Loving The Temperamental Adonis
Chapter 255: Wake up

Chapter 255: Wake up

The surgery lasted for ten hours, and in those ten hours, Neil didn’t budge from his position where he sat in front of the surgery room, waiting to hear the news. He didn’t bother to eat or freshen up even when Liam sent someone to bring him a change of clothes along with breakfast. He didn’t move even when the nurses asked him if he needed anything. He didn’t budge even when he heard everyone speaking about the top news of the country about Kelvin Rodrigo dying in his house from an accidental fire that broke out in the kitchen while he was fast asleep in his bed.

He remained right where he was since the surgery light had turned red, his eyes glued to it while his expression looked as lifeless as a corpse. If he could see himself in the reflective mirror in front of him, he didn’t care one bit how he looked. People had come to check up on him, but he didn’t register a single word they said to him. His mind was focused in one direction: the red light. His hands, tucked in the pockets of his hoodie, trembled violently from an anxiety that had never gripped him before.

Another two hours passed before he saw the light turn green. He shot out of his seat with such speed that he almost fell, surprising the few people around who had noticed him sitting like a homeless person for hours. Most of them didn’t even know who he was, as he looked so different with stubble on his jaw, which he hadn’t had time to shave. They wouldn’t have believed that the infamous Neil Wayner/Xavier Galverra would even be in a hospital like this or sitting among ordinary people of different classes in a waiting room instead of taking the VIP rooms for visitors.

He had decided not to change hospitals because he realized class didn’t matter as long as they could treat his wife and put her under good care. The fancy hospital in Mirage Mesa had been unable to detect her organ issues, but a small city hospital like Sliverbrook had done it easily. He attacked the first doctor who walked out of the surgery room looking exhausted by grabbing him by the coat.

"How is my wife? Did she make it?" he asked, his voice hoarse and dry from lack of water. He looked more exhausted than the doctor who had spent more than ten hours in surgery, and the sight of him made the doctor take a step back.

"Have you been sitting here all this while, Mr. Wayner?" the doctor asked in disbelief, looking from the chair behind him to the exhausted Neil. However, Neil ignored his question and urged him to tell him the results of the procedure by gritting his teeth in annoyance.

The doctor sighed, accustomed to the man’s short-tempered behavior over the past days his wife had been admitted. "We’ve done our best. It’s up to Mrs. Wayner to fight for her life in the coma. She will be taken back into the ICU in a couple of minutes, but I can’t assure you she will wake up anytime soon. Her sister will have to live on one lung from now on."

"I don’t want to hear about Mariana. When will my wife wake up?" Neil cut the doctor off impatiently, craning his neck to look past the doctor at the surgery room that opened up to wheel out his wife and her twin, taking them in different directions. He was about to sprint after his wife’s stretcher when the doctor grabbed his arm and said,

"You can’t see her now. The nurses will be busy putting her back under the tubes and wires. Besides, visiting hours are still three hours away. I’d suggest you do something about yourself in the meantime." The doctor advised, but when he saw that Neil wasn’t listening to any of his words and was still craning his neck to see his wife, he continued, "She will need your encouragement to wake up sooner. Patients in a coma are sometimes unconscious, but their minds are always active. You can help her, but not in this state. You wouldn’t want your wife waking up to find you like this, would you?"

Neil slowly looked away from the stretcher and glanced at the reflective glass to his right, noticing how terrible he looked. He grimaced. He would never want Mia to see him like this. If she were to wake up, he’d like to be in his very best. The procedure had been done now; it shouldn’t take long for her to wake up, he thought as he pulled his arm away from the doctor and said,

"I’ll freshen up and have my breakfast. She should be ready for a visit by then." He began to hurriedly walk down the hallway. The doctor, who had also intended to remind him of his children again, held back. He’d heard from the nurses that Neil still refused to see them. Though he had told Neil that Mia might wake up anytime soon, none of them were sure of that. They had done their best and left the rest to fate. He just hoped Mr. Wayner would be able to overcome any of the outcomes with how he seemed to act unlike himself lately.

---

The sun began to rise from the horizon, casting its warm rays onto the small skyscraper building of Sliverbrook Hospital, which buzzed with early morning activities. Inside a VIP suite furnished for the families of honorable patients, Neil took extra care combing and styling his hair. He had shaved his stubble and taken a shower, now standing in a bathing robe while eating a quick breakfast.

After his breakfast, which was constantly interrupted by his phone annoyingly buzzing with notifications from his office, the military, and reporters, he was finally done eating. He was meticulous in dressing up so that when Mia awoke, she would see him in good condition. Though his usual shirt and pants hung loosely around his body due to the weight he’d lost, Neil didn’t care. His high cheekbones were more prominent than ever, and his neck looked longer, but all he cared about was his wife. He didn’t want her to worry on her first day of waking up, so he made sure to pull on a jacket to cover his torso and arms, concealing his weight loss.

After he was done, he stood before the dressing mirror and took a long look at himself. Dark circles and eye bags nestled under his eyes like it had been decades since he’d last rested his head on a pillow. Sleep, he thought grimly, had deserted him for days. It was as if he’d forgotten how to sleep because every time he dared to close his eyes, all he could see was his wife. All he could remember were the happy days when he lay his head on her lap or chest, her fingers stroking his hair. All he could think about was the feel of her lips and body beside his.

He’d forgotten how to close his eyes to sleep; he would never have a good night’s sleep or even a nap until the day she was brought back to him. He closed his eyes and prayed again for that day to be today. He took a deep breath, assuring himself that everything would be all right and that she would wake up. He smoothed his hair one last time and picked up the bouquet of flowers he’d asked one of his men to get for him. Finished, he walked out of the room and headed straight to the ICU where his wife laid, passing the room where Mariana was recovering without a backward or sideways glance.

When he reached the ICU, the nurses told him he couldn’t go in with the flowers as the patient was sensitive to things that might cause infection. Finally, after going through the process of wearing the necessary gear, he was allowed inside. However, what he saw made him momentarily stop at the entrance. He’d expected to find Mia in a better condition, but she looked more dead than alive, even after the surgery.

She laid there, pale and motionless, with tubes and wires attached to her fragile body. Her chest rose and fell with the help of a ventilator, and a heart monitor beeped steadily beside her. Neil’s heart sank to his stomach as he approached her automatically. His emotions churned within him. This wasn’t what he expected to find. She looked no different from the last time he saw her laying here. She looked even worst...

He stood by her side, looking down at her with a huge lump in his throat. Unable to trust his own legs to hold him up, he sat on the chair beside her bed and shakily reached out to hold her hand. Her hand was cold. There was no warmth. He looked back at her face, and a tear rolled down his cheek as he called her name.

"Mia, please wake up," he whispered, his voice breaking. "Why aren’t you waking up?"

He used his thumb to caress the back of her hand, trying to give her a bit of warmth as he spoke. Recalling the doctor’s words about her mind being active even in a coma, he began to talk to her.

"Do you remember the time you promised to always be there for me and never leave me?" he said, his voice trembling. "I need you now more than ever. I think I will slowly go insane if you continue to remain like this. I can’t bear to see you this way..."

He swallowed convulsively, a bitter smile forming on his lips. "I miss you so much, Mia. I will keep a positive mind as long as you promise not to stop fighting. You have to fight for us, my love. You have to."

He leaned down and kissed the back of her hand just as a nurse walked in to tell him visiting hours were over. He hated to part with her, but they told him he could visit her again later in the day. He stood up and adjusted the blanket around her body.

Looking at her one last time, his eyes lingering on her fragile form and pale face, he turned and left the room with a heavy heart, missing the little movement in her eyelids.