CHAPTER 29:  Sealed

‘Aaron...Aaron... what happened? Aaron—’

“NO!”

Gui open her eyes to see a unfamiliar ceiling. She slowly moves around only to hear the sound of barking. As it got closer, Gui felt someone help her up, sitting against the headboard as she stare at the clean, gorgeous modern bedroom.

“Oh you are finally up!”

Gui look over to see a girl sit down beside the bed, holding up a cup of water. Every parent tells their child to be wary of strangers but judging her situation, she doesn’t have the strength to fight anyone, let alone, have strength to get up and run away. Nonetheless, whoever this lady was, Gui just stared at her confused.

“Don’t worry, its filtered water so it will be good for your body. As of right now, your body needs the hydration. You have been sleeping on the bed for 2 days and as you can see, it’s evening now.”

Gui slowly reach for the water but the lady move the cup towards her lips, helping her drink the water. As Gui feel the water go down , it felt like eternality since she have water. The lady was right, she was in need of the hydration. After a moment of silence, Gui came back to her senses, she look over to the girl and her eyes widen.

“AARON?!”

“No you cannot move, you need to recover first! Your health should be a priority first!”

The lady kept her down while Gui felt her strength diminish the second she tried to get out of bed. “See I told you! You need to take more care of yourself. I wonder what will happen to you if I didn’t find you lying on the cold floor in the park the other day. I’m sure you’d be rushed to the ER but since you were lying on the cold floor, I thought it would be easier to bring you back to my house and warm you up. My boyfriend’s a doctor but he’s not here to see how your condition is.”

Gui weakily smiled as she watch the puppy jump on the bed, her hand.

“Snow likes guests.”

“S...Snow...” Gui whispered as she pat the puppy’s head while she wag her tail. “She likes you.”

Flashback

While Gui kept herself busy with her new friend, Aaron caught a glimpse of Ying Jie leaning in to rub their noses together. Roof! Gui laughed as she stared at the dog who kept wagging his tail. A sign that he was happy.

“Who would abandon you? You are so cutee...” She glanced at his collar for his tag.

“Snowball.” Gui whispered as she smiled, scratching the dog’s chin. “Who would abandon snowflake like this?”

“Snowball. Her name is snowball.” Aaron came over as he look at Snowball, petting her head. Roof!

“Seriously, you just called out his name awhile ago and you mistake it for snowflake?”

End of Flashback

Gui weakly smiled, recalling the moments she spent with Aaron while they were at the animal shelter. The flashbacks that felt so warm (in her mind) but now, the heat is starting to disperse.

“I’m sorry. I know waking up in a stranger’s home isn’t exactly safe but I didn’t know what to do. You were cold and I needed to warm you up before you catch an illness or something. But don’t worry, I called my boyfriend to make sure I helped you recover safely and painlessly. As a professional, he wants you to get tested, to see if there are anything else that is happening. He worries that it might not be a normal cold because when I explained it to him; I told him that you were cold as ice. So whenever you feel like going back to your family, please make an appointment with the doctors and have a check-up; a followup will do.”

Gui can feel how sincere the lady was since she was speaking about her well-being.

“Thank you...”

“How are you feeling? Do you feel anything? Feel free to tell me, I came this far, I’ll make sure you are healed.”

“Thank you, I’m fine.”

“That’s good!”

The lady smiled as she handed Gui a cup of warm lemon tea. “It’ll help.” Gui brought the cup up to her lips and inhaled the warm scent of lemon before feeling the liquid go down , warming her up instantly.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why were you on the floor? If you weren’t feeling well, you would have call your best friend or boyfriend to come pick you up.”

Gui froze at the word: B o y f r I e n d.

Flashback

Gui could feel her whole world shake uncontrollably as her phone slip out of her hand.

“Hospital... He is at... hospital... we need to go... now...”

“Who? Whose in the hospital?”

“AARON IS AT THE HOSPITAL! HE GOT INTO AN ACCIDENT.”

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Gui’s phone rang, echoing throughout the room. She instantly picked it up and answered the call, anticipating great things from the caller but she froze at the voice and instantly, her cellphone slip through her fingers.

