Main Story Chapter 10-13: Ward No.6 (六号病房) | Light and Night 光与夜之恋

Before reading this chapter, please check Chapter 10-10 over here! 

.

.

Jesse: How did that boy smell like a Strain...? He and his mother are clearly ordinary humans. Could it be...

.

.

.

After pulling myself together from being emotional, I stride across the hospital corridors.

Sounds of moans, shouting, the frictional sounds of pushcart wheels, sounds of saline bottles colliding each others have been endless.

There are many unread messages on my phone, so I opened them and read them, thankfully they are all chit-chatting in various group chats, there aren't anything important.

Seeing someone walking towards me from the corner of my eyes, I quickly leaned closer to the sideways and gave way.

Who would've expected that the person also dodged towards the same direction as I did, as if it was done on purpose, and blocked before me.

You: ......

A slender hand extended towards me, fingertips pinching the sides of my phone, and turned my screen off with a click.

You: ?

??: Pretending to play with your phone to make a chance encounter to the one you're into. Isn't that a cliché move from idol dramas a decade ago? It's more or less a little outdated.

I looked up, feeling completely speechless, only to see Charlie looking at me intently with both of his hands in his pockets.

You: I think you are the one that watched too much idol dramas. I wasn't pretending to play with my phone, I was really looking at my phone. I wasn't even planning to make a chance encounter with you, it's you who were the one approached and almost collided into me.

Charlie: Oh, I see. Of so many things you've denied, the only thing you didn't deny was that I'm the person you're into. Looks like you've already made preparations to fulfil our engagement. 

You: ......

Charlie: Why aren't you accompanying your little childhood sweetheart?

You: He's about to get discharged.

Charlie: It's alright, it's very normal to have competition around you. You don't have to avoid them for me on purpose.

You: You-- Forget it, say whatever you want.

Charlie: Why did your attitude change today?

You: Huh?

Charlie: Weren't you very fierce when you saw me back then? Wiping snot on my clothes at one point, then warn me to get away from you at another?

Grabbing onto my sleeve and pulled me a little closer to him, Charlie leaned down, looked into my eyes, and smiled softly.

Charlie: I understand now, you fell for me.

You: That's only because I have good mannerism, and in the hospital, I'm only giving some face to Dr. Zha in public.

Charlie: Your eyes are much more honest than you do. There are six words written in them.

You: What?

Charlie: My fiancé is just so handsome.

You: I think it should be "you probably have a screw loose".

Charlie: I see, but doctors can't treat themselves, how about you spare your compassion and treat me instead, fiancée? 

He did not mind my sarcasm for even the slightest bit, and just stared at me completely unfazed, and if observed closely, his teasing smile is actually showing some seriousness.

Being stared by him just like this, I suddenly got uncertain of what I'm supposed to say, and even began to feel a little regretful.

You: I'm being serious, does your hospital even know you're this narcistic? Or does being narcistic actually gives bonus points in your assessments?

Charlie: No bonus points needed, I'm the one with highest points in the entire hospital.

You: Then why are you still a--

I leaned closer to look at his work permit.

You: Attending physician? No other titles?

Charlie: It can't be helped for me to say this.

You: ?

Charlie: Of course there aren't any problems with my clinical ability, but one of the conditions in application is the number of research papers published.

You: So you didn't publish enough of papers? How about... writing a few more?

Charlie: No need. We have different pursues, if I had time for this, I'd rather operate a few more times. Even your fiancé isn't the hospital's deputy director, with this image and skillset, you'd still be able to feel proud.

You: ... Who said I needed you to make me feel proud?!

He's talking to himself again, I have yet to even express anything, and his thoughts have already flown into the outer space.

You: Alright, since your time is so valuable, I shall not chat with you any longer.

Charlie showed an understanding smile, then folded the papers in his hand properly and placed them into the white coat's pockets.

Charlie: So you wanted me to send you home. But it's a pity, the patients are still waiting for me today.

Before he continues speaking, I quickly continued the conversation.

You: Then hurry up and get to work, I'll not disturb you anymore, bye bye!

