"Hey? Did you hear about that?"
"The patient who has been hospitalized the longest in our hospital's history is about to be discharged? I heard that he knew he only had a few days left and wanted to see the world a few more times."
"Not that one."
"What is that?"
"It's about the patient in the single room on the third floor."
"Oh, that's it. It was all over the place last night. Everyone was in a mess because of that never-joking doctor from the Lu family. How could I not know about it? But it's really unbelievable that the patient actually woke up."
"There's the latest news."
"Hurry up and tell me."
"Guess what the first thing the patient did when he woke up from his coma was? It was so scary that he poked his own eyes."
"What? Is this true?"
"Well, although no one in the hospital wants to talk about this, I heard it from the nurse next to Dr. Lu, so it shouldn't be wrong. It is said that the child poked the doctor's eyelid hard with his hand when he wasn't paying attention. Oh my."
"Wait a minute, that child has been sleeping for two years, right? Logically, he shouldn't be moving."
"That's right. But isn't that kid's family very rich? As soon as she was admitted to the hospital, we asked for special care, so her joints weren't stiff. But even though it was special care, after all, she wasn't moving, and her joints weren't flexible enough to move freely. Thanks to that, she was able to save her eyes in the end."
"... That's incredible. You've learned in nursing school that although lying in bed is easier, your body will gradually weaken. If you sleep for two years, you will almost lose your human functions."
"So the doctor was careless too. By the way, what is it called? It's the symptom of bleeding in the white of the eye."
"Subconjunctival hemorrhage."
"Yes, that's it. Normally it would heal naturally, but since it was an injury that almost caused glaucoma, he still can't see. I heard that he has bandaged his eye now according to his own wishes."
"Hmm. So, the patient never saw sunlight once after waking up. ... From darkness to darkness? That's unusual."
"That's unusual. By the way, there's another problem. How should I put it? Aphasia? Something like that. He can't speak properly at all, so the doctor asked a speech therapist he knew. It seems that we don't have such a person in our hospital."
"Yes, Dr. Araya resigned last month."
"But... in that case, the patient should refuse visitors, right?"
"That seems to be the case. I heard that even my parents are restricting me from seeing you until my mental state calms down."
"Really? That would make the boy miserable."
"Who? What boy?"
"Don't you know? The child who has been visiting the patient every Saturday since he was admitted to the hospital. Actually, he shouldn't be called a boy because of his age. I really want him to see the child."
"Ah, it's that boy. Yes, this is a rare sincerity nowadays."
"Yes. For the past two years, that child has been the only one who has been watching over the patient. So... the miracle that the patient woke up was partly due to him... I find it strange that he still says such things after doing this job for so many years."
In the corridor, the voices of the two nurses became weaker and weaker until they could no longer be heard.
In the ward where two nurses passed by, a boy with dark blue curly hair shook his head thoughtfully.
"Shinji, Shinji." A delicate voice called the boy's name.
The boy raised his head and looked at the girl on the bed: "What's wrong, Wuhui?"
"apple-"
"ah."
Shinji realized that his hand had stopped after being reminded by Kirie. When the nurse passed by the ward, he was helping Kirie peel an apple and was distracted by the content of the conversation.
"Sorry, I was distracted. I'll be right back."
Shinji kept his left hand holding the knife still, and quickly rotated the apple with his right hand. After a while, the red skin fell off in a long line of even width, revealing the light yellow flesh inside.
After peeling the apple, Shinji used the knife to cut the apple into small pieces of equal size, put them into the fruit plate, and handed it to Kirie.
"Okay, Miss, please use it."
Kirie looked at the fruit plate, then at Shinji, and opened her little mouth.
"ah-"
"?" Shinji was stunned and didn't react for a moment.
"Ah—" Wuhui kept her mouth open, and a hint of expectation appeared in her eyes, which had been dull in the past but were now full of vitality.
"Oh oh." If Shinji didn't understand, he would be a fool - this is feeding.
Just feed him. It’s not like he hasn’t fed Sakura fruit before, even though Sakura fed him more often.
Thinking of this, Shinji picked up a piece of fruit flesh with a knife and put it into Kirie's mouth.
"Hmm, it's delicious." It was just an ordinary apple, and a simple action made Wuhui smile happily.
This smile was so pure that Shinji was amazed and felt extremely distressed at the same time.
This girl named Mujo Kirie has been lonely for too long, so long that she almost lost everything.
Sure enough, the decision to make a deal with Araya Soren was the right one. Compared with the smile in front of him, the price paid was really nothing.
"Another one?"
"Hmm?" Wuhui nodded vigorously, "Ah—"
"That's right. Only by eating more can you get better quickly."
"Don't treat me like a child. I'm several years older than you."
"Yes, yes, Kirie sister, one more." Shinji was completely treating Kirie like a child.
"That's good enough." Kirie chewed the fruit contentedly.
And he said he was not a child.
Wuhui's body did not recover after all. After chatting for more than an hour, she could no longer hold on and curled up to sleep.
Shinji drew a "Naudiz" on her forehead, which means survival, and dropped "EIHWAZ" in the most hidden corner of the ward to protect Kirie's safety, and then left the ward quietly.
Outside the ward, an orange-haired woman in a classic Chanel suit leaned against the outer window, holding a cigarette but not lighting it.
When she saw Shinji coming out, she put her cigarette back into the cigarette box and half teased, half asked: "Have you finished spending time with your new love?"
"What new love..." Shinji pulled the corner of his mouth and rolled his eyes at Cheng Zi, "Ah, I'm done with you, so I came to find you, my old love. Come on, my old love, smile for me."
"You're not smiling, but you do have a cold face." As soon as Orange took off his glasses, his originally refreshing and capable temperament instantly turned cold.
"A cold face is not bad, but since you refuse to smile, then I can only smile at you." Shinji said as he used both hands to pull the corners of his mouth and tried to pull them upwards.
This time, Orange's frosty face couldn't hold back any longer, so he quickly put on his glasses and switched his personality.
"The smile is uglier than the cry. It is true that old love is not as good as new love."
"So, Miss Old Love, to make amends to you, would you give me a chance to buy you a cup of coffee?"
"Just coffee, that's too insincere, forget it, it's my old love that no one cares about me, so just coffee is coffee."
"Hey, you're still addicted."