Ch 51 – Revisiting a dream
Just a slight injury ? I was sure he was lying to me again!
His scars were obviously not healed and looked red and angry against his pale chest. When I pushed against him earlier, it had opened the wounds and a little blood was oozing out.
All my anger had vanished. I just wanted to see how deep those wounds were.
" How .. how did this happen?" When I spoke, my voice was trembling. I had seen numerous patients with grave injuries and serious wounds, but my voice had never trembled.
At that moment, I was really shaking and my heart was squeezing painfully.
" Did you get into an accident?" I asked.
Ye Zhengchen did not say a word. He buttoned up his shirt, clearly preferring not to answer.
I suddenly remembered the phone call from a few days back. His voice did sound a bit weak, like a patient who was recovering from anaesthesia.
"When you called me that day…"
He hugged me , trying to laugh. "Please don't worry. I'm fine. If you don't believe me, I can let you examine me thoroughly once again."
He would always do this. Irrespective of the occasion, he would always try to joke with me.
But I was not so easily distracted. I dragged him by hand towards the car. " I am taking you to a hospital."
" I haven't even eaten hot pot yet."
Hot pot?
A medical doctor who had done his post graduation research in Japan didn't even know that a patient so grievously injured was not allowed to eat any kind of spicy food? And certainly not read meat.
I remembered that I had offered to cook hot pot for him. He had agreed without hesitation. But right now, I was numbed.
For some people, your heart would always hurt whenever they were in distress. Tears fell unbidden, streaking across my cheeks.
When Ye Zhengchen saw me crying, he panicked a little. He walked over towards me and used his sleeves to wipe away the tears.
"I am so worried that you will cry that I can never tell you anything."
"Lets go, I will take you to the hospital."
I swiped away my tears and opened the passenger door in the front, then helped him sit there. Then I sat in the car.
As we drove out, Ye Zhengchen instructed me , " Go to the City Hopsital."
"City hospital? Have you been there all this while?"
"Yes"
I didn't say anything. I knew why he had not come to the People's hospital, where I worked. And I understood now why he escaped from the hospital to come and meet me.
All is actions boiled down to one single, common word.
" Are you still upset with me?" Ye Zhengchen asked as he looked at me.
" No."
I wasn't angry with him. I was angry at myself.
From the first time we had reunited in the presidential suite, I was already unsteady in my resolve.
I thought if he saw my firm resolve, he would give me up just like he had done three years ago. But this was Ye Zhengchen. How would ne not see that I was wavering? How could he not tell if the woman on his bed was unwilling or willing?
All my internal contradictions and struggles were clearly visible to him. But he never pushed me or called me out.
Because he never intended to force me to a decision.
" You don't hate me ?" he looked at me suspiciously, " why?"
I looked back at him.
" This is all my fault. If, on the first day I met you , I had promised to come back to you, you wouldn't need to do all these things."
Ye Zhengchen leaned back on his seat and looked out of the window. I could not see his expression, but I could see his hand pressed against his chest.
The road ahead was familiar, but I was still unclear about the direction. I wasn't sure who was wrong any more, or even if anyone was wrong.
My mind was on other things so I was very fortunate that our route to the hospital was a straight road. The car continued to move forward at a stable speed.
Once we arrived at Nanzhou, Ye Zhengchen took me to his ward. It didn't look like a hospital ward at all. In fact it looked like a 5 star hotel suite.
Except for a kitchen, it had every convenience of a five star hotel suite. Even teh bed was a luxurious double bed.
When the young nurse saw Ye Zhengchen, she hurried up to him. " You are finally back! Dr Lin has come here several times already. He wanted to check up on you."
I helped Ye Zhengchen lie down on the hospital bed. Then I turned to the nurse, " His wounds are bleeding. Please call the doctor."
"Bleeding? I'm calling Dr Lin right now!Can you change his clothes?"
The nurse rushed out immediately. I took a hospital gown from the closet.
I have worked in a hospital for so long but I have never seen such efficiency. The other nurse immediately sat down and helped Ye Zhengchen peel off his blood clothes, slowly and cautiously. I wasn't a stranger to this type of scene. But still I felt a bit odd…
The nurse's face, her eyes, the undressing action … I had a faint suspicion the act wasn't purely innocent
When I saw the nurse unbuckling his belt, I couldn't stand it anymore. I went forward and said, "Let me do that."