But he have instead grabbed onto my arm, stared at me with a troubled look, pondered for a moment, then finally nodded.

Charlie: I'd feel bad if I had to let my fiancée compromise like this. How about this, I'll send you off until the hospital entrance.

I originally wanted to make him to get back to work without minding me, but I suddenly remembered about Yangyang's case.

Since Charlie is a highly skilled doctor in the burns department, it's likely for him to know at least a thing or two about his grandmother's condition, I wonder if there are hopes for her to recover.

Although this has nothing to do with me, but uncertain of the reason, I still wanted to get an answer.

You: Okay. Actually, there's something that I wanted to ask you while we are on our way.

Charlie stepped forward and headed to the hospital exit with me.

Charlie: Ask away, I'm all yours throughout the entire time in this journey.

You: ... There's an old lady that was injured from burns in a sundry store, she's probably still unconscious in the ICU. Do you know anything about her condition?

In the dim walkway, as if it's a misperception from the lack of light, I seemed to have seen Charlie's deep purple eyes gleamed a little.

Charlie: I know, it's not optimistic.

Out of my expectations, Charlie's answer is simple and straightforward.

You: Does 'not optimistic' means there's no hope?

He extended a finger and waved it before me.

Charlie: Never belittle your fiancé. "Not optimistic" means even if there were originally no hopes, there will be hope if it arrived my hands.

You: Is that so...

I've seen him making judgment calmly and accurately at dire times of treatment, hence despite him sounding so confident and arrogant, it has somehow became reassuring.

You: That's good to know.

Charlie: First my job title, then my patient, I didn't know you're this concerned about my job.

You: Hold it, Dr. Zha, you're going to ruin the image of angels in white* with that attitude.

*T/N: How we call doctors in Chinese other than the word 'doctor'.

Charlie: What's with angel in white? Angels in white can also fall in love, this is a general fact.

Perhaps it's from the fact that Yangyang's grandmother still had hopes to get out of her critical state, I feel much relaxed, even this Charlie before my eyes looked much more pleasant to the eyes now.

It seems like we're reaching the end of the long corridor soon, but suddenly, an anxious voice sounded from behind.

Nurse: Dr. Zha! Dr. Zha--

A young nurse panted as she stopped beside us.

Nurse: The family members of patient number 5 in ICU insisted for a discharge, please have a look!

The lines on Charlie's face became tensed in an instant, he looked at me in hesitation, it seems like there's something he wanted to say.

I have almost never seen him this hesitated before.

Charlie: Please lead her to my office, I'll head over right away.

Nurse: Okay.

You: No need, I originally planned to--

Charlie: I have no habits of breaking my promises to you. Once I'm done with being busy, I'll send you to the hospital's entrance.

You: No, this isn't really about breaking promises...

He turned around and waved at me suavely, then left in hurried steps, leaving me with my surprised face as I looked at the nurse awkwardly.

Nurse: Are you possibly Dr. Zha's girlfriend?!

You: That's not it! We didn't even get to know each other for long!

The nurse blinked at me, a hand clenching into a fist as it gently knocks onto her palm.

Nurse: Someone saw a romance novel placed in Dr. Zha's wardrobe in the past, we tried asking him, but he didn't admit it.

You: ?

Nurse: So turns out he has a target now. It's all connected, the dots are now connected.

She paused when she spoke until this point, then smiled in slight embarrassment.

Nurse: I'm sorry, I was just too excited. Whenever Dr. Zha starts working, it's almost as if he is putting his life on the line, working over time every single day, we thought he'd never be able to fall in love!

You: Working overtime every day?

Nurse: That's right, during this period of time even our deputy director said that he might as well don't go home, and just move his house into the office. Guess what Dr. Zha say? He said, the hospital is still too small, it isn't enough to place his things there.

You: Pfft... It's indeed something he'd say.

Nurse: Dr. Zha is quite a cheerful and interesting person when he's not working, but he's very strict whenever it comes to work. Dr. Zha is hired as an external expert, and he was originally hired to perform some operations with high technical difficulties. But who would've thought he'd even took over small operations! So, at least to us, he is really pretty good.

