Chapter 4

(Author’s POV)

In the quiet room, only the soft beeping of the heart monitor and the faint rustling of curtains disturbed the silence. 

The nurse moved around the room carefully, checking the IV drips attached to Ruby’s hand and adjusting the monitors beside the bed. 

Ruby remained silent for several moments before speaking slowly through her weak throat.

“…my family…” Her voice came out rough and strained.

The nurse immediately turned toward her. 

“…did… anyone… come… to see me…?” Ruby swallowed painfully before forcing herself to continue.

The question instantly stilled the nurse. The woman’s hands paused midway while adjusting the IV line. For a moment, silence spread heavily through the room.

Ruby noticed it immediately and fear slowly crept into her chest.

“Miss Vale, you should rest right now,” She said gently, trying to divert the conversation but Ruby kept looking at her silently.

Even weak and pale after two years in a coma, her eyes remained heartbreakingly clear, pure, fragile and filled with quiet hope. 

The nurse’s heart softened instantly. For two years she had taken care of Ruby personally. She had watched this young woman lie unconscious day after day while everyone around whispered pity behind her back. She had witnessed things that still angered her whenever she remembered them and now, seeing Ruby awake and looking at her with those innocent eyes, the nurse couldn’t lie anymore.

A deep sigh escaped her lips.

“Miss Vale…there are some things you deserve to know,” She began softly. Ruby’s heartbeat slowly quickened.

The nurse pulled a chair beside the bed before sitting down carefully.

“When you were brought here after the accident, your condition was extremely critical,” She said quietly.

Ruby listened silently.

“You had severe internal bleeding, fractures, and major head trauma. The doctors said emergency surgery was necessary immediately if there was even the slightest chance to save your life,”.

The nurse’s face slowly tightened with remembered anger.

“But your parents refused”.

Ruby’s breath caught painfully. For a second she thought she misheard.

The nurse looked down bitterly.

“The doctors explained repeatedly that delaying surgery would kill you but your parents kept saying the chances of survival were too low and the surgery was too expensive” She continued. 

Ruby’s chest tightened.

“No…” The weak whisper escaped her lips automatically.

The nurse nodded sadly.

“Everyone in the corridor was shocked. Even strangers were staring at them in disbelief” She admitted.

Ruby felt numb. ‘Her own parents refused surgery?’

“The doctor tried persuading them for almost thirty minutes. He practically begged them to reconsider” The nurse continued softly.

Ruby’s eyes slowly filled with tears.

“But they still said no”.

The room suddenly felt suffocating. Ruby remembered countless memories of her mother kissing her forehead when she was sick as a child. Her father teaching her how to ride a bicycle. Family vacations. Birthday celebrations. ‘Were all those memories fake too?’

The nurse shook her head bitterly.

“No parent should behave like that” She muttered quietly.

Ruby felt her throat burn painfully.

“Then what… happened…?” She asked weakly.

The nurse’s expression shifted slightly.

“That night, the head director of the hospital suddenly arrived personally”.

Ruby frowned faintly.

“The doctor was preparing to stop the procedure because legally he couldn’t continue without consent,” The nurse explained. 

“But then the director ordered the surgery to continue immediately”.

Ruby stared at her in confusion.

“No one knows what happened behind the scenes. Everything changed very suddenly. Your surgery was approved within minutes” The nurse admitted.

Ruby’s mind immediately drifted toward one person. The mysterious man. ‘Could it have been him?’

The nurse unknowingly confirmed her thoughts next.

“All hospital expenses were covered anonymously,” She revealed. 

“Not just the surgery. Everything”.

Ruby’s heart trembled faintly. The luxurious room around her suddenly felt heavier.

“The best specialists were assigned to your case,” The nurse continued.

“This VIP suite was prepared specifically for you. Rehabilitation plans, private care, medications… everything was arranged without limit”.

Ruby’s chest tightened emotionally. Someone had done all that for her. Someone who wasn’t even family.

The nurse sighed again before continuing.

“After the surgery, your condition remained unstable for almost an entire day. Then…you fell into a coma” She hesitated slightly.

Ruby closed her eyes briefly.

The nurse’s voice turned colder afterward.

“Your parents were furious”.

Ruby opened her eyes again slowly.

“They were already unhappy that the hospital operated without their approval but when the doctors informed them about your coma…” The nurse said carefully.  

“They immediately demanded your transfer”.

“Transfer…?”

“To a smaller hospital. A very cheap one with terrible conditions” The nurse replied bitterly. 

Ruby felt her entire body go cold.

“They said keeping you here was pointless since you might never wake up anyway”.

Tears rolled silently down Ruby’s cheeks.

The nurse looked furious even now remembering it.

“But the head director refused immediately,” She continued. 

“He declared that you would stay here under this hospital’s care no matter what”.

Ruby stared blankly toward the ceiling.

“That was the last time we saw your parents” The nurse said quietly.

Silence filled the room. The words echoed painfully inside Ruby’s chest.

“In these two years, they never visited you again” The nurse whispered gently. Ruby’s heart shattered silently.

The nurse looked at Ruby with visible pity now.

“Your sister only came a few times,” She admitted reluctantly. 

“And even then, she stayed barely ten minutes”.

Vivian’s hateful words from last night immediately resurfaced in Ruby’s mind. She suddenly understood something terrifying. Vivian hadn’t been lying, her family truly abandoned her.

The nurse quickly handed Ruby tissues seeing her silent tears. Then after hesitating briefly, the woman spoke again.

“But there was someone else,”.

Ruby’s heartbeat skipped instantly.

“He came every single day” The nurse’s expression softened.

“For two years, not a single day passed without him visiting” The nurse continued quietly.

Warmth slowly spread through Ruby’s aching chest.

The nurse smiled faintly as though remembering something emotional.

“Sometimes he sat beside your bed for hours just holding your hand. Other times he simply stood near the window watching you silently”.

Ruby’s heart trembled violently.

“He rarely spoke to anyone,” The nurse admitted. 

“But whenever he looked at you…It was obvious how much you meant to him”.

Ruby’s eyes slowly filled again. ‘No one had stayed, except him’.

“No one except the doctor knows who he really is,” She said. 

“He avoided attention completely. Most people in the hospital don’t even know someone was visiting you regularly”.

Ruby lowered her gaze. ‘A man she had never met before loved her enough to stay beside her through unconsciousness and hopelessness. Meanwhile, the people she called family abandoned her without hesitation’. The contrast hurt unbearably.

The nurse gently adjusted Ruby’s blanket before speaking softly.

“Miss Vale, sometimes the people connected to us by blood hurt us the most” She said quietly.

Ruby remained silent.

“And sometimes the people who truly care for us come into our lives unexpectedly” The nurse continued with a small smile.

Ruby’s heart trembled again, her fingers twitched faintly for the first time since waking up and somewhere deep inside her broken heart, a small fragile warmth quietly began to grow.