One

A terrible accident happened that night. A man was driving in high speed when a truck lost control on the road and collided with the front of the car. The man was badly injured and was taken immediately to the hospital in coma. If the emergency were late just a few minutes, it’ll probably be the end for the man.

In the hospital, the diagnose wasn’t good. The man has suffered excoriations, broke some ribs and a leg and had brain damage. The doctors didn’t have any beliefs in his case, but the man started to get better and better after the first surgeries. He started to be known by everyone in the hospital as a miracle case. Everybody knew him.

The only problem was they didn’t found any contact. His identity card showed he was Chinese and when they tried to contact the family, they found out there was none. All dead in a car accident, just like the one he was involved.

When finally Zitao woke up, only a nurse was with him in the room. He already passed through two months of surgeries and treatments, and was in induced coma until three days back, when the doctors suspended the drugs little by little until he woke up.

“Oh, you woke up Tao, that’s good!” the nurse said happily when she realized he was waking. “Oh, sorry to call you like that, but it’s like I already know you after all this time.”

Zitao looked around; he almost got blind by all the white in the room when the sun entered the open window, having nothing to contain it. He stared at the window, and regretted the idea. Immediately, he closed his eyes, the stinging pain in his head making him groan.

“This seems to be bothering you.” She got the message right away and closed the window and the curtains, turning the room a comfortable dark. She took her phone and called the doctor.

He tried to take a deep breath, but felt some pain in his ribs. Then, he tried to lift one of his hands, but his body wasn’t responding to any of his commands.

“Take it easy, man.” The woman said. “You’ll see it’ll take some time for your body to come back to normal. Do you remember anything that happened to you?”

Zitao only shook his head saying ‘no’. He couldn’t remember much. He remembered a place, a house, his parents, and the dog he used to have in childhood… But the memories were all cloudy, hazy. He opened his mouth to talk, but nothing came out.

“Calm down, you’ll be able to talk in some time. It’s the drug’s effect going away.” She said. “Now, let me tell you what happened. You got involved in a bad car accident. A truck crashed your car and you were driving high speed through the road at night. When the ambulance arrived, you were in coma. They brought you here and then you went through some surgeries of repair. You broke some ribs, a leg, but it’s all getting better after the surgeries. You had to go through a brain surgery too, so you can get a little dizzy now and then.

He answered with his head again. More memories came to his mind. A car accident, his parents were in a car that was completely smashed by a truck. He wasn’t there. But, then, which accident this woman was talking about? He was confused. Zitao didn’t felt when the tears came to his eyes on the memories of his family and the way they passed away. He was just a teenager when the accident happened. He was 15, he remembered. Since then, he lived with his grandmother.

Some more things started to pop up in his mind, and the nurse was considerate and let him come back from his trance. He remembered the end of high school, his graduation and saying to his grandma he would try to enter a Korean university. She cried, but let him go. She told him he needed to find his way. He moved in and then… And then, he couldn’t remember a thing. It seemed like a big space in his memories. He couldn’t remember anything about the accident, or why he was driving high speed in the night, two things he hated to do. Nothing.

“Tao…?” she called when she noticed he was back.

“S-So this is… My name…?” He asked.

“Actually it’s Huang Zitao. But everyone in the hospital already calls you Tao. You were one of the most amazing cases ever.” She told him. “It’s really amazing you’re already talking.”

“And… What is… yours…?” He asked.

“My name?” She saw him agree with his head. “My name is Minah. I’m your nurse for the morning. There’s yet Baekhyun, your nurse for the afternoon and Kyungsoo, the responsible for the night.”

“And…” He took a deeper breath. “Who pays the bills?”

“We don’t know. The hospital always receives the money when it’s necessary. A man always comes to pay, his name is Joonmyun, but he claims he’s only the counter of the person who really pays all. Actually, he’s the only contact we have in your case, this Joonmyun. We tried to find your family but…” She stopped, forgetting that maybe Tao didn’t remember about what happened with his family.

“But they’re all dead, right?” He said, his speech already normal. “On an accident like mine.”

“Yeah.” Minah said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to mention this…”

“Don’t worry, I got over it.” Tao said. “So, well… Everybody in the hospital already knows me?”

“Oh, yeah. After you survived that accident no one expected you to get better so quickly. But, in the end, you ended up well, even after the brain surgery. You got moved from the ICU pretty fast and were under the effects of drugs not to feel the discomfort of the brain surgery.”

