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.

had taken

and checked her phone, she realized it had been on silent mode. There were many messages

"What are you doing?

aren't you picking up

pick you

and no reply-are

messages were piling up. There

didn't have the energy to scroll through

lay down on the bed to rest. When she was half-asleep, she felt someone gently wiping sweat

wasn't a hallucination-someone was holding her hand, their warmth spreading

"Ed?"

her phone to check the

brought to her lips, accompanied

"Eat something."

She had sweated through the night, and her pajamas had even been

an

in instant. She took a few sips of the soup, and the smell of something delicious lingered

this

"I'm not very good at

a sign that he had tried several times but

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

As long as it's

care about how the

words had come out wrong.

"Mean to what?"