The Road Back Buried in Snow

I reached for the medicine Dr. Wells had prescribed and placed it under my tongue, but this time, it did not work.

The pain was unbearable.

My hands and feet went ice-cold, and it felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the room.

I did not even have the strength to answer.

Joanna lifted me into her arms.

"Wasn't he already better? Why is it this serious?"

Then she called Dr. Wells.

She asked anxiously, "Why is Mason in pain?"

I only heard Dr. Wells say, "His condition has stabilized. He should not be hurting anymore unless he is pretending."

Joanna fell silent.

After she hung up, her phone rang. I saw it clearly. It was a message from Adrian.

Joanna glanced at it and stood up without hesitation.

"I have to go."

I called her name.

"Joanna."

Thousands of words were trapped in my chest.

I wanted to ask her why she believed a doctor but not me.

Why she turned a blind eye to my pain.

Why she chose Adrian again and again.

But I had no strength to ask any of it.

Joanna left only one sentence behind.

"You heard what Dr. Wells said. There is no point in acting anymore."

Then she walked away without looking back.

I fell heavily from the sofa, laughing and crying as I rolled on the floor in unbearable pain.

The housekeeper called 911 in a panic.

I was sent to the nearest hospital.

In a daze, I saw Joanna's figure. Adrian stood beside her.

Everything went quiet, and only Adrian's voice remained.

"Honey, you are really pregnant. I am going to be a father. Just thinking about it makes me feel like I am getting better. Are you happy?"

"I am happy."

Those two words from Joanna were too heavy for me to bear.

I closed my eyes, and my heartbeat stopped.

I never expected to wake up again.

The machines beeped around me.

I looked around. Joanna was nowhere to be seen.

Only the housekeeper and the doctor stood beside the bed.

Adrian's words about becoming a father echoed in my head, unreal and distant.

I asked the housekeeper.

"Did Adrian say Joanna is pregnant? Did you hear it? Do not lie to me."

The housekeeper nodded with difficulty.

I could not control my trembling. I felt so cold I was almost losing body temperature.

A younger brother?

All lies.

The doctor looked at me with frustrated concern.

"Stop crying. Someone else's pregnancy has nothing to do with you. You should care more about yourself. Your condition is very bad."

My brain roared.

"What do you mean?"

"What do you mean, very bad?"

"Wasn't my heart surgery successful?"

The doctor shook his head.

"Do not get agitated. Let us speak calmly, or your condition will worsen."

He showed me the reports and scans.

"You do have an incision on your chest, but it appears you never received a heart transplant. Also, you have recently been using large doses of cardiac pain medication. Your heart is already overburdened and at the end of its strength. Our recommendation is that for this month, you take only basic medication and go see the people you want to see."

I tried to process the doctor's words.

In the end, I felt helpless, as if I were drowning.

"I was lied to. Tara Wells was hired by Joanna. She has been lying to me. Joanna lied to me. She said the surgery succeeded, but she pushed me onto a dead end. She gave me hope, then let me fall into despair. Why? Why would Joanna do this to me?"

The blows came one after another. I could not accept them.

I spat out a mouthful of blood.

The housekeeper was terrified and hurried to support me.

"No, no. How could Ms. Cross not want you to live? She searched everywhere for a heart for you. She even had herself tested. If she had matched, she would have given her life to save yours without hesitation. How could she let something happen to you? There must be something else behind this."

I doubled over in pain.

Maybe Joanna truly had wanted me to live before.

But Adrian had come back.

Everything had changed.

The doctor held me down.

"Do not get emotional. You really will die."

Then he injected me with medication.

I grabbed my phone and called Joanna.

Even if I died, I wanted to die knowing the truth.