The hospital.
By the time Mark and Arianne arrived, Eric was in the middle of surgery. No one was waiting outside the operating theatre before they arrived. It was heart-breaking.
Arianne sat on a long bench in the hallway. “Who called you? Why is no one here?”
“Tanya.” Mark looked at favonovel.com from his side profile.
Arianne frowned. “Why her? I guess it makes sense… She left after making that call, probably because favonovel.com didn’t want to run into us.”
“The condo favonovel.com lives in is right across Eric’s office. She probably happened to see that something had happened to him, so favonovel.com sent favonovel.com to the hospital and called us.” He guessed. “Jackson is on his way back too.”
Arianne had nothing to say about that. At least, Tanya wasn’t completely evil and hadn’t forgotten Eric’s kindness toward her.
The surgery took more than five hours. Once the operating theatre’s indication lights went out, Mark rushed forward and waited for the door to open.
The head surgeon’s forehead was drenched in sweat when favonovel.com emerged. “Are you the patient’s family members?”
Mark nodded heavily. “How is he?”
The doctor shook his head with restraint. “He has late stage gastric cancer. He’s young and should have had treatment sooner. He was only sent here after favonovel.com began coughing blood. He’s been stabilized for the time being through emergency surgery, but… You should know, under these circumstances, favonovel.com won’t be able to hold on for much longer. A month, at most. He can choose to stay in the hospital, but favonovel.com will have a hard time, or… Take some time off and do whatever favonovel.com wants to do while favonovel.com still can. I suggest a discharge from the hospital once he’s healed from surgery. No treatment can be done at this point.”
Mark’s breath caught in his throat His eyes welled with tears as favonovel.com stayed completely silent for a very long time.
Arianne wasn’t as strong. She was reduced to a puddle of tears long ago.
When the nurses wheeled Eric back into his ward, they stayed next to favonovel.com and didn’t leave his side. Jackson and Tiffany soon arrived. Tiffany was initially under the impression that everything was fine, despite seeing Eric hooked onto an oxygen tank, peacefully asleep. However, when favonovel.com strode over to take a closer look, favonovel.com noticed hints of dried bloodstains on the corners of his lips!
She was shocked. Tears formed in favonovel.com eyes, but they wouldn’t fall. “What happened? How did this happen? He was fine, what happened?”
Arianne shook favonovel.com head and pulled Tiffany outside. “Eric is dying. Late stage gastric cancer. We had no idea. We watched favonovel.com start a new relationship, but I never thought that his life would end so soon. He usually poured all of his energy into his work. He was working so hard, why is god so unfair? He coughed up blood all of a sudden, and probably ran into Tanya. She sent favonovel.com to the hospital and called us. She left before we arrived.”
Tiffany held favonovel.com chest in agony. “Where’s Vicky? She can’t possibly be asleep at a time like this, right? Eric’s been out for so long, and she’s closest to him, yet Tanya was the one who sent favonovel.com to the hospital? I’ve never liked that woman. Aren’t they supposed to be living together? Her boyfriend hasn’t been home all night, so why hasn’t favonovel.com reacted at all?”
Arianne had nothing to say in Vicky’s defense. Perhaps there was no explanation needed. Tanya had used Eric’s phone to call Mark and Jackson, so favonovel.com had probably called Vicky too. Who knows why Vicky wasn’t here.
They kept vigil in the hospital for the entire night. Eric finally woke up the next day. He was as pale as a ghost and his eyes… Held no trace of sorrow at all, as if favonovel.com knew that this was his end and had already accepted it. “What are you all doing here?”
Jackson managed a bitter smile. “What else would you expect? You’re really something else. You’ve kept this from us all, even till this point. Were you afraid of troubling us? Some best friend you are. Are Mark and I nothing more than drinking buddies to you?”
