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“Why did this happen?” Lisanne was devastated to see her good friend in that state. “I’m fine, and so is
my colleague. We’re not feeling any discomfort so far.”
Winnie nodded. “That’s good to hear. Maybe it’s because you were wearing masks at that time, so you
didn’t inhale the gas directly. I wonder if those students are fine. The classroom was sealed off at that
time, and they might have inhaled some of the gases before the SWAT officers took that thing away.”
Lisanne found her throat tightening as she looked at Winnie, who was separated from her by a wall.
“You’re still thinking of the kids at a time like this… But don’t worry. They’ll be given a checkup and will
be under observation. If anything happens, we’ll notice it immediately.”
“All right.” Winnie smiled at the glass wall. “You should do the same. You have to undergo scheduled
checkups too.”
When Lisanne saw that Winnie was smiling in the wrong direction, she broke down.
She put down the phone and started sobbing miserably.
“Don’t be like this, Lisanne,” Winnie said, sounding cheerful. “I’ll get better. Trust me.”
Right then, Winnie heard someone opening the door and coming in.
She said to Lisanne, “The doctor must be here. I’ll hear what they have to say.”
“Okay.” Not wanting to get in the way of Winnie’s treatment, Lisanne immediately put down the phone.
This time, the ophthalmologists were not the only ones there; Josiah had come as well.
On his way there, he had heard from the other doctors that Winnie had lost her sight.
He desperately wished that it was just a joke or a misunderstanding.
Yet, when he finally stood in front of her, he realized she did not notice that he was there as well, and
his heart sank.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtBack then, he had guessed that something might go wrong, and he was hoping that the two of them
would come back. Little did he expect to be greeted by the sight before him.
The doctors gave Winnie her diagnosis. Their preliminary belief was that her condition might be
blindness caused by temporary ischemia of the central retinal artery, but they could not rule out that it
could be retinopathy caused by inhalation of radioactive gas, or that the optic nerve had been damaged
instead.
As for more details, they would need Winnie to head to the hospital for a thorough checkup. At the
same time, they needed a specialist on her case.
However, Winnie was currently under quarantine, and they had to wait until everyone was there for the
specialist’s diagnosis.
Hence, Winnie postponed her schedule by a day.
Xavier wanted to make arrangements for everything immediately, for he was terrified that she would
miss the golden hour.
However, Winnie understood the condition mutation theories that the doctors had told her earlier, so
she knew that nothing would worsen overnight. In fact, it was likely that her loss of vision was
connected to her mental state.
Winnie somewhat knew what was going on. Even though she appeared composed, she was feeling
terrible inwardly.
What she needed most at that moment was rest.
She needed to give her body time to recover, and she needed to mentally prepare herself.
At her insistence, the doctors left.
The second the door closed, she frowned.
Thinking that she was feeling unwell, Xavier quickly asked her what was wrong.
Her frown deepened. “I remember hearing five people coming in, but why did only four leave?”
“Oh, my god.” The eyes of Josiah, who was standing at the end of the bed the entire time, reddened
when he heard her say that. “Are you a god or a monster? How did you even hear how many people
came in?”
Winnie followed the source of Josiah’s voice and turned toward him. “Oh, it’s you, Dr. Houghton. Why
did you only come now? Are you really my friend?”
“Hey, hey, hey. Why don’t you ask your husband who was the one who delivered food to him when he
was outside? It was me! I only got to rest when the sun went down, all right? How mean of you.”
Winnie chuckled. “I was just joking. You didn’t need to take me seriously.”
Josiah could only stare at Winnie’s face for a while in silence.
Suddenly, he walked over to switch off all the lights in the room.
Even though Winnie could not see anything, she could hear that Josiah had done something.
Xavier knitted his brows in silence and tightened his grip on Winnie’s hand.
If she’s blind, then I’m going to find out what the world is now like for her too.
Josiah’s choking voice traveled into their ears through the darkness. “I told you to come back at that
time. I was begging you to do it. My sixth sense has always been accurate, but you just refused to
listen to me! You make me so mad!”
“That’s because there was something serious going on. If you were in our position, you wouldn’t have
chickened out either. Now that things have turned out this way, let’s not talk about the what-ifs
anymore. I want to rest well tonight so that my test tomorrow turns out better.”
“You’re so unfazed by this.”
“It’s called being positive and having a healthy mindset.”
“Are you… afraid?”
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmAm I afraid? Winnie held Xavier’s hand tighter and shook her head. “I’m not. You saw it too. I’ve got a
good hearing. Moreover, the medical field is advanced nowadays. Even if I’m permanently blind, I have
trust in bionic eyes and such. I have my husband and good friends like you all. As long as I’m alive, I
doubt there’s anything I fear. Nothing can crush me.”
Josiah sighed, his chest still feeling tight. “You’re an optimistic one, aren’t you? You’re impressive.”
Yet, Xavier could only feel his heart ache to hear those words from her.
The three of them later chatted for a while longer before Winnie finally kicked them out of the room.
Xavier, especially, even wanted to stay overnight in the quarantine room, and Winnie had to spend
much of her breath before convincing him otherwise.
It was only when Winnie was the only one left in the room—when she opened her eyes to see nothing
but darkness—did she let the tears silently roll down her cheeks.
Nevertheless, she did not regret it.
She still believed that she had made the right choice.
The next day, Winnie went to the hospital for a thorough checkup.
Their general conclusion was that it was retinopathy, and the specialist’s recommendation was to
undergo laser surgery. However, the results of the surgery depended on the individual, and its success
was not guaranteed.
Winnie was still optimistic about the matter. Once the surgery date was set, she returned to the
quarantine room to continue her quarantine.
During her stay there, Rufus and Beatrice both came to visit her. Even Nate came over.
The teacher from the school came to visit her as well.
However, the teacher came with bad news. Apparently, two of the children were starting to have
nosebleeds even though they were usually healthy and previously had no signs of nosebleeds. As of
her visit, checkups and treatments had already been arranged for the children.
What was even worse news was that Lisanne’s and her colleague’s physical conditions were getting
bad as well.
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