Wendy went into the bathroom to take a shower.
While she was gone, Ryan decided to have the bed sheet and quilt cover changed again, except this
time he didn't do it himself.He called for room service instead.
Once that was done, he walked over to the bathroom door and knocked.
"Wendy, how are you in there? Almost done?"
"Yes, almost."
The calmer tone in her voice eased Ryan's worries.
The bathroom door was frosted, and Wendy's silhouette could be seen faintly from outside.
Ryan suddenly felt hot.He took a deep breath and turned around to sit on the sofa.
Unlocking his phone again, he decided to continue researching about how else to care for women on
their periods.
Distracting himself with this gradually calmed him down.
In the bathroom, Wendy let the warm water run all over her body.
The coldness in her body began to evaporate.
However, with the weather getting chilly recently, she knew better not to take too long in the shower.
Once she had washed away all the sweat, she turned off the water and wrapped a towel around her
body.
When she stepped out of the shower, she took a wrong step and slipped.
"Ahr" Wendy shouted, finding herself kneeling on the cold, hard tiles in less than a second.
"Ouch!" She groaned loudly.
Wendy began to tear up from the pain.She had fallen down on her knees.
Pain surged all throughout her legs.
‘God! How unlucky I am today!’ She put her hands on the floor to help herself up, but the bathroom
door suddenly bust open.
"Wendy!" Ryan's face was filled with concern.
"What happened? Are you okay?"
"I...I just fell down.I'm fine."
Ryan squinted at her and walked over.
"Don't move.Let me help you up." He reached down to help her up.
But because the fall had loosened Wendy's towel around her body, it slipped off as soon as she stood
up.
The air in the room fell stiff.
The two looked at each other, stunned.It took a second for both of them to come to their senses.
"Ah!"
Ryan scurried out of the bathroom and left Wendy alone to get changed.It took about ten minutes for
Wendy to change into her pajamas and get into bed.She covered her body with the quilt, but had to
leave her two legs out.Her pajama pants were rolled up to her knees.
Ryan was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at her injured knees and grimacing.She had fallen too
hard on her knees.
They were now covered in blue and purple bruises, which looked even more emphasized against her
fair white skin.
"Your knees need to be treated, you know."
Wendy pulled the quilt over her head and refused to reply.
Under the quilt, her face was red as a tomato from embarrassment.
Wendy covered her face with her hands.
‘Ugh! It was such a humiliating day"
Wendy felt hot all over whenever she recalled the scene in the bathroom.She couldn't think of how else
to act now but to play dead.She pretended not to hear what Ryan was saying.
Of course, Ryan was also embarrassed by what had just happened.
It took only one second for him to see every part of her. Ryan's breathing became heavier when that
image of her popped up in his mind.He had to take deep breaths to calm himself down.
But even after a while, his ears were still a little red.
It was a good thing Wendy wasn't looking.He coughed awkwardly and slipped the hot-water bag under
the quilt.
"Here, this should help warm your belly.I'll go down to get you some medicine for your knees."
Not a word came out of Wendy's mouth.But Ryan knew that she was still awake.
"Be right back," he said.
Wendy closed her eyes and continued to play dead.She listened intently until the footsteps sounded
farther and farther, waiting for the door to close.
Then, she pulled the quilt off of her.
That took long enough.
She had held her breath under the quilt for so long that she thought she almost suffocated.She recalled
the bathroom scene and wondered if Ryan had seen her naked body.
‘It was only a split second until I wrapped myself in the towel again.Maybe he didn't see anything at all"
She tried to move a little.
In her movement, her knees accidentally rubbed against the quilt, sending a sharp pain to shoot up her
body.
Wendy grimaced in pain and waited for it to subside as she grabbed the hot-water bag and held it to
her abdomen.
The pain made her sober.She then realized something.She was badly injured now.
How could she possibly come to work tomorrow? After ten minutes, Ryan came back with a pack of
cotton swabs, a bottle of iodine, and some gauze.
He saw that Wendy's quilt was still pulled up to her neck, but she no longer pretended to be asleep
anymore.
"Are you done hiding from me?" he teased.
After finally getting her face to cool down, Wendy's cheeks flushed again.
"Ryan, l..."
"What?"
"Did you perhaps see anything a while ago?"
Ryan's ears turned a little red, but then he pursed his lips and replied, "No."
"Really?"
"No!"
"Uh..."
Wendy gritted her teeth and stared into his eyes, searching for the truth.
‘Is he telling the truth?’ she wondered.
"Fine, I did see it!"
"What? What did you see?" Ryan sighed and gently placed his hand on her belly, with sadness in his
eyes.
"Here...There is a long scar..."
Wendy's mouth gaped open in shock and she moved her body away from his hand.
It was true that there was a scar on her lower abdomen.
Four years ago, she was sent to the hospital.
She was in a coma and in critical condition, so that doctor operated a cesarean section on her.
They carved a longitudinal incision on her stomach, prioritizing the safety of both her and her
babies.The incision extended from below her navel all the way to her pubic bone.
The scar was about ten centimeters long and one centimeter wide.
It looked like a shriveled up worm had died on her abdomen.
For people who placed great importance in their beauty, this was unacceptable.
There was something that made this even worse.
Those who had given birth all knew that their bodies would never be the same again.
No matter how well one would try to take care of it and bring it back to shape, pregnancy was
something that permanently altered the body.
Additionally, Wendy was pregnant with twins.
In her third trimester, her belly was stretched to an enormous size.
After giving birth, she worked hard to flatten her belly again through exercise and proper diet, but there
was just no natural way to remove her stretch marks.
Whenever she looked at herself in the mirror, she would always find herself averting her gaze from her
stomach.
I can't believe he has seen the ugliest part of my body. Wendy looked away and let shame engulf her.
"What did you think when you saw it? Was it ugly?" she asked.
"No, not ugly!"
"Liar."
"Im not lying!"
Ryan looked into her eyes and said sincerely, "It's beautiful."
Wendy turned away again, refusing to believe a word he just said.Her ugly scar and stretch marks were
not even close to being beautiful ever.She was not gullible.She preferred unabashed honesty instead of
flattery that was not even true.
Wendy pulled her quilt higher to her face and turned her back to him.
"Wendy, I..."
"Just leave me alone.I'm going to rest."
Ryan did not listen and instead got in the bed.He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind,
causing Wendy to freeze up.
Their bodies were so close to each other, but it didn't feel like Ryan was flirting with her at all.
"Wendy, listen to me..."
"Why are you hugging me? Let go of me."
Ryan tightened his embrace and then put his hand on her abdomen.
"There's only one thought that came to my mind when I saw that scar." Wendy didn't reply but she
perked her ears up to listen.
"I love you."
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