Chapter 189 Martin Saw Everything
Patricia's heart ached; her nose tingled, her eyes heated up, and she felt the urge to cry. Clutching his hand as it gripped the bed sheets, she whispered soothingly to him.
"Don't worry, it's all in the past. Davis Sadie won't abuse you again. I'll stay by your side forever and won't let anyone hurt you."
It was unclear whether her comforting words had an effect, or if Hunter's illness had worsened, but the hand that had been gripping the bed sheets gradually began to relax.
The concierge had other work to attend to. Seeing Patricia there, he whispered at the door, "Miss Watson, since you're here, I'll get back to my tasks. The supervisor has been calling me repeatedly."
Patricia stood up, took a thousand dollars from her wallet, and handed it to the concierge, "Thank you for taking care of my friend. This is a small token of my appreciation; please accept it."
Tips were common in the hotel, especially for concierge services like his. With good care, handsome tips were to be expected. So when Patricia pressed the tip into his pocket, he did not refuse and accepted it smoothly.
"There's no need for formalities; we're just doing our job! If there's nothing else, I'll be on my way. Call me anytime if you need anything."
"Thank you for your hard work!"
With that the concierge nodded and left. On his way out, whether intentional or not, the door was closed gently, not quite shut, leaving it slightly ajar. Patricia's whole focus was on taking care of Hunter, and she hadn’t noticed this detail.
Once the concierge had left, Patricia skillfully found the medical kit and began to check Hunter's temperature. 38.8 degrees Celsius.
The temperature had gone down a little. She placed the thermometer back in the medical kit, and then attempted to turn Hunter to the other side.
Hunter, however, was too heavy for her to move, and despite her strenuous effort, she was left gasping for breath, while Hunter remained an unmovable mountain.
Taking deep, heavy breaths, Patricia leaned in close to Hunter's ear and whispered, "I'm going to turn you over, try not to tense up. Can you just go with it a little?"
It was unclear if Hunter had heard her, but when Patricia turned him over again, it really was much easier. Lying flat on the bed and drenched in sweat, the bandages on his back were already soaked through, sticking to the wound. Patricia gently began to unravel the gauze.
The bandage adhered stubbornly to the wound, and every time she exerted a little force, Hunter would let out a pained grunt. Frightened by his reaction, she dared not apply too much pressure, peeling it away bit by bit.
What would ordinarily take less than a minute to unwrap, this time took a full five minutes. Once the bandages were off, the sight inside startled Patricia.
The skin around the wound was white and wrinkled from sweat, with tiny blisters starting to form. If left untreated, these blisters would surely lead to infection and pus. Patricia felt certain that Hunter's fever was due to an infected wound.
Considering he had been injured while saving her, Patricia was consumed by guilt, it caused her heart to ache and tears began to form in her eyes. She took out iodine from the medical kit and began cleaning and disinfecting the wound.
Because the cut was deep and showed signs of infection, she cleaned it meticulously, even peeling back the outer skin to thoroughly disinfect the inside.
"Ow, that hurts..." Hunter let out a strained murmur, his body restless with pain.
Patricia cooed to him with a patience like that for a child, "Be good; it'll be over soon. If I don't clean it well, it’ll get infected and that will hurt even more."
Though half-asleep, Hunter seemed to hear her and remained still, though he still couldn't help but groan, when the pain became unbearable. The cleaning, disinfecting, applying medication, and wrapping the bandages. All this left Patricia breathless from exhaustion.
For a normal person, these steps would be straightforward and effortless. But Hunter was not lucid, making the process particularly challenging. Once the wound was taken care of, Patricia removed his clothes to rub down his body with alcohol, a way to physically lower his fever.
A feverish patient oscillates between hot and cold, and that was happening to Hunter. He would cry out in cold, then in heat. Seeing him like this deeply pained Patricia, and tears rolled down one by one, landing on him.
"I'm sorry, you only ended up like this because you saved me. If I'd known it was this serious, I wouldn't have left; I'd have stayed right here with you."
