Misunderstood: Dark Romance

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Misunderstood: Dark Romance Page 9

by J. A. Delese


  Tom

  He was thinking of what she said. He had never expected that sort of reason for her divorce. She looked perfectly healthy and was very young when she got married. He had never thought of this kind of problem. He actually couldn’t believe what she said and asked his secretaries to find her medical records about this, and all they found was her and her ex-husband’s medical records in the gynecology clinic for a blood test. The results didn’t even show whether they—or she, to be exact—were infertile or not. He looked at the records again with his chin propped on his hand. He was wondering whether she was telling the truth. What if she was just lying? Maybe she was fertile, but she lied to him for….

  For what? he asked himself. Why would she lie? Was it because she didn’t want to have a child with him? What made her think that he would want a child from her? Why dis she care in the first place?

  Why do you care? he asked himself again.

  He couldn’t answer it. Yes. Why did he care? Why did he care if she was infertile or not?

  Are you actually thinking of marrying her? he tossed the idea around in his head.

  “No,” he spoke aloud. Of course not. She could not be his wife. His parents would definitely be against it, and all the people he knew would laugh at him for that. He could imagine his father yelling at him and saying he was a disgrace to his house. He shook his head roughly to remove the terrifying images from his head.

  Anyway, he found more information from the report and was wondering if he should tell her. He came out of his study and went to the dining table. She was already sitting on her chair and looking at the food. He could tell that she was feeling uncomfortable already.

  Of course, she does.

  He knew what he’d been doing to her these days—torturing. He purposely talked about all the hurtful memories of her life at the dinner table. He was aware that this was very mean, but she was also very mean to him. She asked about Liz. How dare she do that! He didn’t even know he called out for Liz while he was asleep. It was so embarrassing to hear that from her.

  Ever since that day, he had been angry at her. He wanted to say anything that would make her feel the same way he did. She didn’t really show any strong feelings so far. She didn’t cry or yell at him like she did for the first few weeks in his house. Actually, he felt that she was trying to avoid him and that made him feel fucking crappy. He didn’t want her to avoid him.

  He sat down on the chair and looked at her face. She was still looking at the food only. She was trying hard to avoid eye contact with him, and he didn’t like it. He wanted to grab her face and make her look at him, but he chose the other way.

  “Do you know about your husband?” he said, and she lifted her head up and looked at his eyes. He smiled in his head that his plan worked.

  “What about him?” she even asked back. He was hoping that she would correct his words to “ex-husband,” but he doesn’t mind it and answered her question.

  “He got married recently,” he said simply and checked her face right after he finished. She didn’t look shocked or anything. She just turned her eyes away from him.

  “He got married to a young lady from a good family. It’s said her parents are very respectable and educated people.”

  He checked her face again. She wasn’t looking at his eyes, but he could see that she was sad, and it made him feel angry. Why did she feel sad? Why did she care? He seriously didn’t care about his ex-wife and wouldn’t feel sad at all if she got married to a better man than him. She felt sad, and it meant she still cared about her ex-husband. It also meant that she still had feelings for him. He smashed his fist down on the desk. She lifted her head up to look at him with surprise. She looked at him with her dark, staring eyes. He wanted to yell at her. He wanted to ask her why she still cared about a man who left her already. He drank one sip of wine to calm himself. She looked away from him.

  “Are you sad?” he asked.

  She turned her head to face him. She looked so confused, and it seemed that she didn’t really understand what he meant.

  “For what?” she asked back.

  He was thinking of answering her question by saying because your beloved husband found a new love, but she looks so sincerely curious, he didn’t say anything. He didn’t finish dinner, but stood up from his seat and went back to his study. He didn’t like what he had talked about with her today. It was the wrong choice. He should have chosen some other topic to talk about. He, however, didn’t feel anger in his heart at least. As long as she didn’t feel sad for this guy, everything was fine. As long as she didn’t have feelings for another guy, everything was fine. As long as she stayed with him, everything was going to be fine.

