Fourth Memory
Airplane [OC Version]
Come with me…
The lights are blurring together, the feeling in her fingertips are going numb yet a tingling sensation is shooting throughout.
Airplane…
The airplane. Where is it? Is it still in her hands? She can’t lose it. It has her wishes, hopes, dreams and memories in it.
Love…
Yixing. Where’s Yixing right now? Is he here still?
The lights start to fade… a memory appears. One that’s much more recent.
The two lovers were together as boyfriend and girlfriend and were quickly approaching their second year anniversary. Love is the plane that they were flying and it had enough fuel to go around the world more than 1000 times. They headed off to college, and despite being busy and in separate colleges they were lucky to be close enough to visit each other frequently. AeRin opened up her heart to Yixing and Yixing felt that nothing could ever get better than the moments he shared with his girlfriend. Albeit, except, perhaps marriage to make them husband and wife. But it’s two days short of two years. I mean, who’s hurrying right?
Things couldn’t get any better, and as AeRin got ready for a date night the two had planned she felt herself losing her balance. The girl gripped onto the nearby dresser as a means to hold herself up.
That’s strange…
Looking at herself in the mirror she realized maybe something was off. She seemed a little paler… maybe?
She shook her head as if to tell herself she was imagining things and quickly resumed to getting ready. Yixing had said to be comfortably clothed and she followed his guidelines. She heard the doorbell ring, but before she went downstairs to let her boyfriend in, she continued with the ritual she started once they first started to date. Walking over to where she now kept all of the paper airplanes they made, she picks up the one that’s most dearest to her heart and smiles.
She reads over the words.
“AeRin, I like thin-"
She pauses, blinks and then shakes her head. The words seemed a little jumbled up. Did she really just do that? Well. Then again. That can be normal right? She reads again.
"AeRin, I think I like you.” Smiling, she giggles softly and sets it down before standing up to head down the stairs.
Wave of uneasiness.
Slight numbness in the legs.
Slip of a foot.
Falling.
As an instinct she grabs onto the railing of the stairs, takes a deep breath and shakes her head again.
She can’t be sick.
She hasn’t been coughing or anything.
She walks down and opens the door for her boyfriend, who stands there with flowers and leans forward to peck her lips. He pauses for a second and whispers for only her to hear.
"You look beautiful, as always."
His lips softly brush upon hers, the two sharing a sweet and short kiss, not wanting to make it very public around her family.
She smiles as they part and takes his hand before turning back to say her farewell to her mother that is smiling upon her daughter and how much she's grown up.
They walk out together and head to the curb where Yixing's car lies.
"So, where are we going?" She tilts her head, smiling.
"Well. I wanted to take us back to a place that is special to us. And... I sort of..." He paused momentarily. AeRin looked upon her boyfriend and tilted her head more. She was worried, was he nervous. She moved in to peck his cheek softly, watching as he turned a little pink and chuckled nervously.
"I made us food. I mean, I'm not a good cook... but.. "
AeRin giggled softly and hugged him. "I think it's splendid. And your cooking is great, so no complaints .Okay?" He laughed and nodded., smiling as he opened the door for her, letting her in before going around onto his side, starting up the car and then started to drive away.
The two talked and joked around in the car, singing loudly to the radio and chuckled as they both would start to sing lazily to amuse the other. A wave of uneasiness came over AeRin who felt herself feeling off balanced. She leaned her head against the window for support and closed her eyes. Moments later a warm hand took a hold of hers.
"You okay love?"
She opened her eyes to look over at the comforting man next to her. She smiled and nodded, watching his worried features calm down immensely. Her eyes scanned over her features as she started to play over their first meeting. She realized it was their anniversary in a few days and smiled to herself at the thought of how they've grown as individuals and as a couple.
The car drove for a not too much longer, coming upon a field that was a special place for both of them. It was where they used to fly their airplanes and was a favorite place to return to for the couple if they found time. This day was no exception and AeRin smiled at the thought. It was always a favorite spot for her, a relaxing spot where they could enjoy each other's company without interruptions.
As the car pulled to a stop she opened the door and went to step out, feeling her legs being slightly numb and tingling.
They must have fallen asleep.
She moves them to be greeted with pins and needles. Standing and slowly moving while smiling, she opens the back door to help take out the food and notices the guitar lying on the back seat, smiling she looks up at Yixing who realized she saw it and smiles.
"I have a song I want to play for you."
