Regret Came Too Late

Grace's mind was in turmoil. She couldn't fall asleep, unsure if what had just happened was a dream or reality. Her thoughts were a jumbled mess.

It wasn't until evening that Joanne arrived at her hospital room.

Joanne looked pale. Her face was ashen, looking as if she had lost a lot of blood. Even when she sat on the edge of the bed, her fingers trembled slightly.

Grace grew concerned and quickly got out of bed. "What happened? Is the wound hurting?"

Joanne slowly shook her head, but the pallor on her face was evident.

"Grace, I'm going to discharge myself."

Her voice was hoarse, and she looked like she had been crying. It seemed like she had cried a lot.

Grace felt her heart tighten. "Did something happen at home?"

She didn't remember much about Joanne's family situation.

"No, I'm just really tired. I want to go home and sleep. I can't sleep here at the hospital."

"Alright, then I'll take you home," Grace offered.

"No, I want to be alone for a while."

Joanne's voice was heavy with sadness, and when she tried to stand, she almost stumbled.

Grace could tell she didn't want to talk about it, so she didn't press further.

going home. The interruption had taken her mind off Ethan, and she didn't

her phone, she realized it had

"What are you doing?

picking up

to pick you

hours and no reply-are you

piling up. There

to scroll through them all.

on the bed to rest. When she was half-asleep, she

hand, their warmth spreading from

"Ed?"

called out his name, reaching for her phone to check

brought to her lips, accompanied by

"Eat something."

finally noticing that her whole body had been cleaned up She had sweated through the night, and her pajamas had

an

soup, and the

make this yourself?"

slightly. "I'm not very

carried a strange aroma, a sign that he had tried several

the soup and felt much better. "So, when you live alone, what

whatever. As long as it's

didn't even care about how the

realize that his words had come

"Mean to what?"