Chapter 17

After the fire, Stanley suffered severe burns, but he refused to go to a hospital for full treatment. He only allowed the family doctor to perform emergency debridement and bandaging in a makeshift medical room set up in the villa. He insisted on staying by Tessa's body, never leaving her side. He had another bed moved into the room and lay down on it himself with bandages wrapped around his body. He turned on his side as he stared at Tessa's still, frozen form on the platform beside him. It was as if, if he just kept watching long enough, hard enough, she might sigh in exasperation like she always used to. She would open her eyes and whisper, "Stanley, stop staring." He even began hallucinating, thinking he saw her pinky move slightly, thinking her chest rose faintly. Hope flickered like a ghostly flame in the desolate wasteland of his heart. He refused to accept the truth and mobilized every medical resource he could, summoning top experts from both home and abroad, including ren