“Melody, don’t you dare to go before we’ve solved this.” Jane said. Melody smiled at her, then turned around and walked in to Gui Gui.
“Hi mum… Are you okay?” she asked. She loved to use the word ‘mum’ about Melody. Melody felt much more as a mum than her old mother, Sandra, had done. Melody had the loving and calm, yet helping feeling that a mother was supposed to have. She felt as a person whom you could always turn to.
“I’m just fine, thanks honey…” Melody said and quickly kissed her on the forehead. “But Jane left; she had something to do…”
“Oh, I see…” Gui Gui answered and smiled innocently. She knew that Melody and Jane had been fighting, but she didn’t want to use her energy on it.
“So sweetheart, what are you going to dress up as at the costume party?” Melody asked. “You would me the most beautiful princess ever”
“I can’t say in front of Aaron… It’s supposed to be a surprise.” Gui Gui giggled in a shy way, while Melody was smiling warmly. Someone walked in. It was Show.
“Heey, Gui, I brought some chocolate” he said and smiled jollily. The chocolate he had brought was shaped like a ghost. The packaging was white, and had all details drawed on, but when you removed it, it was just plain, cheap chocolate… But it kept on having the special feeling.
“Thanks, ge… I’ve been wanting chocolate for quite a while… I love chocolate” Gui Gui said and looked at the package. There was something special about chocolate.
“You’re welcome, sis… Hello aunt Melody” Show said, and bowed at Melody. Melody just smiled happily.
“Hello, Show” she said.
“’Ey, Show, you still owe me money” Aaron laughed. At the time Gui Gui had been hospitalized Aaron and Show had become the best of friends. Aaron had pretended to be in Chengdu for gang-matters, when he in reality had been checking up on Gui Gui’s family for Gui Gui.
“I know, and I’ll pay you the twenty Taiwan dollars when I have them… I just have to get my paycheck” Show said and nodded. Aaron laughed.
“So… Which one of my friends ended up dating your hot-tempered sister?” Aaron questioned. Calvin and Jiro had been fighting over a girl, which was ironic, as both were players.
“That Jiro-guy… She said something about the other one being too arrogant”
“I see…”

One week later it was official; Gui Gui was discharged, done with all kind of treatment, and going home. She was happy, though she didn’t have any hair, and though she still was very, very tired.
The sad thing was her goodbye with Show and Cyndi. Her siblings… The sibling she had never known. She had hugging Show very tightly.
“Well, we’ll see you again soon if you come to Taiwan for Christmas…” Gui Gui said and smiled. Then she looked at Aaron.
“Aaron, can we please find a new house? A smaller one that feels more comfortable… With only the two of us” Gui Gui said and smiled liked a little child. Aaron couldn’t help but laugh, and put his arm around her shoulder.

The next morning, after breakfast and morning-preparations, Aaron and Gui Gui was on their way to school, in one of Aaron’s cars. Of course Gui Gui was extremely nervous, but she was also excited; she hadn’t seen them for a long time.
“I wonder how they’re doing…” Gui Gui said, while looking at a bottle of sunscreen, which was weirdly enough lying on the car-floor.
“They’re just fine, I promise you…” Aaron said. He looked at the sunscreen. “Gosh, who asked Angela to clean the car again? She’s always forgetting something in it…”
“That’s a relieve…” she said and stared out in the air. The car suddenly stopped. Gui Gui looked out of the window, to realize that they already had arrived to the school’s area. Gui Gui collected Angela’s sunscreen up, and squeezed it very tightly.
“Don’t worry, honey, it’ll be alright.”

