Chapter 62 - YOU'RE SUCH A CHEAT!
After wearing special green clothes, Ellena entered the ICU. The room looked very sterile, but it was a little stressful with all the medical equipment in it. There were monitors, ventilators, defibrillators and several other devices not far from the patient\'s bed where Ellena\'s mother lay. Not to mention the sound of the monitor that continues to run providing information on the actual condition of the patient. Of course the sound of that object made the atmosphere of the room even more tense.
Ellena\'s nose then accidentally inhaled the smell of medicine wafting in there. A distinctive aroma that is no longer a strange thing for every hospital visitor, including herself.
Ellena walked unsteadily over to the patient\'s bed. Her eyes suddenly filled with tears when she found her mother lying limply on the patient\'s bed. She couldn\'t bear to see the condition of her mother who was unconscious like that, not to mention some of the medical equipment attached to some parts of the middle-aged woman\'s body.
Sick and hurt, that\'s how she feels right now. Yes, how not? The greatest and strongest woman she had been proud of all this time, suddenly looked so bad like that.
She then covered her own mouth as if to hold back the sadness that was getting worse. However, right now she was too fragile to endure all that. In the end, the tears fell again. Drop the sweat that is getting wet on the body.
"M-Mother ...." Ellena\'s voice suddenly caught in her throat. Her lips seemed to tremble and she felt too stiff to speak, even if it was only a word or two.
Truly, she could no longer endure this helplessness. her mother was too precious to suffer such pain. If God permits, right now she will take the place of the mother. Just let her feel every pain her mother is suffering. She was willing to do anything that involved the happiness and healing of the woman who had given birth to her.
Ellena seemed to sink into the chair next to the patient\'s bed. Her gaze still hasn\'t left the face of her mother who is still lying stiffly on the bed.
"Mother ...." The tears flowed down the smooth cheeks of the woman who was now holding Briana\'s hand.
"Mother, I\'m here. Don\'t you want to see your daughter\'s face?" Ellena whispered in a slightly muffled voice because her chest seemed to feel tighter.
There was no answer to Ellena\'s question. Briana\'s body still looks stiff, without the slightest response that could make her daughter smile happily. Only the sound of the monitor kept ringing in her ears. Instantly she turned to the square object, staring at the monitor screen which displayed several wave lines with different colors and functions.
From the monitor screen, anyone can know a person\'s physiological condition. That\'s what Ellena is doing right now. Even though she didn\'t quite understand the line of waves that appeared on the monitor screen, she knew that her mother was experiencing a decrease in cardiac output. This is evident from the monitor screen display which states that the mother\'s heart rate has a frequency above the average heart rate of a normal person.
"Mother, I believe that you are a strong woman. You wouldn\'t have left me with Martin, would you?" said Ellena trying to fight the bad thoughts that had filled her head.
Every now and then she wiped the tears on her cheeks and tried to hold back her chest which was getting tighter. She tightened her grip on her hand, hoping that her mother would feel the touch she gave. However, in fact nothing. Still no response from Briana.
Ellena was too weak to deal with this situation. Her sobs grew louder and louder in the room. She buried her face in her mother\'s hands and spilled all her emotions right then and there. She kissed the hand that looked slightly wrinkled with love and affection. The hand that often stroked her hair and stroked her back when she was in a state of restlessness. However, not at this time.
"Mom wake up. I\'m sad to see you like this, don\'t you want to stroke my hair and stroke my back like before? I need you, Mom. Get up, I beg you." With a stammering tone, Ellena tried to stimulate her mother. However, again her efforts failed. Briana still didn\'t respond to anything from her, neither her words nor the touch of her hand.
"When I was little, mother always reminded me and asked me to be strong. Now can I ask that from you? Please, mother, stay strong. Be strong for me and Martin, because we will be very sorry if we have a weak mother. "
Ellena\'s defenses collapsed again. She cried even more. To be honest, she didn\'t want to say such things to her mother, because she knew that her mother was not a weak person. However, in order to demand that her mother stay strong, she was forced to say that. She hoped her words would stimulate her mother\'s brain. At least, Briana will know that there are two figures that she really loves are waiting for her right now.
"You know? You\'re the only one we have right now. We hope you won\'t let us down," said Ellena, then kissed the middle-aged woman\'s hand repeatedly.
