Once, a thug made trouble at Ivana's shop and tried to touch her inappropriately. When Ernest found out, he had one of the man's fingers cut off and dragged him to Ivana to apologize.
She said coldly, "If you cut his, will mine grow back? Or can you sew it back on for me?"
Ernest's face darkened. Just as he was about to say something, his phone rang.
Ivana could hear Sydney speaking.
Ernest's expression eased, "I'll let this slide because you lost a toe. I'll pretend you didn't say any of that."
Ting! A WhatsApp message from Sydney: [Do you think pulling this stunt will make Ernest come back to you?]
Ernest left quickly. Sydney's WhatsApp status updated just a few minutes later.
The photo showed Ernest carefully lowering his head, tending to Sydney's tiny fingernail-sized cut, applying iodine and placing a bandage.
Ivana found it a bit of an eyesore. Ernest had never done any of that for her. At most, he'd buy her some medicine and a bandage and back then, she had been unbelievably moved.
Once, she clung to Ernest, asking him to apply the medicine for her. But he said he couldn't because he was afraid of blood.
Now that she thought about it, that excuse had been far too obvious. A man who could sever someone's finger without blinking couldn't possibly be afraid of blood.
It was just that, at the time, Ivana hadn't been able to see through it. The difference in treatment between the real one and the stand-in, that was just how it was, Ivana told herself.
She stared at the photo for a moment. Hmm, it didn't bother her anymore. She even liked the post.
That night was particularly quiet. Only her phone buzzed constantly with cloud syncs and activity on her feed. Ivana worked late into the night. The nurse scolded her multiple times before she finally went to sleep.
By then, all her paperwork was filled out, her calls were made and all that was left was waiting for her visa.
The next day, Ivana lazily woke up when the sun was already high in the sky.
The moment she opened her eyes, she saw Sydney placing a bouquet of lilies on her bedside table, with a fruit basket on the chair. Before Ivana could say a word, she started sneezing.
Covering her nose and mouth, she called out, "Nurse! Nurse! Get these flowers out of here! Throw them away! Open the windows! Air it out!"