When Gui Gui walked into the classroom everyone became quiet for a few seconds, and then started greeting her at the same time.
“Wu Ying Jie! Long time no see” she heard Hebe say behind her. She turned around, and hugged Hebe. Afterwards she just hugged everyone whom she was close to.
“I’ve missed you guys!” she said, with wet eyes. But this time it was good tears; tears of happiness. She smiled brightly. Until…
“’Ey, Wu Ying Jie? Who do you think toy are to just come back here?!” she heard someone say behind her. She turned around to the opening of the classroom.
“Candice Liu?” she asked, and wrinkled her forehead.
“What about it?” Candice questioned, and smiled in an arrogant way.
“Oh, nothing… Just that I didn’t expect to see you here, after losing… When I was in the hospital I thought for a long time, and I suddenly realized WHY you were treating me that nicely.” Gui Gui said, and smirked.
“Oh my god, little , what are you going to do about it?” Candice asked. She really had a bad attitude, but on the other hand… she always had.
“Nothing, I’m fine; I’ve got the guy” Gui Gui said, smirking.

The day of the costume party, Gui Gui was silently sitting in front of her mirror, getting ready. She had taught herself to do makeup, and she was slowly getting used to wearing the wig. She looked in the mirror. Her hair was growing, but the process wasn’t very fast. She placed it on her head again.
She started applying lots of white powder. She had decided to dress up as a ghost, as it suited her nickname… and of course she couldn’t just wear a sheet with wholes as eyes. She started using a combination of black and red eyeshadow to make fake dark circles.
She looked at her dress. It was perfect, and pretty scary. She was wondering if Aaron had gotten home yet; him, Calvin, Chun and Jiro had been visiting their favorite bar, where Calvin’s current girlfriend worked. Gui Gui smiled by the thought.
Suddenly her favorite song; Friendly goodbye by bowling for soup started playing loudly from her cell phone. She didn’t answer the phone immediately, as she wanted to listen to the song for a while.
She finally got herself to do it anyways.
“Hello?” she asked.
“Hello, Gui Gui! You better hurry to the hospital, Aaron was in an accident!” she heard the usually so arrogant and reserved Calvin say.
“What?!” she asked.
“No, wait, Jiro will come to pick you up…” he tried to sound like nothing was wrong, but it was very obvious that he was crying. She dropped her phone.

At the hospital, she was sitting outside Aaron’s room waiting with the guys. The atmosphere was very tense, and everyone stayed silent… until the doctor came out. All of them ran towards him. When Gui Gui saw his cold poker face, she started wondering if doctors enjoyed watching sad people.
“How is he?!” she asked, with tears floating down her cheeks.
“He’s still in a critical state. He needs blood, and we’re currently checking if his kidneys are okay. The problem is… We don’t have enough blood-type O left in our blood bank. Can any of you donate?” he asked, and looked at them with serious eyes.
“I’m a blood-type O!” Chun and Jiro said at the same time.
“I’ll donate” Chun added. The doctor nodded.
“Do you take any kind of medicine?” he asked. Chun shook his head.
“Do you have – or have had any kind of dangerous, or blood infecting diseases?” he asked. Once again Chun shook his head.
“Have you ever taken any kinds of intoxicants?” the doctor asked. Chun looked confused about his choice of words. Calvin sighed.
“He’s asking if you have ever taken drugs.” He explained. Chun shook his head.
“And I know that this one seems rude. A lot of people misunderstands, and asks why they can’t donate blood just because of this… But it really does have a biological reason. Have you ever had any kinds of ual activity with someone of the same gender as yourself?”
“I haven’t.” Chun answered.
“Then come with me, and get ready to donate.” He said. He looked at the others.
“When my co-workers are done checking him, you can walk into his room.” - He looked at Gui Gui – “I know that this is a bad time to ask, and that you may get mad at me… But in case we can’t save him, we’ll need you to fill in some papers… Just to prepare you. I’ll get a nurse to come in a minute, and explain what might happen.” He walked away.
“Wow Gui, you look very pale” Jiro tried to joke… And Gui Gui tried to fake a laugh, which ended up sounding more like a grunt. Someone walked out of the room that Aaron was in.
“We’re done with the testing…” he said. “the results will be out soon, but I’m warning you; it doesn’t look too good.”

***

This is the first chapter of The Bet I wrote after my mother's death... My mother died from cancer, which is why I cured Gui Gui in this one; I couldn't bear to write about it anymore...

I was actually happy to finally update though... I know it's baby steps, but getting some of my everyday back filled me with a weird satisfaction xD