  Catherine

  She sat down on the sofa and looked at the night view of London. His house was a bit far from downtown, but it gave a great view from this distance. It was winter, and it was Christmas Eve. He went out for a party, she thought. He was wearing a tuxedo to go out that night, so it was definitely for a party. She could tell that he was feeling a bit sorry that he was going alone, but she didn’t care. She was nothing but a prisoner here, and it was common sense that a prisoner can’t go outside of prison. Even if she could go out freely, she didn’t want to go to the party with him. The more she stayed with him, the more she hated him. She was right. He was not the type that could be friends with her. He was way too arrogant and proud. More importantly, he was too unpredictable. He tossed out some random questions and then got angry at her answers. Seriously, how could he get angry at his own questions? Why did he ask in the first place if he didn’t like to ask? She didn’t understand what he wanted to say or to know. Like last week, he suddenly talked about her ex-husband and got angry at what he himself said. He asked her if she felt sad.

  For what? she asked. Why would she feel sad? She felt happy, on the contrary. She felt happy that her ex-husband finally found a good woman as his wife. He deserved it. He deserved a well-bred girl from a good family. Unfortunately, she wasn’t one of those girls, and their marriage was too difficult to last. She couldn’t stand her ex-husband’s parents’ hurtful words and ignorant attitudes. They didn’t like her in the first place and ignored her whenever they had the chance. Especially when the doctor told them that the reason they hadn’t gotten pregnant for the past three years could be her, her ex–mother-in-law yelled at her and her ex-husband that she was not even functional as a woman. Her husband dragged his mother out of their house, but she still scolded her son that he was so stupid to get married to her.

  She became too wary and exhausted day by day in her marriage. In the end, she asked him for a divorce, and he didn’t refuse. The day they stamped their seals on the divorce-paper, she cried so much in her ex-husband’s arms. She let him leave her, so that he could finally be happy and that was how much she loved him.

  The day her ex-husband said I love you to her, she was so happy and even thought she was blessed by God after all. He was literally her rock. She felt so safe and warm every single day with him. Whenever he introduced her as his wife to his friends, she felt so proud inside her heart.

  She rose from the sofa and walked to the cold kitchen. There was a wine cellar behind the bar, and she opened it. She grabbed one of the wines he had and opened it. There was no one to stop her now. Susan went out in the early morning and hadn’t come back yet. She poured the wine in a glass made of crystal and drank half of it at once. She tasted the wine and could tell that it was very strong, but she downed several glasses more.

  There were times she had been completely addicted to alcohol, like right after her divorce. She couldn’t even spend a day without alcohol at the time. Every single minute was painful for her. She thought she would not do this again, but she had just finished one bottle. She felt so dizzy already, but she opened another one. She poured some in a glass and walked to the balcony. It was snowing outside. The night view of London covered with snow was perfectly beautiful. She opened the balcony door and took one step outside.
She feels the cold wind from the river. He would be angry if he found this out, but she didn’t want to care about him now. She didn’t feel cold at all. She felt very dizzy and tired instead. She didn’t even work these days and slept almost ten hours a day and still felt so tired every day. She sat down on the sunbed that was next to her. She breathed out deeply. She wants to breathe out the heavy air inside her heart and replace it with the fresh, cold air. Recently she had felt that something was always stuck inside her heart, and it was difficult to breathe.

  She drank one more sip of the wine and lay on the sunbed. Snow already covered the sunbed, so it was quite cold and damp, but she lay on it anyway. It was more comfortable than she thought it would be. It was also nice to see the sky of London. She remembered the last time she lay on a sunbed and looked at the sky at night—her honeymoon. She was with her ex-husband in the Maldives. The sky was full of stars and her heart was full of love. She was dreaming of her future with the man she loved at that moment, and now she was dreaming of her past with the man she loved. Snowflakes landed on her smiling lips, and they covered her body more and more.

