Chapter 6
908words
I got drunk and had a car accident.
The doctor called him from my emergency contacts.
After lying in bed for several days, I finally woke up.
During the days he stayed by my bedside, he looked terribly haggard, with sunken eye sockets and messy stubble, as if he hadn't closed his eyes at all.
I forced a smile, and a weak joke slipped out:
"Why have you... become so ugly?"
He suddenly looked up, his eyes bloodshot.
The doctor also arrived promptly,
After a series of examinations, he answered Yuri's questions.
I might be suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, with partial memory loss, especially many recent events that had become blurry and unclear.
When Yuri heard the diagnosis, he gripped my hand tightly, but I caught a glimpse of relief and secret joy in his eyes,
Gone so fast it might have been an illusion.
After being discharged from the hospital, I've been recuperating at home.
Yuri became unusually busy, always saying there was a lot going on at the hospital.
That night, watching him walk in while rubbing his stomach, I put down the photo in my hand.
I walked up to support him and said:
"Skipping meals while working overtime, don't you care about your health?"
"I'm just sitting around at home anyway, so I'll bring you meals at the hospital from now on, home-cooked by me."
He was visibly taken aback, with a moment of panic in his eyes, his lips moving slightly as if wanting to refuse.
But in the end, seeing my rare earnest expression—the first time I'd focused so intently on something in a while—he nodded: "Okay, thank you for going to the trouble."
Just as I was about to get up and go to the kitchen, he suddenly seemed to remember something and said casually:
"A distant cousin from my hometown, her husband left her, and now she's pregnant with nowhere to go. Since our upstairs apartment is empty, she asked if we could let her stay there for a while?"
A trace of doubt flashed through my mind.
Yuri rarely interacts with relatives from his hometown and seldom mentions people from there in front of me.
He avoided my gaze, lowering his head to adjust his cuffs that didn't need adjusting:
"We haven't been in contact for many years. She's alone and pregnant, truly pitiful..."
I didn't agree immediately, so the matter was temporarily set aside.
The first time I went to his hospital to deliver food, passing through the outpatient hall, I saw a young woman sitting alone in a corner, with an obvious pregnancy bump, pale face, and too weak to bend down to tie her untied shoelaces.
I walked over and knelt down to tie them for her.
She lifted her head, revealing a face that was delicate yet haggard.
As our eyes met, a strange sense of familiarity struck me.
"Have we met somewhere before?" I couldn't help but ask.
Her eyes flickered momentarily, then she quickly lowered her head, her voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz: "We probably don't know each other. Thank you for helping me."
After saying this, she hurriedly stood up and left, her silhouette thin and disheveled.
Looking at her retreating figure, an indescribable feeling of pity welled up in my heart.
That evening, Yuri once again carefully brought up the matter of his cousin.
The image of that disheveled pregnant woman instantly appeared before my eyes, and my heart softened. Thinking that the upstairs apartment was vacant anyway, I agreed.
The next evening, Yuri specially took time off to help his cousin move in.
When he brought her in, we were both stunned.
It was the pregnant woman I had met at the hospital.
I was both surprised and delighted—so she was Yuri's cousin.
What an incredible coincidence.
Her name was Serena Quinn.
Faced with my enthusiasm, she seemed somewhat awkward, smiling:
"Thank you for the other day."
When we sat down to chat, I asked about her situation.
She caressed her belly, her eyes shimmering with a soft glow, as she spoke about her man.
"He's actually very good to me. At the beginning, I kept making mistakes at work and got scolded by my boss, but he never minded that I was slow and patiently taught me."
She paused for a moment, a blush appearing on her face, as if recalling something extremely sweet.
"Not knowing how to thank him, I just always wanted to treat him to delicious food."
"Unexpectedly, he was quite particular about food, and we became familiar with each other through these encounters."
Her story was like a scene from an old romance movie, carrying a touch of awkward sincerity.
As I listened, I couldn't help but be moved by this beautiful relationship, sincerely exclaiming: "I really envy you two, your relationship is so wonderful."
From that day on, Serena would often come to our home for meals.
She didn't talk much, usually quietly listening to the conversations between Yuri and me.
Sometimes when she felt down, she would take the initiative to chat with me, sharing her pregnancy concerns.
Yuri would be nearby, mostly silent, only occasionally handing her tissues without a word when she needed them.
My parents passed away early, and before, my life had only Yuri in it, but now with another of his relatives, it seemed more complete and warm.
