A Graduation Gift novel Chapter 75

Squinting slightly, Rufus turned to gaze upon Cassandra, lying on the sickbed with a strange flush covering her cheek.

Suddenly standing up with his tall and strong figure, Rufus responded in his deep and velvet voice, "Yes, she's my wife."

Upon hearing this, the doctor's expression turned colder, and displeased with the man's lack of care for his own spouse.

"What are you doing? Do you have any idea how long she stayed in the wind and snow? Why didn't you stop her? She's barely wearing enough clothes for the weather! Even if you quarreled with her, you should, at the very least, pay attention to her health. She's too weak with a low blood pressure. It's so cold outside that she can't stand it at all."

Being the rather strong and intimidating figure he was, Rufus had never been blamed and chastised by others, much less a woman, in such a harsh tone. Faced with the blame the doctor placed on him, though, he was not angry at all.

In the doctor's eyes, Cassandra and Rufus were merely a young and carefree couple, making it easy to put the blame on him.

"When will she wake up?"

Without commenting on her scolding, Rufus didn't say anymore as he just wanted to know of Cassandra's physical state.

With a roll of her eyes, the doctor tapped the case folder to show him.

"Look at this case! The diagnoses and treatments are all recorded online now. Looking at her hospital admission records, she's been hospitalized with a fever so often in the past six months. She gets sick so easily. And now, seeing you, her husband…I'm curious about how you take care of her. Her physical condition is poor. When she gets discharged and return home, you need to nurse her body very carefully. I can't emphasize enough how you need to pay attention to her physical state. You need to be vigilant in taking care of your wife's health. After all, she's so weak that the wind could practically blow her over," the doctor explained reproachfully.

In the midst of the little sermon, a nurse came in and went to the doctor in a hurry.

"Doctor, the patient in bed 27 on the 7th floor vomited again. The doctor on duty is asking you to have a look!"

Upon hearing the news, the doctor quickly signed the current diagnosis and hung it on the bedside table. Even as she turned away and followed the nurse out, her grumble could be heard from far away.

"There is no need for the patient in bed 27 to hurt himself. Even if his family doesn't come to see him, he should know enough to take good care of himself. I've tried to persuade him a number of times, but he kept refusing my advice. Goodness! I wonder what's going on in the heads of young people now..."

After she left, Rufus simply stood next to Cassandra wearing a gloomy expression as he looked at her, who was passed-out with her eyes closed shut. Faced with such a situation, Rufus had no idea how to make her regain consciousness as soon as possible, so he only stared at her with a worried expression.

Standing beside her sickbed, Rufus thought about how little attention he had paid to Cassandra, since she'd been to the hospital so often. A trace of remorse sparked in his heart.

Although she was in a coma, Cassandra slept uneasily.

Her body shook from time to time - her face twisting into a frown and the sweat trickling down her forehead, as if she was being plagued by a nightmare.

All the while, Rufus held her hands, bringing them up to cup his face so that he could warm them up. Still, her hands remained icy cold.

"Cassandra, I'm here. Don't be afraid. I will always be with you." His deep voice was soothing.

Regardless of Rufus' words of comfort, Cassandra still suffered the nightmare.

Having stayed up late to take care of her, Rufus's eyes had already turned red. By midnight, her fever turned even more severe than earlier. Being worried about her condition, Rufus abruptly grabbed the arm of a nurse passing by.

"Where is the doctor? She's been passed out for such a long time, why hasn't she woken up yet?"

Unsurprisingly, a flush crept into the nurse's face as she looked at the handsome man who grabbed her.

"I'll find the doctor for you," she whispered.

Upon saying it, the nurse shyly walked away. After a short while, she came back with a doctor, who happened to be the one checking up on Cassandra earlier.

Before Rufus could say anything, the doctor examined Cassandra immediately and chattered again, "Her fever has gone up to 39.5 degrees. It's not easy to bring down a high fever like this. It wouldn't be that big of a deal if you had a fever it, but she's not as strong as most people. Looking at her weak condition, I guess she pays little attention to her own nourishment. She's so thin too and can't afford to lose any more weight. If she were to lose weight again, she'd find it difficult to get pregnant."

Knowing he wouldn't be able to get a word in, Rufus simply kept his mouth shut.

Suddenly, Cassandra frowned and murmured something.

It was so soft that Rufus had to bring his ear closer to her mouth before he finally heard her words.

"I didn't do it, Mother! It wasn't me!

Mother…don't leave me…

Rufus, my heart hurts…"

Tears slipping from her eyes, Cassandra twisted her body back and forth under the quilt as she suffered from her own subconscious.

Meanwhile, the doctor checked her hands and feet before releasing a sigh of relief.

"Her fever is almost gone," she then said to Rufus, "She should wake up soon. She's lucky because you sent her to the hospital in time. If she were to stay in the snow for even another half hour, she wouldn't recover so quickly."

Turning to the still unconscious Cassandra, the doctor said, "You should pay more attention in the future, alright? Don't treat yourself like this! Every time you get ill, you won't only have to spend money, but also take medicine and get injections. Moreover, your partner will spend loads of time and energy taking care of you. It's not worth getting sick over quarrels."

After expressing his gratitude over and over, Rufus walked the doctor and nurse out.

Fortunately, when he turned to look at Cassandra, he found that she had finally calmed down, with only the last tears trickling down her cheek.

He sat on the chair beside the sickbed. His eyes sparked with something unique only when he was looking at Cassandra.

'In her nightmare, she is dreaming about her mother…and me.

Her mother is the one closes to her. Why would she have a nightmare about her?

And I…' Rufus's thoughts trailed off. The brightness in his eyes faded at the thought and he started feeling a little depressed instead.

He thought to himself, 'I always want to bring her hope but keep failing. What have I done that would frighten her?

In her dream, what do I look like?'

As soon as she started waking up, Cassandra could see a blurry image of Rufus's profile. When she came to her senses, she could see that he was fast asleep, and bent over the sickbed.

His handsome profile seemed as if it was carefully sculpted by a master, looking especially dazzling under the morning sunshine.

With his eyes closed, Rufus was in a deep sleep, and at this moment, he was only a boy without any aggression.