Chapter 20. Dan's suspicious injury
1546 Words
Chapter 20 Dan's suspicious injury
A week later, Dan came back. While his beard was bushy and untidy, he was also thinner and looked haggard.
"What the hell happened to make you look like this?" Roslyn was greatly shocked.
Dan pretended to be fine and smiled, but instead of answering, he shot another question.
"Is there anything to eat?"
"Yes, I'll cook you a bowl of noodles in a minute."
"That would be great."
There were ready-made noodles at home, and Roslyn quickly cooked a bowl of tomato and egg noodles. Two golden poached eggs lay on the silvery white noodles, bright red tomato slices, and chopped green onions sprinkled on top. She filled a big bowl to the brim.
Dan quickly ate all of it, leaving no soup, as if he had not eaten for several days. Apparently, he had been famished.
After dinner, he went to the bathroom to take a shower, but he overstayed there. This forced Roslyn to go and check on him.
"Dan," she knocked on the bathroom door and called twice. "Dan, are you okay?" She asked when there was no response.
There was still no response, only the sound of water. Frightened, she banged on the door while frantically calling out his name.
"I'm coming in?" She shouted when her calling bore no fruits. She had serious misgivings as her heart hammered against her chest.
She pushed the door open only to see Dan lying on the floor with his upper body naked, unconscious.
There was a long knife wound on his chest, which shocked her to the core. The hot water kept pouring on him, blood still oozing from the wound which appeared to be almost fresh.
She hurriedly turned off the shower and and turned her full attention to the injured part.
"Dan, wake up, you wake up, please..!" She kept urging him while bandaging his wound with gauze.
There was an open medicine box next to him. It appeared that he had wanted to apply medicine by himself when he accidentally turned on the shower. The hot water must have scalded him, forcing him to fall onto the floor. He must have fallen on the already injured part. Subsequently, he lost a lot of blood resulting in his fainting.
After sometime, her effort at shouting yielded some fruits when Dan stirred and opened his eyes.
"I'm fine, you can go out," he said in a weak, feeble voice.
He struggled to stand up, but failed twice.
"Don't move. How can you try to apply medicine by yourself for such a serious injury? Go to the hospital." She was very angry. Her tone was stern, and the determination in her eyes was unquestionable.
"It's okay..." He tried to protest.
"Shut up, don't talk anymore."
He realized that the woman who was always gentle was now overbearing.
She told him not to move, turned around and called an emergency number, reported the address, and then made a cup of strong brown sugar water and put it on the table.
She came back and helped him up. She then began feeding him the brown sugar water with a spoon.
No one could tell if it was because of fear or nervousness which led to the secretion of a layer of fine sweat beads from her forehead while her hands trembled slightly. However, her eyes were firm, without a trace of panic, and she did things in an orderly manner.
After feeding him the brown sugar water, she took out a set of dry clothes from the closet and helped him change.
The ambulance arrived just in time.
* * * * *
At the hospital, the doctor examined the wound and turned to Roslyn.
"You have done a great job of bringing the patient just in time. He has lost too much blood, and he is in urgent need of a blood transfusion."
Dan was then wheeled into the operating room while Roslyn was advised to wait outside. The more she thought about it, the more scared she became. Now she was not as calm as she was at the beginning, and she could not help shaking all over.
If she had not discovered it in time, Dan would easily have died from excessive blood loss.
Surprisingly worse still, he had been stabbed. Who hurt him? What kind of hatred would make people use a knife? She wondered out aloud as she sat in the waiting room.
After what seemed like an eternity, the door to the theater opened and the doctor approached her.
"The wound looked scary, didn't it? Well, although it is long, it is not deep, and there is no damage to the internal organs. A few cosmetic stitches are what it would take to ensure that there are no scars after it heals," the doctor briefed her.
She was relieved to hear that nothing serious had happened. She then remembered that she had added Max's phone number. She called him to inquire what had happened in Dan's hometown and why he was injured.
"Wait for me, I'll be there soon," Max responded without attending to her prying questions.
He said he would be there soon, and he really was there soon, in just ten minutes.
"How did you get here so quickly?" Roslyn asked, surprised at the speed one could use to cover the large distance between New England and Worcester in less than ten minutes.
"My home is nearby. I rushed here as soon as I received your call. I didn't waste a minute," Max answered.
"Okay. You were with Dan and you must know what happened and how he got injured?"
"It must be that guy, bastard, he actually dared do this, he is such a bastard," he indignantly burst out.
"What do you mean 'that guy'? Who is he and why would he want to fight with Dan?"
Max was so angry that he gritted his teeth, but when asked who had hurt Dan, he abruptly changed the subject.
"Sister-in-law, are you hungry? I'll go buy you some midnight snack." he asked and left without waiting for Roslyn to agree.
He was away for long. Finally, he came back at the same time with Dan's coming out of the operating room.
Dan was sent directly to the high-ranking ward on the top floor. It was not easy for one to get into such a ward. Such wards were for privileged, select few.
The conditions in the ward were fantastically fantabulous. Each patient had his own room, and there was a special nurse at his service.
The lounge for nursing patients was fully equipped with sofas, toilets and televisions.
Well, Dan was obviously not qualified to stay at such a facility, either because of his status or condition.
She recalled that her cousin, Diana, was the director of that hospital. Roslyn wondered if her cousin knew about it and she had made the arrangements.
Reflexively, she called her cousin, but her phone was turned off. If it was turned off at that time, she thought, she was most likely in surgery.
It was while she was digesting the circumstances that Max came in with a smile, holding the midnight snack he had gone for.
"Sister-in-law, try it. The skewers on Logan Road are delicious," he announced, stuffing a bag into her hand.
She was not in the mood for a midnight snack, let alone skewers.
"Thank you, I'm not hungry."
She revisited the previous topic. "How did Dan get injured?"
This time Max did not evade, he spread his hands and confessed.
"I don't know."
"Weren't you together?"
"No, there was a problem with my store here, so I came back early. I certainly don't know how he got injured."
He proceeded to comfort her. "Sister-in-law, don't worry, Dan.. Brother is fine, he will be up and kicking in two days."
Dan was indeed fine, but he came to the hospital because he accidentally turned on the shower and lost too much blood.
"How do you know?"
Max replied rather carelessly.
"I asked the doctor, and I also arranged the ward. How are the conditions? Not bad, right?"
The conditions are indeed good. It was then that she knew that the ward was arranged by Max. So it was not surprising that he knew that Dan's injury was not serious.
Roslyn did not have the habit of digging into other people's privacy. She did not ask Max where their relationship came from. After thanking him, she concentrated on waiting for Dan to wake up.
Dan woke up and saw his wife standing by his side. Her eyes and her tone were gentle.
"I'm sorry, I made you worry about me..." He apologized to her.
Max immediately stepped forward. "And I, I also stayed by your side for half the night," she announced.
When Dan saw Max, he stared at him with some hostility.
"What are you doing here?"
"Hey, you can't be so rude. Of course I'm here to care about you. I arranged the ward you're staying in..." Max took credit.
"Get lost from my sight! There's nothing good going on where you are." Dan looked disgustingly flabbergasted.
Little did he did know that his casual words of disgust would come true.
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