Chapter 5 Danielle! Stop facing the wall!
"Mommy, why do you want to make him leave?" Danielle came over, tugging at her fingers in a hushed question. "Didn't you say that if there was a handsome guy willing to come home with us, and I could stick pink piggy stickers on him, we could consider letting him be my dad?"
Suddenly, Jessica covered Danielle's mouth, and Danielle looked at the man on the bed with a plea for help in her eyes.
Grinding her teeth, Jessica forcefully took Danielle to the next room, "If you keep talking nonsense, you're losing all your chocolate for the next month!"
Danielle immediately shut her mouth but still whispered in a pitiful voice, "Mommy, he's so badly hurt. It's so sad. Don't make him leave."
"Quiet, face the wall for thirty minutes!" Jessica closed the door after her command.
Then, turning back to the main bedroom, determined to make things clear to the man and insist that he leave, she stepped inside and suddenly spun around, asking, "What are you doing getting out of bed?"
Gabriel stood by the bed, glancing at the black, baggy shorts that hung well above his knees. Then he turned his attention to the spots where blood had seeped through several bandages due to the strain of standing up.
"I just wanted a favor seen through, but if my request troubles you that much, forget it. I can leave," he said, his voice weary.
Jessica heard the exhaustion in his tone and was aware of how seriously he was injured. The idea that he could still muster the strength to rise from the bed despite his pain made her wonder if he even felt it at all.
After all, she had helped him wash his body a few times in the past couple of days, having seen him shirtless on the bed, albeit unconscious.
Turning around, Jessica saw Gabriel struggling to take a few steps forward, looking like he could collapse at any moment. Just as his tall frame began to sway, she instinctively rushed over to steady him. To her surprise, his nearly six-foot-three height towered over her, and as he began to fall, his weight pressed down on her forcefully. She staggered backward, almost tumbling down.
Despite the challenge, Jessica summoned her strength, steadied him, and pushed him toward the bed. Just as she was about to help him sit down, he collapsed entirely.
"Hey, you..." Jessica paused, noticing his eyes were closed. ‘Had he fainted again?’ She pondered.
She quickly glanced at the bloodied bandages disturbed by his movement. Frustrated and on the verge of a meltdown, she ran her fingers through her hair. Looking like a mess, she yelled toward the room next door, "Danielle! Stop with the timeout! Come out and run down to get the old doctor from the clinic!"
The door to the neighboring room burst open, and Danielle, free from her punishment, cheerily responded before skipping down the stairs in her pink shoes.
Jessica's face clouded over, an irritating suspicion lurking within her, but observing the man's injuries and his closed eyes, she rolled her eyes in reluctant acceptance. She carefully straightened his body on the bed and cautiously began to peel away the blood-soaked bandages.
"Why is there so much blood again?" she murmured, quickly standing up and heading for the bathroom to grab a towel.
After a few steps, she suddenly stopped and looked back at Gabriel, his face went even paler.. His previous suit and shirt, soaked in blood, were not items one would find on any shop floor; having seen many exquisite fabrics abroad, she knew at a glance that his clothes were high-end custom-made. Surely, a man of wealth and good looks wouldn't have any ill intentions toward her and her daughter?
Indeed, it seemed there was nothing to worry about.
She was no longer the person she had been five years ago, and there was hardly anything left to be coveted by others.
