Devoted Love, Mr. Hayes’ Darling Wife

The mid-level cottage is a dining-only place, not a B&B inn, so rooms are limited, with only two rooms available to outsiders other than those used by the cottage owner for his own lodging.

One of the rooms, occupied by a young couple who had come to rest on their honeymoon, was not expecting a sudden downpour of red.

There was also a room that had been hired by Micaela and Bernardo.

Bernardo was considered a big client of Micaela’s, so Micaela was polite and asked the cottage owner to give her two extra thick comforters and to make bunk beds on the floor, saying, “You sleep on the bed, I’ll sleep on the floor.”

Bernardo was a real find. This woman, instead of being shy, was very open.

“Hey, I say you’re being disrespectful too!”

Micaela looked at him incredulously, “What more do I have to do to respect you if you’ve given up your bed?”

“I mean, I am at least a beautiful, beautiful man, and you don’t blush, so at least be shy, don’t you feel honored and shy to be in the same room with this author?”

Micaela looked at him with the look of a child and said, “A pregnant and divorced woman, what do you want to be pampered for? Besides, it’s just like the model of a youth hostel, you sleep in the top bunk, I sleep in the bottom bunk, fully clothed, what’s there to be afraid of.”

“… Have you been pregnant and divorced?” Bernardo looked at her incredulously and growled, “I didn’t expect you to make up a story at the drop of a hat, if your company went bankrupt, you could have money to follow me and write a novel.”

“…”

Bernardo had showered and came out in his pajamas to see Micaela walking around the house holding her cell phone from time to time.

Bernardo wiped his head as he asked, “What are you doing?”

“I’m looking for a signal, I just checked my email and found an urgent matter at work that I need to take care of and would like to contact a colleague at work.”

Bernardo laughed at her, “You, woman, you’re quiet, I thought you were in a hurry to find a signal for fear of dying here trying to call for help, but it turns out finding a signal is for work. Hey, has it ever been said that you really do look like a cold working machine?”.

“There is.”

“So there’s someone who sees things the same way I do.”

“You.”

Bernardo: …

The cell phone towers on the hill were disrupted by heavy rains, the wi-fi inside the house had long since been disconnected, and even the cell phone traffic network had become a 1G network, occasionally going empty.

It was difficult to jump to the 2G network when a call suddenly came in.

Caller ID, Dario.

Micaela answered, “Hello, Dario?”

Dario, over there, asked worriedly, “I heard from Aida that you went to Ciudad de D to get Bernardo’s rights signed, there was a big storm and a mudslide, where are you now, are you okay?”

“No, I’m fine. I’m stuck in a farmhouse halfway to Holly Hill with Bernardo and I’m fine, I just don’t know when this heavy downpour will stop.”

As soon as Micaela’s words were out of her mouth, the phone signal cut out again and the call emitted a zipping sound that soon forced her to hang up.

No more signal.

Bernardo said, “Don’t lose your breath, the mountain towers are broken, this is half way up, six hundred meters above sea level, it is very possible to pick up the signal at the foot of the mountain, you better wait until it stops raining.”

Micaela was standing by the closet, fiddling with her lowered phone, when a sudden darkness came over her and a tall figure enveloped her.

She frowned slightly and looked at Bernardo, “?”

Bernardo had one arm, resting on the cabinet behind her, in a punching position.

Bernardo is 5’7″, but Micaela is also tall, and Micaela raises her eyes slightly to meet his, clean.

Bernardo, with his black-rimmed glasses off, does look like a comic book guy, not the writer Micaela expected him to be, as she thought male writers were more talented because of their homespun writing.

Bernardo looked at her with downcast eyes and asked, “Did you feel your heart racing?”

“… No.”

Bernardo reluctantly shifted to a position closer to the wall, “How about this?”.

“… no.”

Bernardo hated her insides, “You really are a cold working machine! I’m so handsome and you don’t even react?”

Micaela looked at him dubiously, “What reaction should I have?”.

“…”

Bernardo tossed aside the towel he was wiping his head with, “Look at being a single mother-fetus like this!”.

Micaela bit her lower lip, speechless.

…

When Nico arrived in Qiangruo County, the town of Xiantan was closed.

Nico rented a car and drove to Sendan village in the wind and rain.

Outside the village, there is a police superintendent keeping the peace, inside the rescue teams are coming and going from the village and outside the village is full of ambulances.

Nico, at a whirlwind pace, ran up to the entrance of the village, grabbed a member of the rescue team and asked, “Has there been any sign of Micaela?”

“Who is Micaela, is there a picture? There are many injured, can you show me a picture of her.”

Nico pulled a photo of Micaela from his phone, “Have you seen her? She’s so pretty, you’ll remember her at a glance, you won’t stop seeing her!”.

The civil servant frowned and thought, and Nico looked at him pleadingly, hoping he would remember, even a little.

“No! I really haven’t seen it!”

Nico looked back inside the village and asked, “Are there any more wounded inside?”

“Yes, there’s still one party that hasn’t been saved.”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Nico grabbed a helmet from the humble table next to him and ran around the yellow caution banner in the pouring rain and into the village.

“Hey! It’s dangerous in there! Hey!”

But no matter how much the staff behind him shouted to discourage him, Nico didn’t turn around.

From the moment he knew Micaela was alive, Nico vowed to himself that in this life he would keep her safe and sound, whether she hated him or not, whether she wanted to be with him or not, he wanted her to live, and that was that.

“Micaela! Micaela! Micaela!”

Nico searched and screamed all the way, his voice dry and hoarse, but still screaming at the top of his lungs.

“Micaela! Micaela! Micaela…”

Nico went one by one to see the wounded being carried out on stretchers by the paramedics, but none of them were his Micaela.

“Micaela! Micaela!”

Nico screamed so loud her throat was about to be ripped out, and the cold, sharp rain mixed with small hailstones hit her face.

“Help… help me…”

A thin female voice came from under a large rock off to the side, and a slender white arm rose weakly and came to rest in Nico’s line of sight.

Nico pushed the huge boulder so hard that his palm was bloodied by the sharp edges, but he dared not rest for a second.

“Ah-!”

Nico pushed his mouth away and rushed to see the injured woman trapped under it.C0ntent © 2024 (N/ô)velDrama.Org.

Not Micaela.

Desperation, celebration.

Never before had two great contrasting emotions rushed through the body in such a heartbreaking contradiction.

Nico walked deeper into town, mud and rain mingling and splashing on his otherwise clean, dusty, wind and rain covered pants and shirt.

Their eyes are full of scruffiness, covered in sweat and rain, but when you look at them, they are all desperate.

Micaela, where, exactly, are you?

Nico did not want to rest and went deeper into the village.

The village of Xiantan depends on the mountains, and the village backs onto rolling hills with steep terrain, and is subject to small mudslides and wind and rain all year round, but it also feeds the whole village because of the visitors brought by the beauty of the mountains.

The road is rough and Nico is running.

He feared that Micaela might not be able to wait for help.

The incessant downpour, crashing into Nico’s eyes, felt like pins and needles, and the exposed skin, already frozen and stiff, had no body heat.

Small landslides, which continue to occur with heavy rains.

The rescue team evacuated everyone in the danger zone, but Nico was the only one who went in without conviction.

He was afraid, afraid that Micaela would be trapped here.

On the mountain, a rock suddenly rolled in Nico’s direction, falling as fast and hard as the order of death …