The Day I Chose My Parents Over My Fiance Chapter 03
I ran through the hospital doors and found my mom in the hallway, hunched over a gurney, sobbing silently. I pushed past her and saw my dad.
There was a gash on his head — deep, ugly, slick with blood.
Someone had pressed a bandage over it, but blood was seeping through.
“Where’s the doctor? He’s still bleeding — why isn’t anyone helping him?”
My mom opened her mouth, closed it, then tried again.
“There’s only one ER doctor on duty. One open bed. Tristan… told them to take someone else first.”
Everything in me burned white-hot. I stood up. Behind me, the ward door swung open.
Lily came out clinging to Tristan’s arm, her eyes pink and swollen, her voice soft and fragile.
“Thank you so much, Tristan. If you hadn’t dropped everything to come help me, I really don’t know what I would’ve done.”
He rubbed her back, his voice low and gentle.
“Your parents are family. Don’t talk like that. Hey — stop crying. You’re gonna make your eyes all puffy.”
Something snapped. I crossed the hallway in three steps and slapped him across the face. My whole body was shaking.
“You told me you’d take care of them. You looked me in the eye and said that. Is this what you meant?”
Tristan didn’t move. Didn’t even flinch. But Lily shrieked and rushed to his side, cupping his face in her hands.
She turned to me, her lip trembling.
“Audrey, my mom badly sprained her ankle. Tristan was worried it might be serious, so he asked the doctor to see her first.”
“If you want to hit someone, hit me! Don’t take it out on him.”
“He was so focused on getting my mom to the hospital that he didn’t notice — your dad’s jacket got caught in the car door. He got dragged.”
Tristan moved in front of Lily. When he looked at me, his eyes were flat. Cold.
“You’re upset. I get it. So I’m not going to hold that slap against you.”
“But you need to act like an adult and stop losing it every time something happens.”
“The doctor checked your dad. He said it was just a superficial cut. That’s why I had him wait outside.”
“But Lily’s mom — if that bone’s fractured and they don’t treat it now, she could have problems for the rest of her life.”
From behind me, my dad’s voice came thin, barely there.
“Sweetheart, Dad’s okay. Don’t fight with Tristan over me.”
“I’m tougher than I look. Tougher than city folks, anyway.”
Tristan’s expression shifted. He stepped toward me, reaching for my waist.
“See? Even your dad says he’s fine. It’s not that serious.”
“Just calm down, okay? First thing tomorrow, I’ll get your dad moved into a proper room.”
I stepped back before he could touch me. His jaw tightened, but I was already on the phone, arranging a transfer to another hospital.
I stayed at the hospital all night. The next morning, I went home to pack.
The second I opened the front door, I heard laughter — bright, easy laughter — and a rich, savory smell drifting from the kitchen.
Tristan — the same man who couldn’t tolerate the smell of my mom’s pickled vegetables because of his sinuses — was sitting at the table with a fork in his hand, eating a homemade stew Lily’s parents had brought. He was smiling.
By the trash can in the corner, I spotted two familiar bags. My parents’ bags. The ones they’d carried all the way here.
I looked at Tristan.
“What the hell is this?”