BLIND DEVOTION : The Misconceptions of Me | B o o k 1 [EDITING]

Chapter 86: Unconditional Love

As Mary folded few white towels to put on the rack in the hallway, she suddenly jumped at the loud noise she heard few meters away. She glanced to see Melanie apologizing to the nurse who was passing by and grabbed the iron bowl that fell.

"What's wrong with her?" Suzan, another care assistant that worked here whispered to her. "She's acting all weird since early morning." She squinted as she continued to look at her from afar.

Mary furrowed, also noticing Melanie's behavior; she wouldn't keep a simple eye contact longer than five seconds with anyone, she had strange hand tremors which made her all clumsy and ending up dropping things. And, her face seemed different, not the bright Melanie she knew.

"I'll take care of it," Mary told her.

"Of course, someone's got to wake her up. She's making a mess," Suzan commented and then left to her tasks.

Mary then joined Melanie. Standing next to her, she waited quietly to see if she would say anything but she didn't. She tried to write inside of her notebook but her hands put a stop to it. Mary couldn't watch her behaving like that anymore. She caressed her back which startled Melanie quite a bit.

"It's you," she sighed, feeling relieved.

"Are you okay?" Mary asked. When she observed her expression up-close again, it worried her even more than earlier. Even with Melanie's dark complexion, she noticed that her skin tone seemed paler, her facial traits tired, a gaze empty as she never saw before. "No, you don't look like you're alright at all. You should have stayed home."

Melanie shook her head. "It would have been worse," she said. It looked like even talking was a very difficult thing to do.

"Excuse me, ladies," Suzan appeared behind them. When they glanced back, she said, "Mrs. Chartrand is waiting desperately for her bath. Someone's got to do it. I think she's yours?" she fixed Melanie then looked at her up and down while raising an eyebrow.

"I'm on my way," Melanie replied while leaving a worried Mary behind.

"Oh, I forgot," Suzan continued, raising her piercing voice so she could hear her, "Mr. Xavier in room 335, I think he did a number two. It smells like crazy out there! You should check him out before doing the bath."

"Ok," Melanie waved without looking back.

When Suzan glanced back at Mary, this last one gave her a glare. "What?" Suzan shrugged and left while she tied her red hair into a ponytail.

One hour later, it was Melanie's break time. Mary went downstairs ten minutes after her. She walked by the cafeteria but Melanie wasn't at the table they used to sit next to the window. She looked through the window to see if she was taking some air outside, but no sight of her. Then, she entered the women's locker room. It was quiet. She went to her own locker first, grabbing her cell phone and closed the door. When she walked trough the hallway again, she made a turn to the left and saw Melanie sitting in front of her locker, head inclined back while her eyes were closed.

Mary carefully sat next to her while watching her.

"What's wrong, darling?" she asked softly.

However, Melanie remained immobile. Mary could see her swallowing hard, her throat moving before her lips opened up to talk.

"JB is leaving today," she said. Her eyes then opened and she moved her head back down, looking straight ahead of her.

Mary frowned. "What do you mean 'he's leaving?'"

"To Korea. His flight is this morning. He won't be in the country anymore and I can't stop thinking about that."

"Oh, I see." Mary nodded. "But I thought you were happy for him to pursue his dream."