"Bella....."
Henry called for her again.
"Bella... hey open your eyes."
Did she actually close her eyes? Did she actually refused to listen to him or look at him?
Henry narrowed his eyes and roared,
"Open your eyes!"
However she was still not moving. Henry stretched out his hands and pushed her slightly. As soon as
he did that, her head fell limply to one side. Henry was startled.
"Bella... Bella...."
His complexion changed abruptly. He took a step back immediately, then bent and picked her up and
made her lie on the bed properly.
Damn it! Why was she so burning hot! Was she having fever too? He thought.
He immediately picked up his phone and called,
"Carson, where are you! Come back here immediately!!"
On the other hand, Carson was already having mixed feelings towards Bella and was irritated with
Henry,
"Henry, even If I'm your personal doctor, do you think it's fair to have me come over to the hospital just
to entertain you?"
"Come here quick, she fainted again! Do you even know how to treat a patient?"
Carson who was already in a bad mood, became violent and roared,
"Fuck you Henry Jackson! What did you do to that poor woman again? Please I request you to leave
her already broken and crippled body alone. Let her take care of herself properly for a while. It's a
miracle that she is still alive in these circumstances.
Henry if you hate her and loathe her so much, you should just kill her straight away. Why are you
tormenting her like that?"
“Wait a minute,”
Henry's eyes flashed brightly: “Tattered body? She looks good to me. Yes she surely has fever but I
don't see her broken or crippled!”
On the other end, Carson who was still driving his car, let out a “hehe”, and said lightly with a laugh,
“It won’t be enough if she was missing arm and a broken leg for you. It’s just that .... SHE JUST LOST
A KIDNEY. That's all.”
Henry's hand holding the phone trembled for a while. Carson, was on the other side of the phone,
when heard Henry's uneven breathing, he raised his eyebrows and said,
“If you don’t believe me, pick up her clothes from the back- left side and see for yourself.”
Henry glanced at the woman on the bed, walked over to her with his slender legs. Holding the phone in
one hand, he pushed her to her side with the other hand and slowly lifting her clothes.
Inch by inch…
Suddenly, his eyes shrank.
“Who did it!”
With a cold voice, an ice blizzard suddenly arrived! As far as he could see, there was an ugly scar on
her left waist. He stretched out his hand and wanted to touch it, but his slender palm trembled
uncontrollably!
But soon his slender fingers touched the scar. His fingertips were giving a feeling of uneven surface.
When he first touched the scar, Henry's fingertips seemed to be scalded.
“Her body lacks parts. Henry, honestly, how can you even have the heart to torment an incomplete
body like that?” Carson said in half-serious and half mocking manner before the phone hung up.
On the other side of the phone, the man seemed to be not listening to Carson's words. His thumb
carefully rubbed the rough scar. Suddenly, he made a strange move. His entire palm was covering the
scar.
He looked at his hand seriously, and didn’t know what he was studying.
The call with Carson was still connected yet Carson could hear nothing from the other side. The other
end of the call was really quiet, as if the owner of the phone forgot to hang up the call.
However, Carson did not take the initiative to cut off the call. He parked his car on the side of the road.
He picked up a cigarette from the car dashboard, lit it with a “click”, and carefully savored the taste of
nicotine.
At this time, the man on the other end of phone suddenly said inexplicably: “Its Longer than my palm.”
“What?”
Carson was stunned for a moment, but after few seconds, however he reacted,
“Oh, you mean the scar on her waist?”
After all, they were best friends for many years, so that he could guess what Henry meant and referring
too.
“Longer than your palm ha?”
Carson took a heavy puff of cigarette and exhaled a circle of white mist.
“That can only mean that the doctor who operated her must be very poor at first, so bad that....
Well, let’s put it this way, when I was studying medicine, the first time I performed this kind of surgical
procedure I.e. removing the kidney against a specimen taken out of formalin in the laboratory class, the
incision was not that long either.“
“What does that mean?”
“This shows that it is very likely… no, not likely but surely , the doctor who performed the operation for
her, perhaps, does not even have a medical license. Do you know the black market? Like smuggling of
organs. That kind. They are not surgeons but some butchers who operates.”
Black market people, a group of people without a medical license.
“Do one thing take a picture of her scar and send me right away.”
Carson said again.
Henry hesitated, but Carson explained
“I need to take a look at her wounds and scars, and at least I can see some things that you can’t see.
Do you want to know more or not?”
Carson exhaled a mouthful of white mist again,
“If you want to know, just take a picture and send me."
