bad alive {dong sicheng}

12

winwin tiptoed into the dimly lit medical room. the dim led lights hung from the wall reflected onto keni's face eerily as she lay on the medical bed.

winwin glanced at her before whispering to ten, "how is she?"

"i thought you didn't care," ten said and earned a glare from winwin.

"she's a bit better. i can't tell you when she will wake up though."

winwin looked at keni more closely and felt his stomach lurch at the lifelessness in her face. he reached out and squeezed her arm.

"can i move her." winwin said to ten, although it wasn't really a question but more of a demand. 

ten shrugged.

winwin turned his attention back to the girl and grimaced as he lifted her off the bed. she hung limply in his arms all the way up to his room. 

as he was laying her down on his bed and pulled the covers over her, he heard a knock on his door. 

he turned, "oh. what do you want."

ayeri got straight to the point, "you need to stop avoiding me."

winwin's eyes hardened, "i'm not." and he subconsciously reached out to hold keni's hand. 

ayeri glanced at the two and stood there in an uncomfortable silence before speaking again, "i hope she recovers quickly," she really did. it seemed like winwin was starting to care for the girl and she felt encouraged.

winwin glared at her, "why do you care?"

"i'm sorry winwin, that things didn't end up the way you wanted them too. i didn't expect things to happen like that either but i can't control who i love and i'm happy." ayeri shuffled her feet. 

before winwin could say something snarky, ayeri gestured towards keni, "take care of her," she said and quickly left the room.

when winwin looked back at keni, her eyes were fluttering open and they landed on winwin.

he jumped up and extracted his hand from hers, "you're awake?" he asked.

she nodded slowly and her breathing was still heavy. but she was awake nonetheless. even through her difficulty breathing, keni asked, "is she the reason?"

winwin shuffled towards the door, "yeah."

before winwin could exit his room, keni called out, "will you stay with me?"

the internal struggle inside of winwin raged on as he considered leaving her there. however, he felt himself soften and he sat back down next to her.

he forced himself to speak softly, "go back to sleep keni. then you can meet everyone else here."