Had she been by his side all along, she reasoned, she could have noticed and addressed the issue immediately, and it wouldn't have gotten this bad. After tending to him for a while, Patricia covered him with a blanket and went to the wardrobe to find a clean set of clothes for him to change into.
Opening the closet door, the sight of the few scattered garments intensified the sour feeling in her heart. Even those few items of clothing, they had shopped for together not long ago.
The head of the prestigious Miller Group couldn't possibly be without clothes. There could only be one explanation. He had never considered any place to be his true home, hence he had never bothered to properly outfit himself.
Patricia took out a clean set of pajamas from the wardrobe and struggled to change Hunter into them. The bed was thoroughly soaked; he wasn’t going to be able to sleep on the original spot he lay on.
Because the bed was a large double bed, Patricia slowly shifted Hunter to the other side. Perhaps her movements were too abrupt, for Hunter actually woke up, slowly lifting his heavy eyelids.
"Patricia..." Upon seeing Patricia, he thought he was dreaming, his face a picture of resignation. "I must be dreaming. Heaven knows I've missed you, so it sent you into my dreams."
His words touched a nerve in Patricia, leaving her voice hoarse. "Idiot, you're not dreaming!"
Hunter paused, blinked hard, and reached out to touch Patricia's face. The tangible sensation in his palm bewildered him slightly. To confirm that this was not a dream, he pinched her.
"Ouch..." Patricia sharply inhaled from the pain.
"Hehe, it's really not a dream." Hunter laughed, appearing silly and innocent, like a child.
With an exasperated tone, Patricia said, "That hurts, why pinch me instead of yourself?"
Hunter chuckled goofily. "I thought it was a dream, so I pinched you. If I knew it wasn't, I would have pinched myself."
Pausing, he then changed the subject: "Weren't you spending Christmas Eve with friends? How come you're here?"
Patricia explained, "Customer service called me a while ago to tell me you had a fever. I was worried about you, so I came over. How do you feel? Are you hungry? I can have the hotel send up some porridge.”
“The signs of infection are evident in your wound; you can't eat anything too greasy or rich, best to stick with something bland. Start with plain white rice porridge for a couple of days, and then you can move on to other foods."
Hunter frowned in displeasure. "I told him not to bother you. I didn't expect he would call you!"
Patricia glared at him. "Should I have just toughed it out on my own? That's what we doctors hate the most. patients like you who rely on their youth and good health, thinking they can withstand anything.”
“In the end, when they can't take it and come to the hospital, the situation has become very serious. It's not just a waste of money; it results in suffering as well."
Chastised by her, Hunter opened his lips to argue, but then swallowed his words back down, at Patricia's forceful glare and obediently shut his mouth.
Patricia ordered customer service to send up some food. Hunter intended to eat by himself, but the fever had left him completely drained. Any movement would agitate the wound on his back.
Left with no choice, Patricia had to feed him. However, his appetite was poor, and after half a bowl, he just couldn't eat any more, so Patricia had customer service take the dishes away. When she left, she still left the door slightly ajar.
After finishing his porridge, Hunter fell into a deep, heavy sleep again. The first half of the night passed without incident. But as the latter half approached, his temperature soared to 39 degrees. Burning up, he began to talk deliriously and tossed and turned restlessly in his sleep.
"Mom, don't leave me behind..."
"Mom, mom..."
"Patricia, where are you? Patricia..."
Seeing his condition worsen again, Patricia, fearful of complications, decided to take him to the hospital. Gently patting his face, she said, "Hunter, wake up. I'm taking you to the hospital. We can't delay any longer with your current state."
Hunter, whether he heard her or not, suddenly reached out to embrace her tightly. "Patricia, don't leave me... Don't go, I'm scared..."
Patricia understood this was a reaction stemming from an extreme lack of security. She gently patted his back to comfort him, "Don't be afraid. I won't leave you. I'll stay with you and won't let anyone hurt you."
As her words faded, there was a sudden, crisp 'bang' from outside the door. Patricia turned around at the noise and her gaze unexpectedly met a pair of unfathomable, icy eyes, causing her heart to skip a beat and sink heavily.
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