To be honest, he doesn’t think he can convince Henry. As the latter being arrogant, lonely and cold.
“Wait.” Carson was not expecting Henry would actually care to know more about the scar. Henry really
took photos of her scar and passed it to him. Carson was shocked to see the scar.
“Hiss~” Carson was so shocked that he lost his grip on his cigarette and it burned to the other arm lying
flat on his thigh. It was suddenly hot, and the painful for Carson.
Ignoring the pain, he quickly stretched out his hand and opened the photograph. It was really an image
of the scar and, really “just” an image of the scar - a hideous scar. No other part of Bella's skin can be
seen in the photograph.
Looking at the photograph, Carson suddenly noticed a weird feeling in his heart. Why did he feel that
Henry was reluctant to let him see Bella’s extra inch of bare skin?
This feeling became more certain after he studied the high-definition photo of the scar for a while.
“Have you finished seeing it? Did you see it clearly?”
Suddenly, on the phone, Henry asked unhappily. Carson coughed twice and quickly said,
“I am done, I can see it clearly. And also I'm on my way back to the hospital.”
“What do you see?”
“I can see that the man who performed the operation on her must be from the black market for sure.
That fucking bastard has sutured her three times, and the sewing was crooked not even in a proper line
of incision. Not even a doctor with a medical license was asked to perform the surgery. For the sake of
cost cutting, I strongly suspect that these people operated on people even without giving them
sedatives too.”
Henry’s mandible was bulging again and again. After hearing what Carson had just said, Henry couldn’t
help but make such a dark picture appear in his mind. A woman struggling , pressed on the operating
table forcefully and cut open… his heart suddenly contracted hard.
“Who is it… Who did this to her?"
“Who the hell is it? Haven’t you guessed it in your heart?”
Carson bluntly interrupted Henry.
“You can’t blame them. Don’t you remember your attitude towards her that time. Your willingness to
show the world , your determination to make her suffer... have you forgotten all that that? The intention
you displayed have determined what that poor woman would have experienced in those four years."
Carson was deliberately saying these things today.
“Don’t blame me for not reminding you, the scar you saw today may be just the tip of the iceberg in
Bella's four years prison's life.
When she was a still the hierness of the Evans group, you didn’t know what she was going through, as
you were busy with your mistress Cindy Anderson.
After she was locked in a dark godforsaken place, the more clueless you were if the things she
experienced in the last four years and how she lived during the past four years."
Saying that Carson parked his car inside the hospital campus. He himself was stunned. Suddenly, he
could understand that why Bella, who was once assertive and confident, has become with cringing and
cowering appearanced woman. All of a sudden, it all made sense.
He then recalled the things he had said to Bella today. Those words that expressed disappointment in
her and blamed her for the change. Thinking about it now, he spoke all this without putting himself in
her shoes. We got off his car and walked towards Bella's cabin, where he saw Henry standing outside
the ward.
He shook his head: “When I went to see her before, it was really not serious but I had my many doubts
so I conducted few tests on my own. Without her's or your permission."
Henry looked at him with surprised looks.
"What kind of tests?" asked Henry.
"Give me 5 minutes to explain." Henry shock his head in affirmation. Within 5 minutes, a nurse came
running with a file in her hand. She handed the file to Dr. Carson with all respect and then headed
towards Bella's bed to pit her back on Iv drip.
"I had few doubts of my own. Lemme explain you step by step. First of all, when I first heard her voice,
I was shocked. She always claimed it to be due to sore throat but that's not how a sore throat voice
sounds like. Plus Bella was a nightingale. I did had my doubt since starting but confirmed today that
even after so many months , her so called sore throat did not improve. That's not possible.
So we faked a tablet and pretending it to be her treatment capsule, we did a capsule endoscopy for her
instead. Bella didn't suspect us at all. Here are the results of that endoscopy. Even though it takes 24
hours for the result for the result to come out but we were able to find what was needed within hours."
Saying that he handed the result to Henry. Henry looked at the paper but frankly was already too
confused to understand a word written on it. Carson could understand that, so he explained,
"It shows that her vocal cord and her food pipe have big ulcers and permanent inflammation. It seemed
as if someone has deliberately poured in some hot or maybe burning items in her throat and destroyed
both the pipes. Her further endoscopy revealed that she must have not consumed any solid food for
months, may he years together. That's the cause for her weak body - maybe."
Just then Herny recollected what Mrs. Potts said once, that Bella only takes 2 glasses of cold water
and one packet of soya milk for her meals. Henry clenched his palm into fist.
Carson continued.
