I’M GOING TO HER. The Lin jie person still can’t be reached through the phone. I should just give the phone back to its owner. I wonder, why did she look so worried over some yellow bottle?

I widen my eyes when I see her sitting on the ground. Dead? I rush there. “Hey ugly, don’t joke around like this!” I pat her right cheek then left cheek to “wake” her up. I also wave my hand in front of her face.

Who am I kidding? Her eyes are closed!

“Are you really fainted right now?”

As she starts to open her eyes, I sigh in relief. They only open until half-sized of her usual already-small eyes. She mumbles, “Reached her yet?” I shake my head.

“I’ll help you up.” I linger my arm around her to support the back, but she shakes her head; it’s very slight, I couldn’t see it if we weren’t as this close.

I believe I’m hearing a little bit of moans from her lips. “Are you hurt somewhere?” I check on her from the head to the feet. “Just tell me, maybe I can help you—“ I notice that her right hand is shaking. So I held it, but she suddenly holds her breath and bites her bottom lip. It must be the one?

I quickly put the hand back and linger my hand around his back. I tighten my grab and lift her up with both of my hands; my left hand is holding her back, my right hand is holding her feet.

“This is for the many towels you gave me. Jia you.”

I’m taking her to my car, because it’s absolutely the fastest ride to the hospital—any ambulance can never beat my awesome car—and it’s also the fanciest, not to mention.

I turn to her. “So, do we have to visit a certain doctor or any hospital is fine?” I put her on the seat beside me, which I have lowered a bit so she can lay there.

It’s possible that she has her own family doctor specialized in this matter.

She doesn’t answer, but her nose answers me instead, with blood. “WHOAA!” I panic.

I look around to find my tissue box; It’s on the passenger’s seat, so I reach out for it through my seat by pulling my head out to there, then I grab two plies of it and tap them lightly on her nose.

“Hold on a bit more, ok?”

---

We’re in the hospital where we met at the first time, to take care of the nainai thing. I just lifted her to the same Emergency Room (ER) and placed her on one of the beds there, because a nurse told me that.

They’re currently examining her with stuff like a stethoscope and their own hands. But when the doctor touches her right hand, he opens her watch and puts it on the table. He raises the hand a bit, to start looking at it thoroughly. Then, he rubs the back of it and the palm.

I think he gives a certain order to the nurse, so she starts pushing the bed, and they all walk out of the room.

I’m following them from behind.

In a minute, I’m starting to see that we’re going to the ICU. My heart starts racing irregularly by that.

Is this really some serious situation?

A nurse signals me to stay outside of the ICU, by making a hand gesture in front of her face. So I just throw myself to sit on a bench there.

I feel that both of my palms are cold. I try cuffing my cheeks with them, then I discover that they’re moist right now—more moist than usual.

Anyway, didn’t I leave her bag in the practice room?

I take out my phone from my pocket and call someone.

“Hello, Xiao Gui?”

“Can you help me?”

“What is it?”

“There’s this black tote bag at the dance room, and it’s my friend’s. That friend is kind of in hospital right now.” I pause. “Do you have time to bring it here? I can’t leave her alone, I think.”

“Ah it’s a her? Haha, sure.” He adds, “Text me the address, ok?”

“Thanks, bye!”

---

The procedures she’s given have no end. They moved her from the ICU to another room, then another room again, which wasn’t the patient room yet, so I couldn’t go inside. I didn’t know for sure what’s happening or what they’re up to.

I’m currently inside the doctor’s room, sitting face-to-face with him. Because when he came out of one of the rooms just now, he asked me, “Are you with her?” Which I replied with, “Yes.” And he led me to walk with him.

“So, are you her brother?” The doctor asked.

“No. Just a friend from college.”

He looks shocked, but then he purses his lips and twitches his eyebrows.

Is he hesitating about something?

“But we’re close.” I added.

Maybe that helps

“Do you happen to know any of her relatives?

Okay, not that close.

“I only know that she has a sibling, but I still can’t reach her until now.”

The doctor nods and his eyes are widened, in a way that he’s accepting my answer as what it is—which is good.

I initiate, “So, what happened to her, doc? I was very confused that she asked me to look for a yellow bottle with a red lid then she just disappeared.” I pause.

But because the doctor looks engaged, I continue, “When I found her, she was weak on the ground, not really sitting but more like lying, because she’s like unable to support her own body.”

The doctor clears his throat then says, “Do you know any of her current activities?”

“Umm, like classes, dance rehearsals and sometimes part-time work.”

“She dances?”

“Yes...?”

“Is it the one that requires many hand movements?”

“I guess.”

“Wait, don’t tell me she’s not allowed to do that?”

The doctor takes out a black film thing from a brown envelope, and he places it on a box that sticks on the wall. There’s a button on the box, I think, and he clicks it. Then, the box just shines and it makes the film displays the bone structure of a hand.

He continues, “I can’t say she’s allowed or not allowed, yet.” He points at the film. “This and the stitches on her hand indicate that she had underwent few operations for some open bone fractures—fractures which rip the skin open. Some of these were placed pretty messily, so I assume, she’s feeling the pain because of that.”

“Couldn’t you just fix it? Like open it and do another operation?”