“I see.”

They didn’t talk much after this. After some time in silence, they heard knocks on the door. It was the doctor, who entered and examined Tao. Seeing Tao was ok and getting better in a normal pace, he left the room. They heard a low beep; it was Minah’s alarm to lunch time.

“Oh, it’s already this late?” She asked herself. Tao sent her a curious look. “It’s already lunch time. I’m going to bring it and after you eat, it’s Baekhyun’s turn to look after you. I hope you like him.”

“I hope he’s caring like you.” He smiled a bit.

“Thanks.” She smiled too. “Actually, you’re not supposed to eat nothing today, but I’m going to bring you some food. I think you deserve it.”

“Thanks.” He said, seeing the woman leaving the room.

Tao tried to move some parts of his body while no one was in the room. He tried all he could think of. He tried to move his fingers, and succeed. It was harder to move his entire hand. Then, he tried the same with his feet, and the results were almost the same. He tried to move his neck in wider directions and when he looked to the bedside table, he saw a vase of roses there. White roses. They were pure white, he saw, even in the dark room.

Some time passed until he heard the door open again and Minah enter the room carrying a tray.

“Oh, you already can move your neck this much?” She asked, seeing the patient staring at the vase with roses. “The roses… They always come for you. Our theory is they are from the same person who pays your bills, but we never understood why this person never showed up here. After all, this person seems to really care about you.”

“I can’t remember anything since I moved in here. Like anything.” He said. “Is this normal?”

“Yes, the doctor said it can happen when you have coma because of brain trauma. But I think that after all you’ve been through, you’re going to get this memory back. You just need the right motivation.”

Just need the right motivations. Tao thought about it and something in his mind said the white roses should be a motivation. But, unfortunately, all he had was the feeling, not the memory itself. He saw Minah happily coming with the tray and resting it on the table of his bed. It’s only a soup and jelly. There were no salt on the soup and no sugar on the jelly, but the vitality of the nurse made Tao happy too. She tried to put him in a comfortable position and fed him. When he finished eating, he thanked the nurse.

“No problem, Tao. This is my job, after all.” She said, hearing another beep from her cell phone and noticing this is the end of her turn. Baekhyun should be in the hospital already. –Well, my turn is over, I’m just gonna stay here until Baekhyun arrive.

“Ok.” He nodded. “You stayed here all the time, you don’t need to take a look at the other patients?”

“Actually, me and the other nurses I told you were moved to look only after you. It’s not common, but the one who pays your bills required 24/7 vigilance on you.” She explained, and then they heard knocks on the door again.

“Minah, are you there yet?” someone asked.

“Ah, it’s Baekhyun, I’m gonna introduce you two.” She said and quickly got up from the chair she was sitting and going to the door. “Baek, you’re not going to believe this, Tao woke up!”

“Really?” Baekhyun asked. “I didn’t thought he was going to wake up this fast, this is great! Get out of my way so I can talk to him!”

“Calm down, let me introduce you two, let’s try to make the boy comfortable, ok? Don’t jump on him, ok Baek?” She said, letting him enter the room.

“Tao, this is Baekhyun, you nurse for the…”

“OMG he is so much beautiful awake!” Baekhyun let it escape from his mouth, shutting it down with his hands immediately. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say this but… The only image I had of you was sleeping so…”

“Don’t worry.” Tao said, but felt his face turning a bit red because of the compliment. He must be awful lying on that bed he doesn’t even know how long. His skin must be so pale you can see the veins through him.

“Yah! Minah! Now I envy you from seeing him waking up! More than when you told me…” Baekhyun said.

“Don’t let Chanyeol hear what you’re saying.” Minah laugh.

“Pediatric area is far from here…” Baekhyun answered. “So, Tao, I’m your nurse for the afternoon, I hope there’s no problems.”

“No…” Tao said.

“Now, may I ask why the curtains are closed?” Baekhyun asked.

“The clarity bothered Tao, so we preferred to get him used to it gradually. Well, I’m going, me and the other nurses are going to have lunch out of the hospital today. We had enough of the hospital food.” Minah said and wave them goodbye.

“So, are you already feeling your extremities?” Baekhyun asked, getting near to Tao and looking to him.

Baekhyun’s look was deep and Tao tried to figure out what he was searching.

