Finding the Right Words

*Chapter 139- Silently Screaming

*Zhou Mi's POV*

Zhou Mi rushed through the hospital doors to the front desk. "Where is she?!"

"Excuse me, sir, visiting hours are--"

"Queen Be! She's my wife! Where is she?! Is she alright?!"

"We don't have anyone here under that name--"

"Melissa Zhou. I told you, she's my wife. She was in a car accident an hour ago. I need to see her."

The nurse sighed and nodded. "Alright... she's in emergency care, room three. Her doctor can give you the details.

He ran towards where she pointed, finally finding the room. He was grabbing the door handle when someone tapped on his shoulder.

"Excuse me, you're the patient's husband, correct?" a man in a doctor's white asked Zhou Mi.

"Yes. Can I see her?"

The doctor wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. His gloves were red, Zhou Mi couldn't help but notice. 

"Mrs... Zhou is still recovering from her surgery."

"Surgery?!"

The doctor nodded, looking grim. "We had to do an emergency throat surgery to save the tissue that had been damaged by the fumes she inhaled. If she had been well at the time, it's possible that she would have been uninjured, but as it is, her illness only made it more severe..."

"What? What does that mean?"

The doctor shook his head and opened the door, gesturing for Zhou Mi to go in. He did, walking carefully into the room, hearing the heart meter in the corner like a distant bell chime.

It was always easy to forget just how small Mel was. She had always been so much larger than life, her voice magnifying her height. 

But lying in the hospital bed, a bandage wrapped around her throat, she looked small and fragile as a china doll, not making a sound, other than air flowing harshly through the breathing tube in her mouth, down into her throat.

"We gave her some anesthesia to help her rest while her body heals itself. Otherwise breathing would be excruciatingly painful for her.

Zhou Mi knelt on the floor next to her bed, unsure of what to do. She'd never been sick before, in all the time he'd known her. He'd never seen her lay so still, and so rarely had he ever seen her look fragile.

But this time, there was no storm. They were far away from Wisconsin, and the skies over Seoul that night had been clear enough to see the stars.

He hated that he was right there, and she didn't even seem to notice him. She didn't even know he was there. When she was usually asleep, she would smile and move closer to him in her sleep whenever he would come in to sleep next to her after a long night of practice.

"What happened?" Zhou Mi asked, swallowing bile. "The car accident... do you know?"

"The police say it was a drunk driver. He swerved into their lane, crashing through traffic. To avoid it, the car in front of them hit its brakes, and to try to avoid it, her driver swerved, only hitting the drunk driver head-on. The van rolled, and this... is the result."

"Will she-- she'll be okay, right?"

The doctor's lips thinned. "Other than her throat condition, she's not suffering any major injuries. She'll be fine. However, there are some matters I'll need to discuss with you..."

 ~

Zhou Mi spent a long time talking to the doctor, but when it was done, he went right back to her room, praying to God that he was wrong.