Chapter 28

The unwrapping

As soon as Kris walked in, the doctor greeted him and Tina decided to wait outside to give them more privacy even when Lena and Kris insisted that she could stay.

“The surgery went well Miss Lena and now we will focus on recovering from the surgery. The nurses told me that you already pass gas and that is one of the most important thing that we need to tick off. You are still not allowed to eat or drink anything, and today we’ll be monitoring your urine, your stitches and if nothing happens, we’ll put you on a liquid diet in the next two days.”

Lena could only nod when she received the information; a little regretful that she cannot eat or drink anything yet. Kris saw Lena’s face scrunch and generally had an idea of what she was thinking about. Kris couldn’t help but smile towards Lena. “Do you have any questions, Miss Lena?” The doctor asked while the nurse checked on urine drainage bag.

“When can I go to the bathroom like usual?” Lena was very uncomfortable having the catheter tube in and wished that she can walk normally to the bathroom. Kris looked towards the doctor waiting for the answer as he could see Lena having a concern on the matter. “We’ll monitor your bag for the next six to seven hours and if everything is okay, we’ll take the tube out” The doctor explained, and could understand how uncomfortable it is to have a tube.

“Can I stand up and just do some walking around the room?” Lena asked as she is already having worries of just sitting and lying down on bed. She probably will get bored of just sitting for more than three hours.

“Yes, of course, that would definitely help you more in your recovery.” The doctor clarified and was thankful with Lena as she made his job a little easier, with little hassle as possible. “If you don’t have any other questions, I will take my leave and please feel free to press the help button if there’s anything you need help with, Nurse Kim?” He called and asked the nurse to take over. Both nurse and doctor was feeling pressure as they were directly dealing with a member of their board of director however, they were thankful that Lena was making things not complicated.

The nurse began to explain some procedure that needs to be done, if Lena were to stand, move, and which button to press when calling for help. Deep inside, the doctor and nurse could see how lucky Lena was to have Kris by her side but they don’t know how lucky Kris feels to have her by his side. The nurse took her leave and Tina came and knocked on the door. “Hey you two, I really wish I could stay longer but I have to go to work soon, so Kris, take care of Lena, okay?” Tina manages to tease and genuinely asked for Kris’ help. “Call me, if you need anything else, okay?” She continued and Kris escorted her to the lift as requested by Lena.

When Kris came back, he saw Lena trying to adjust her bed to a sitting position and her hand was holding close to her surgery stitches. Kris immediately ran towards her and, “Let me do it.” Lena let Kris helped her even though she wanted to insist she could do it by herself but she didn’t. As now, she realized she needed somebody to take care of her.

A day later

Lena was getting restless in the hospital. Yes, Kris was always there with her but that made her feel somewhat guilty. He was missing work because of her, his co-worker kept on calling him. She knew she wanted to be in the comfort of her home. She has also started her liquid diet and Kris immediately purchased her some yogurt to eat, carefully measuring the amount of water she should drink for the first few sips.

Kris also helped Lena whenever she needed to go to the bathroom, her tubes were out and she could go to the bathroom by herself. Kris; on the other hand insisted that he should walk her to the room even though it was just a few feet away. Lena was thankful however, because the first time she went to the bathroom to wash up, she immediately felt dizzy from standing too long. Kris was there to support her from the room to the bed. He insisted on calling the nurse, but Lena asked to wait it out. Kris also suggested taking some pain killers whenever he saw Lena holding onto her surgery stitches, Lena didn’t. Kris was very worried about it, he was scared that she would be in too much pain but at the same time, he was so proud of her.

The doctor came in smiling; “Good afternoon Miss Lena, Mr. Wu” He greeted. Lena was hoping the doctor is here with good news like she could eat, drink whatever she wanted. The doctor came in with, great news, “So, Miss Lena asked our Nurse Kim if she could spend the rest of recovery period at home,” Kris immediately looked at Lena almost wondering when she asked the question and smiled a bit, because it was Lena. “And my answer to that is, tomorrow morning.” Lena immediately thank god and was very happy to hear the news.

“However, you still need company during your recovering period, just in case anything happens. Someone needs to be there to check up on your diet, make sure you are eating the right food, to make sure that you are making a great recovery.” The doctor said, Lena immediately thought hard, which one of her friend could she asked for help and before she could say anything.

“Don’t worry; I will be there for her. When can she start her soft diet?” Kris answered as if it was something they had discussed before. He sounded as if it was very natural and to him it was something he must do. It was something he should do because Lena was someone he really cares about.

“Nurse Kim will brief you with everything later, but since our observation saw nothing wrong and Miss Lena is doing quite the speedy recovery, she will start her soft diet; first thing in the morning.” The doctor answered. Lena was actually still hearing the words Kris had said and all the things the doctor said is just a murmur by now. Once the doctor and the nurse took their leave and Kris looked over to Lena smiling, she asked, “Yi Fan, you are already busy with work, I really don’t want to bother you. I could ask the girls for help.”

Kris immediately shook his head, “Hey, you are never bothering me. I will be there; we’re going to go through this together, okay? And, I actually applied for a leave from the office for a week.” Kris didn’t even get to finish his sentence, Lena immediately almost stood up from her bed.

“Yi Fan,” She exclaimed, and Kris immediately shook his head and reminded her to be gentle and slow.

