An Injured Heidi
There was hardly any color on Heidi’s face, and she looked extremely frail as her legs struggled to
support her weight. In a voice barely above a whisper, she said, “Thank you, all of you. I… I know all of
you have my best interests at heart, but I can’t just stay here lying in bed. I need to work, and my
daughter still needs money for school. Please, please let me go home. I’m fine, aren’t I? Nothing a little
medicine won’t fix. Please let me go home.”
Just then, Crystal marched up to the anguished woman, and she looked annoyed as she bit out, “Miss
Freeman, don’t you know that you’re completely abandoning your own health if you were to insist on
leaving the hospital? You can always get back to work in a day or two, but if you don’t get proper rest and
treatment now, you’ll have lifelong side effects that will worsen over time! Can’t you understand that?”
Guilt and gratitude painted Heidi’s expression when she saw Crystal, and she said hoarsely, “Miss
Harrison, thank you for all that you’ve done for me, but I really do think that I’m fine. Please just let me go
home, Miss Harrison. I will spend the rest of my life remembering how kind and generous you have been
to me, but I really must go. If not, my daughter—my daughter will be forced to drop out of school! I have
to work so that I can pay for her tuition!”
Rage thrummed in Crystal’s veins, and she tried to shout some sense into the woman, “Drop out of
school? Miss Freeman, your daughter took the hundred and thirty thousand from your bank account,
so she has enough to pay her way through school. Dropping out isn’t even possible at this point!
Besides, isn’t her boyfriend super-competent? Why doesn’t he pay for her to go to school instead? He
ran you down with his motorbike, and you’re injured as it is, but your daughter doesn’t even show a hint
of remorse. Haven’t you done enough as a mother? Why are you still so hung up about paying her
dues? I can’t even begin to understand your thinking! How could you possibly still forgive and love a
daughter like her?”
Heidi had her head down as she tried to plead her case, explaining, “Miss Harrison, Leia was just
confused for a moment, is all, and technically, the person who ran me down with a motorbike was not her
boyfriend but a friend of his. The young man has apologized to me, as well. Miss Harrison, if I don’t go
back to work, how am I going to put food on the table for Leia? She’d really be forced to drop out of
school and come home. Please, please just let me go back. I-I promise I’ll take all the medicine as
prescribed.”
Crystal’s face had turned red with fury. Never have I ever encountered anyone as stubborn as her! Ugh!
Just then, Matthew approached with a puzzled expression and called out, “Heidi?”
Heidi froze at this, and when she looked up to register Matthew’s presence, she blanched.
The air went still for a brief moment. Then Crystal exclaimed in surprise, “Do you know her, Matthew?”
However, before he could answer, Heidi abruptly turned on her heels and ran for the door. Matthew
hurried to pull her back by the arm and demanded anxiously, “Heidi, what are you doing here? Why
didn’t you let us know that you were back in Eastcliff? We thought you’d gone back home for good!”
Panic coursed through Heidi as her hands flew to cover her face. “No, no, you have the wrong person!
I’m not Heidi at all! You clearly have me for someone else, Matthew.”
Rendered speechless, Matthew raised a brow at her. She just called me by name, which is as good as a
confession.
She was still struggling to break away from Matthew, but with a wave of his free hand, he quickly
summoned a few other nurses to help him restrain the frantic woman. “Heidi,” he began patiently, his
eyes genuine pools of concern. “You’re not well enough to go running out of the hospital just yet. Why
don’t you go back to the ward and get some rest? We promise we’ll help you no matter what.”
Heidi burst into tears. Gripping Matthew’s arm tightly, she begged, “Matthew, let me go back, please. You
can’t let my sister find out about my being here. I-I don’t want her to worry about me!”
He sighed when he heard this. Heidi was indeed the polar opposite of her siblings, Helen and Norman,
both of whom were only after the wealth of the Cunningham Family. Heidi, on the other hand, had a
daughter studying in Eastcliff, but she wouldn’t even seek out her own sister for fear that she would only
burden Helen with her troubles.
All these years, Heidi had struggled as a single mother, and she raised her daughter without asking for
anyone else’s help.
The truth was that her pride got the better of her; she wasn’t so much worried about imposing on Helen
as she was about being made a laughing stock.
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