When You Walked into My Life

18 | Survival of the Fittest

Author

"Lin, what is with all the blank spaces on the wall?"

Aaron asks, standing in the hallway looking at all the pictures. She has noticed the empty spots before, but never remembered to ask until now.

Lin looks up from his spot on the kitchen table and knows immediately what she is referring to. Up until now, Stacy hasn't been on his mind, but looking at the missing photos on the wall he can't help but feel the small amount of pain welling in his heart.

Unsure how to approach the topic of conversation he slowly gets up from the chair and joins Aaron who is analyzing all the pictures.

As she is scanning the pictures she wonders what it would be like to have so many people gathered around all smiling and enjoying themselves. She assumes the people in the photos are Lin's family and friends.

"Well," Lin says approaching, "I had a girlfriend and she ended up cheating, so I removed all the pictures of us together because..."

He trails off and Aaron quickly sees the sadness in his eyes. Finding herself a bit uncomfortable because she brought the question up she changed the topic.

"Well, looks like I better start getting ready. I would hate to be late!"

With that, she runs off to her room.

Lin just smiles to himself. He has started picking up that Aaron will do everything in her power to avoid uneasy conversations.

What a mess? He laughs to himself before going and getting ready for the day too.

~~~

"Looks like a clean bill of health," the doctor says with a smile to an anxious Aaron before asking Lin to meet her outside for a second.

The two had a very eventful morning. Lin now knows that surprise doctor visits are not Aaron's cup of tea.  She refused to say anything to Lin on the subway ride there and never once looked him in the eyes since the checkup started.

Lin hesitantly leaves the room, but not before shooting Aaron a quick glance to make sure she is okay.

As the doctor closes the door, she turns to Lin with a very serious look on her face. She informs Lin that Aaron is malnourished and has some cuts on her back that haven't healed properly.

She tells him that she needs to gain weight to process puberty and that she will prescribe a cream to put on her open wounds to avoid infection.

Hearing this information makes Lin's heart hurt. He tries his best to make sure Aaron has everything she needs, but can't help feeling a little guilty from not realizing that she isn't in the best physical state.

The doctor notices his face fall and tells him that she sees lots of foster kids in this state and that it's not his fault. She even tells him that Aaron is lucky to have found him because she can tell he cares.

He quickly puts on a smile and enters the room to find Aaron nervously swinging her legs back and forth with her eyes focused on the floor.

She feels bad that she got angry at Lin for taking her to the doctor. Although she hates it, it shows he cares and that's really what matters most.

Not wanting to look him in the eyes in case he is angry with her she decides to glue her eyes to the floor. She hears footsteps approach her as she braces for what's about to happen next.

Lin notices her squeeze her eyes shut looking like she is waiting for a strike and sadness enters his heart all over again. He gently takes her chin only receiving a small flinch, so her eyes meet his.