85. A Puzzling Puzzle

At first, Josh thought he had misheard.

But the distance between where Ashley was sitting and the door of the room was not far. And the room wasn't that big either. So it was enough to allow him to hear any sound that came from inside, even if it was a bit soft.

Josh tilted his head again while looking through the clear glass on the door.

From where he was, he could only see Ashley's back. The face and figure lying in front of the girl was covered by her body. But several medical machines and many cords that looked interconnected and hanging there were quite clearly visible. Also some of the little things the girl did—rubbing the face of the patient lying there, and adjusting the patient's clothes and blanket—could be clearly captured by his eyes. Ashley’s words that she spoke again could also be heard well by Josh's ears.

“I know I shouldn't have complained to you. But now, no one can listen to me, Mom. In the past, there was Mrs. Go who was always the one I talked to about things. She was also my outlet when I cried, laughed, got angry,” Ashley giggled softly, followed by a loud sigh, ”But now she's too busy working in the office. I think I miss her a lot. And I feel guilty for being such a bother to her.”

Ashley was silent for a long time after that. There were only stifled sobs that sounded obviously trying to be stopped.

Josh was silent and listened to it all in a daze. 

“I'm sorry, Mom. I'm so tired. I'm confused. I don't know what I'm doing with my life. But by seeing you, it brought me back to my senses. Mom, wake up quickly, okay?”

Ashley's sobs became clearer and louder.

“Can you please wake up, Mom?”

Josh's throat tightened. An intense bitterness rose up and clogged his throat.

His feet stepped back from the door. The look in his eyes became a little shaky. He stared aimlessly with unfocused eyes.

A memory of the day when Ashley came home with wounds on her body, when he found the girl’s document of agreement, came flooding back. It was as if his mind could quickly connect and assemble the puzzles that he had previously been unable to answer and then somehow become forgotten. And when Josh realized it, when the assumptions that popped into his head strengthened, he immediately stepped closer again to look for the patient's name that was usually written on the information board near the door.

But the board was empty. There was no patient name or any information written on it.

Frustrated and driven by curiosity, Josh looked at the other three doors in the area. He even peered inside to find out the patients housed there and what kind of hospitalization area it was—that required an access card to get in. But there was no one in the other rooms. Only one room was occupied where Ashley was at that moment.

For a moment, Josh still stood in front of the door looking at Ashley's back and listening to her voice speaking between sobs.  Random thoughts and his own suspicions made him sink into a bottomless reverie. Until a few moments passed, he regained his self-control, and walked out of the area carefully.

He then found a seat near the lobby—quite obscured by the traffic, but from there he could tell when Ashley came out.

Josh sat there for a long time.

Then when he saw Ashley walking through that was some distance away from where he was sitting, he felt a little relieved.

Josh still didn't know the truth of what he had just heard and seen. But he thought long and hard about that one paragraph of the article that brought up someone who was in a coma. That the person’s medical support would be removed if Ashley refused their arranged marriage.

It made Josh unable to think of anything else and think of anyone other than the person he had found just now. 

And from what he had witnessed and heard, made him automatically in a double shock for an instant. The fact that Ashley called that patient ‘mom’, made the ropes in Josh’s head even more tangled.

In Ashley's documents, there was no mention of the girl's relationship with that person. But a name was clearly written on the article: Heo Jungnan.

The problem was that he couldn't find the identity of the patient Ashley had met.

However, every time Josh turned to his other assumptions, he always came back with the prejudice that there was no way they could have brought Heo Jungnan into an agreement document to pressure Ashley if there was no strong connection between the girl and that person. As if it was something important that could make it impossible for Ashley to refuse the marriage. 

And the only reason that his common sense could accept at the moment—after he clearly heard the call Ashley had called the patient—was that the patient was Heo Jungnan, Ashley's biological mother.

Josh immediately took his cell phone and charger in the paper bag he was holding. He stood up and went to the cell phone charging station in one corner of the lobby. Plugged his own charger into an empty socket, and waited for his phone to charge slightly.

Once his cell phone was powered up again, he dialed Ashley's contact number and pressed the call button. It didn't take long for the girl to pick up the call.

“Yes,” Ashley's voice sounded a little hoarse.

“Where are you?”

“Why?”

“Just wondering.”

“I should be the one to ask that, since you didn't come home for two days straight. You also ignored my messages after breaking your promise without telling me anything yesterday,” a weak sigh could be heard from the other side, ”But my questions are futile because I know why.”

“Ash,” Josh blinked his eyes deeply. Tiredness seemed to gather and hang over his heavy lids, “I'm sorry. When we meet, I'll explain it to you. For now, can I ask you a favor?”

Ashley took a breath again and exhaled irritably, “If I can, yeah, I'll try.”

Josh ignored Ashley's annoyance that could clearly be heard in her voice, “I might not be able to come home for a few days. There's something I need to take care of. Work stuff. Can you pack some of my clothes and send them to the office? Just drop them off at the reception so they can be given to Mr. Jung, my secretary.”

Ashley was silent for a long time. She wanted to guess but her heart and mind were too tired to be toyed with by that man. So she pushed away the prejudice that she thought would only make her heart ache, and answered simply. “That's it? When should I drop it off?”

“If you're not busy, can you drop it off today?”

“Okay.”

“Thank you, Ash.”

“Hm.”

“Ash,” Josh hadn't hung up yet.

“What?”

“I'm really sorry for yesterday.”

“Yeah.”