I jerked my hand back with such force that it startled him. Looking at his bewildered face, a metallic taste rose in my throat—the lingering fear from coughing up blood these past few days. I took two steps back, my back pressed against the cold wall, my eyes brimming with resistance, my voice trembling with suppressed emotion: "Liam, I've been coughing up blood these past few days, can't you see? Please don't force me, okay?"
I wasn't begging; I was questioning him. Questioning how he could be so heartless as to treat someone who was half-dead as an inexhaustible blood bag.
A flicker of hesitation crossed his eyes, but it vanished in an instant, as quickly as my imagination. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but his phone suddenly rang sharply in his pocket.
The ringtone was a special melody he had specially created for Vanessa.
He turned around almost instinctively, his back to me, and pressed the answer button, not even sparing me a glance. I leaned against the wall, listening to the tenderness pouring out in his voice, a kind of indulgence that my son and I had never received before.
Vanessa's feignedly weak sobs came through the receiver, intermittent yet each word clear and distinct: "Liam... my heart hurts so much... the doctor said I need a blood transfusion as soon as possible, otherwise I won't make it... when are you coming?"
The scheming and smugness in that crying were almost palpable even from a distance.
He hung up the phone quickly and urgently, and when he turned around, the hesitation in his eyes had vanished without a trace, leaving only barely concealed panic. He strode towards me, giving me no chance to refuse, and bent down to pick me up in his arms.
He was very strong, digging into the wound on my ankle and causing it to burn painfully. I couldn't help but groan. He seemed not to hear me, and just kept walking quickly outside, saying comforting words, but there was not a trace of warmth left in his voice: "Clara, be good, don't be afraid, your husband will be with you when you get your blood drawn."
Stay with me?
Was it to stay with me, watching my blood slowly flow into Vanessa's body, watching me slowly walk towards death?
I stopped struggling and just closed my eyes in despair. The hot tears clinging to my eyelashes fell onto his arm, but he didn't even flinch.