Novel Squares
Chapter 27
Naomi caught sight of it out of the corner of her eye and with a quick push, managed to shove it aside out of Charles’s way.
The pillar toppled in the opposite direction, landing on the ground with a deafening thud.
The color drained from Charles’s face at this point. He glanced at Naomi’s hand. “Naomi!”
“Get out of here!” Naomi shouted, ignoring the excruciating pain from the burning flesh of her hand, and instead dragged Charles out of the burning inferno.
By this time, all the guests staying on the same floor woke up from the commotion and emerged from their rooms to see what was going on. When they realized what happened, they all rushed forward to help. Some of them called the cops, some of them helped check on the unconscious woman, and the rest tried to put out the fire.
It did not take long for the fire brigade, the police, and the ambulance to arrive.
Since Naomi and Charles were the first witnesses to arrive at the scene, and since Naomi got herself burned when trying to push the pillar out of the way, she and Charles were then brought to the hospital in the ambulance along with the unconscious woman.
As soon as they arrived, the woman was sent into the emergency department whereas Naomi was bussed aside to the wound treatment room.
Thankfully, one of the guests who had medical experience treated Naomi’s wound before she was brought to the hospital. The doctor let out a sigh of relief when he saw Naomi’s burn. “You’re lucky- the burn isn’t that deep, and fortunately someone treated your wound before coming here. If he or
she didn’t do so, it’ll surely leave a scar. I know how much you youngsters care about your appearance
a scar will be akin to torture for you girls.”
Naomi was in such a state of shock that she did not even register the pain initially, but now, the pain from the burn was hitting her so hard her forehead was covered in beads of sweat. She forced out a smile and replied, “It’s fine.”
She did not think things through and instead acted on instinct when she reached out to push the burning pillar out of the way, but she did not regret it one bit.
She did not regret doing this at all, even if it meant she would have a permanent scar on her hand.
Meanwhile, Charles frowned as he stared at Naomi’s hand which was wrapped in thick layers of gauze. She got hurt because of him.
He failed to protect her,
The doctor gave them some instructions on how to care for Naomi’s wound and then left.
Charles turned to Naomi. “You wait here. I’ll go get your medicine from the pharmacy.”
Although Naomi did not need to be admitted, she was prescribed some painkillers and needed to return to the hospital to get her dressing changed in a few days.
During this time, she needed to take care of her wound so that it would not get infected.
Naomi lifted her head to meet Charles’s gaze. His brows were furrowed from the moment he carried the unconscious woman out of the fire.
She knew he was blaming himself for her injury–she could feel his despair, so she said, “I’m fine, Charles.
Her expression was solemn.
Charles felt as though he was carrying a weight on his shoulders. He felt suffocated by the heavy guilt that weighed on him. he blamed himself for failing to take care of Naomi as he promised. Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.
If only he heard her cries for help earlier.
If only he showed up earlier.
If he showed up just a few seconds earlier, none of this would have happened.
She was the one who got hurt, but she took up the role of reassuring him instead. Charles forced out a smile and gently stroked her head. “I’m fine too, but that’s all because you saved me. I owe you my life.”
Naomi instinctively wanted to dodge Charles when he touched her like this, but his hand was so feather–light on her head that it did not feel uncomfortable or intimate at all.
She lifted her head to meet his gaze.
Charles was smiling now, the scowl having disappeared from his face.
↑
Naomi smiled. “Don’t say that. You saved my life too. I’d be dead by now if you didn’t hear my cries for help.”