I've Been There Before

The moment the door opened, Grace swept off her exhaustion. A dazzling smile appeared on her face.
Leaning against the windowsill, Humbert tilted his head as the door opened. Catching sight of the extremely dazzling smile of
Grace, he was shocked and became furious. But his anger disappeared at the next second.
“Come in,” he sighed. She definitely didn’t know that she looked dazzling at the first glance but hesitant the next, and anguished
in the end.
However, she was still standing at the door, hesitant.
Humbert turned around and walked towards her. Unprepared, she was caught in. “Stop smiling. He can’t see it.”
Her smile stiffened.
“Got a shot in his left thorax, less than two centimeters from the heart.
He was sent to the hospital the moment it happened.
After an eight-hour operation, he was directly sent into the ICU.
He was kept alive but in no condition.”
“In no condition... How is that?”
Humbert took a close look at her and found her so-called fresh complexion was modified by her heavy makeup. He then
observed her eyes, under which were dark shadows that even thick powder could not cover.
He did not answer, but drew back the curtains all of a sudden, showing her the scene inside.
Grace had never seen Caden like this before––he was lying on the sickbed, quiet and lifeless, with many tubes attached. Various
medical instruments were placed around him.
Humbert’s voice came to her seemingly from a long distance, “You see, he can’t leave these at this moment.
We have to rely on these instruments to monitor his vital signs in real time.
Before you arrived, he had gone through emergency treatments five times.

In other words ...”
“I see,” Grace interrupted him. In other words, he would pass away at any moment.
She had got his meaning, but for some reason, she didn’t want anyone to say it out.
“Have you informed ... the Shaw family?” she choked with sobs as she said. But from beginning to end, not a single tear did flow.
Humbert shook his head and said, “I only told you. The relationship between the Shaw families was complex. I’m afraid that
someone would harbor evil designs if word gets out.”
Grace’s face turned pale. “Lend me your phone,” anxious, said she.
She immediately called Vivian after getting his phone. “You have to keep it a secret that I am abroad. Be cautious about your
speech these days.” Hearing her words, Vivian naturally understood that she should keep everything about Caden a secret.
Only then did Grace return the phone to Humbert.
“What happened to his head?” Could it be that his head was also injured?
“Caden fell to the ground after being shot and hit the railing. It’s not very serious.”
“Would you mind ... my staying alone with him?”
Humbert took a serious look at Grace and silently turned around. The door to the ward closed.
In the ward, there was too much silence which made her uneasy.
Standing still beside the sickbed, she gazed at the lifeless man quietly. Sorrow had almost overwhelmed her, but she still didn’t
shed a tear.
Her eyes were dry but full of red lines.
Love, hatred, sorrow and pain filled her eyes. Her gaze was so complicated that no one dared to meet it.
Everything was in silence and no one could see through her mind. Standing by the sickbed, she just watched the lifeless man
with mixed love-hate and sorrow-pain expression.