“I can move my fingers and neck, but I can’t hold up my arm.” Tao said, showing his progress.

“This is good! By tomorrow you would be moving all by yourself.” Baekhyun happily said. “But I’ll need you to make some effort later, I’ll have to move all your body.”

“Why this?” Tao asked himself.

“Ah, it’s a routine procedure. If your body stay in the same position for too long, may appear some wounds, and the movements are important not to cause muscular dystrophy.” Baekhyun explained. “The physiotherapist suggested the movements, so don’t worry.”

“Ok.” Tao nodded.

“But we’ll do it later ‘cuz, as I see, Minah already brought you lunch today.” Baekhyun smiled.

They talked all the afternoon. Baekhyun told Tao he was gay and asked him if there was any problem, because he had to touch him to do the movements. As Tao saying there was none and, as long as he remembered, he was too, Baekhyun started to tell him all about him and Chanyeol. The afternoon was enough for Tao to get to know all about how Baekhyun and Chanyeol met, in the hospital, and how the started to go out. He ended the afternoon knowing how their relationship started to get serious and how their fist time went through.

“Ah, what a shame, my turn is almost ending…” Baekhyun said, taking a look at his wrist watch. “It’s already night, do you want to open the window to take a look outside?”

“Of course, if it’s not too bright.”

Baekhyun walked to the window and, before open it all, he looked through the curtains to see if it was dark enough. Firstly, the clarity of the city lights was not so pleasant to Tao’s eyes, but he got used to it by the time.

“Thanks Baekhyun.” He thanked, taking a better look of the city when Baekhyun elevated his bed.

“It’s nothing. You were sleeping for so long, you deserve to take a better look of what’s going on.”

“Talking about it, how long have I been sleeping?” asked Tao.

“It’s been little more than two months.” Baekhyun said, sitting down on the chair right next to the bed. “Are you hungry?”

“Huh, I don’t know…” Tao sincerely said.

“So, I’m bringing your dinner. If you don’t want to eat it all, you can say.” Baekhyun said. “Do you mind being alone some minutes?”

“No, you can go.”

“I’ll be right back.”

When he heard the door close, Tao looked back to the white roses. He was convinced that they would make him remind something. It was that motivation that Minah talked about. It was a shame his head didn’t want to cooperate with him. He wanted to remember why the hell he was driving at night in high speed.

Baekhyun was right when he said he’ll be right back. The dinner he brought was almost the same of the lunch Minah brought. The soup was almost tasteless and the pudding has almost nothing of sugar, just like the jelly. Tao ate everything though. He knew this was the nearest he could get to real food. Baekhyun was distracted when Tao finished eating, and Tao tried to hold up his hand.

“Look Baekhyun!” Tao happily said. “I’m moving my wrist.”

“Hey! That’s a great progress! Soon you’ll be getting up and…” Baekhyun said, but then, he seemed to remember something. “Ah…”

“What?” Tao asked.

“You broke a leg and some ribs, and already done the surgeries, but I recommend you to stay on bed for some time… But soon you’ll be getting up, I promise!” the nurse said.

“I see. I don’t be getting out of the hospital this soon.”

“Yes…” Baekhyun said, and he heard knocks on the door. “But it’s not Kyungsoo’s turn yet…”

Baekhyun opened the door, only to find Chanyeol there.

“Channie?”

“I heard your patient woke up.” Chanyeol said, excited. “Is that true?”

“Yeah, it’s true.”

“Can you ask him if there’s any problem if I enter to see him?”

“Of course…” Baekhyun said, but before he enters again in the room, Tao was answering.

“Let him in, Baekhyun.” Tao was curious about Chanyeol after hearing about him all the afternoon.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun entered the room holding hands, and Tao didn’t fail to catch it. Baekhyun started to blush and Chanyeol exhibited a bright smile. Chanyeol was handsome, Tao thought. He was tall, almost a head taller than Baekhyun, and his wavy hair was dyed gold blond. Even if Baekhyun hadn’t told him he was a pediatric surgeon, Tao could figure it out only by his green medical coat, which had some plushy animals. For him to be a pediatric surgeon, he has to be very patient and know how to deal with children, Tao wandered.

“I’m… I’m Park Chanyeol.” He said excitedly. “I’m one of the surgeons of the hospital and I… I’m just very curious about your case…”

“Alright. I think every person of the hospital has been curious…” Tao smiled. “I’m Huang Zitao, or whatever they said to me… I heard pretty good things about you.”

