The Billionaire's Contracted Wife [English]

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The monitor continuously made beeping sounds as it flashed with a red light. The head nurse had heard the sounds while she was finishing her rounds and checking up on the patients.

It’s the monitor that was attached to all the gadgets monitoring grandma Hanada’s condition in the ICU room.

Upon seeing this, the head nurse’s calm demeanor immediately went out the door, and she began to panic.

"Oh, my God! We need backup!" She shouted at the other nurses on duty.

However, since her colleague was listening to music and was using headphones, he could not hear her cries for back up. He also didn’t notice the flashing light because his eyes were glued on his cellphone, his head bobbing up and down while listening to the music’s rhythm.

The head nurse tapped the colleague on the shoulder multiple times to get his attention. She was outraged by her colleagues’ carelessness and how he was slacking off while on duty.

Shouting from the top of her lungs, she scolded him for negligence and incompetence to focus while working.

"What is wrong with you? I have already reminded you multiple times that you should never get distracted easily when you are on duty and do your job properly! Call the doctor; this patient is in a fatal condition! Hurry up!" The head nurse ordered as she had left to go to grandma Hanada’s room and watched her colleague scramble away to alert the doctor of grandma Hanada’s condition.

Luckily, when she arrived at grandma Hanada’s room, the attending physician and a couple more nurses had already arrived and had begun checking grandma Hanada’s condition while running some tests. But the ward was in a frenzy; some nurses were checking the monitor, while some assisted the physician. It was not until the physician had asked the head nurse a question that was a matter of life and death for grandma Hanada.

"Has anyone called Dr. Swan yet? There is a possible chance that she needs to go back to surgery if her condition worsens." The attending physician asked while examining grandma Hanada’s vitals and current condition.

"Yes! I have already asked the junior nurse to make a call, and he’s on the way to the hospital." The head nurse answered quickly while checking the monitors.

The attending physician nodded before continuing his test.

It was not until he noticed the older woman’s eyes started flickering that he slightly smiled.

The other nurses, who hadn’t noticed that, stared at the physician with a look of pure confusion.

"Why are you smiling, doctor?" One of them asked.

"I’m smiling because there’s a good chance she’ll wake up soon. The doctor answered.

The nurse looked at grandma Hanada’s eyes and noticed the flickering too.

She realized that the physician was right with his assumption. Grandma Hanada had a good chance of pulling through for now.

Just as Dr. Swan arrived and about to take over and bring grandma Hanada to the operating room, grandma Hanada’s eyes flickered open, but whatever she said next was inaudible because she was still wearing the oxygen mask.

The physician removed the oxygen mask gently, allowing grandma Hanada to breathe and gasp for air before.

"A-Ah-Ashley, I need to talk to her." Grandma Hanada managed, voice still weak and raspy from her previous state.

"Who? Did you say, Ashley?" Dr. Swan asked.

The older woman nodded. She spoke a sentence, but her voice was so raspy and weak that everyone in the ward barely heard her voice. "I need to speak to my granddaughter-in-law, Ashley. Please, I need to speak to her."

She didn’t know how much time she had left. But she knew that she barely had any time left, even though she had many loose ends that she needed to tie up before she went.

Her daughter had somewhat resurrected from the dead, her grandson was in critical condition too, and she didn’t know what she would do if Tanaga didn’t survive. She knew deep down she couldn’t let that happen, no matter what, so she was fighting for her life. She needed to make preparations, and some ends meet before she departed the world.

Dr. Swan also knew that she didn’t have much time left, so he quickly ordered one of the nurses to go, call Ashley, and get her here as fast as possible.

Whoever she was, she must’ve been an essential person because grandma Hanada was not looking good. If she needed to speak to Ashley so desperately that she was fighting for her life, she must’ve played a vital role, yet Dr. Swan had other things to worry about. In grandma Hanada’s current state, she barely had more than 24 hours left to live.

The nurses that attended to Dr. Swan did nothing, instead just standing there, doing nothing. These actions angered Dr. Swan.

"What are you all waiting for? Ms. Hanada doesn’t have much time left. Fetch this Ashley person and bring her here immediately!" Dr. Swan yelled at all the nurses attending him.

The head nurse ordered one of her subordinates to find Ashley. "Hurry! She should be in the private waiting room, and if she’s not with you, don’t bother returning.

===

While the nurse was on her way, she ran into Naomi and Harumi on the way to the ICU.

Knowing that grandma Hanada was Asian, she decided to ask them if they were perhaps the person that she was looking for.

She stopped and asked them, "Excuse me, do you by chance happen to know a lady named Ashley? She’s the granddaughter of Ms. Hanada."

Naomi answered, stopping dead in her tracks. "Why do you need to ask that? Did something happen to my mother? Any new news? Is she dead?" She questioned, eyes filled with curiosity, but no hint of worry.

The nurse was surprised and stared at Naomi. She was in utter confusion for the way Naomi spoke. Did she really not care about her own mother? Why isn’t she sad by the news that her own mother might be dead? The nurse was in shock and was unable to reply.

Harumi, who was also listening to the conversation, couldn’t believe what she heard. She was stunned at the fact that Naomi didn’t even seem to care that her mother might’ve passed away.

When the nurse had returned to her senses, she asked them one final question. "If neither of you is Ashley, would you happen to know where I could find her? It’s urgent!" The urgency in the nurse’s voice was apparent, and she had no time to lose anymore. Her very own job was on the line if she couldn’t find Ashley.

When Naomi was about to speak, Harumi quickly cut in. "No, none of us is Ashley, but you just wait, I’ll go find her. You can go ahead and head back, and I’ll make sure to send her over there right away." Harumi said as she quickly left without saying goodbye to Naomi.

Naomi frowned at what Harumi had done, but she couldn’t do anything because Harumi had already left. She had nothing else to do but to follow the nurse to her very own mother’s ward.

When they arrived at the ICU, the nurse quickly entered the room, but Naomi wasn’t allowed to enter because it was off-limits to her. She promptly called for the nurse who had suddenly disappeared and closed the door in front of her.

She was outraged. "Hey, you! Come back here! I need to speak to my mother!" She shouted, but the nurse just ignored her and continued with what she was doing.

===

Meanwhile, Harumi had called Ashley, and the call went through quickly. Ashley saw that it was Harumi and immediately answered the call.

"Harumi, what’s going on? Why the sudden call?"

"Ma’am, where are you? It’s really urgent. Madam Hanada has woken up for a limited amount of time, and she needs to speak with you! She’s currently in the ICU!

"What! I’ll be right there! Go ahead and go back to the ICU. I will meet you there."

She then ended the call and immediately ran towards the ICU, forgetting about Tanaka, who ran after her, confused about why she was running in the firs

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Chapter edited by Marichat_rettenoir