While she slept, Henry could just stare at her without worrying about being reprimanded. Her face reminded him of an ancient painting with gentle eyebrows and a serene face. Ellie always favored soft colors and pastels which in those paintings, Henry recalled were the painter"s choice of pigment. She looked like a regal princess of old tales. Her skin pale as the moon due to her health issues. He hated that he could see her health deteriorating, it made him restless like there was no time at all. The feeling intensified and not wanting to wake her but being moved to touch her, he brushed her cheek. It was so soft.As if sensing his incredible discomfort, Ellie"s eyes blinked rapidly. There was a foggy look to her eyes before they cleared to stare at him. "h.e.l.lo, Mr. Wong."
Quickly, Henry moved his hand to the side of her pillow. His whole back oddly tingled with a restless energy. "Good morning, my dear friend. How do you feel? Has my staff been doing everything they can to ensure you are comfortable? I know this is a bit of a change of scenery."
Ellie"s eyes rolled around the designs on the ceiling, which was a beautiful ocean motif that was echoed in the whole design of the room. "I feel so blessed. It was incredibly of you to have me at your own house. I wasn"t expecting any more than what our contract stated as I have no reason to."
Her eyes danced with such happiness, that Henry"s voice was caught in his throat as he was going to dissuade her. He wanted to say she could expect more. But the response caught in his throat, he could hear Nolan"s anger pounding in his ears. He would not mess with Ellie Chen. But he couldn"t help, but give her honestly, "This idea was mostly Nolan"s. He is quite persistent when he gets an idea in his head. Determined so much that he bugged all of the doctors until they relented. I really admire that about him. He got the clearance to safely move you, which I didn"t bother to think or ask about which is horrible of me."
Ellie smiled. "I mean, Amrati doesn"t care where I am. He"d told me many many times there wasn"t anything more they could do for me. I"m nearing the end now." She reached out and touched the gold leaf ribboning on the wallpaper above her and exhaled softly as she marveled. "This place is like heaven when compared to the hospital. I didn"t even know a place like this could exist in America. It looks like a Oriental film set where everything is designed and set. I keep thinking I"m dreaming, but I know I don"t have the brain to make this up."
"It"s just wallpaper." Henry said flippantly as he pulled the chair from the vanity so his face was level with hers. He did this so she didn"t have to get up or move much to see his face. "Everyone has it in their house. It"s a ceiling. Maybe ours is a little more fancy because my mother had an eye for design, but you have seen most of these things already. Maybe in Florence or Venice or the Forbidden City in China. That"s what my mother based it on. It"s nothing special, just a couple thousand dollars here and there. It pales in comparison to you. I hate how you talk about not being here anymore like it"s coming soon. I don"t want it too."
Ellie"s eyes widened and her nose scrunched up as she struggled to put her thoughts into words he would understand. "I spent a lot of my life racing cars professionally. I mean it"s not that hard to die in car crashes when everyone is driving is at a couple hundred miles and compet.i.ting for the same trophy. I"ve never cared whether I lived or died. I just wanted to be behind the wheel for as long as I can. I mean honestly, I thought I was going to die so many times before I got into an accident. The accident I got into was luck as well. I should be dead already, I"m just here torturing everyone else. I never thought about the things that would happen after I finished racing because I was going to race to the grave."