Category : Books-Fiction

Sub Category : Romance

                                            Chapter 11
          Sarah placed her hands on her cheeks, she didn’t need to see to be able to tell, she was beet red.
          “Why’d he got to say such an embarrassing thing in public?!” She cried out.          Frustrated at how she reacted to Chris’s words, the knife in her hand sliced the carrot under it a little too aggressively. 
          “What thing?” A face popped up from nowhere and scared the living daylights out of Sarah. 
          It was Lily, a colleague from the café she's currently working at. Lily was 17, a year older than Sarah, studying in a different school.
          The senior has always dreamed of opening her own restaurant and is aiming to enrol in a culinary school. She hopes to learn some cooking skills by working part time in the café, but she can be an real airhead sometimes and mix up the ingredients and spices or set the wrong temperature etc. 
          Sarah can’t remember the last time she had to apologize to the head chef in her stead when Lily messed up, hence, the head rarely has her working in the kitchen or anywhere remotely close to the stove, unless there is a shortage of hands. Otherwise, most of the time, she only helps with washing dishes and taking orders.           Many times, she would sneak into the kitchen when the head chef is out. Today was no exception.           
          “No-Thing.” Sarah claimed. 
          Lily nudged Sarah, asking suggestively, “Who is that boy? Boyfriend, perhaps?” They were initially walking to the café together when Sarah saw Chris and had asked Lily to walk ahead while she left her to run over to him. 
          “Nah, he’s just a friend.” 
          “Just a friend? It definitely didn’t look like that.” Lily looked at her sideways before she walked over to the sinks at the other end of the kitchen and started washing dishes. 
          “We used to go out but not anymore.” Sarah said. Since they were the only two in the kitchen, Sarah went ahead and told Lily, she didn't feel the need to hide it. 
          “You guys did?!” Lily almost knocked over the buckets of water on the ground running from the sink to Sarah’s side. She had left the tap running and the plate she was holding onto was dripping with soap. 
          Lily was looking at her with sparkles in her eyes, waiting patiently for Sarah to tell the juicy details. Sarah giggled at how silly Lilly looked at that moment. She looked like how a dog would stare at its owner in anticipation just for a pet on its head. 
          Sarah stopped the work at hand, still holding onto the knife, she closed her eyes and started reminiscing.           “We met when we were 14 through some mutual friends before Chris transferred schools...... We started going out but like any normal relationship, things didn’t work out and we ended things.”           
          Just the thought of the break up made her feel sick and nauseous. She hated this horrible feeling. The relationship was short lived, but she treasured every moment they had together. She was in love with him, but she wasn’t so sure about how Chris felt. Even just earlier, Chris told her that he sustained the bruise from an ex but when they were dating, Chris had told her that she was his very first girlfriend.           
          Sarah couldn't stop herself from wondering how many other lies have he told. At that moment, she didn't know how to react, all of the memories started flooding her mind, she didn't know what to believe in anymore. 
           Suddenly, Sarah heard a bucket being knocked over and the loud splash of water, some even spilled onto her shoes.           Sarah slowly opened her eyes as she heard the turning of the tap and the sound of flowing water coming to a halt. She turned to see Lily no longer by her side but back at the sink. She had one hand on the sink tap.
          The elder had her head hung low, looking down in the sink, Lily uttered, “I’m……sorry…...” The other hand over her mouth. 
          Sarah walked over to her, avoiding the buckets.           Placing a hand on Lily’s shoulder, she asked, “What’s wrong?”
          Sarah noticed that Lily was trembling slightly.          To Sarah’s surprise, Lily started shedding tears. “I’m sorry……for asking……” She kept apologizing. 
          Sarah pulled the emotional girl into her arms.           What kind of face was she making that made Lily this upset? Sarah blamed herself. 
          “It’s ok. It’s ok…...” Sarah tried to comfort her. Shockingly, she could hear her own voice breaking and vision blurring. 
          Absolutely not! Sarah! You have got to stay strong! She blinked furiously in hopes to blink away the oncoming tears. Telling herself to man up, that now is absolutely not the time to cry. 
          But no matter how hard she tried to convince herself, Sarah knew that she never really had control over her emotions, especially when it came to Chris. Seeing Lily cry triggered something in her and she could feel the dam she had built around her locked away feelings breaking down, overflowing and crushing her heart. 
          One year later and Sarah didn’t realise until then that she still hasn’t gotten over Chris. 
                     XXXXXXXXXX
          Holding onto the bag of medicine given by Oliver in one hand and his sling bag strapped over his shoulder behind his back, Chris walked down the long corridors of the hospital. 
          Room after room. Patient after patient. He would make a mental note of the rooms that were not occupied by any patient. It has become a habit of his and a way to keep his mind occupied.           Vacant rooms are easily recognisable. They tend to have their doors slightly ajar from the inside and curtains pulled all the way to the end, revealing an empty room. Yesterday, room 501 was unoccupied, now it’s in its full utilisation. 
          Chris stopped at the end of the corridor in front of a room that had its curtains closed and the door fully shut. The number read ‘510’. 
           He stood grounded, taking a deep breath before letting it out slowly. After he deemed himself ready, knowing well deep down that he could never be ready, the sight always broke his heart, no matter how many times he has repeated the same process, he knocked on the door gently and waited a few seconds before letting himself in.
          The ambience in the room was warm and cosy. The single light source in the room came from the sunlight shining in through the windows.