She giggled and couldn't help but have her smile widen. The girl loved to listen to his guitar playing and even more to his sweet and soft voice. Grabbing the picnic basket and the blanket, she closes the door and waits for Yixing to come around with the guitar case, wrapping his arm around her as he leads them over to a spot on the field.
Setting the basket and guitar down the couple set down the blanket and started to take out the food.
"Wow... you've really out done yourself." She chuckles and picks up a small box that's wrapped.
What is this?
Is it for her?
She holds it up to him, tilting her head. A smile plays across his lips before he moves his gaze downwards before taking it.
"Later. This is for later. For now, let's just enjoy our company, okay?"
The girl blinks, nods and smiles before setting the box down.
Their date continues. An anniversary event of some sort. Yixing plays a song on the guitar. As he strums, he sings sweetly for the girl he loves who joins in at the end, humming lightly. The melody floats along the wind and as the night time draws near, they decide to do a paper airplane to commemorate the event.
AeRin watched quietly as Yixing folded the piece of paper into a paper airplane. She smiles.
Suddenly.
Dizzy.
Uneasy.
Eyes flutter.
She sways.
Falls over.
Numb.
"AeRin! Ae... rin..." The sound fades away.
Yixing panicked as he saw his love fall over, dropping his guitar and catching her in his arms. Calling AeRin's name he quickly picks her up and does the only thing he knows to do - bring her to the hospital. Grabbing the small wrapped box, he sticks it in his pocket before standing, walking carefully over to the car. Opening the passenger car door, he slides her in, buckling her in. Panick stricken, he rushes to the other side and starts the engine, quickly taking off towards the hospital.
"." Frantically searching through his pockets he searched for his cell phone, finding it shortly after he calls the hopsital.
"Please... please. My girlfriend. She's.. she fainted... I.." Lip biting as he holds back tears. "I don't know what to do but I'll be there soon... Please. You have to help her. "
As he's pulling up into the hospital, he quickly finds a spot to park, leaving his four ways on. Running to the other side he takes the limp girl into his arms and tries not to shed a tear as he frantically brings her into the hospital.
"Please... Help!"
A nurse at the reception desks calls overhead for some asssistance and suddenly rushes of people come out. The girl is taken from his arms and put on a stretcher, taken away from him.
And as he tries to follow? Arms pull him back.
Screams.
Tears.
Helplessness.
Yixing clenches his fist and falls to his knees.
Helpless.
Soon he finds himself standing up and sitting on the nearby chairs in the lobby. He's frustrated, angered, but mostly worried and nervous. The girl he loves is away from him. He was held back from seeing her and all he can think is how much he wants to see her smile, feel her touch, know she's okay. Immediately, he thinks of her family and knows he needs to call them. Taking out his cellphone, he calls her home phone and starts to tell her mother what's going on when suddenly a doctor comes up and asks to talk to him. He bids farewell to the woman on the other end of the phone before getting up, walking over to the doctor.
"Are you the boy that was with Miss Kim AeRin?" The doctor's face didn't give away any indication of if there was good or bad news.
The nervous boy nodded. "Yes, I'm her boyfriend. Zhang Yixing. How is she?"
"Did you contact her parents? How much of her medical history do you know? Does she have any vitamin deficiencies? Perhaps heart problems? Was she acting strange today per chance?"
Stuttering and nervous the boy answers. "N-not much." His fist clenches lightly. "I don't know much about her medical history, as far as I know. She doesn't have any heart problems or vitamin deficiences..."
He pauses and thinks. "But she was acting a bit strange. I thought maybe she had a headache, but she didn't compain about it. She was just resting her head on the side of my car.
The doctor takes a moment, going over the new information and nods before speaking.
"You can go back to see her, she's still unconscious but should awake soon. However, I would like to keep her for testing. Nobody faints like that without a reason."
Almost immediately the boy took off in the direction he saw them pushing the stretcher that had his girlfriend on it. He notices a nurse and heads in to see AeRin lying peacefully on the hospital bed, he walks over, takes her hand and sits in the nearby chair.
The nurse walks out.
The boy sighs and speaks up softly.
"AeRin. I love you. We'll get through this, you just have to pull through. whatever this is."
Few hours later the girls eyes flutter open and a barrage of questions fillt he room. The doctor explains that he wants to run a few tests on her, and she agrees to stay in the hospital until further notice.
But then - time passes. Blood tests were run, symptoms were drawn. The boy loses track of time. He barely leaves his girlfriend's side, they even have allowed him to sleep there at times. Perhaps a day or two have passed when the doctor tells them that AeRin has a vitamin B12 deficiency and a thing called pernicious anemia.
