Lay’s POV

I’m looking around like an idiot trying to find the house that I spent a year looking for. I only knew her name and that she hasn’t been home for a long time.

When I was asking around everyone would get all sad and look away from me.

I touch the necklace and take a deep breathe.

“Please ___ let me find your family’s home.”

Almost like she had granted my wish a young girl that looks like ___ around the age of 10 tapped my arm.

I look down at her and kneel down, “Yes?”

“Why did you say my sister’s name?”

“You know Wu ____?”

“Yes, I’m her sister Wu Bao An.”

“Can you show me the way to your home?”

She looks at me, “why would you want to know?”

“I promised your sister I would.”

“Oh,” she nods her head and she looks upset over something, “Umm… Sissy isn’t home. She won’t be for a while.”

“What do you mean?”

I move my hand and let the necklace fall on top of my shirt as I bend down and take the young girl by the shoulders.

“What do you mean? She promised me she’d be here. I waited a year. I was so tempted to run back to Venice just to see her so many times.”

“She’s asleep in Venice.”

“Well yeah it’s a bit early in the morning.”

The girl shakes her head, “No, she’s asleep.”

The young girl starts crying; I reach up and wipe her tears, “Please tell me what you mean. Did she forget that I was coming?”

I hear an elderly voice shout out at me, “You what are you doing to my daughter?”

“I’m sorry but I was asking her about her sister.” I turn towards the elderly man and bow before I start speaking again, “My name is Zhang Yixing. I met your daughter when I was a trip in Italy. We made a promise to see each other in a year and that was exactly a year ago today. She gave me her necklace so I wouldn’t forget.”

“I’m sorry to tell you, but my daughter is in a coma. She’s been in one since she had a mishap in her operation.”

“Operation what operation?”

The man looks at me, “She did not tell you?” I nod my head and the man sighs, “That’s so like my daughter not wanting people she cares about worrying about her. That’s why she moved to Venice. It wasn’t just because then she could go through treatment, but because she was tired of seeing pity in everyone’s eyes. She was only five.” The man wiped away his tears, “Please come inside. I think I need to talk to you.”

I nod my head and follow him inside the house. He holds out his hand to the seat in front of him at a table and I sit down on the cushion.

“I know that your family is wealthier than ours. That’s probably how you go to Venice. That is not why I asked you inside my home. In truth, I want to talk to you about your day with my daughter. We didn’t get a camera like we always do so I started to worry until I got news that she had given it to a boy. May I ask do you have that camera?”

“No, I don’t’ have it on me, but I do have my laptop which has them copies on it.”

I place my bag on my lap and out of habit; I reach up to touch the necklace since I’m pretty nervous.

I seem to have drawn attention to it because the old man takes in a deep breathe.

“That’s my late wife’s necklace. I gave it to ___ before she left to live with her uncle. Where did you get that.”

“I said earlier that she gave me her necklace as a way to promise that we’ll see each other again. I gave her my father’s ring that he had made for me when I was a kid.”

The man… No ___’s father smiles over at me as he nods his head, “She must have found you really special if she gave that to you.”

I nod my head as I pick up the necklace enough so I can look straight at it with my head tilted down a little bit.

“What was wrong with her?”

“She had a heart problem much like her mother did. I forgot the name after how long she’s been gone, but you can drop dead at any second from your heart giving out. You can go through small heart attacks to major ones, but survive. When my late wife and I were told that, we were having a child we prayed that she would not have her mother’s condition, but our prayers were not answered. ___ suffered her first heart attack when she was only three years old. When she turned five we had heard of a treatment plan and decided to sent her off to have it. We knew it wasn’t a cure, but we did hope that she would live a longer life because of it. We just hoped it’d help her live longer until they found a cure. Then we heard of a surgery to fix her heart valves and I jumped at the opportunity, because I wanted her to live longer than I will. I’m already turning 50 this year and my daughter was barely her 20 and was going to die. She’s turning 21 in a few days and we don’t know if she’s alright. All we know is that she’s in a coma, but that was a month ago.”

I nod my head and wipe away my tears.