           Chris's eyes immediately landed on the woman lying peacefully on the bed, in a deep slumber. The covers pulled all the way up to her upper body, leaving only her shoulders and arms uncovered. The woman was equipped with an oxygen mask strapped to an oxygen tube, an IV drop through the peripheral of her right arm to supply fluids to her body, a monitor to read her heart rate and other fancy devices that Chris could not tell the function of. 
          Chris closed the door behind him gently as if it would break if he exerted even a little strength.
          His legs feel heavy but he forced himself to walk, he broke the silence, saying, “I watched episode 20 of your favourite show, Close to Sin in class today.” His tone was soft. 
          “I’ll summarize the episode for you……” He paused momentarily to recall the episode and continued, “……But to be honest with you, this episode is really boring.” He let out a short and quiet laugh as he walked over to the only standing table and placed the bag of medicine and his sling bag on it.          
          Chris then picked up the glass of flowers from the table and walked into the bathroom. It was a combination of pink and purple carnations that were given by Adele a few months back. 
          “……This entire episode was about how the guy tried to act as though he didn’t like the girl, but it was totally obvious to us, the viewers that he does.” Chris narrated as he took the flowers out of the glass and poured all of the water out of it into the sink.          He then opened the tap and refilled the glass with clean water. When the glass was almost half filled, he closed the tap and placed the flowers back into the glass. 
          Chris continues narrating as he walked out of the bathroom with the glass of flowers in his hand.          “……The girl loves the boy, but she doesn’t let him know because her best friend is also in love with him. So, she tries to avoid the boy at all costs.” Chris said as he placed glass of flowers back on the table, he marveled at how long the flowers lasted. They were beautiful. 
          “However, at the end, he managed to confront her and asked her what is her reason for avoiding him.” Chris plugged his drained of battery cell into one of the unused wall chargers. 
           He then walked over to the woman and with his right hand, combed the woman's fringe to the side and adjusted the cover that has slightly slipped off.
           Chris then sat on the chair that was already besides the bed. “……She then tried to lie her way out.”
          “The episode ended with them quarrelling, when the girl suddenly received a call from her mum that her dad had just got into an accident and is now in the emergency room.” 
          And Chris's narration ended. Silence filled the entire space. Even after Chris had stopped talking, the woman just laid there, in the same position, completely motionless. She had not move an inch since Chris entered the room...... Or rather she couldn't.
          Chris felt a pang in his chest and he looked around the room, gulping loudly, his throat felt sore. He drowned the thought of reaching out his hand to envelope the other's hand in his.  
           “……Mum, can you hear me?” he asked softly. The desperation and weariness evident in his voice.
          The woman gave no respond again.           Chris stared at his mother, 45 years old but completely locked in a coma. 
          He ripped his gaze away from his mother when he felt a tingling sensation of tears rising up in his eyes. Similar to how many would feel a stinging and uncomfortable sensation in their eyes when they chop onions or garlics, Chris felt the same after staring at his mother for too long.          He felt a tugging pain in his chest. He doesn’t know how to exactly describe the feeling but if he were to describe how he feels now with one word, it would be ‘empty’. 
          The horrible feeling of hollowing emptiness in his heart scares him as it grows a little every single day, consuming his heart little by little. The helplessness he is feeling is frightening and terrifying. He is afraid that one day he would wake up and feel absolutely nothing, immune to all emotions.w That thought scared him beyond belief.......That would probably be the day he dies. 
          Every day, for the past 2 years, Chris had the same routine, it was constant cycle. He would attend school and whenever he had the spare time, he would visit his mother in the hospital.          Occasionally, he would do some homework or engage in entirely one-sided conversations with his mum. He alternated between them both, letting time just flow. 
          He watched as nurses would enter the room to check on his mum’s condition every so often and change the IV drop. 
          “Your mum will be having her wash now.” One of the nurses informed Chris as she pulled on the binds.          Chris would then conclude the day and go back. 
          He thanked the nurses before unplugging his fully charged phone and grabbing his beg and the bag of medicine before exiting the room. He took one last look at his mother before the nurses completely closed the binds around the bed. 
          He exited the hospital and proceeded to the school dorms. His cheeks no longer hurt. The ointment that Oliver gave him seemed effective as his cheeked chilled whenever the wind touched his left cheek. 
          The sun was setting, and as it was getting chilly, Chris placed both hands in his pockets to keep his hands warm. 
          On the way back, Chris stopped to watch a bunch of kids playing basketball in one of the outdoor courts. They were a group of them. All 5 of them around the ages of 11, 2 of them were girls, playing among each other. Chris enjoyed looking at them. He wondered when was the last time he played ball?
          He was about to walk away when a ball rolled over to his feet. He looked up to see a boy running towards him. Chris took his hands out from his pockets and picked up the ball. He then tossed it to the boy.
          Even with the sun setting, Chris could see how beautiful the ball glistered as it landed in the boy’s arms.           
          “Thank You!” the boy exclaimed with a broad smile, radiating with innocence as he ran back to his friends’ side. Chris would be lying if he weren't a little jealous of the happiness written all over the kids' faces. 
           Chris smiled back as he waved at them before walking away, both hands in his pockets. Suddenly, the road back seemed so far and distant and Chris dreaded the loneliness. 
All rights reserved @ 2018 by Anne Teng
End of chapter 11~Here's a question of the day, comment below what time is it currenly when you read this? Is it in the morning or night? Afternoon probably? It's currently 9 in the morning for me.
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