"Do you want to know more or ....."
"Speak....."
"Hmmm..... Bella once had, the most beautiful eyes in the entire world. I don't know if you noticed it or
not but I somehow felt that once eyes full of life, now we're dead and emotionless. I tried to look into
her eyes , I tried to see any movements with emotions but couldn't see any. Especially in her right eyes.
Same side eye where there is that hideous scar. When Bella was unconscious few hours back, I did a
quick ophthalmology examination of her eyes and I was correct that she has no vision in her right
eye..."
"What....." Henry almost roared.
"Yes, her right eye has no vision in it. Maybe the scar that she has on her right side above her eyes,
could be the reason for it. Or may be not.. I am not sure."
Henry fell on the bench which was kept right behind him. He doesn't know what he was feeling. He
wanted to kill everyone who have hurted his Bella. But wasn't he himself the first one who did it!
"Since she has met you again, your only focus was how to torture her and maybe that's why you
missed on these things. You remember that once you scolded her for walking slow! You know why she
was walking like that?"
Henry raised his head and looked at Carson blankly. Just then Carson handed over an xray flim to
Henry and spoke in a sad tone,
"Her right leg has a malunion of bones and that's why she can't straighten her right leg and hence she
limbs around. Her palm and toes finger joints have multiple fractures and malunions. For sure she is
incapable of doing fine work and for sure she must be feeling extreme pain during winters."
Henry was once again thinking about what Mrs. Potts said about Bella's hands and legs pain. He felt
ashamed that Bella was right infront of him for so many months but he still failed to notice these things.
" We also did a sonography for her and that's when I came to know about her kidney's missing status.
We also came to know that her other kidney is also affected badly. Her liver also has traces of cirrhosis.
This shows that she must have been drinking very heavily atleast around 6 - 7 pegs per day for last 3
years at least."
He let out of smirk and said again,
"May be that's why Bella refused to drink and choose to make out with Martin instead. She knew that
alcohol was a poison for her. And you shifted her to PR department where girls are expected to only
drink and sell themselves."
Henry closed his eyes and remembered how Bella was begging him for not transferring her to PR
department.
"There might be more problems with her but that's all I know till now. Her pelvic sonography is yet to be
done. She had multiple brutal injuries to her private parts hence her pelvic sonography was not
conducted for her safety and privacy maintenance."
Carson looked at his friend who was actually crying. He couldn't speak any further.
"Let her rest for a while. She was fever and her body is weak maybe that's why she fainted again. She
should be fine after a good night's rest.
If you really want to retaliate towards her and punish her more for killing Cindy Anderson then atleast
let her heal a bit. She can not take more torment like this. One thing is for sure that if this continues
then she won't be able to make it to the hospital also. "
Carson felt that it was enough for him to say so much. If he said too much, it would be
counterproductive. He waved his hand,
“Well, I’ll go first. I have to inspect the ward tomorrow. I have to go back to sleep.”
Saying that he just tapped twice on Henry's shoulders and walked away. He knew that Henry loved
Bella and he also knew that Henry now requires time to digest everything that he has said about Bella
just now.
As soon as Carson left, silence engulfed the ward immediately. Without Carson's voice, there was
actually a strange quietness in the hospital at night. This quietness is completely different from the
feeling of being alone at home late at night.
Henry took a chair and sat beside the hospital bed of Bella. His eyes fell on her forehead. Suddenly, he
remembered that whenever he saw Bella at the LAS DEUX, this side of her forehead was always
covered with her bangs firmly and securely at all times.
At that time he even thought that it was a hideous hair cut that she must be preferring or probably it
must be the prison hairstyle that Bella was accustomed to. His slender fingers moved her bangs to the
side, revealing the entire wound.
His slender fingers did not touch the wound on her forehead, but slowly fell on her cheek, sliding across
her face inch by inch, and across every inch of her skin.
The skin under his fingertips was thick and rough and not at all delicate as before. She is only in her
early twenties, twenty two to be precise yet every part of her body shows the vicissitudes of time.
The finger slid across her unrepaired eyebrows. He have to say that her eyebrows can still show some
shadow that belonged to Bella of four no almost five years ago. He then touched under her eyes those
deep dark circles. And finally slid to her lips. The lips that were once like a plump petals are now very
rough to touch. They are not as tender and smooth as a woman in her twenties should have.
Really, every part of her body is engraved with the traces of time.
His gaze slowly descended and fell on her body. He was thinking, if he could cut her body to take a
look at the organs inside, would those organs have also been carved with the vicissitudes of time and
age?
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