“What are you saying about me, Baekhyun?!” Chanyeol looked to his boyfriend. Tao laughed when saw Baekhyun’s face as red as a tomato.

“Ah… Nothing… I was just saying some things about our relationship, you know, so we can grow intimate.” Baekhyun said as he was saying nothing wrong.

“Baek, I already told you not to go around telling your entire life to anyone! This cannot end up well someday…” Chanyeol tried to be severe, but end up laughing of his boyfriend. “I’m going now, to let you rest, Tao. I hope you get better quickly, and from the rumors about your healing, you will.”

“Thanks, Chanyeol.” Tao said and saw Baekhyun wave him goodbye.

“See you at home.”

“Actually, I’ll wait you. I just have to check some patients and change my clothes.” Chanyeol said.

“Oh, great then!” Baekhyun said. He seemed surprised.

“See ya.” Chanyeol said, leaving the room.

“He seems to be a good person.” Tao said.

“He is. You have to see the way he deals with the kids.” Baekhyun smiled. “He looks like one of them.”

They stayed in silence for some minutes. Baekhyun took the tray he brought dinner and rested it on the bedside table. After this, he checked Tao’s blood pressure and some other things. He took note of the things in a clipboard and when he focused on Tao again, he was staring at the white roses again.

“I don’t know if Minah told you, but we think the person who sends you the roses is the same one who pays your bills. But no one knows who the person is. He or she never shows up here, just send the counter.” Baekhyun told him.

“She told me.” Tao said.

“Honestly, if you want my opinion, I think there’s someone out there who loves you pretty much. Someone who loves you enough to spend all this money for you to have the best on the best hospital of the entire country, for long enough for you to get well.” Baekhyun said. “Of course I have this romantic vision of life that Chanyeol always talk about.”

“I think it’s good for you to have this vision, you’re optimistic.”

“I hope what I think it’s true, so you can get this type of vision of life, just like me.” The nurse said smiling.

Again, they heard knocks on the door and Tao saw Baekhyun going to the door and opening it.

“Kyungsoo! You came early.” Baekhyun said to the other nurse.

“Minah told me he woke up, can I see him?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Of course. In half an hour is your turn, anyway. I’m going to introduce you.” They entered the room and Tao could see them. “Tao, this is Kyungsoo, your nurse for the night.”

“Nice to meet you, Kyungsoo.” Tao said.

“Oh, it’s nice to see you awake, Tao.” Kyungsoo said, and he seemed to be less hyperactive than Baekhyun. “And how are you?”

“I’m fine. I’m just feeling a little tired…” Tao answered sincerely.

“So it’s better to let you rest.” Kyungsoo calmly said.

“I’m going to put your bed in laying position again and you can rest. Don’t worry about us.” Baekhyun said to the patient.

“Thank you.” Tao said, already feeling sleepy.

“Kyungsoo, he is intolerant to light yet, so when the sun rise, make sure the curtains and the window are closed.” Baekhyun told Kyungsoo.

“Ok.” Tao heard Kyungsoo answering the other nurse.

After this, Tao fell asleep, and Kyungsoo stayed on the room, making sure everything was alright after Baekhyun leaved. He checked Tao one or two times, and the rest of the time he was on the chair beside the bed. Kyungsoo was already used with the calmness of this time, and he was reading the entire night.

When the first rays of the sun reached the window, Kyungsoo got up and closed the window and the curtains, engulfing the room in darkness again. The roses were starting to die on the vase, but he knew new ones were coming later, so he just took them out of the vase. When was 7 in the morning, there was a knock on the door and a new bouquet was arriving. Kyungsoo opened the door, took the roses and putted them on the vase. When he looked to the patient, Tao was awake.

“Oh, good morning! Your roses just arrived.” Kyungsoo said, smiling. “You must know about them and what we think about who send this…”

“Yeah, and I hope they can make me remember of something. I can’t remember anything about what happened when I moved in to South Korea.” Tao told him. “And I feel like the roses have something to do with my recent past.”

“I’m sure you’re going to remember everything soon.” Kyungsoo said.

“I hope yes.”A terrible accident happened that night. A man was driving in high speed when a truck lost control on the road and collided with the front of the car. The man was badly injured and was taken immediately to the hospital in coma. If the emergency were late just a few minutes, it’ll probably be the end for the man.