“No, I can’t. Bones harden as time goes. I possibly can do that if she’s just experienced another accident which breaks the bones again. Besides, the problem might caused by her therapies, not these post-operated bones.” He pauses. “Or, everything is fine but her body still remembers the pain because of some post-accidental trauma.”

“I don’t really get it, but are you implying that she’s a victim of some malpractice?”

“No. We can’t directly blame the phycisians. The bones might be broken into pieces before and this was the best they could do.”

“So, is there any way for her to recover?”

“It might be, that now she’s fully recovered.”

“Pardon me? Then what about the shaking hand and the bleeding nose?”

“She bleed?”

“Yes... on our way here.”

“All of them might caused by the tender feeling arises from her hand.”

I continue him, “And she’s trying hold it in?”

He nods.

“Please caution her to only consume the medicine once a day, not more than that. Because as a pain relief, if it’s taken too much it’ll cause her lose the grasp of herself.”

“Like she’ll go crazy?”

“No. She may become weak, meaning unable to even move a finger. It may be temporary or not temporary, I can’t be sure about that.”

“Alright.... I’ll tell her that. Thank you.”

“Feel free to call me if you have some questions.” He hands me his name card. So I receive it and put it inside my wallet.

“Sorry, so, is she allowed to dance or not?”

“As long as she doesn’t have to consume more than one tablet.” He adds, “And if you can, please convince her to minimize her activities.”

You mean, don’t dance?

---

I open my eyes and see white ceilings. As I smell a familiar scent I’ve been so bored with, I try to get up with the support of my hands. But suddenly, I feel a hand is reaching out to me, lingering around my shoulder to support me to sit on the bed. So I turn to the person.

“Xiao Gui? What are you doing here?”

“Helping you..?”

He brought me here. Obviously.

“Sorry.” I pause. “Thanks a lot by the way. I guess, my debts to you keep on getting bigger and bigger by now.”

He sighs. “What’s with that debt thing in your head.” He’s about to flick my forehead. But I grab the hand in instant and throw it away.

Gently, of course.

“It’s not always all about take-and-give. Just chill.” He adds.

“By the way, sorry that I still can’t get a hold of your sister.”

I raise a brow. “Sister?”

I press my eyes together.

“Ahh, Lin jie is not my sister.”

His eyes totally widen. Then, he just takes out my phone from one of his pockets, and randomly scrolls the screen.

“What are you doing?”

“What did you name your mom/dad here?”

I chuckle. “I don’t have any.” He looks up to me, stunned. I let out a sigh. “I live alone. Only have myself in life. You got it?”

I try to change the topic. “So, what did the doctor say?”

“I-I’m sorry.”

“No need, it's cool.”

He wets his lips. “The doctor said that you have to minimize your activities.”

“That’s it? You must’ve known a lot of things already.”

“Like..?”

“That I have this injury and that I’m very pitiful?”

He blinks few times.

“You do know, then.” I mutter.

“You put it too sad. It’s not like that.” He replies.

“Then what is it like? You didn’t want to tell me.”

“So... did that happen in the 3 years of your hiatus?” He’s pointing at my hand.

“Nope.”

“Huh?” He tilts his head.

“Before that.” I gulp, “Thus, I was forced to go absent from life because of that. Haha.”

“Absent? Like you caged yourself because you couldn’t accept the reality?”

“You’re the one who puts it very sad. No, of course.”

“I wonder. Are you really ok that you’re talking about this with me?”

“Is it something I shouldn’t?”

“I don’t know. Forget it.”

He moves a chair to get nearer to my bed and sits on it. He says, “May I ask why you're working part-time after class?”

“Because I need money. Obviously.”

“For what?”

“Eat? Duh.” I squint.

“Wait, don’t scholarships give much allowance?”

“I’m not in any.” I pause. “It’s hard to apply for one because of my age. Also, I didn’t get to formally graduate from high school.”

“What? But you’re like, accepted in Beijing University? How come?”

 

You think I bribed the rectors?

I hit his forehead. “It’s not that I failed. I was absent from life waay before the SAT period.”

“The way you called it absent, you mean you’re like half-dead, half-alive?”

“You’re not as slow as I thought.” I smirk. “I still took the SAT, though, but very recently.”

“I think I can get you into a scholarship.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll just ask my mom for that.”

“Whoa you're disgracing my pride.”

“Huh?”

“Rich dudes must not know about what perseverance is, then? I’d rather drain myself and fall on a hospital bed than accept free-money from them.”

“Your judging words don’t ring a bell on me. So what’s with it? As humans we have to help one another.”

“Have you been caged all this time? You’re the one who sounds like you never see the world.”

He sighs. “Whatever. I’ll still find a way.”

“Just so you know, because of this certain law, corporations have to establish scholarships for students in need. They have different terms and conditions, so I’m sure some will fit you.” He continues, “Besides, I know that every year most still have empty slots. Since not all of them are promoted effectively.”

“So you still think I’m dumb?” He scoffs.

“You said it yourself that you’re dumb.”

“If I manage to get you one, you have to resign from your part-time job, ok?”

“Why you care?”

“Why you so annoyed by that? You’re supposed to be grateful.”

Nothing good will come up when someone cares about my life.