Considering that the patient\'s visiting time was getting narrower, Ellena decided to get out of the room immediately. It was actually quite hard for her, leaving her mother alone in the room. However, she also couldn\'t force her will to remain in the room. Given that the security in the special room was greatly tightened, she certainly didn\'t want to violate that rule by continuing to stay there. After all, being in the room too long would only disturb her mother\'s rest, as most doctors would say.
Ellena stopped her crying for a while, before she decided to get up from her seat. She then brought her face closer to her mother\'s face. She stared fixedly at the deathly pale face in front of her, forcing a smile. She seemed to kiss Briana\'s forehead long and deep.
After shedding enough longing, Ellena lifted her face again and slightly moved away from her mother. However, she still looked at Briana\'s face.
"After mom gets better, we\'ll spend more time together, like you\'ve always wanted." Ellena whispered as she held back sobs that wouldn\'t burst.
Yes, since Ellena was busy working in the city, they hardly had time to be together. Briana repeatedly asked Ellena to spend time with them. However, Ellena still refuses because remembering money is also very important for the happiness and peace of her family. In the end, she chose to be more busy making money.
Now only regret is raging in her heart. She didn\'t know if her mother\'s condition would decline to this extent. That was why she felt so guilty. Let alone just to spend time together, just to take care of her mother she barely had that time.
After spending about a quarter of an hour, Ellena immediately left the room. She walked away, tears in her eyes again. Of course she couldn\'t bear to leave her mother alone in the room, but what could she do but resign herself to the situation?
***
"Elle, let\'s eat. You\'ll get sick if you don\'t want to eat." Lucas persuaded when Ellena just kept quiet and didn\'t want to eat, even though the dinner menu was already ready in front of them.
Yes, tonight Lucas managed to take Ellena to a restaurant right next to the hospital. At first, Ellena refused to leave the hospital, because she was worried that something might happen to her mother. However, because Lucas did not give up and tried to persuade her, she was finally forced to agree to the man\'s invitation. It happened after Lucas was almost at her wits end forcing her to eat.
Meanwhile, Alex and Martin were on guard at the hospital, after they had finished their dinner first.
"Remember! You haven\'t eaten since this afternoon." Lucas added.
In fact, Lucas\' struggles didn\'t end there to persuade Ellena to have dinner. Even at the restaurant, Lucas was still having trouble finding a way to get the woman sitting opposite him to eat.
"I\'m not hungry, Lucas!" Ellena said firmly, again refusing Lucas\' request.
Lucas snorted harshly. He must have been very upset with Ellena. "Okay, if you still don\'t want to eat. It doesn\'t matter. That means, you don\'t mind if I don\'t help with your mother\'s treatment, right?" He said as he looked at Elena annoyed.
"You\'re such a cheat, how dare you only threaten!" Ellena protested as she rolled her eyes, but only for a moment. She hastily lowered her gaze when she found Lucas\' gaze which was quite piercing and frightening.
"I\'m going to eat." Ellena whispered as she grabbed a spoon, intending to start her dinner activities immediately.
Lucas was still staring intently at the woman in front of him. The corners of his lips seemed to be twitching as if he was holding back a smile.
"Eat until you\'re done. If you dare argue with me again, you\'ll know what the consequences will be!" Lucas said then.
After Lucas repeatedly persuaded, Ellena finally relented. Lucas felt very sorry for not being firm with Ellena earlier. If he had threatened his wife from the start, perhaps they wouldn\'t have had to argue so much over dinner.
"But I\'m not hungry, Lu...." Ellena trailed off as Lucas glared at her again. Without waiting for another interruption, she immediately lowered her head.
"I\'ll finish this meal, you calm down!" Ellena answered quietly and started to get serious with the dinner activities, even with Lucas who also did the same. Yes, because of Ellena, she was forced to postpone her dinner activities.
Silence. They had nothing to say after that argument. Until 10 minutes had passed, Ellena began to muster up the courage to look back at Lucas, though with a bit of doubt and fear.
"Lucas, where have you been?" asked Ellena who suddenly made the man in front of her look flinched.
Lucas immediately stopped his dinner activities, then looked up and stared at Ellena for a moment.