Chapter 2 — From the Day I Didn't Ask

“It's okay, I walked a lot today, I'm just tired.”

He said "oh" and continued playing the game. I entered the bedroom and locked the door. Sit on the edge of the bed, take out the health examination results and look at them again. In the past, no matter what happened, even if it was just a broken phone screen, my first reaction was always to find him.

“Husband, what should I do now?”

“Husband, please help me see.”

“Husband, I'm scared.”

Now, I am holding a medical examination paper that could be related to my life, sitting just a wall away from him. I don't have the slightest thought of looking for you. Not because I'm angry. But that habit has been strangled by his own hands. The next day, I took half a day off and went to the provincial hospital to register for a specialist examination. Do an aspiration biopsy. During the three days waiting for the results, I still went to work normally, cooked rice normally, and said good morning and good evening to him as usual. He discovered nothing. On the fourth day, there were results. It is a benign tumor, but the location is not good and requires surgical removal. The doctor said: "Arrange admission to the hospital as soon as possible, complete the pre-operative tests and then you can schedule the surgery." I asked: "Is surgery risky?"

“Minimally invasive surgery, not much risk, but requires family signature.”

I nodded. Leaving the clinic, I stood in the hospital lobby, looking at the admission notice in my hand. *The family member signed.* I took out my phone and opened the contacts. Go over his name. And call my mother. 04 When my mother answered the phone, she was dancing in the square, the background music was extremely loud.

“Mom, next week I have to be hospitalized, can you come stay with me for a few days?”

The music faded away, mom must have gone somewhere else.

"Hospitalized? What's wrong? What's the problem?"

"It's just a small surgery, the tumor is benign, it's removed and it's done. The doctor said I'll stay in the hospital for about three or four days."

Her voice immediately changed: "Where is your husband? Doesn't he take care of you?" I was silent for two seconds.

“He's been busy lately, I haven't told him yet.”

"What haven't you said? What do you mean you're in the hospital having surgery without telling your husband?"

“Mom, are you coming up?”

She was impatient: "Mom, she's definitely coming. But I..."

"Okay then, please send me the hospital address, next Monday morning."

I hung up the phone. I know my mother is definitely full of things she wants to say, but I don't want to listen. I don't want to listen to anyone telling me "husband and wife have to be this and that". At home on the weekend, he was on the phone all day, and I packed my things to go to the hospital. Pajamas, slippers, towels, phone charger, drinking cup. I stuffed it all into a travel bag and hid it in the back corner of the closet. From beginning to end, he never asked what I was doing. Monday morning, I took sick leave from the company for a week. When I walked out the door, he was still sleeping. I closed the door softly, picked up my bag and went downstairs. My mother was waiting at the hospital gate. Seeing my bag, her eyes turned red.

"What happened to you? Did you argue with him?"

“No arguing, let's go in, mom.”

Complete hospital admission procedures, pre-operative tests, blood draws, electrocardiogram, and chest X-ray. Running up and down all day, my mother's legs were weak, so I told her to wait in the hospital room and run and take care of things myself. The person at the nurse's station asked me, "Where are my family members?"

“My mother is in the hospital room.”

“Where is your husband? Sign the papers Ensure that immediate relatives are present before surgery.”

I asked: "Can my mother sign?" The nurse looked at me and said okay. At night, lying in the hospital bed, my mother sat peeling apples on a folding chair for family members. She said while peeling: "I don't care if you and your husband have any problems, but you're in the hospital and he doesn't know, that's unacceptable."

“Mom…”

“I heard everything mom said. What if something happened on the operating table…”

“No mom, the doctor said it's very safe.”