"Fanfan… my Fanfan… how have you turned into this in just a few days? My Fanfan… how much have you suffered…" Watching Luo Fan's mother, Fang Ailing, sobbing breathlessly by the hospital bed, Xia Lu felt a wave of sorrow.
She really wanted to step forward and comfort her, but she didn't know what to say.
Her current position seemed very awkward.
"Don't be too heartbroken, the doctor said it might just be temporary. Our Fanfan has always been determined, he won't be easily defeated," Luo Fan's father, Luo Jianjun, was much stronger as a man.
He gently patted Fang Ailing's shoulder, attempting to comfort her, then he walked over to Xia Lu.
"This must be hard on you too. I see this private hospital has a good environment, so the medical expenses must be very high. I plan to transfer Fanfan to a general hospital for treatment, which might ease the financial pressure a bit," he sighed.
"It might not be appropriate for me to say this, but in his current state, he really can't offer you a happy life. If you have other options, don't consider us old folks, we won't blame you."
Xia Lu looked at him, tears welling in her eyes, "Dad, I won't give up on Luo Fan."
It had been over a week since she returned, yet Xia Lu still couldn't sleep peacefully.
Every time she closed her eyes, the scene of the boat capsizing into the sea would reappear before her.
"Lulu, hold on to me! Never let go!" Those were Luo Fan's last words.
Everything was fine, so how did it come to this?
"Lulu, your good friend has come to see you," her mother, Xia Zhiqiu, said softly from outside the door. Knowing that Xia Lu had been in a bad mood lately, cooping herself up in her room all day and not knowing how to comfort her, she had brought over her best friend from university, Jin Meng.
"What happened exactly? You were fine when you left, so how did things suddenly turn out this way?"
Seeing Jin Meng, Xia Lu finally let the tears she had been holding back flood out, "Meng Meng, what should I do? The doctor said Luo Fan might never wake up again... sob sob sob…"
"How could this be…" Jin Meng couldn't believe the news even now, and neither could their classmates.
Xia Lu and Luo Fan were three years apart, attending the same school but different grades. They had been together since Xia Lu's freshman year, a total of four years now, rarely even arguing, seen as a perfect couple by their peers.
The romantic proposal at the graduation ceremony had once made Xia Lu the envy of all the girls at school, only for things to change drastically just a few months later.
"If I hadn't insisted on going to the island for our honeymoon, we wouldn't have encountered the storm, the boat wouldn't have capsized, and Luo Fan wouldn't have been injured trying to protect me, it's all because of me… sob sob sob…"
For days, Xia Lu had been enveloped by feelings of guilt and self-blame, unable to breathe.
"You can't blame yourself, it was a natural disaster, who could have predicted it?" Jin Meng tried to comfort her.
"What are your plans now?"
Xia Lu shook her head confusedly. Luo Fan becoming a vegetable was a settled fact, and no matter how hard it was to accept, it couldn't be changed. Yet now, she had to face even more severe issues.
"I'll come to pick you up at 2 PM tomorrow," Zhou Mingchen sent a message.
"Is there something wrong?"
"Yes."
He always spoke like this, concise and to the point, leaving people unclear about what was exactly going to happen next and never giving them the right to refuse.
Xia Lu took out the confidentiality agreement from the drawer and read through it carefully again.
In the agreement, while out to clear his head, Zhou Mingchen fell in love at first sight with Xia Lu whom he met by chance on his travels, launched a fierce pursuit, and eventually won her affection and successfully proposed to her.
This simply made no sense. Not to mention how they met, she had been married to Luo Fan, and that wasn't a secret at all. Both of them, their families, and even all the guests who attended the wedding had witnessed it. Was Zhou Mingchen planning to shut so many mouths at once?
"Your agreement has a problem," Xia Lu voiced her reservations.
"There is no problem," Zhou Mingchen cut her off before she could finish speaking; he seemed always full of confidence.
"I have been married to Luo Fan, everyone knows that, and the story you've fabricated won't convince anyone," Xia Lu was not ready to give up, and in fact, she still held a glimmer of hope that she might not have to marry this man before her.
"Everyone knows?" Zhou Mingchen said teasingly, "How many of these 'everyone' truly have a relationship with you, care about you? OK, even if they all have a relationship with you, know you as well as Luo Fan, and have a deep connection with you, what about it?"
"Luo Fan is now in a vegetative state, and you are only 22 years old. Do you think starting from today, spending the rest of your life next to a living corpse is what will satisfy them? Is this how they show they care about you?" He crossed his hands and spoke these harsh words unhurriedly. Xia Lu looked at him, unsure of what to say.
"I won't let you talk about Luo Fan like that!" The recent remarks about a living corpse had ignited her anger.
"You don't have the right to tell me what to say," Zhou Mingchen's mood was completely unaffected.
"I can change my mind! Not follow through with the agreement, and you can't do anything about it."
"Hahahahaha," Zhou Mingchen crossed his arms on the desk, leaned forward closer to Xia Lu, "I think you still haven't grasped the situation."
"I used my own precious blood to save Luo Fan's life and spent a significant amount of manpower and resources to bring him back here. How could you forget all that so soon?"
"Even if you've forgotten, that's okay, I can refresh your memory for free."
"Now, the cost per day for the treatment and care in the VIP room where Luo Fan stays is six thousand yuan, the mortgage you two need to pay each month for your new house is twelve thousand yuan, Luo Fan's mother, Fang Ailing, retired early years ago with a monthly pension of two thousand yuan, his father, Luo Jianjun, earns five thousand yuan per month, your parents have been divorced for many years, your father has been out of touch, and your mother, Xia Zhiqiu's monthly salary is four thousand five hundred yuan, and as I know, all their savings went into the down payment for your new house. Now with the property prices falling, the house has been on the market for months without a buyer. Tell me, without me, were you planning to let decades of savings from both families just go down the drain, or give up your beloved Luo Fan?"
Xia Lu was stunned; she had not anticipated that this man before her understood her current situation even better than she did herself.
Zhou Mingchen moved closer to her once again, their noses almost touching.
"Let me remind you again, fulfilling the agreement is your only option right now."