Chapter 19

When the meeting was over, Ah Ben walked over to Aaron. He had asked Aaron to follow him to the commons downstairs. Without hesitation, Aaron followed Ah Ben. He knew what was coming. He knew that Ah Ben wanted answers. He was ready to talk.

Ah Ben sat on a nearby bench, motioning Aaron to sit next to him. He did as he was told. Ah Ben didn't say anything for a couple of minutes. He sighed.

"Aaron, what happened last night?" he asked, without looking at Aaron. He kept his gaze to the horizon.

"I'm sorry," Aaron said.

"I'm not asking for an apology. I'm asking about last night. Where did you take her and what did you do to her?"

"I took her to my childhood cottage. I didn't do anything to her. I just simply wanted to talk to her in private. I never knew that she would get so angry at me. I never knew that she would just leave like that. I followed her, but she had gotten onto the bus before I could reach her. I came back to Taipei, but she wasn't at the bus stop. Ah Ben, I searched everywhere for her last night, but I didn't see her, so I gave up."

"Did you even bother to check if she came home? Aaron, what would you do if she was to faint somewhere else? What if she never came home?"

"I'm sorry. How is she feeling?"

"Why do you care? I never thought that you will be this selfish. I never thought that all you wanted was her to be yours. Have you ever thought of her feelings?"

"I have, many times before. But Ah Ben, I just wanted to know why she left me. Why she followed Hebe's directions. I just wanted her to answer all of my questions that I had for her. I never thought that she would run away. I wasn't going to do anything bad to her. I just simply wanted to talk to her. That's all. I was going to bring her back after I get my questions answered. I never thought that she would get so mad at me."

"Aaron, I forbid you to visit her!" Ah Ben shouted and left Aaron at the commons by himself. He walked in and was stopped by Danson and Chen Lin. They had saw the scene outside. Even though they weren't sure of the conversation, they did have a pretty fair idea of the topic.

"Ben Ben, follow me," said Chen Lin. Ah Ben and Danson followed Chen Lin to Gui's office. Her team was already in the office working on their assigned projects. Chen Lin smiled at them and asked them to leave them alone for a few minutes. So, they left for their lunch break.

Chen Lin motioned for them to sit down on two couches, while Chen Lin sit behind Gui's desk. She wanted to tell them something, but she wanted Aaron to hear it too. So she took out her phone and called Aaron, telling him to meet her in Gui's room.

Aaron walked slowly to Gui's room. He had never seen her office, even though he had walked passed it many times before. He was standing by the door, when Chen Lin caught sight of him. She motioned for him to come in and sit. He sat in an empty chair, by the meeting table.

"Okay, now that everyone is here," she started, "I have something to say to everyone." They stared up at her and she didn't say a word after that. She opened one of Gui's drawer and took something out. It was a wrapped box. They kept their gaze on the box. It was beautifully wrapped in silver wrapping paper.

"What is it?" asked Danson, after a few minutes of silence.

"Aaron, do you remember what this is?" she asked, staring at Aaron.

"No, why?" he asked.

"Think harder. I found this in Gui's room this morning," she said. Aaron tried to remember if he had given her something, but he couldn't.

"Chen Lin, can you just tell me?" he asked.

"Okay, since you forgot. This is the present that you gave her for her birthday," she said.

"Her birthday? You mean, the one from three years ago," he said.

"Ding ding, you just hit the mark. This morning, I was searching through her things and found this along with this," she said, as she took out a Huang Heirloom. "I'm guessing this heirloom is pretty special to her. But...this box, why haven't she open it? That was my question. When I saw this perfectly wrapped, I was curious. So, Aaron, can you tell me what's inside here?"

"Um...I don't remember," he said.

"Then, do you know why she haven't open it?" she asked.

"Um...no," he said.

"Well, if I remember correctly, you forgot her birthday and when you remembered it was too late. You went to her house, but she had left for school already. She was going to join tennis, but ye ye called and she left. If she was go walk into her room, she will see it, depending on where you put it. I mean, it's not that hard, but have you ever thought about it, what if she purposely didn't open it. So...could she not open it because she didn't see it?" she stated.

"I'm pretty sure she will be able to spot it. I mean, it was placed on her table, I'm assuming. And if she was to walk in, and walked to her table, she will see it. So, she purposely didn't open it," said Danson.

"I was thinking the same thing too. But that's not all I found," she said, taking out a small bottle. Everyone got out of their seats and walked over to Chen Lin. Ah Ben took the bottle and read the label. He was shock to see what it was. He hand it to Danson, and then to Aaron.

"What is this?" asked Ah Ben.

"That's what I was going to talk to you guys about. I called Doctor Wang this morning, and he said that this is for the eyes. It is a fighting mechanism that helps fight against viruses that is eating up the retinas in your eyes. He said this is to control it, not prevent it. Meaning that Gui is having problems with her eyes. Dr. Wang said that the more she takes these medications, the faster she will lose her eye sight, but if she doesn't take these, she can not control the viruses in her eyes. Aaron, Ah Ben, Danson, Dr. Wang said that Gui has a greater chance of being blind forever. He said that her doctor in America, sent him a report, stating Gui's condition. I made an appointment with Dr. Wang to talk about Gui," she said. "So, let's go!"

They head off to see Dr. Wang. When entered his office, he had asked his nurse to leave them alone. He had some important matter to talk to them about. But he wanted to wait until Old Mister Wu was there. Twenty minutes later, Old Mister Wu entered the room and sat next to Ah Ben.

"Okay, now that everyone is here, let's talk about Gui. She is in a critical situation right now. She is ill, but there might be a chance of having cancer. We're not sure of it yet. We are just testing her blood right now. We won't get the results until tomorrow morning. As for Gui, she hadn't woke up since last night, which is a bad thing. Another thing, Chen Lin contacted me this morning telling me that Gui has some weird medicine. Did you bring it?" he asked Chen Lin. She took out of her bag and hand it to him. "This is good and bad for her. The good thing is that it helps her control the viruses in her eyes, the bad, is that the more she takes it the faster she will lose her sight. She needs to get another transplant done. But from what I heard from her American doctors, is that she refuse to get them done. So, I want everyone of you to convince her, when she wakes up."

They all left Dr. Wang's office. Aaron walked outside. He knew that Ah Ben didn't want him to see Gui, so he decided to leave. As he was just about out he door, Old Mister Wu grabbed his arm. He turned around and saw Old Mister Wu behind him.

"Follow me," he said and led Aaron to the commons. They sat on a bench. No one saying a word. Old Mister Wu watched as little kids play tag in the distance, while Aaron kept his gaze to the ground. Silence roam their presence.