Today Sarah came to visit Mr. Collins' room. Actually, Sarah didn't really do much, she just asked how the old man was doing, then spent the time sitting by his bed saying nothing.
Both of them seemed quite comfortable with their situation like that.
"Sarah."
Mr Collins' hoarse, low voice made Sarah immediately take her eyes off the patient data she was studying for her next operation.
The frail body lying on the hospital bed was staring at her.
Sarah's heart ached when she saw Mr Collins, in her memory, the man always looked dignified, dashing, and charismatic.
But now the old wrinkles were more clearly visible on his face.
"Yes, Mr Collins?" Sarah asked with a smile, trying to keep her voice from shaking.
The man she had considered like her own father, and seeing how this once-outstanding man had become like this made Sarah's heart ache.
Mr Collins' condition was getting worse day by day, and his surgery was scheduled for next week.
"You don't have to keep me company like this," Mr Collins replied, trying to smile.
At first, he felt very grateful to Sarah for being with him, even willing to comply with his selfish request to pretend she was still Michael's wife and not tell his family about his illness.
However, seeing how she always made time to come to accompany him when she was on duty, and to take her work as she did now, made Mr Collins feel bad.
"Why all of a sudden? Don't worry, I love it when I come here. Besides, this hospital's VIP room is comfortable, it's like a hotel," replied Sarah half-jokingly when she noticed the look on Mr. Collins' face.
"But… is it okay for you to keep coming like this? I feel bad. You also seem very busy," said Mr Collins, still looking uneasy.
"Ah… this?" Sarah then lifted the paper she was holding, realizing that was what Mr Collins meant.
"Don't worry, I'm just looking at my patient data. Actually I can see it anywhere, in my room, in the cafeteria, or here, it's all the same," she continued with a smile and seemed reassuring to make Mr Collins not feel bad.
Mr. Collins nodded his head when he heard that, it seemed that Sarah still wanted to be here.
There was silence in the room again, Sarah continued to read the patient data, while Mr. Collins was lost in thought.
Not long after, Sarah placed the paper on her thigh, indicating that she had finished reading it.
"Are you leaving already?" asked Mr Collins when he saw this.
Sarah shook her head.
"I still want to be here. Do you want me to leave?" Sarah asked back while holding back a smile.
"Well… even though you want me to leave. I still want to be here," she continued without waiting for Mr Collins' response.
"Are you not busy?" asked Mr Collins.
Sarah shook her head.
"Today is Friday, my schedule is usually not busy on Friday," she continued.
Actually Sarah was able to leave because she had been in this room for about an hour.
However, on this particular day, Sarah wanted to linger with Mr. Collins.
Tomorrow is the weekend and she doesn't come to the hospital, and Monday is Mr Collins' scheduled operation. The operation would be done in the morning, and Sarah still didn't know if she would be able to accompany the old man for the day.
So Sarah wanted to be as long as possible with Mr Collins.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and a nurse came to bring Mr. Collins lunch.
The nurse was a little surprised to see Sarah before finally starting to come in and greet Mr Collins as usual, then greet Sarah.
"Let me do it," Sarah said when she saw the nurse getting ready to help Mr Collins with his meal.
Actually, Mr. Collins is still able to feed himself, it's just that today for some reason Sarah wants to feed him.
The nurse nodded and left the two of them alone.
Sarah then helped Mr. Collins raise his bed so he could sit back and quickly walked over to get Mr. Collins's food.
"Ohh… the food isn't as bad as I thought," Sarah commented when she saw the food.
"That's not good at all! The menu is always the same and I eat it to survive," grumbled Mr. Collins at this.
Sarah just smiled at that and then walked back to her seat
"So you have to get well soon so you can eat delicious food again," replied Sarah and then fed Mr. Collins.
Mr Collins just snorted at that, but he kept his mouth open to eat.
Well… he had no other choice.
"Oh right, Sarah, how is Michael?" asked Mr. Collins who seemed to be a little more energetic while being fed by his daughter-in-law, ahem, his former daughter-in-law.
Sarah's face suddenly smiled when she heard the man's name.
After finding out that Michael was actually jealous in a cute way, Sarah became more and more comfortable with him.
Moreover, during the last three days her relationship with Michael had become closer.
Even though they hadn't been out and about on a date yet as Sarah had previously planned.
But being with Michael was so much fun.
Sometimes they swam together, enjoyed the view of the city, walked together back to the apartment, and sometimes Michael gave her another massage.
Somehow, Sarah had gotten used to Michael and was very comfortable in their current state.
"He's fine, and doing a great job at work," Sarah explained.
Sarah then immediately took out her cellphone and looked for something, before finally showing her cellphone to Mr. Collins
It was a photo of Michael in his office.
After reading the message from Sarah at that time, Michael became very active in taking pictures of himself to make his wife's day better.
Sarah was a little annoyed at it at first, cursing herself for sending such stupid messages, but over time she got used to it and enjoyed it.
Michael always looks handsome in photos.
Mr. Collins nodded with satisfaction upon seeing this, his face even a little cheerful when he saw the photo of his son.
Sarah smiled seeing that, it seemed that the father-son relationship was very close and full of love.
Now Sarah understood a little why Mr Collins didn't want Michael to know about his illness.
"Sarah…" said Mr Collins when he had finished his lunch.
Sarah, who was tidying up the utensils earlier, immediately sat back down beside Mr. Collins' bed.
"What's wrong? Do you need anything?" asked Sarah.
Mr. Collins shook his head, then looked straight into Sarah's face.
"You… and Michael, how's your relationship?" asked Mr Collins.
Sarah's face immediately changed when she heard that. Didn't expect Mr Collins to ask that.
"Can you guys get back together?" ask Mr Collins again