She smiled at me. Just when I was fascinated by her words, I suddenly understood what happened, she's helping Charlie to say good things for his "target"! I suddenly feel dumbfounded.

As my attention was diverted, the surrounding sounds all entered my ears, and subconsciously, the nurse and I have walked a long way.

Nurse: We're almost there, after walking past the wards, Dr. Zha's office is just after the turn at that corner.

You: There's really no need for me to go there. I was about to--

The scene before my eyes have instead interrupted what I was about to say. The inpatient department is filled with family members and medical staff, and Charlie is standing right in the middle, listening to a young doctor's report on the situation.

The one who stood before him is a plainly dressed middle-aged man. But the commonly seen expression of needing help is seen on his face, but instead a calmness as if everything has settled.

On the seat on the other side-- I stopped my footsteps, and my eyes widened-- There sits Yangyang and his mother.

The hysteric woman earlier now carries a heavy look right now, as if she's stuck in a dilemma, attempting to speak but unable find her way to do slot herself into the conversation.

Yangyang's gaze instead is wandering around, a moment on the medics, and at another moment it's on his parents.

Charlie: Understood.

Charlie's voice sounded. He did not yell, nor even raising his tone, but he carries a wonderful power that the surrounding became quiet. He turned towards the middle-aged man.

Charlie: The family wishes to give up on treatment, correct?

Middle-aged Man: Yes, Dr. Zha.

Charlie: Your mother now requires a ventilator to maintain her vital signs, ending the treatment may cause instant death.

Middle-aged Man: I know.

He uttered those two words with great difficulty, showing a pained expression.

Charlie: Are all direct family members agreeing to this?

Middle-aged Man: My wife and I agreed to it. My father passed away a long time ago.

Charlie: Reason?

Middle-age Man: My mother is already old, and she stayed in the ICU for two weeks, but she's still not awake. The doctor before has said, there's basically no hope. It's no use to keep prolonging this.

No wonder Yangyang's mother said something like "we've let granny down", so it turns out that they have already planned to give up on treatment today.

The promise with Yangyang still echoed by my ear, I looked at the family with tired looks over their faces, and I can't really tell how it feels like.

Seeing me stopping, the nurse that led me the way also stopped, and spoke to me quietly.

Nurse: The previous attending physician have suggested to give up on treatment, but Dr. Zha insisted to take over. Did you remember that I've mentioned about Dr. Zha working overtime recently? It's because of this.

I nodded, and looked at the scene before my eyes a little nervously.

Charlie took out a few neatly stacked paper from his pocket. He signaled the man to go to his side, then circled out some contents with a ballpoint pen.

Charlie: The problem in your mother's condition lies in continuous infection and multiple organ failure. In addition to her medical history of lung abscess that did not recover well after surgery, she now has severe pulmonary failure. But this doesn't mean there's no hope. This is the new treatment proposal I've made. The patient is now in dire conditions, there's no room for delays, and there's a need to perform an operation on her immediately.

Middle-aged Man: New treatment proposal...

Charlie: That's right.

The middle-aged man took the paper from Charlie's hand, and scanned it from top to bottom.

Middle-aged Man: Doctor, please allow me to think about this.

Yangyang have already ran towards him and grabbed onto his sleeve.

Yangyang: Daddy, granny can still wake up, right? Let's save her, please?

Middle-aged Man: Yangyang, go to your mother.

He pressed his son back onto the long chair, and a sliver of hope can be seen in his eyes looking towards Charlie.

Middle-aged Man: Doctor, after the surgery on the new proposal, how great are the chances for her to recover?

All gaze focused on Charlie once again, but there was not a slightest change in his expression.

Charlie: This proposal is yet to go through a clinically practice, hence I am unable to guarantee it. I can only say, to safely estimate it, there will be 20% increment in chances of survival of your mother.

The man took out a box of cigarettes from his pocket, shaking one out and was just about to light it up, and the nurse standing by the side immediately stopped him.

He kept the cigarette back in embarrassment, then let out a sigh.