Indifference

Rejection

Two weeks pass by

Yue has stayed there talking to Dylan, reading books to him, playing stimulating music and singing with her beautiful voice that he always loved to hear...

In these weeks, Dylan's bruises and cuts have healed, and his face is handsome again. Yue loves to stare at his face; she caresses it and kisses it, recognizing that she is the thief now, the roles are reversed. Will he let her kiss him once he wakes up? This makes her nervous... Did he feel this anxious when he was stealing my kisses? She wonders.

Seems like it was yesterday when I saw your face

You told me how proud you were but I walked away

If only I knew what I know today

Yue has read 5 whole books aloud already, books she requested from his library because he mentioned they were his favorite. She reads them enthusiastically, making every word come to life so that, if he is listening, he can enjoy it.

She also smiles when she imagines his reactions to some of the songs she sings and plays for him, their taste in music is extremely different, but she tries to choose songs he would like too "because I don't want you to complain when you wake up and tell me that I only played my kind of music", she says.

Today Yue is holding Dylan's hand, kissing it with her head bowed down on the bed and talking, imploring him: "What if you wake up today? Are you procrastinating because you can hear my voice and you preferred that I wasn't here? Should I leave? Would you open your eyes If I left? Tell me what to do and I will do it... I beg you!" A tear runs down her cheek.

There's nothing I wouldn't do

To hear your voice again

"Uhm..."

What? What was that? Yue lifts her eyes and sees Dylan's mouth moving.

"Oh, my God! Dylan?" Yue presses the nurse's button repeatedly without losing eye contact with him.

Dylan coughs a couple of times and groans. His throat is still sore from the intubation that was removed a few days ago, and he is thirsty.

Yue's heart is racing, she cannot believe he is finally waking up.

The nurse comes into the room and asks what happens. Yue points at him.

"I'll call the doctor right away. Give me a minute."

Dylan complains about the pain and tries to move without yet opening his eyes. His leg feels stiff because he has a cast and does not know it. His whole body feels weird, as if it was patched up after breaking in pieces.

"Dylan, open your eyes..." Yue asks.

"What... What are you... doing here?"

No forgiveness today.

"You left..."

"I came back. I'm back."

Dylan coughs again but harder and the doctor arrives.

"Mrs. Wang, please wait outside."

"Alright."

Dylan's parents show up while the doctor is running all kinds of tests on Dylan. He checks his pulse, measures his blood pressure, checks his reactions to light and stimuli. All seems to be normal. He gives instructions to the nurse to start feeding him soft foods for a couple of days and see how he reacts. Then he calls the family in.