“No... No... No... It can’t be... It can’t be.. Aaron... can’t be...you’re lying... you’re lying... you are all liars!” Gui cried out as she ran to the elevator and closed the door, wanting to get out of the penthouse as fast as she could.

End of Flashback

“Oh gosh, what am I saying, I’ll stop! Clearly I step over the boundary. I’m sorry, I can be alittle—” The girl stop as she quickly got some tissues, wiping the tears that were coming down Gui’s face. “—I’m really sorry, I really am...”

Gui shook her head, “It’s okay. It just happened recently.” The girl remained quiet as she mentally yelled at herself for being nosy.

“My boyfriend... got... into a car accident...”

“Oh no...”

“Everything happened so fast... I still... don’t know... what to do... what should... I do...?”

Seeing how lost Gui was, the girl smiled as she reach over to hold Gui’s hand. Holding it tightly as Gui let her tears fall freely.

“Can I tell you a story? This is a story about one of my girl friends who experience love and pain in one go. It all happened when her boyfriend got into an accident; she wanted to run away from everyone, including her family. So she did―she ran away, blaming herself for what has happened to him. She blamed herself heavily for being the one who caused him to be in a coma so she left. Months later, she met a man who was blind. So the more she found herself around him, the more she found herself believing and because of him, she found her strength to stand up and fight for what she wants. Bottom line, escaping reality does hold quite a bit of power over our conscience but one way or another, no matter how far you runaway from the problems, it will come back. My friend learned a valuable lesson, she learned how to stand up and believe in herself.”

As Gui listened to the story carefully, she found herself envying her friend.

“Now this friend of mine is engaged and getting married in 6 months.” As the girl smiled, Gui did too. “You have a nice group of friends...” The girl smiled happily. “What I’m trying to say is that no one is prefect, there will be times where you mess up and you want to run away from it. But sometimes, the answer is right in front of us, only those who yearn for it will be able to see it.”

The girl walks over to the curtains and smiled, revealing the sunset that illuminated the entire sky with its warm colour palette; consisting of pinks, oranges, reds and a hint of yellow.

“She learned to let go. It might be hard to let go but if you really want to free yourself and move on, learn to let go. That is the only way you can free yourself. Although it takes time, only you can decide for yourself what you really want. No one can force it on you, you have to discover what you want and do it.”

The girl warmly smiled as she made her way to the door. Allowing time for Gui to be alone because at the end of the day, no one can tell you want to do. Only those who are strong enough will be able to figure it out and pull through.

When the girl left the room, holding Snow in her arms, Gui found silence greeting her shortly after.

If everything she ever did has a manual, wouldn’t it be nice to have and hold? To go through it and figure out where she went wrong. It would serve its purpose and it will stop herself from making any mistakes and it mostly, it will save her from all the tears.

No one can teach any one how to deal with the matters of the heart. The heart works on its own, living, beating and breathing was all up to the heart. No one can tell the heart to stop loving someone until it’s already too late. To say it was a mistake falling in love with a player isn’t right. Gui fell in love and she fell in love knowing all the trapdoors it will open and the bigger the pit was, the harder she fell in.

She was her first boyfriend,

Her first hug,

Her first kiss,

Her ity,

He was her first.

Now, it seems like her heart crashed and all she could see was the word: Wither.

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“Thank you so much doctor, thank you so much doctor!”

Grandmother Yan cried out as everyone stare at Aaron who was asleep on the bed. “Make sure you keep your voices to a minimal. He is still recovering and if anything happens, ring the nurses and we’ll come and check his condition.”

Everyone thanked the doctor and when he left, everyone burst into happy tears.

“Darlin, you need to wake up. Everyone is waiting for you.” Grandmother Yan call out as she held onto Aaron’s hands, caressing it lovingly as everyone nod in agreement.

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Snow walked into the room, looking up to see Gui staring into the mirror, adjusting her clothes. Roof!

Gui bent down and lift the puppy off the ground, patting it as the gi