The Silent Wife novel (Rachel and Justin)
Chapter 301

Chapter 301

"Are you fine?"

Justin, who was still in a daze, heard Rachel questioning him. He had a blurry vision in front of him; it felt like she had multiplied herself and wiggled in front of him.

He uncontrollably grabbed her hand hard and asked, "What's going on between you and Julian?"

A stunned Rachel's expression immediately changed.

At that moment, his gaze was exactly like it had been five years ago, causing her to shake his hand off reflexively. Stumbling backward, she even bumped into a chair. With a loud bang, the chair fell down.

Standing up, Justin wanted to hold onto Rachel. However, the instant that he rose to his feet, he was so dizzy as he held his head, feeling as if something was going to burst from his brain as a result of the splitting headache.

As she leaned against a wall, Rachel looked at him from a safe distance. She merely looked at him motionlessly on the floor for a period of time after he had collapsed.

"Justin?"

Rachel called out in a trembling voice.

She had only proceeded to walk over with caution after he didn't respond to her. Then, she called out again and patted his shoulder. "Justin?”

Seeing Justin's pale face made her realize that something was off, so she immediately called the ambulance.

It was late at night when Gloria rushed to the hospital not long after Rachel, who was in the ambulance, arrived.

"How's Justin?"

"He's still inside. The doctor is still checking on him." Peering through the curtains, Rachel continued, "For some reason, he collapsed just like that." "Collapsed? Suddenly?"

"Yup."

Gloria's reaction made Rachel think that she knew something about all this. Just as Rachel was going to

question her about it, the curtains behind her were drawn open to reveal the doctor coming out.

"Who here is a family member of Justin Burton?"

"I am." Gloria immediately stepped up.

The doctor then asked, "The patient has suffered from brain trauma before and we suspect that it's the effect from an old wound. We'll need to conduct a CT scan of his brain to determine the cause. Has he also fainted or exhibit such symptoms like this before? Or, did he have other illnesses?"

"I just came back from abroad a few days ago, so I'm not entirely sure of his body condition, actually." Gloria was saying this as she glanced at Rachel.

Shaking her head, Rachel replied, "I'm not too sure either. This is my first time witnessing such a thing."

The doctor pondered deeply before he said, "I'll run a check on him first. In the meantime, you two don't have to be so worried."

The CT scan showed no abnormalities in his brain, but since Justin was still in a coma, he could only continue to stay in the hospital as they waited for the attending physician to conduct a full body scan on him.

After registering the documents for his hospitalization, Rachel saw Gloria at the entrance to the ward on her way back

"Are you not entering?"

"Hey, Rachel." Raising her head, Gloria felt a bit more relieved upon the sight of Rachel.

It was the same five years ago as Justin was on the hospital bed, just like now. Besides Justin, she had no other friends in Riverdale and didn't know which path to take in her future or who to trust.

As both of them entered the room, Rachel comforted Gloria, "Don't worry too much. Didn't they say that there were no problems after checking on him? Maybe it was just fatigue that caught up to him and he would be alright after a good long sleep."

"I'm only scared, Rachel."

"What are you scared of?"

"Five years ago, when the doctor said that he would not regain consciousness again, I was terrified every day since he is the only relative I have after all."

Nobody understood the feeling of one losing their relatives more than Rachel.

Not being able to hold it in any long, Rachel hugged Gloria and lightly patted her on the back. "This won't happen again. If he could wake up from that horrific accident five years ago, why wouldn't he do the same this time, especially when he didn't even sustain any injuries? Even if something did happen, I'm still one of your relatives too."

Gloria's eyes immediately welled up with tears.

"He'll be fine."

"It's good that you're back, Rachel." After sobbing on Rachel's shoulder for a while, Gloria continued, "Don't leave this time. He's a changed man."

After being dazed for a moment, Rachel pushed Gloria aside when she remembered how Justin was right before he collapsed.

Coming back to her senses, Gloria knew that she had misspoken when she saw the slightly awful expression on Rachel's face. "I didn't mean anything by that. Judging from his current situation, I was just wondering whether fate might be giving you two another chance. Please stay, Rachel. Charlotte needs you too."

Rachel admitted to herself that she dealt with Justin with intentions of exploiting him, but Gloria was like a sister to her.

"Ria, not everything can be fixed. He will always be Justin Burton."

"Rachel."

Just as Gloria wanted to say something, a knock came from the door. "President Hudson, Miss Hochmann."

The person who had arrived was Frankie with another man in tow.

"This is the psychiatrist of President Burton, Dr. Aurich."

A shocked Rachel asked, "He's been seeing a psychiatrist?"

Frankie nodded.

Allowing the doctor to examine Justin's body in the ward, Rachel and Gloria left the room and followed Frankie to the living room outside.

Gloria questioned, "Why was Justin seeing a psychiatrist? Was there something wrong with him?"

Frankie replied, "It's nothing like that, so don't worry. It's just that President Burton has had an increasing amount of migraines these few years. Suspecting it might be from mental stress, he arranged to see a psychiatrist for counseling. On top of that, the car crash from five years ago had also created a mental block of sorts, as I'm sure you know."

Rachel said hesitatingly, "You mean the fact that he doesn't dare to drive anymore?"

Nodding, Frankie replied, "Yes. However, him not daring to drive was just something he said outwardly. The most important fact was that the trauma caused by the things the president had forgotten five years ago was

severe."

"Trauma?" Rachel asked confoundingly, "What trauma does he have?"

"I'm not too sure about this. As Dr. Aurich is President Burton's private doctor, they had signed a non disclosure agreement, so even I don't know the specifics."

Gloria spoke up, "What trauma could he have? It must have been the fact that Miss Rachel's absence had dealt a huge blow to him. After knowing his own faults, he regretted it. That's the root of the trauma. See, Miss Rachel, I told you that he's changed. He has actually regretted his actions that time. So, please seriously reconsider all this."

A frowning Rachel did not answer Gloria as she subconsciously looked toward the direction of the ward.

Gloria is speaking up for Justin out of sheer habit. The so-called trauma can't be just because of me. She did not believe that Justin became hurt because of her.

Maybe it was because he had been kidnapped as a kid? Or, was it the incident with the fire?

Since Rachel didn't understand the cause, she also did not want to further delve into all this.

As all their attention was focused on Justin's condition, nobody noticed that the door of the ward was not tightly closed. Outside, a figure had been standing there for a long time as they listened to every single word that was being said.

Since it was alright late at night, there were only a few people walking around in the hospital. As the person leaned against the wall, they slightly clenched their fist as they listened in on the conversation. Who knew that they would accidentally gain valuable information as they came to the hospital?

Justin was actually seeing a psychiatrist?