“Len, I want to be there for you, okay? Besides, I’ve never taken a leave ever since I started working. I should be a little relieved that I am taking a leave and, I’m spending them with you that is even better. More than I could wish for.” He said smiling and immediately took Lena’s hand.

“But Yi Fan, I really don’t want to be a bother, what would your parents say?” She said, genuinely very worried about the situation.

“They probably will be very happy,” He laughed. “Len, don’t worry about it. I’m thinking of this as my vacation. Think of this as our vacation. You need all the help you can get. I’ll come to you first thing in the morning and I will go home once you go to sleep, okay?” He explained to Lena.

Lena was about to reason with Kris but Kris interrupted her, “Hey, above everything else, I would rather be next to you, knowing how you are instead of wondering if you are okay at work and get distracted, okay?” Kris Lena’s cheek. “Now, let’s get some rest and I will go see Nurse Kim, alright?” He smiled and helped Lena lie on her bed comfortably.

“I know you are sick and tired of plain yogurt, so I got us vanilla yogurt for today. We’ll eat them after we eat mashed potato today.” Kris said as soon as he took some of the stuff out of the grocery he brought. Lena could only smile and was very thankful that Kris found ways to make her food more fun within the few days.

“I ordered some grocery last night, some avocados, purees and I also asked them to pick up a few more things since we can start to eat normal food tomorrow!” Lena sound a little too excited at the end. Kris smiled as soon as she heard what Lena said and tried not to laugh too much.

“How does Rice Krispies sound for today’s breakfast?” Kris asked and he could see how Lena’s lighted up. “Yes, we can eat Rice Krispies today” Lena immediately agrees. She was very worried when she thought soft diet but Kris manages to surprise her with all the soft food he picked for Lena. Yesterday, the two of them made some scrambled eggs with mashed carrots and it made Lena very happy. Lena felt bad for making Kris cook but Kris was very excited to show his ‘skill’ when actually Lena gave her tones of tips as she sat in the kitchen watching Kris cook.

“What movie do you want to watch today?” Kris asked if Lena had any movies that she wanted to watch. They have been on a movie binge for the past few days and after watching a movie, they will then read some books together.

“I ordered The Dark Tower, maybe we could watch that if you don’t mind” Lena said and opened her television. Suddenly a sound which they rarely hear can be heard. A ring from a phone, Lena looked over to her phone to see if it was hers and Kris also started to look for his phone in his pocket.

“Hello. Yes. Are you aware that I am on leave?” Kris answered; he paused and listened to the speaker on the line. He was scrunching his forehead and Lena could see Kris was starting to get irritated. “How did that happened exactly?” Kris shook his head and hold onto his forehead. “I thought our company hired only the best, this could be solve easily if you all reacted early and checked all the details, what happened?” Kris’ tone had turn cold towards the speaker. Lena was starting to get worried, she thought that he needed to be in the office as the situation sounded too serious to let go. “You are wasting time, never mind. I will call you back in a second.” Kris said.

Lena immediately went over and “Yi Fan, I am pretty sure I can be alone today, you should go.” Lena tried to re assure him. “If I need anything I will call you.” Lena said but Kris knew she probably will not do. “I am sure.” She smiled and showed her standing to Kris; trying to convince how okay she was.

“I’m really sorry Len, I’ll be back once everything is done” Kris explained but Lena immediately shook her head.

“It’s okay, take it easy. They need you there and take all the time you need. I will see you tomorrow, okay? We are going to start our normal diet tomorrow, remember?” She tried to liven the atmosphere, she wanted Kris to feel that she was really okay and it was fine to go to work. Lena slowly approached him and took his hand off the grocery and pushed him over to go to work. “Trust me.” She said.

It was five o’clock when Kris reached Lena’s house, he pushed in the password and went in after knocking on her door. The no response he gotten made him feel nervous and he immediately pushed in the password that Lena gave him in case of any emergencies.

He sighed with relief when he saw Lena sleeping on her sofa, stretching her legs while a little pillow covered the area of stitches she had. He was surprised with how Lena never took painkillers even after she came out of surgery. He knew she definitely will feel at least a few pressure and the stitches mark was also not that nice. It will definitely irritate you for a long time. He switched off the music Lena had on, took the book she was reading from her and put it nicely on the table.

He put on the blanket nicely on Lena and decided to not wake her up. She probably is feeling a lot more tired and is trying her best to stay strong. Kris sat near her and decided to close his eyes for a moment. He needed to relax his mind after the emergency situation he had at work. A project almost went down the drain and it was also the project that everyone is eyeing him at. If his department or he, himself messed it up; he probably wouldn’t be able to face anyone. Without realizing, Kris was starting to fell asleep while trying to relax.

Lena woke up and immediately looks towards the time and it was now six and she knew she needed to make herself something to eat. She got up slowly and saw Kris sitting next to her. Lena was surprised to see Kris there when she expected him to be at home. His hand on his forehead looking tired while resting. Lena could only looked at his face carefully and realizing how lucky she was to have him by her side. Lena took her blanket and now place it on Kris. She took her small pillow and helped put the pillow near him to make sure he was more comfortable and had more support. Lena couldn’t help but smile as soon as she looks towards Kris. She knew Kris was someone important to her where even with only his presence, he could make her feel safe; like there is someone she could hold onto, someone she know who will make her feel calm.

I know it's been years and I suddenly had the urge to finish this piece

Wrote this on a whim, I'm sorry if it's not up to standards.

Wrote down the drafts and hopefully I will be able to finish it this year.