My tone was a strict , no-nonsense tone and the nurse looked at me with amazement.
" He has injuries in his body."
" I will be careful", I said.
Realising that I would be persistent, she moved away.
I bent down in front of ye Zhengchen and unbuckled the belt. I was a bit more amateur than the nurse, and it took much longer than what the nurse would have taken.
It was hard to unbuckle. Then I reached out to pull the zipper. Ye Zhengchen bowed forward and whispered in my ear, " Doctor Bo, do you treat all your patients like this?"
I looked up and saw him smiling mischievously at me.
" Occasionally, I helped my Dad change his clothes"
Ye Zhengchen whispered again, " Next time, let the nurse do it. You are testing the patient's endurance."
I tried not to think about what his words meant. He seemed to think I was working too slowly, so I hurried up. I quickly helped him remove his pants. The nurse standing next to us looked a bit worried and reminded me to be careful.Ye Zhenghen continued looking at me as the smile on his lips kept getting wider.
As soon as I finished, a 30 year old male doctor hurried into the ward. A white mask covered his face, revealing only a pair of beautiful peach eyes.
" Dr Lin", the nurse respectfully greeted him. He was a renowned surgeon, but was also known widely for his handsome looks.
Dr Lin unbuttoned Ye Zhengchen's shirt and examined the wounds. His eyebrows scrunched. He looked at me and then Ye Zhengchen.
" Didn't I tell you to not indulge in any strenuous activities, especially that kind?"
The nurse next to him lowered her head, her face turning pink in embarrassment.
I suppose my face didn't look any better.
Ye Zhengchen coughed in embarrassment, " I just went for a walk with my girlfriend."
" How can the wound tear like this when you are just walking?"
" I was probably walking too fast!"
The doctor smirked, " What ? A hundred metres in 7 seconds?”
Ye Zhengchen grimaced and honestly admitted his mistake, " Dr Lin, I will walk slowly next time."
" Who said there will be a next time? From now onwards, you will stay at the ward and rest. You are not allowed to leave the hospital anymore."
" The right kind of exercise is good for the body."
" Are you the doctor here or am I?"
After a moment of hesitation, Ye Zhengchen gave in, " You are."
Hearing this, Dr Lin was satisfied. He dressed the wound again and asked the nurse to give him some medication for the inflammation.
Once he had finished dressing the wounds, Dr Lin turned to look at me again. His eyes were deeply penetrating. " Are you his girlfriend?"
" Yes"
"Please come with me."
" Where are you taking my girlfriend?" Ye Zhengchen issued a dissatisfied protest.
The doctor simply ignored him and went out.
" I'll be back in a minute",I said as I followed the doctor out of the door.
As soon as we reached the office, he closed the door and took off his mask. He was as handsome as I had heard.
" Dr Bo, please have a seat." He pulled out a chair politely and waited for me to be seated.
I looked up at him, " Do you know me?"
"I've seen you a few times. You probably did not notice me ."
Nanzhou city was not big and the two hospitals often had exchange programs. It wasn't too surprising that he knew me.
When I sat down, Dr Lin asked me, " Are you very busy these days?"
I guessed what he really wanted to ask me is why I hadn't visited my boyfriend the last few days at the hospital.
" I wasn't busy. But my boyfriend is scared of me. He never told me that he was injured and in hospital. I only got to know today."
" Oh", he sighed, " Let me be blunt. I have been a doctor for a very long time and seen different kinds of patients. But I have never seen a patient so stubborn or so careless. On the very first day after his surgery, he ran away at night and his wound was inflamed. Several times in the past few days, he has been running away whenever the nurses were not on their guard…"
I bowed my head and said nothing.
" I hope that you will persuade him to take care of himself no matter how urgent other things may be."
If I told him his stubborn patient was only running away to meet me, I wasn't sure how he would react.
"Starting today, I will look after him twenty four - seven to ensure he doesn't run away again", I solemnly promised.
Dr Lin sighed in relief, " That's great!"
" Dr Lin, I want to know how he got wounded like this."
" You don't know how?", he looked at me in surprise.
" He is worried I will worry. He did not tell me anything."
Dr Lin smiled. It seemed he was quite amused with my comment " I didn't realise he was so infatutated. I have never seen him like this."