Chapter 192: Favouritism II.
Theresa.
"No way!" Lurgard’s voice thundered immediately through the small room, the sudden roar echoing off the sterile walls. "The doctor explicitly said you need adequate rest and cannot be moving around!" he added, his tone laced with frantic concern.
"Exactly!" Leonard chimed in, stepping closer to the bed to reinforce his brother’s words. "So don’t even think about going anywhere at the moment," he added firmly, placing his hands on his hips to block any path I might attempt to take.
"What exactly do you both want me to do then?" I asked, leaning back against the pillows as my eyes darted between the two of them. "I asked for something remarkably simple, but you both are trying so hard to make things unnecessarily difficult for me," I added, keeping my gaze fixed squarely on them to emphasize my exhaustion.
"N–no, Theresa..." Lurgard started softly, his defensive posture crumbling as he took a quick step back and held his hands up in surrender. "I am really not trying to make things difficult for you..." He paused, searching his mind for a quick excuse before continuing. "It’s just that... anything you want Lawrence to do for you, I can easily do it too. I mean, two pairs of hands are always better than one, right?" he added, trying to sound helpful.
I almost chuckled right then and there.
I had guessed completely right—these foolish men genuinely thought I was playing favorites between them.
How on earth could these grown, powerful men be acting like insecure little children over something so ridiculous?
"That way..." Leonard chipped in, his voice taking on a surprisingly persuasive rhythm as he tried to back up Lurgard’s weak argument, "...Lawrence wouldn’t be burdened with having to handle the whole task all by himself." He nodded slowly, attempting to sound entirely convincing and selfless in front of me.
"Burdened?" Lawrence asked sharply, his brows shooting up in absolute disbelief as he turned his full attention toward his brothers. "Did I ever tell either of you that I felt burdened?" he asked, his voice rising slightly as his anger flared at their transparent ploy.
"You don’t have to say it out loud!" Lurgard answered immediately, instantly shifting his demeanor as he flashed Lawrence a warm, overly friendly smile. "We are just watching out for your well-being as your caring brothers, that’s all," he added, placing a hand on his chest to feign innocent concern while keeping his place firmly in the room.
Lawrence rolled his eyes immediately, letting out an exasperated sigh before turning his entire attention back to me.
"Theresa, I am right here by your side, and if you are worried about what I promised you..." he said calmly, his tone shifting into something reassuring. He then glanced back toward his brothers, flashing them a strange, subtle smile that I couldn’t quite decipher. "...it is still completely intact. I didn’t break it!" he added, his voice dripping with absolute confidence.
The moment those words left his mouth, I immediately breathed out a deep, trembling sigh of relief.
That was the single crucial piece of information I had been agonizing over since the moment I woke up.
But how on earth had he known that was what I was fretting about?
He must have caught the silent panic in my eyes and sensed my intense frustration as his stubborn brothers refused to give us a single moment of privacy.
"Thank you, Lawrence!" I said, genuine, profound gratitude lacing every syllable of my voice.
Leonard and Lurgard stood there staring at me expectantly, their shoulders tense as if they were waiting for me to offer them a similar word of thanks or acknowledgement.
But I deliberately ignored their lingering stares, turning my head away and closing my eyes to shut them out completely.
"Ehmn—ehmn... Theresa?" Lurgard called out tentatively, his deep voice cutting through the quiet space. "Does this mean... we can stay in the room now?" he asked.
I opened my eyes immediately, snapping my gaze in his direction, and caught sight of Lurgard scratching the back of his neck in a thoroughly awkward, sheepish gesture.
Can you just imagine the sheer nerve of this man?
He had literally just bellowed at the top of his lungs that he wasn’t going to leave the room under any circumstances, so what on earth was the point of him asking for my permission to stay now? It was so utterly exhausting and annoying!
I closed my eyes right back up, letting the rhythmic, soft hum of the surrounding monitors fill my ears as I gave up on trying to argue with them.
