Sweet Subterfuge

Chapter 42

As soon as Larissa left Travis‘ room and went by the nurses‘ station, she was stopped by the nurse who’d given her the ice packs earlier.

“Oh, perfect timing.”

The nurse beckoned. Confused, Larissa walked over to her.

“Here!” The nurse handed her a bill. “You can pay downstairs.”

Larissa looked at the bill in her hands. It was yet another five–thousand–dollar bill.

“I think you’ve made a mistake.” She smiled at the nurse. “I’m not related to Travis. I think it’s better if you have his parents pay for this.”

“What?” The nurse was evidently surprised. “Aren’t you his wife? I heard his parents say he’s married, but his wife-” She hesitated, looking embarrassed.

Even though the nurse did not say anything else after that, Larissa was well aware that whatever the Hardys had said about her, it couldn’t have been flattering.

“I’m so sorry. You’re the only one besides his parents to visit him in the hospital, and you’re a woman too, so I just assumed,” the nurse apologized awkwardly, blushing as she placed the bill back.

“It’s fine.” Larissa remained her composure. “Oh, and-” She prepared herself to voice the question she’d been harboring in her mind since she heard of Travis‘ accident. What kind of injury does Travis have anyway?”

Since he was in the spinal surgery ward, Larissa supposed there was a problem with his spine. And problems related to the spine–they sounded serious enough to her.

“I heard he’d been in an accident and fractured his spine. Some of the nerves in his spinal cord were damaged too. He’ll probably be paralyzed for the rest of his life.” The nurse paused and glanced in the direction of Travis‘ room. When she was certain that no one was coming out anytime soon, she lowered her voice and continued, “Poor Travis. They say he’s married, but ever since he’s been admitted, his wife has not been here once. It was always just his parents. They took care of him, and, speaking of his parents, they look like good, honest people–they really do, but their tempers are simply unbelievable! They would start fighting in the ward, almost never for good reason, and they even got physical a few times. Sometimes, the commotion would be so great that the other patients in the ward who aren’t bed- bound would get out of bed to watch. One of our patients even left the room because of them, and the other initially wanted to switch rooms, but was forced to

stay there as we don’t have any other available beds.”

Larissa did not pay much attention to what the nurse said next. Her attention was entirely focused on the phrase “paralyzed for the rest of his life“.

She suddenly understood why Mrs. Hardy had been so adamant about getting her to the hospital.

Travis was paralyzed. His life was pretty much over.

And from Mrs. Hardy’s reaction to Amber, Larissa guessed that Amber was either the reason why Travis had been in an accident, or she’d completely ignored Travis after the accident.

Mrs. Hardy had come looking for her because she had hoped that Larissa would be responsible for Travis for the rest of his life.

She sneered coldly. It looked like they’d really thought this through.

When Mr. Hardy finished smoking and returned to the ward, Larissa was already

gone.

Mrs. Hardy was still unconscious, and the ice pack on her forehead had slipped down to the side of her face.

Mr. Hardy was shocked. “Where’s Larissa? Where did she go?” he asked Travis

hurriedly.

Travis lay supine on the bed, motionless, his lifeless eyes staring blankly at the

ceiling.

“She left.” His tone was expressionless, resembling that of a zombie.

Mr. Hardy immediately flew into a temper, the volume of his voice rising. “And you let her leave, just like that? Do you even know how hard your mother has worked to get

her in here?”

“Who asked you to go out for a smoke, then? Travis mocked. “Do you think I could’ve stopped her in my current state?”

Mr. Hardy’s face turned a violent shade of purple, his rage preventing him from speaking for a long time.

“Just you wait!” His hands shook as he pointed at Travis. “Wait till wakes up. See if she doesn’t scream at you!”

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Travis‘ expression remained unchanged, unaffected by his father’s words in the