Chapter 4

“Yes. Don’t give up. You have to live!”

Edward came over and rested a trembling hand on Aaron’s head.

“You don’t need to resign. I’ll arrange medical leave for you and make sure you keep your position and benefits. Once you recover, you can return to work.”

Diane added, “Don’t worry about the cost of treatment. I have some savings. If that’s what it takes to cure you, we’ll spend every last penny we have!”

Once Aaron calmed down, he took several documents from his briefcase and handed over his work to Edward.

He had prepared all the necessary paperwork for both his previous project and the projects he was still working on.

Suddenly, Diane’s phone began ringing with a video call from her daughter.

She looked at Aaron.

“Don’t mention me,” Aaron hurriedly said. “I don’t want to ruin her vacation.”

But the moment Diane answered, Natalie noticed something was wrong. “Mom, why are your eyes so red? Have you been crying? What happened?”

“The wind got to me.”

Diane tried to hide the truth, but whenever she thought about Aaron’s condition, her emotions overwhelmed her, and the tears began to flow again.

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

Aaron took the phone and saw Natalie’s worried face on the screen. A sudden ache seized his heart as he wondered if this might be the last time he ever saw her.

“Nat, Mrs. Jones is fine.”

“Are you back from your business trip? Then I’ll come home too. I haven’t seen you in six months.”

“I’m leaving on another business trip tomorrow and won’t be back until the end of the year. Let’s wait until the holidays, then we’ll see each other. Oh, I bought you a laptop.”

Aaron turned the camera toward the laptop. It was his gift to celebrate Natalie getting into college.

“Really? That must have cost a couple thousand dollars! You actually bought this for me? You’re the best! Wait, why are you wearing a mask and sunglasses? Don’t try to look so mysterious. Take them off and let me see you!”

“I’ve been working outside in the sun, and my face is covered in mosquito bites. I’d scare you if you saw me. Professor Jones and I are busy right now.”

Aaron turned the camera toward the documents and Edward, then said goodbye and ended the call.

Edward also called the office at the Eastbridge Geological Survey and arranged Aaron’s medical leave, so he would not have to return to work.

Aaron felt hollow inside.

He was like a car racing down the highway until its fuel tank suddenly ran dry and the engine died.

The rest of the journey depended entirely on its momentum. After sliding forward for a little while, the car would come to a stop.

And the moment it stopped would be the moment his life came to an end.

Everything was settled. He had no regrets left.

Once Aaron had put everything in order, he said goodbye to Edward and Diane. He planned to go home, pack a few things, and check himself into the hospital.

When Aaron got home and finished packing, Vanessa walked in.

She stormed over and threw a medical report at his face. “Read it carefully. I’m not sick! I didn’t infect you. I’m not some promiscuous woman. You caught this because you were sleeping around!”

Aaron was furious when she threw the report at him, but her words struck him like a bolt of lightning.

He picked up the report and saw the result: Negative.

Vanessa’s initial screening result was negative!

How was that possible?

Aaron looked at it again and noticed that Vanessa had also paid for an expedited CD4 T-cell count. Her CD4 count was only 300.

A healthy person’s CD4 count was typically between 706 and 1,125.

Once HIV progressed to AIDS and symptoms appeared, a CD4 count below 200 was considered the critical threshold.

This meant that Vanessa’s immune system was severely weakened, and she could very well have AIDS.

Aaron pointed to the abnormal CD4 count.

“This isn’t normal. That number is dangerously low. A negative screening result only means the virus hasn’t reached detectable levels yet. You may still be in the window period. You need to get a confirmatory test.”

“I will! But I know I won’t test positive because I’m not sick! Now apologize for accusing me and hitting me! What kind of man hits his own wife?”

“Apologize? Not a chance! I saw you walk out of that hotel with another man. What the two of you were doing together was obvious.”

“You’re still slandering me? Fine! I want a divorce! Remember, I’m the one ending this marriage!”

Vanessa took out another copy of the divorce papers and threw it at Aaron.

“You don’t need to worry about taking back this house. After I die, you can do whatever you want with it.”

Aaron glanced through the document and realized that Vanessa expected him to walk away with nothing.

He immediately objected. “I’m not the one who betrayed this marriage. I never cheated on you. You were the one going in and out of hotels with other men, using your looks to win business. You’re the one in the wrong.”

“You’re still defaming me? I’ll sue you for slander and damage to my reputation!”

“Go ahead. Do you really think I care about any of that now?”

Aaron gave a bitter laugh, walked over to the table, and signed the divorce papers.

He crossed out the clause requiring him to leave with nothing, then pushed the document back to Vanessa.

“You—you signed first? I told you I’m the one ending this marriage, so I’m the one who gets to sign first!”

Vanessa gritted her teeth, tore up the divorce papers again, and threw them into the trash.

“Are we going to keep doing this?

“Do whatever you want. It doesn’t matter anymore. Pack your things and take them with you. If I’m going to receive treatment at home, you can’t keep living here.”

“Half of this house belongs to me, so I have every right to come here! The master bedroom is mine. From now on, don’t go in without my permission!”

Vanessa angrily argued back before going into the bedroom to gather Aaron’s belongings and move them into the guest room.

Aaron watched for a while.

His heart ached, and disappointment weighed heavily on him.

When he began to feel dizzy, he worried that another wave of AIDS symptoms was coming. He stopped paying attention to Vanessa and went to the hospital instead.

Most people in the hospital wore masks. Some even wore hats and sunglasses, as though they were terrified someone might recognize them.

After Aaron completed the admission process, he noticed that both the doctors and nurses looked at him with cold, hostile eyes.

The shared ward was full, so he paid extra for a private room.

While lying in bed, Aaron still needed to have blood drawn. The young nurse looked at him with even greater disgust than the others, and his heart turned cold.

Was AIDS frightening?

Yes.

But what frightened him even more was the cruelty people were capable of.

Aaron felt utterly numb. He turned his head away from the nurse and lay still while she drew his blood.

Suddenly, the nurse let out a shriek.

“Damn it! He infected me!”

Aaron turned in shock and saw what had happened.

After drawing his blood, the nurse failed to press a cotton pad against the puncture site. Blood spurted onto her uniform, making her scream.

The freshly drawn blood also spilled onto the floor after the cap came loose.

The head nurse rushed in. “What happened?”

The young nurse pointed at Aaron. “He—he infected me!”

The head nurse performed a quick check of the nurse’s gloves and the rest of her protective equipment before taking her away.

Aaron was speechless. The nurse had frightened herself.

But he also knew that he was now being treated like a walking plague. His blood seemed like the deadliest poison in the world—touch it, and you died.

Aaron took a cotton swab from the nurse’s tray, disinfected the puncture wound, then got out of bed and cleaned up the blood on the floor.

A short while later, another nurse came in to draw his blood.

“You’re only wearing one pair of gloves. Are you trying to get yourself killed? I’ll do it myself!”

Aaron sternly pointed out the new nurse’s mistake and reached for the needle.

“Th-that’s not appropriate. Let me draw your blood.”

“You’re new here, aren’t you? Don’t you know the rules? Stand at least three feet away!”

Aaron snapped at her before sitting on the edge of the bed.

He located a vein, wiped and disinfected the area, then drew his own blood. As it flowed into the vial, he said, “Tell me when you have enough.”

The new nurse stood frozen.

Aaron remained so calm that she could only think he was one tough man.

When she finally told him they had enough, Aaron stopped, cleaned everything up, and handed the vial to her before lying back down.

Perhaps this was where his life would end.