Facade of Love

Chatper 286

Chapter 286 You Might Lose This Leg

With just one glance at Charlie’s right leg, I could clearly see that his calf bone was covered in large abscesses. No, almost everything I could see was covered in abscesses, and it was horrifying to behold.

He tightly pursed his thin lips, his face trembling slightly due to suppressed emotions. After a long pause, he spoke with a calm yet stern tone, “Did I scare you?”

I hesitated for a moment, then quickly shook my head, looking at him in disbelief. “How did it get this bad? How long has it been like this?” I scolded myself for asking.

I had forgotten that he had recently been in a car accident… Wait, the accident had injured his leg, so how could it have deteriorated into this state? Why did it look like rotten flesh? What kind of accident could have caused his leg to turn into this?

Perhaps realizing that I had already seen everything, he bit his lip and said softly, “Burn injury. Failed skin graft.”

I froze, and a sharp pain pierced my chest. How had it become so severe, and why had I not noticed it before? I had not seen any signs of a limp when he walked. Then he was pinned down by rocks in the cave…

The realization hit me like a wave, and I panicked. Without thinking, I rushed to his side and reached out to examine his wound. However, he grabbed my wrist, and I met his furrowed brow. My anxiety was evident. “Let me see your wound. It’s this serious, and if you don’t treat it, you might lose this leg.”

I was genuinely worried and a little angry. Why had he kept silent the entire time? He had endured the pain without saying a word during our journey. I had thought his fever was due to his weak physical

condition, but I had never imagined it was a high fever caused by infection.

Looking at me, he furrowed his brow slightly and repeated, “I’m fine.”

I had already snapped out of my shock, and now I was angry. Seeing his calm demeanor only. fueled my anger. I spoke with a hint of frustration, “Is this what you call fine?! All you ever say is, ‘I’m fine.‘ Do you plan to have me owe you my life and feel guilty for the rest of my days when your leg is really beyond saving? You silently followed me here. Do you want me to carry this guilt forever?”

I was truly angry at him and at myself for being so careless and presumptuous. He had been in a wheelchair not long after the accident, and I had assumed he had no major injuries and allowed him to follow me.

Now, in the midst of this wilderness, the cold and rainy weather added to our woes. Charlie was still running a high fever, and his leg could not bear this ordeal from old injuries and new. Even an iron man would have struggled in these conditions.

I was not sure if my words had any effect, but he looked at me, and his handsome face hesitated for a moment. He held my hand, his grip loosening slightly.

I withdrew my hand and knelt beside him to inspect his leg, but he;tively moved it away.

I furrowed my brows at him.

He bit his lip and said awkwardly, “I was afraid it might scare you.”

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I pressed my lips together, feeling a mixture of emotions. At a time like this, he was still worried about that.

Suppressing the bitterness in my heart, I said, “I’m not that delicate.”

With that, I gently rolled up his pant leg and saw that most of his lower leg was covered in ulcers. I gasped when I saw that his Achilles tendon area was bright red. It was from when he forced himself free from being trapped under the rocks in the cave. The blood from his scraped heel mixed with the pus created a gruesome sight.

I looked up at him, unable to contain my heartache. “Does it hurt?”

He had walked with me in silence the whole way, not uttering a word of pain or showing any signs of discomfort. How much could this man endure?

Seeing me looking at him, he paused and stared at me, his dark eyes both surprised and uncertain. After hesitating for a moment, he shifted his gaze away and forced a smile, nonchalantly saying, “It doesn’t.”

This man… NôvelDrama.Org (C) content.

Suppressing the discomfort in my chest, I took a deep breath and asked, “The medications Inch brought over, do you need to take them regularly?” Inch had mentioned last night that he needed to change Charlie’s dressing, and I initially thought it was for the wounds on his face, but it seemed it was for his leg.

Charlie nodded and said to me, “First, we need to find a way out.”

I knew we had to get out, but now that I had discovered the extent of his injuries, I feared that if I continued to carry him around, his leg would truly be a goner