  Tom

  It was same as his dream. He found her in snow. Her body was covered in snow and she was asleep. He could feel that she was breathing, but it was so weak.

  “Catherine!” he screamed her name and shook her body roughly, but it didn’t wake her up.

  “Catherine! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!” he screamed several times more, but it didn’t work.

  “NO!!!!!” he cried out. He lifted her out of the chair and moved her to his car. Reg drove the car right away to the hospital, and she was admitted to the emergency room. The doctors said she needed immediate treatment in an ICU, since her body temperature was way lower than normal. The first treatment was done, but it didn’t do enough. So they proceeded with the second treatment, and it seemed to be working. He, however, was just waiting outside of the treatment room and watching her. He feels fucking bad and terrified. This reminded him of the moment when Liz passed away. It was like this. He was waiting outside like this and just watching her dying. That night, he lost Liz, who was the love of his life and half of him.

  He couldn’t lose her this time. He wasn’t going to lose her like he lost Liz. He called his uncle for help. He asked him to find the best doctors in this city to wake her up. His uncle, Dr. Colin, told him to wait since she was on treatment now, but he couldn’t just wait.

  A few minutes later, they informed him that her body temperature had risen, and they were trying their best to stabilize her condition. He nodded in acknowledgement and waited outside. He was just sitting there. He couldn’t remember how long he was there. He’d just been sitting there without doing or thinking anything until he felt someone touch his shoulder. He lifted his head up to look at the person.

  “Mother,” he choked. His mother was looking at him with pitiful eyes. Normally he hated when people looked at him with such eyes, but today, his mother’s pitiful eyes brought tears to his own.

  “Mom, I don’t know what to do…,” he muttered.

  “There’s nothing you can do now, Tom,” his mother answered as she stroked his head. She spoke in a very caring one. “Please go home and get some rest. I’m sure she will wake up soon.”

  He didn’t react at what she said initially, but nodded his head in the end. She would wake up soon, and he needed to be there for her.

  So, he went back home and got some sleep in his bed. He was extremely tired, so he thought he wouldn’t dream, but he dreamed again. He saw her again. She was bleeding and dying. Blood poured from her nostrils and mouth. He went to her bed. He wanted to hold her in his arms and tell her that he would keep her safe and there will be no harm done to her anymore, but he couldn’t move. He couldn’t reach her. He stretched to touch her, but the distance between him and her was further than he thought. He took several steps more to get closer to her, but it didn’t make any difference. He took more steps and eventually ran towards her, but she was so distant. He started to panic and wanted to call out her name.

  “Liz!” he shouted her name.

  Wait. Is it Liz? he asked himself. He was wondering if the girl who was lying there now was Liz. He couldn’t see her face just now. He only knew that she was bleeding and dying. Maybe it was Liz or—

  “Catherine!” he shouted.

  He opened his eyes and realized that it was a dream. He felt cold sweat drenching his body again. He looked out of the window. It was still very dark. He covered his face with his hands and recalled what he dreamed. It was so crazy that he couldn’t tell whether it was Liz or Catherine.

  It’s crazy that you dragged her into this, he scolded himself. She didn’t have to suffer like this. She didn’t have to be another Liz, yet he still dragged her into this and now she was lying in the hospital. He felt so bad for what he had done. He thought that he might be a real monster like she had said.

  Tom knew that he would not be able to fall asleep again, so he left his house and visited the hospital instead. She hadn’t woken up, but looked much better than when he found her in the balcony. That moment, she looked so pale and cold like a corpse, but now she looks like herself. He moved closer to the bed and touched her hand. It was warm as usual. He was relieved and held her hand tight. He ran for such a long time to hold her hand just now in his dream. He didn’t like the feeling. He didn’t want to feel the feeling of losing her again.

  I won’t let it happen again.

  He wouldn’t. He wouldn’t lose her ever again.

