Chapter 516 A Tattoo on the Back of Her Hand
“Lila, there’s someone here to see you.”
In the ward of Warmorth Hospital in Melrose City, Lila was sitting at the table by the window in her hospital gown, peeling apples. When she heard the nurse call, she looked up reflexively and looked toward the door before she could hesitate.
At the door, she saw Courtney wearing an off-white windbreaker. She had a light but warm smile on her face as if they were old friends whom she hadn’t seen for a long time.
Mike had warned her before this; Lila looked at Courtney with apparent scrutiny and precaution.
“Who are you?”
After being sick for so long, Lila’s thin face was dull, and her skin was sallow. However, her eyes still glistened. It was not difficult to imagine what a beauty she must have been before she fell ill.
Courtney did not answer and just lifted the box she was holding.
“Mike said you like the puffs from this place. So, I bought it for you this morning.”
Sure enough, with just one sentence, Lila’s frown loosened, and the suspicious look on her face subsided instantly.
“You know Mike?”
By then, Courtney had already sat beside her and nodded as she put down the dessert box.
“Otherwise, how would I know you are here? Mike often talks about you to us. That is the only time he doesn’t look as fierce.”
Lila let out a puff when she thought of Mike’s default, gloomy face; she couldn’t help but laugh. However, she was one of the few people who had seen a gentle expression on that face of his, which was funnier than his usual frowning face.
“His fierce expression is really quite scary.”
“Exactly! Our boss used to get angry at him whenever the business wasn’t as good, saying that his fierceness scared the customers away.”
As Courtney spoke, she opened the light pink dessert box, which instantly exuded a creamy fragrance. She reached out, took one, and brought it toward Lila’s mouth.
“Are you close to my brother?”
Lila reached out her hand and took it from Courtney before eating it. Lila seemed to have a good appetite. She seemed to have dropped her guard against Courtney and was even enjoying this opportunity of having someone to spend time with.
“We’ve worked together in a store before. Later, Mike was fired by the boss in order to cover for me. I’ve always felt terrible about this. But, I knew that you were the only sister he cared about the most, so I’ve always wanted to come and visit you. It’s also a way to show my gratitude toward Mike.”
The topic of Mike always filled Lila’s heart with happiness, but this time, she was a little taken aback.
“He was fired? He told me some time ago that the boss gave him a raise and even agreed to lend him some money—”
Lila suddenly stopped mid-sentence when she realized something. Then she put the leftover puff on the table, and her face turned gloomy.
She had always had a vague feeling that he was hiding something from her.
Courtney observed the change in Lila’s expression and immediately changed the topic after she came to a realization.
“Oh, what I said was a long time ago. I heard that Mike found a good job later and that the boss liked him, saying that he is capable and smart. I also heard that his new salary is very high.”
“Really?”
Lila’s black orbs flashed in shock, and disbelief was written all over her face. However, there were still hints of anticipation. Courtney paused, hesitating whether to say it or not, but finally decided to take the risk.
“I know that Mike did some detestable things back in Vietnam, but he is a changed man now. All he cares about is to make money to cure your illness.”
When Lila heard this, she was in shock.
“He even told you about his time in Vietnam?”
After she had thought about this matter for a while, she lowered her head again and began to fidget with her fingers in despair.
“It was me who dragged him down at the end of the day.”
“Hey, so what? It’s all a thing of the past. Now that he’s managed to start a new life, you shouldn’t hold onto the past. Anyways, I think Mike is a good man. If it weren’t for my husband, I would definitely marry him.”
Courtney’s face was calm. Today, she was pretending to be a simple-minded woman that would just speak her mind. But, if she were to be honest, she’s rather enjoying this change of pace.
Those words made Lila blush slightly.
“I heard that the two of you met in Vietnam. Let’s hear about how you two met!”
“At that time, I went to Vietnam to seek shelter from my relatives. One day, I was dragged to the bar by a friend I had just met, and I was bullied after I had too much to drink. It just so happened that on that day, Mike happened to help his friend watch over the place, and he came to save me. After that, we gradually became acquainted over time.”
As Lila reminisced, she didn’t realize how prominent the smile on her face was as she spoke.
At that time, she followed him and watched him work on the field. He fought almost every day and lived a thrilling life. While dressing his wound at night, she couldn’t help but tear up, but when he smiled at her, she felt like everything was okay again.
Lilia observed her, and it wasn’t difficult to notice this.
“Do you like him?”
That one sentence brought Lila back to reality. Just as she was about to deny it, she felt a sudden burst of sadness. She had nothing to worry about right now since she had nothing.
“Mmhmm.”
She nodded dazedly, and smiled a self-deprecating smile with a hint of reluctance.
“One day, he received a mission to overthrow this lady boss in a gang, and he was stabbed in the abdomen. He thought he was about to die, so he confessed to me in a pool of blood, saying that he should have met me sooner and how it was just a little too late now.”
“What happened after that?”
As Lila spoke, her eyes gradually filled up with tears. Courtney did not expect to hear such a story when she arrived and visited Lila. Now, she felt a little dumbfounded as she looked at the frail woman in front of her.
“Then—”
Lila’s eyes widened, and the smile on her lips deepened.
“Later, he was saved and didn’t die. But, once he was almost healed, he didn’t want to see me, and didn’t want to admit what he had said to me the other day. When I got angry and tried to reason with him, he was riled up as well and insisted on me being his sister. And just like that, I became a sister to him.”
Courtney’s eyes sank when she heard this.
Her initial purpose was not to hear about all these, but now that she did, she couldn’t help but feel sad.
“He doesn’t want to drag you with him,” Courtney said frankly, and Lila nodded. She was, of course, aware of Mike’s concerns, but at that time, she naively thought that love would overpower life and death and everything the world had to throw at them.
It wasn’t until now, when she was staring at death in the face, that she realized that that was not the case.
“I know that he has been thinking about quitting all these years. He also told me that he would bring me back and find a fishing village to live a simple life, fishing together. Later, something happened to their group, and the police were involved. Before the investigation, there had been infighting already. I heard that it was caused by the boss’ woman, which caused the whole group to dissolve.”
The boss’ woman.
A trace of doubt crossed Courtney’s mind, but Lila’s words interrupted her train of thought.
“Mike saw this coming a long time ago. That’s why he brought me back here in advance. After we returned, we lived in a fishing village for some time. Then, just as I felt that everything was going to be fine, I fell sick.”
As she spoke, her eyes began to turn red, and she began to hammer her thigh as if she was blaming herself.
Courtney couldn’t help but reach out to grab her hand. But, when she touched Lila’s thin fingers, she instinctively tightened her grip on Lila’s hand.
“Didn’t I hear you found a matching bone marrow?”
This didn’t seem to comfort Lila as much as Courtney imagined. On the contrary, worry began to wash over Lila’s eyes.
“Bone marrow transplants are expensive, and we don’t have the money for that. But Mike has been telling me recently that he is about to get rich. I’m very worried. I keep feeling like—”
She suddenly stopped talking once she realized what was wrong.
Courtney pondered for a while before saying, “Now that you’ve mentioned it, I seem to have recalled a woman coming to our store to look for him.”
Right when Lila heard this, she grabbed Courtney’s arm and raised her tone as she asked with fear in her voice, “What kind of woman? What does she look like?”
Due to the topic of discussion, she seemed to have suddenly thought of something, and her eyes widened. Then, she stretched out her right finger, pointed at the back of her left hand, and asked, “Is there a tattoo on the back of her hand?”
