Chapter 5

Amid the shrill wail of ambulance sirens, Daniel was rushed to the hospital. As his next of kin, Valentina mechanically signed one surgical consent form after another. After finishing the paperwork, a nurse grabbed her hand. "Mrs. Pierce, Captain Pierce keeps calling your name. He might have something important to say. Before the surgery starts, could you come into the operating room with me?" Valentina followed in a daze, letting herself be led into the OR. Inside, Daniel lay on the operating table, covered in blood. When he saw her, he weakly opened his eyes and gripped her hand tightly. "Val..." he called out in a hoarse voice. "Go check on Camille... She must be terrified... Please take care of her for me..." It was like having ice water thrown over her. Valentina stood beside the operating table, chilled to the bone. She remembered the last time Daniel had returned from a dangerous mission, barely clinging to life, calling her name just like this. Back then he'd said, "If I don't make it through this, you should remarry... but don't forget me." Now his heart and mind were completely filled with another woman. She walked out of the operating room in a trance, only to see Camille sitting on a bench, sobbing uncontrollably. "It's all my fault! If my necklace hadn't been stolen, Daniel wouldn't have gotten hurt! He's always so foolish, always getting injured because of me!" The other families nearby, not knowing the full story, tried to comfort her. "Don't be too upset. Your husband will be fine..." Soon after, a nurse rushed out urgently. "Captain Pierce is hemorrhaging badly! He needs Type A blood! Is anyone here able to donate?" Camille immediately wiped her tears and stood up. "I can! I'm Type A!" She followed the nurse to donate blood without hesitation. Valentina stood there and suddenly laughed. As she laughed, tears began streaming down her face. Daniel was severely injured, but he was still worried about Camille. Camille was crying her heart out, but she didn't hesitate to donate blood for Daniel. They truly were a pair of star-crossed lovers. And they made her, the legitimate wife, seem utterly insignificant. She stood in a daze outside the operating room until a nurse came out. "Mrs. Pierce, the surgery was successful, but your sister-in-law fainted from donating too much blood! I told her we couldn't take that much, but she insisted..." The nurse couldn't help but marvel. "I've never seen a sister-in-law and brother-in-law who care about each other this much." Valentina smiled bitterly. Yes, they cared about each other so much that they'd ended up in the same bed. She took a deep breath, unable to stay any longer. Just as she was about to leave, the nurse stopped her. "Mrs. Pierce, you can't go! Both patients are unconscious right now, so someone needs to look after them!" Left with no choice, she had to stay. She was running back and forth between the two rooms, caring for Daniel one moment and Camille the next. That evening, when she returned to Daniel's room to moisten his lips with a cotton swab, the man on the bed suddenly opened his eyes. Seeing her, he seemed momentarily stunned, but he immediately grabbed her hand the next second. His expression seemed urgent as he asked, "Where's Camille?" Hearing that name felt like a knife twisting in her heart, but Valentina kept her voice calm. "She fainted after donating blood for you. She's in the room next door." Daniel's face went white. He immediately yanked out the IV needle from his hand, blood spurting out. "Didn't I tell you to take care of her?" His voice was hoarse but filled with fury. "How could you let her donate blood?" With that, he shoved Valentina aside and tried to get out of bed. The push sent her stumbling backward, and her forehead struck the corner of the table hard. Sharp pain shot through her head as something warm trickled down from her temple. Fighting through the pain, she followed him and saw Daniel burst into Camille's room. "Camille! Who told you to donate blood?" There was anger in his voice. "Because this is all my fault. I'm the one who got you hurt like this. I should never have gone after that necklace." Tears poured down her face as she collapsed into Daniel's arms. "Daniel, you don't know how scared I was. If you had died, I couldn't have gone on living..." Daniel's body went rigid for a moment, but then he slowly lifted his arms and pulled her close. "Hey, it's okay." His voice was incredibly gentle. "I'm right here, see? Come on, don't cry anymore." Valentina stood in the doorway, something crashing apart inside her chest, the pieces slicing through her until everything hurt. She stared at the two of them holding each other in that hospital room and finally accepted what she'd been trying to deny. Somewhere along the way, without her realizing it, he'd split his heart in two and given half of it away. She couldn't watch anymore. She turned around quietly and headed back to the base housing to pack. One by one, she tossed every gift Daniel had ever given her into the trash. The scarf he'd knitted himself, the hair clip he'd saved up three months' pay to buy, all the little souvenirs he'd brought back from his deployments… These things used to hold her happiest memories. Now they felt like weapons—every single one of them cutting her deeper.