyes held no clear focus. The woman
The distinctive scent of hospital floor disinfectant mixed with the cold smell of the corridor’s air conditioning, greeting yet another morning on the third floor of the intensive care building. The calendar sheet on the nurses’ station showed that exactly seven days had passed—a full week during which the world inside that ICU room seemed to have stopped turning for the Ashford family.Behind the transparent glass wall, Camelia still lay rigidly on the hospital bed. A transparent respirator tube was tightly attached over part of her face, helping maintain her breathing rhythm, which was now entirely dependent on the mechanical machine. The middle-aged woman’s face looked so pale, contrasting sharply with the light green hospital blanket covering her body. There was no significant movement. Only the sound of the electrocardiogram monitor beeped regularly—beep... beep... beep—indicating that her pulse was still beating, becoming the only thin thread connecting Came
The distinctive smell of disinfectant and sedatives mingled heavily in the silent corridor on the third floor of the central hospital. The atmosphere in front of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) door felt incredibly tense, far colder than on the previous nights. The hands of the large wall clock mounted above the door moved slowly, as though deliberately prolonging the emotional torment being endured by every member of the Ashford family.Calvin stood stiffly against the pale white wall. The surgical consent form he had signed just a few hours ago still remained vivid in his mind. The hardest decision of his life had been made with violently trembling hands.The emergency surgery to remove the fetuses in order to save his wife’s life had been completed about an hour ago. However, until this very moment, the green light above the ICU room had yet to signal any good news, and Camelia still lay motionless behind the thick glass door without showing any sign of
Time passed incredibly quickly, leaving behind the rush of days that the Ashford family endured beneath tightly suppressed tension. The wall calendar in the corner of Calvin’s study now displayed a date that made anyone who looked at it feel their heartbeat leap into their throat.Only one week remained until Daven and Joye’s official wedding at the main building.All the major preparations had been completed. The luxurious invitations had been sent out, the final stage of the decorations was being handled by the vendors, and a flurry of false happiness had filled the days inside the grand residence. However, behind the faint smile that was always forced onto her lips, Camelia’s body was actually screaming beneath a burden that exceeded the biological limits of a middle-aged woman’s endurance.That day, the wall clock had just pointed to four in the afternoon. The afternoon sunlight streamed through the curtains of the master bedroom window, illu







