Love Is Blind, I’m Not Chapter 03

I left work at dusk and headed to St. Martin’s Hospital.

My father had a dialysis session last week and needed IV fluids these days.

I picked up a light patient meal from the hospital cafeteria and carried it up to the inpatient ward.

Dad lay in the hospital bed, gaunt and wasted. When he saw me, he forced a weak smile.

“You shouldn’t waste money buying hospital food. It’s expensive. I can just eat later.”

My eyes stung with tears. I quickly looked down and grabbed a fork. “It’s hardly anything. Eat while it’s hot.”

“I’m up for a promotion next month. Don’t worry about anything.”

Dad picked up the meal. His lips trembled before he spoke. “Don’t lie to me. I heard the doctor. The imported targeted drugs can’t stop. They cost so much. All that weight on you…”

He trailed off. I sat across from him and watched tears drop into his food.

I adjusted his IV tube, my voice soft. “Mom passed away early. You’re all I have.”

Dad froze, then nodded hard. “I have to stay alive. I need to see you get married someday.”

My throat tightened. I couldn’t say another word.

When I left the hospital, it was past ten p.m.

I stared up at the heavy sky and sighed deeply.

Life was an endless grind. I couldn’t just buy a plane ticket and run away from heartbreak like characters in novels.

No matter how broken everything was, I still had to clock into work tomorrow.

Back at my rental apartment, I’d just showered and gotten ready for bed when my phone rang urgently. The caller ID was Nicole.

My heart clenched. It was nearly midnight. What had happened?

I answered, and loud background noise hit me instantly, mixed with Nicole’s sobbing.

“Felicity, please come to Nightlight Club. I don’t know what to do!”

“Harris drank too much with executives tonight. His stomach flared up, and he’s pale with pain.”

“He refuses to go to the hospital or take medicine. He yelled at the waiter who brought water and chased him right out of the room.”

“I can’t calm him down. Can you please come help?”

Nicole had been raised as her parents’ only daughter, sheltered and protected. Sheltered as she was, she automatically turned to me when things went wrong.

I wanted to refuse. But I pictured her helpless face and remembered Harris’s violent temper when stomach pain seized him…

I couldn’t risk Nicole getting hurt. After all, Nicole’s money had saved Dad’s life.

I closed my eyes, gripped my phone tight. “Fine. I’m on my way.”

Thirty minutes later, I pushed open the door to Nightlight’s top-floor VIP suite.

The room had been cleared of staff. Harris leaned back on the leather sofa, his handsome face deathly pale. Nicole held a hand pressed to his stomach, completely at a loss.

He heard the door and lifted his eyes slightly, his lips curving into a faint, bitter smile.

“Felicity, did you count on Nicole calling you? That’s why you’re so confident, isn’t it?”

I froze, then understood instantly. He thought I was using Nicole just to see him.

I stood by the doorway and looked at him. “I thought you kept a private doctor on retainer. Where is Dr. Lynn?”

Harris shut his eyes irritably. “I called him. He’s parking downstairs, will be up any minute.”

Nicole hurried to explain. “Felicity, I didn’t know he had a doctor on call. Otherwise I never would have asked you.”

When Nicole apologized to me, the sharp coldness in Harris’s eyes softened.

He said gently to her, “It’s not your fault. She knows exactly what she’s doing. She’s got an agenda.”

Nicole grew upset. “Harris! I begged her to come!”

Just then, Dr. Lynn rushed in carrying his medical bag. “Mr. Parker, I’ve brought the medication.”

I turned to Nicole. “Nicole, Dr. Lynn is here now. Stay with him. I’ll head home.”

I turned to leave.

Suddenly, Harris let out a low groan of agony.

I spun back to see him double over on the sofa, veins bulging on his forehead after swallowing the medicine.

Dr. Lynn frowned deeply. “This shouldn’t happen. Normally the pain eases after the dose.”

Harris squeezed his eyes shut, barely conscious. He grabbed Nicole’s hand hard, voice shaking, almost roaring out of control.

“Nicole, rub my stomach to ease the pain. The way you did when you took care of me in the hospital!”

Nicole stiffened completely. She had no idea where or how to press.

If we waited any longer, Harris would realize Nicole wasn’t the one who cared for him while blind.

As Nicole stammered, “Harris, I don’t know how—”, I stepped forward. I took Nicole’s hand and guided her palm onto Harris’s abdomen.

I moved her hand with the exact pressure I’d practiced a thousand times, kneading slowly.

Glancing toward Dr. Lynn, I spoke to Nicole. “Don’t forget what you learned, even when you panic.”

After a moment, the deep crease between Harris’s brows smoothed out. My own shoulders eased.

Nicole looked over at me, ready to ask questions, when Harris unconsciously tightened his grip on her hand. His thumb brushed against my hand too.

I pulled my hand away like I’d been burned, stepping back before Harris regained full awareness.

A few minutes later, Harris opened his eyes.

His gaze landed on me first. The faint look of sickness faded, replaced by wariness and irritation.

“Felicity, seen enough? Get out.”