"Suit yourself!" I said dismissively, letting the words drift into the quiet air as I settled back into the hospital bed.
"Thank you, baby!" Lurgard said, his tone instantly lifting into a bright, sickeningly sweet declaration.
Shortly after his voice echoed through the sterile room, I felt the unmistakable, warm press of a soft kiss landed right against my forehead. I snapped my eyes open immediately.
It was Lurgard, standing entirely too close to my bedside with an eager, triumphant look on his face.
.This man was, without question, a pest—an utterly infuriating, relentlessly persistent pest who seemed incapable of taking a hint.
It was almost as though he had made it his life’s mission to discover fresh, increasingly creative ways to crawl beneath my skin and push every last one of my buttons.
No matter how many times I made my feelings painfully obvious, he somehow always found another reason, another excuse, to test the absolute limits of my already dwindling patience.
Honestly, just looking at him was enough to make my frustration simmer all over again.
Without missing a beat, I lifted my hand and dragged the back of it firmly across my forehead in one swift, aggressive motion.
The gesture was anything but subtle, as I made no attempt to soften it or pretend it meant anything else. My irritation was written plainly across my face, and I had absolutely no interest in concealing it.
The instant I wiped away the lingering trace of his touch, it was as though something inside Lurgard shattered.
The color drained completely from his face, and his expression froze where he stood, every ounce of warmth disappearing from his features as the blood seemed to vanish from his complexion in the blink of an eye, leaving him visibly shaken by my unmistakable act of rejection.
"Theresa—" he began slowly, his pride visibly plummeting into shock. "Why on earth did you have to go and do that?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly under the sudden weight of rejection.
"I did not give you permission to do that!" I fired back firmly, shutting my eyes tightly to cut off any further visual contact with him. "Disobedient people really ought to learn when and where not to cross the line."
A sharp, artificial cough suddenly cut through the heavy silence—Leonard clearing his throat.
"Theresa..." Leonard called my name softly, his voice carrying an unusual gentleness that immediately stood out against the suffocating tension hanging over the room.
He took a slow, cautious step forward, deliberately easing himself into my field of vision with the kind of hesitant, surprisingly delicate cadence I had never expected from him. Every movement he made seemed carefully measured, as though he were navigating a battlefield littered with invisible landmines, terrified that even the slightest misstep would provoke another explosion.
His gaze lingered on me uncertainly before he inhaled a quiet breath.
"I hope I am not—?" he began, speaking with obvious restraint as he carefully searched for the right words.
Unlike Lurgard, who had confronted me head-on without thinking, Leonard appeared determined to tread lightly, attempting to approach the situation with patience and caution. His tone was calm, almost diplomatic, as though he genuinely believed he could prevent the fragile situation from completely falling apart.
But he didn’t even get the chance to finish his sentence.
"You are, Leonard!" I snapped, cutting him off so abruptly that the remaining words died instantly on his lips.
The sharpness in my voice sliced cleanly through the room, leaving absolutely no room for misunderstanding. My patience had already been exhausted long before he opened his mouth, and I wasn’t about to sit there pretending otherwise.
"Don’t you dare sit there and try to act like a saint either," I added sternly, fixing him with an unwavering glare before he could even attempt to slip into the role of the calm, reasonable mediator. "I’m not buying it."
My warning landed with unmistakable force, stopping whatever explanation he had been preparing before it ever had the chance to leave his mouth.
The tension inside the hospital suite became almost tangible, pressing heavily against every wall.
The atmosphere was suffocating, thick with resentment, frustration, and countless unspoken grievances that none of us seemed willing—or perhaps able—to voice aloud. Not a single person moved. Not a single person spoke. We remained frozen in the middle of our heated confrontation, suspended in a silence so strained it felt ready to snap apart at any moment.
Then, just as that oppressive silence threatened to settle over the room once again, the heavy door to the hospital suite suddenly swung open with a sharp, dramatic force, and a shadowy figure stepped directly inside.