"It's not dangerous persay. But, we just have to make sure that it hasn't affected other parts of the body. Considering your young age, we should have nothing to worry about, you'll just have to take vitamin supplements for the remainder of your life. Not a big deal though." The doctor smiled and Yixing let out a sigh of relief. She was going to be fine.
"So... am I allowed to leave... or..?"
Yixing noticed the falter in the doctor's smile as he responded. "No, not yet. You'll have to stay until we've seen if it affected the other parts of your body. I'll be back to check in with you in a few hours." As the doctor exused himself, so did Yixing, following him out.
"Sir. May I ask you a question?" The doctor turned back and nodded.
"Sure thing. What's bothering you?"
Yixing couldn't help but voice his observations. The faltering smile the doctor had, the vague diagnosis. If she should be fine, why is she here? Couldn't her family physician take care of this. He hoped to be answered with something around the lines of that AeRin would be okay and that the doctor had just had a long day.
But then, a sigh.
The doctor sighed and spoke up.
"The truth is... Usually we only find this prehaps through other methods. Things like... depression or fatigue. But.."
The older man paused.
Yixing felt his heart drop.
"We found this through her fainting. I'm afraid that I'm more worried that somehow she has a more serious version of this and it can prove fatal if not treated properly or in time. If it's already affected her heart or perhaps even her digestive system...well... let's just hope that's not the case."
Yixing stared at the doctor, trying to process everything. "Is there anything I can do? Please. I love this girl with all my heart."
The doctor shook his head. "Just let us run our tests and pray, that's all I can tell you. Pernicious anemia isn't a death sentence unless somehow we caught it too late."
As the doctor turned away from Yixing, he couldn't help but feel a wave of despair pass over him. Trodding back to AeRin's room he felt the box in his pocket. What was he to do if he lost the girl he was going to ask to marry him?
Two days ago he was going to ask Kim AeRin for her hand in marriage and now he doesn't know how much longer she'll have. He shook his head, reprimanding himself for thinking so negatively.
She'll have a long life. I'm sure of it.
She has to.
He looks in to see her asleep again, and he smiles softly.
"You have to pull through for me..."
But things don't always go how we want them to.
The doctor's couldn't keep it a secret from Yixing that in all actuality the worst case scenario had turned out to be true. The anemia had somehow managed to affect her heart and they were worried that she would go into heart failure so they wanted to keep her in the hospital for a little longer before they could figure out how to handle everything.
When it came time to tell AeRin, Yixing couldn't help but watch as the fear in her eyes became apparent. She was afraid. She knew that if they were right she probably didn't have too long to live on and instantly she turned to Yixing who only shook his head.
She spoke up softly.
"May I go to the garden... please?"
Yixing nodded, getting a wheelchair and helping her into it, pushing her along, through the doors to the garden.
"Yixing... we need to talk." He could hear the sorrow in her voice and paused, nervously, before sitting on the bench next to her, taking her hands in his.
He smiles, she bites her lip.
"I love you Yixing. I do.. With all my heart." She pauses as tears start to flood down her face.
Tears of sadness, of despair, of regret.
"But... I can't... keep you here if I'm going to die. I don't want to have you watch me die."
He couldn't help but to stop breathing for a second. Those words hurt his heart. However, he couldn't agree to this.
He shook his head and took a breath.
"You're not going to die AeRin. And I'm going to be here every step of the way. I actually.." He pauses and takes out the box that he always carries with him now. "I want to ask you something. Something I was going to ask the night of our picnic."
He takes a breath and then slides off of the bench to get onto one knee, opening the box to show a ring.
"Kim AeRin. I love you more than anything in this universe and I can't think of anyone I would want to spend any amount of time with more than you, and especially the rest of our lives. To grow old and to be happy together. We'll get through this and we'll have happiness. So please... would you... Kim AeRin, may I have your hand in marriage?"
She cries.
He doesn't know if it's in sadness or happiness.
Finally, she speaks.
"Are you sure? What if-"
He shakes his head. "I'm sure. There's no what if's love."
She nods, crying more.
Now he's sure.
Tears of happiness.
But also sadness.
And worry.
He slides the ring onto her finger and they share a sweet kiss.
"I love you Yixing."
"I love you more AeRin."
A moment of smiles before he speaks.
"Come with me AeRin. Let's go fly an airplane together with our hopes and wishes. Okay, love?"
She smiles.
The memory fades.
Darkness.
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