Chapter 4 Hospital

Sara plunged into a dreamless sleep and woke up with a pleasant warmth in her hand, along with caresses on her palm, causing her skin to prickle from that point.

She opened her eyes with a smile, expecting to see her boyfriend by her side. She was startled and pulled her hand away when she saw a tall stranger standing next to her, with an imposing stature, dressed in a white dress shirt, pinstripe trousers, and a matching blazer.

"I came as fast as I could," he said, his coal-black eyes analyzing Sara in an intense and strange manner.

She shrank back in the bed, pulling the sheet up to her neck.

Not noticing or not caring about the fear reflected in her actions, the man leaned in. Terrified by the realization that he planned to kiss her, even with her weak and feeble body, in an act of protection, Sara pushed her hands against the stranger's chest and shoved him away.

"Still angry?" He ran his fingers through his short hair, his dry tone revealing his displeasure with her attitude. "Sara, let's stop this stupid fight."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I don't even know you," she retorted, alarmed by the way he spoke to her and his attempt to kiss her.

Confused, the man stared at her intensely as if trying to read her thoughts.

A pressure in Sara's chest made her gasp, her throat burned, and she had an intense urge to cry. Desperate to have a stranger in her room, panicked, Sara looked around anxiously, spotting Silvia sitting near the window.

"Please, call my godmother," she begged in terror, pointing to the man beside her. "And take this man with you."

Silvia looked back and forth between them with wide eyes, opening and closing her mouth, but she said nothing and didn't do as asked. Sara was about to shout at the nurse when Tatiana entered the room.

"Godmother..." Sara called, feeling breathless and trembling.

Tatiana came closer, examining her. Noticing that Sara looked terrified at the man standing observing her, she requested, "Rodrigo, wait for me in my office."

The stranger hesitated, his stern expression fixed on Sara. Exasperated with the man's resistance to do as she asked, Tatiana practically pushed him out of the room, and after closing the door, she returned to Sara's side.

"Who was that man? He tried to kiss me."

"Dear, rest a bit. We'll talk in a little while," Tatiana promised before leaving her in the company of the nurse.

This time, bothered by the strange visit, she couldn't do what was asked of her. She was in a hospital, and except for Tatiana, she had none of her acquaintances nearby.

She looked at the flowers, cards, and teddy bears in the room, a sign that she had received visitors.

"Silvia, please get those cards for me."

The nurse quickly collected them all and brought them to her.

Sara opened each one; there were five in total. One was from Laura, and she smiled at the memory of her childhood friend. She was surprised that Laura's signature and get-well wishes were accompanied by the name Júlio. The only guy she knew with that name was a schoolmate of theirs, whom Laura secretly had a crush on. Were they together now? How much time had passed while she was unconscious? What had she missed during that time?

She inhaled and exhaled to contain the anxiety that was making her hands tremble and a cold shiver run up her spine.

She opened the second card, there was no signature, and the message was strange, about her achieving the stage she had always desired.

The other two had generic messages from the cards themselves, signed by Rodrigo Montenegro. Recognizing the name that Tatiana used with the stranger, she wondered who he could be. A doctor? A friend of her mother's? But if that were the case, why would he have the courage to try to kiss her?

"Are these the only ones?" she asked the nurse, puzzled not to see cards signed by her school friends, her mother, or her boyfriend.

Silvia rummaged among the vases and teddy bears, then confirmed they were the only ones.

She buried her head in the pillow, took a deep breath, and told herself to calm down; Tatiana would return soon and ask about her condition, the accident, and search for her mother. She had to maintain her composure until Tatiana came back with answers, she demanded of herself, staring at the ceiling, her fingers impatiently tapping the mattress.

~*~

Walking back and forth in Tatiana's office, Rodrigo Montenegro had all his thoughts focused on his wife.

When he received the news that Sara had awakened, relayed by the nurse he had hired, he dropped his work and drove to the hospital as quickly as allowed by law. He was eager to see her bright green eyes again and finally resolve the issues between them.

Due to what had happened before the accident, he wasn't expecting a warm reception. But what he saw on her face wasn't anger or resentment, far from it. Sara seemed to be afraid of him and didn't recognize him.

It could be a pretense. His wife had the terrible habit of turning everything into a Greek tragedy. But why would she pretend not to know him?

The answer came quickly, in the furious voice of his wife before the accident.

"Loving you is the biggest mistake of my life."

Those words had haunted his days and nights because he felt guilty for her constant instability. His wife's obsessive love suffocated him, but he never wished to see her hurt and unconscious in a hospital bed.

He heard the doorknob and anxiously watched Tatiana enter the room, which she used as the director of Santana Private Hospital, located in the center of São Paulo.

"What's wrong with Sara?" he asked, positioning himself in front of the doctor.

While understanding Rodrigo's distress, as he had a large share of the blame for what had happened, Tatiana didn't like the way he approached her, like a police officer interrogating a criminal. If Montenegro's temper was bad, hers was worse, but she decided to put Sara before their differences.