633: Perfect Moment

Perfect Moment

The hospital was just as Xiu remembered it; clean, quiet, and unbearable! As always it smelled like bleach and antiseptics. The good thing was that Xin Zimen had arranged everything in order which meant she didn't have to wait in the waiting room and bear through the sight of blood, cuts, bruises, casts, and arm slings. 2

In fact, the entrance they used to enter the hospital saved Xiu from a lot of trouble. They were directly brought to the examination room. Changing into the hospital gown, Xiu looked down at herself and felt her mood worsening for some reason. These loose clothes in boring colors really made one feel sicker than they were. In her opinion, hospitals always had such a depressing mood that it'd affect even the healthiest and cheeriest person in the world. 

Just like herself! Even though she could be called the happiest depressed person one would ever meet. She was feeling her mood getting from the happiest depressed to simply depressed. These shadows of death surrounding a hospital really weighed down on her shoulders.

A full-body health checkup was certainly lengthy and strenuous. It took hours to go through so many procedures of being pricked with needles. Going through all kinds of tests, Xiu felt like her energy was drained. So, when the doctor said she had to wait a while to get the results, the first thought that came to Xiu's mind was that she needed something to drink. Anything would be fine!

Xin Zimen was in a separate room and when he came to look for Xiu, he was told that she went out. He rounded around the corridor and found Xiu before a vending machine. Her brows were knotted together and her eyes were glaring at the stupid machine. She was sitting in a wheelchair as she kept kicking the vending machine while grumbling, "You bloody money-grubber! Give me my drink! Or give me back my coins! How dare you swindle me?! I won't take it lying down!"

Xin Zimen shook his head at her as he walked over and only hit a specific side of the vending machine with his fist, making her drink come out. Xiu's eyes sparkled as she took it out and smiled at Xin Zimen, "Ah-Xin, thanks!"

He sighed before asking, "Why are you in a wheelchair? What happened? What did the doctor say?"

With a pop, Xiu opened the can and took a swig of her cold drink as she said, "Nothing is wrong. My lazy bum just didn't want to walk around, so I borrowed a wheelchair. But steering it around is also quite troublesome."

Seeing how nonchalant she was being about it, he rubbed his forehead in worry. 

"Do you want one? I have some more coins with me," Xiu rummaged out coins from the pocket of her hospital gown.

"No, I'm fine."

"What did the doctor say?" asked Xiu.

"How about we go together to find out?" he suggested.

Xiu nodded but looked lost since she wanted to drink her cold drink but she had to use her hands to steer the wheelchair as well. Aiyo, this was really not acceptable.

While she was still thinking, Xin Zimen had already gone behind her back to push the wheelchair for her. Xiu grinned and continued to drink at ease. As the bubbly drink soothed her throat, she said, "Ah-Xin, have you ever thought that maybe the life we're living is actually just a dream?"

"A dream?"

"Yes. Just a dream. Like everything you have experienced till now was just a dream. All the pain, suffering, happiness, all kinds of feelings were just a part of a dream."

Xin Zimen frowned at her words. "Where is this all coming from? What's with this strange talk?"

Xiu tilted her head up to look at him as she said, "When I come to hospitals, my brain starts thinking about all sorts of things." She rubbed her nose as she went on, "But I'm quite serious right now. Let's just imagine that one day you wake up to realize that everything had been a dream. So, which moment would you choose to open your eyes?"

Xin Zimen's eyes dimmed as he replied, "Any moment would be fine as long as that moment have my complete family with me."

"Your complete family? You mean your wife and your kids right?"

"Yes," he answered.

"Why am I not even surprised?" muttered Xiu to herself before she threw the empty can into the in and went on, "Do you know, Aunt Wei told me that your relationship with your wife didn't make much sense to people."

"Our relationship had to make sense to only us; me and my partner. The rest doesn't matter because it's a relationship between me and her, not a community project that everyone has to get the proper understanding of it."

 Xiu chuckled at his reply, "That's quite an explanation."

"What about you?" he asked.

"What about me?" she frowned.

"What if this was a dream for you as well? Which moment would you choose to wake up?"

Xiu rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "I think I'd like to be 14 again."

"Why?"

"I have new ways to ruin my life," she giggled and earned a light smack on her head.

"Be serious."

"Okay. So... If I have to choose a moment then it'd be..." she dragged the silence a bit longer than necessary before continuing, "This very moment. Yup! I think I'd still like to wake up at this moment when Ah-Xin is right by my side and I have the world's best husband. This is the perfect moment for me."

"Wow! You really know how to flatter someone."

Xiu grinned at him, "I wasn't flattering you though. I'm just being very honest."

Xin Zimen didn't say anything in reply. He silently pushed her wheelchair back to the doctor's office and heard her saying, "Here goes nothing..."

"Please take a seat, Mr. Xin," said the doctor when he saw them.

"You have the test results?" asked Xiu.

"Yes," answered the doctor. 

pqdm.com