03 - Broken ribs
"I wish that I would be weighed down by 100 pounds... 100 pounds is a little light if we see it's double… yeah, I wish a 140-pound woman would fall on me!" Rowan made a sincere wish.
[Ding! Wish successful!]
At this time, Laura smiled slightly, got up and said, "I'm sorry, I need to go to the bathroom!"
"Oh, please go ahead." Rowan smiled and said as he put down the wine glass.
Laura was able to stand up, but she could go only two steps further from the table before her heel broke and she started to fall.
"Be careful!!!"
Although Rowan reacted quickly, it was too late for him, seemingly, gravity was faster.
All that Rowan could do was not let Laura touch the ground.
As a result of Rowan's action, the two fell to the ground at the same time.
Rowan felt the impact on his body, looked at the pretty face close to his and asked blankly, "Hmm? Do you weigh 140 pounds?"
Laura blushed, "Today, today... Today's lunch was a bit too much!"
They were close enough to be able to hear the sound of each other's breath.
Rowan comforted Laura while letting her lay on him and asked with a blank expression, "You are quite tall, honestly, 140 pounds is not that much. Are you alright though?"
Laura was embarrassed, "Stop talking and help me up!"
"Of course."
Not far away, Linden, the protagonist who saw this scene, was going crazy.
The story had just begun and before he could even make a move, his wife had been taken advantage of by the worst person possible.
'I hear voices…Cu*ko- NO, I need to go faster!'
As a result of trying to reach Rowan's table sooner, Linden stumbled on the foot of a passerby and fell down along with her.
That person was a girl weighing 280 pounds. She seemed very 'healthy' and couldn't stand stably. It was also clearly visible that she found it difficult to walk. But, it wasn't her fault for falling this time.
"Oops!"
Only a loud bang could be heard by everyone.
The sound echoed through the whole building and the impact shook the floor a little.
The girl shook her head and said confusedly, "Huh? It all seems to be fine, I'm not hurt..."
A painful voice came from under her, "You are fine, but... I certainly am not!"
The girl quickly rolled off him and said anxiously, "Oh no, I'm really sorry, I've been trying to walk on my own without any help... How are you? Are you fine? Please, I don't want to hurt anyone. Please be fine"
"Shit… be careful, you fatso. Use your fat-ass brain. Don't roll like this!"
Linden's face turned red and purple as he said, "My ribs... I think they are broken!"
"Oh, okay...I'll get up quickly..."
The girl tried to stand up in a hurry. As a result of her hurry, her centre of gravity was unstable and she lost balance once again, resulting in her fall again.
CRACK~~!
Linden: "..."
The girl covered her face with her hands, her eyes had a small tear from the pain she had caused to someone else. She said in an embarrassed tone, "I'm really really sorry! I didn't mean to do it. I didn't want to hurt you even more."
"Stop talking and call an ambulance!"
Not far away, Rowan was shocked to see this scene.
Linden's ribs were really broken by a 280-pound girl...
'This is bad!'
Within moments, everyone got up and began Linden's rescue.
Among them, being the perfect gentleman, Rowan was the most active one.
Looking at Linden, whose face was changing colours like disco lights, Rowan said with concern, "Buddy, how are you? Are you alright?"
Linden's heart was on fire. Seeing that his biggest enemy was so close yet so far, he couldn't do anything, his hand was broken and the needle had already slipped from his hand. He gritted his teeth and said, "I...I'm fine."
Rowan scolded, "Buddy, please don't try to be brave. I heard your ribs crack from my table. You might be bedridden for two months if you are not treated quickly BUT, don't worry, I already called for an ambulance."
"Thank you..."
"You're welcome. It's what any decent human would do."
Soon after, the ambulance arrived and the medics came out to carry Linden into the ambulance.
Rowan said apologetically, "Laura, I'm sorry but we might need to end this dinner early."
Laura nodded her head and said very considerately, "It's okay, it's more important to save people. In fact, I think that you are a good person. You are brave and helpful, there are not many people with such qualities left in this world anymore."
Rowan said helplessly, "Ah, it's not a quality, it's rather a problem of mine. I just end up being nosy."
"It's not a problem, it's an advantage!"
"Anyhow, since we couldn't complete this dinner, I'll invite you for one soon."
"Okay, Rowan. I'll be waiting for your call."
The third wheel in this situation, Linden, was lying on the stretcher, watching this scene with a burning heart.
'These two! I am like this and they are still engrossed in their own displays of love?'
This was the last thing Linden saw before he was loaded into the ambulance and rushed to a hospital.
On the way, the ambulance drove over a pit. Before Linden could complain, he heard the driver.
"I'm sorry, patient. It was not visible." The driver said in a hurry as he continued driving the ambulance at a high speed.
Linden's face slowly turned pale from pain.
In about fifteen minutes, they arrived at the hospital.
Rowan, who had followed them, helped Linden through the admission procedures and paid the medical expenses in advance.
This scene fell into the eyes of the heroine Laura, who was with Rowan.
'He's such a reliable man…', was the only thing she could think.
After the doctor's diagnosis, it was confirmed Linden only had three broken ribs and his condition was not very fatal.
A chest strap was used conservatively to fix his ribs. He lay on the bed without moving, he still had to take medicines before he could move. This whole healing process would take at least 2 months according to the doctors.
When all these operations were completed, the doctor asked with concern, "How is it?"
Linden was pale and asked while sweating non-stop, "It still hurts... Can you give me an anaesthetic or something?"
"Okay, I'll find someone to arrange it for you."
Rowan looked at the time and found that the time had passed 12 o'clock in the night.
This meant that he could now make another wish.
Rowan glanced at Linden, who was lying on the bed with a pale face and silently made a wish.
'I wish for a stronger body. One that is not damaged like that by such a small accident like this.'
[Ding! Wish successful!]
Suddenly, Rowan felt that his body was as hard as iron, almost invulnerable to bullets.
On the other side, the doctor came over to Linden with anaesthesia.
"Come, you'll be fine soon!"
As a result of Rowan's system's curse, the doctor tried several times, but couldn't get the needle to penetrate Linden's skin.
Linden almost fainted from pain as he asked, "Doctor, are you okay? I'm about to die of pain!"
The doctor smiled bitterly, "Your skin is too hard to penetrate. It's the first time I've seen such hard skin after all these years of being a doctor..."
"What do I do now? Can I take this medicine orally?"
"Anesthetics are drugs specially made for the nerves. It is useless to send them to the stomach. Since there is an acid in the stomach, the anaesthetics mix with it and end up having no effect."
"Doctor, I have a prescription. This is... You boil these medicines into a bowl and then–"
"No, I don't understand this prescription! The hospital has regulations and you can't prescribe medicine randomly. Who is responsible if something goes wrong?"
Slowly losing hope, Linden asked in a painful voice, "Then, what about a painkiller?"
"We don't have one that is strong enough to relieve that kind of pain. Wait a minute, I'll find a way to inject this in your body…"
With this, the doctor thought about how to penetrate Linden's skin for more than an hour, but couldn't think of a way.
Linden, the protagonist, ended up fainting from the pain.
Seeing the fainted Linden, Laura said sympathetically, "He is sooo pitiful. I feel bad for him."
Rowan nodded standing beside her, "Yeah, he sure is pitiful…"
***************************************
E/N: Have a good day/night.