  “Don’t leave me,” he said, his voice low and heavy with tears. “Please, Catherine. Don’t leave me.”

  Eva

  She came into the room. This room had a very nice view, so every time she came in, she felt good. Ever since she had started working as a nurse, she had a habit of breathing out deeply before going into a patient’s rooms, because whenever she goes into the room, she usually encountered any number of uncomfortable things, angry faces, disgusting smells. Breathing out helped her calm herself and get ready before entering the patients’ rooms.

  This room, however, didn’t give her anything unpleasant. Every time she went into the room, she could see the beautiful view from the window and the lady lying there asleep with a peaceful face.

  Eva walked into the room to check the patient, and she realized that the patient didn’t have a peaceful face anymore. Her two eyes were opened and staring up at the ceiling, a blank look on her face. Eva approached her slowly. The lady also felt her come in and turned her head a bit to look at Eva’s face.

  “Hello, Ms. Lee. Good to see you awake!” Eve smiled at her as she said it, but the lady didn’t respond. Eva didn’t mind it. It was natural that the patient who lapsed into a coma couldn’t respond for a short time.

  “I’m Nurse Eva. I’ll bring Dr. Dempsey here,” she said and walked outside to call Dr. Dempsey.

  He arrived a short time later and checked on her. She couldn’t talk, but she could blink her eyes at least. Doctors did a thorough examination on her and they reported to other doctors. Eva understood that VIP-room patients are paid particular attention, but this one was paid a bit too much. There were guards outside her door all the time, and if doctors found anything— even if it was almost nothing—they brought other doctors to talk about it.

  While the doctors held a meeting about her, she looked at the patient. She looked young for her age and quite pretty, but not like actresses or models. She could say this girl was slightly prettier than normal. Maybe this patient felt Eva was looking at her. She turned her head to Eva’s side and looked at her. Eva felt awkward, so she smiled to her. She thought the lady wouldn’t react, but she did. She smiled back!

  “Are you feeling okay?” Eva asked and the patient nodded.

  “You are doing great!” she said as she pulled her quilt to cover her more.

  “Dizzy…,” Catherine said. Her voice was so weak. It sounded almost like a whisper.

  She can talk!

  “Dizz
y? Are you feeling dizzy now?” Eva asked and she nodded.

  “It’s natural that you feel groggy or dizzy on account of the coma. Is there anything you want to drink? You can drink just a bit.” Eva held her finger and thumb about an inch apart to show how much a bit it should be. It took a while for her to answer. She thought Catherine wouldn’t answer, but she did it again.

  “Orange juice.”

  Eva felt surprised that she asked for orange juice. This lady looked like someone who only drank tea.

  “Sure! Wait a minute, please!” she said excitedly.

  Eva left the room right away to get the juice. She didn’t know why, but she felt happy to see this patient’s smile. Catherine showed a small smile to her. That’s her first facial expression since Catherine had been admitted to this hospital.

  She ran all the way down to the cafeteria and grabbed freshly squeezed orange juice for this patient. When she came back to the patient’s room, there were more guards outside of the room, and they looked at her with suspicion.

  “I’d like to deliver this juice to Ms. Catherine. She feels thirsty,” she said.

  A tough-looking guard glanced at the cup she was holding and made way for her. When she entered the room, the door of the bedroom was closed, and she could hear a man talking inside.

  “…tried to kill yourself?” a low and deep voice said.

  Eva tilted her head. She didn’t know there was a visitor. She knew that this patient’s friend visited her every night, but she only worked in the daytime, so she had never seen this friend.

  Eva felt curious and moved closer to the door silently and started to listen to what they were talking about.

  “Too sad to hear your ex moved on? Is that why you tried to KILL YOURSELF?” he yelled at the end, and Eva felt frightened. She didn’t know whether she should go in now or not. It was obviously not good to yell at the patient—especially the patient who had just woken up from a coma!

 

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