Chapter 30 - Abandoned Hospital (14) (1/2)

After undergoing treatment for a while, the boys’ condition had undergone a lot of changes and he gradually recovered. During this time, his life had also undergone great changes.

The boys’ parents used to be busy with their jobs and didn’t have the time to care for their child so there wasn’t a strong bond between the parents and their child. But ever since the boy’s accident, they realised that they had made some serious mistakes. Since then, they started to reduce their work load so that they could spend more time with the boy.

Qiao Yue also realised that some of his previous behaviours were inappropriate and had caused great harm to the boy. After a period of conflict, he finally brought along with him a stick of rattan to the hospital and admitted to his wrong doings. He asked for the youth to beat him up until he was satisfied but it only scared the boy even more. This incident had become a topic of gossip amongst the nurses for a long time.

Everything was moving in a good direction.

But the boy no longer smiled as much as he used to. Sometimes he would even reveal a very lonely look.

He felt like his heart had been cut open and he would sometimes find it throbbing in pain and dripping with blood.

……….

“Have you seen anything unusual recently?”

While he was reviewing him, Doctor Luo asked this question to the boy.

“No.”

The boy shook his head. His fingers twitched slightly, and he lowered his eyes: “Just that sometimes……I would hear someone calling my name.”

He would hear a voice constantly calling him “Xiao Chu”. That voice sounded like it had come from far, far away but when he looked back, it would be empty, and nothing was there.

He is very timid. Despite being a long time since, he would still occasionally feel afraid when he recall the ghost stories the nurse sisters spoke to him about.

These ghost stories are all fake ———— Every time he felt afraid, he would tell himself this.

But only towards that voice that called out to him, he didn’t fear it at all. In fact, he even held a faint hope inside him wishing that it was real.

Because it sounded like brother Yuan Huai’s voice. Or more specifically, it sounded like the voice that he had imagined for “brother Yuan Huai”. Because he had never met Xie Yuan Huai in reality, he had never heard his voice before.

[The voice that your hearing is just an auditory hallucination. It’s because you have paranoia.]

Doctor Luo said this to him. The nurse sisters and his parents also said that to him. Eventually, even the boy himself thought that.

Sometimes, he couldn’t differentiate between fantasy and reality so he would choose to believe what the people close to him says.

That was all just his imagination.

The real truth was that Xie Yuan Huai had already been dead for many years. As for why he would start to fantasise about someone called “Xie Yuan Huai”, he guessed that he might have somehow come across the name Xie Yuan Huai while he was at the hospital.

He heard that Xie Yuan Huai’s body was still being held in the hospitals’ underground mortuary. His family was unable to accept that their only child had died and refused to take back his body, but they also didn’t want anyone to deal with it so every year they would donate large sums of money to the hospital.

Perhaps they still believed that one day their child would open his eyes again.

Occasionally, a thought like this would appear in the boy’s mind: He wanted to go to the mortuary and see what the real Xie Yuan Huai looks like and whether or not he had any similarities to the cold and gentle man in his fantasies.

But it was just a thought. The youth understood that this idea of his was just too absurd and impossible to achieve.

“………Yes. It’s impossible to go to the mortuary but there are other ways for you to see what Xie Yuan Huai looks like.”

Once, while he chatted with the nurse, he accidentally let slip this thought of his. The nurse heard his wishes, thought about it and then leaned over to whisper to him.

“I can help you find his photo. There should be one registered in the hospitals’ old files. When I have time, I can go and look for it. I should be about to find it, but you might need to wait a little.”

“It’s not a hassle for sister?”

The young boy’s heart started to race. He couldn’t help but look forward to it but he also didn’t would to trouble the sister too much.

“No, I’ll do it secretly.”

The nurse stuck out her tongue and then made a “who are we?” expression.

In fact, she wanted to do this for the youth’s sake. Afterall, when he sees that the “Xie Yuan Huai” that he had fantasised about was not the same as the real Xie Yuan Huai, it may help with breaking his fantasy and speeding his recovery.

………….

“Do you still hear that voice?”

Doctor Luo’s tone was as usual very warm: “You haven’t responded to it, right?”

“No. I have never responded to it.”

The boy shook his head. Doctor Luo had told him before not to pay any attention to that voice and that by doing so it would help him recover faster so he would resist the urge every time and act like the voice never existed.

……….

“Okay then. Director Luo, Zhi Chu, I’ll be taking your pictures. Three, two——-”

Under the clear blue sky, the flowers in the courtyard was in full bloom and filled with vitality. There was even a faint floral fragrance in the air.

The nurse raised the phone and took a photo of Doctor Luo and the boy together. The youngster was about to be discharged from the hospital and he wanted to use the opportunity when the weather was good to take a few pictures in commemoration. The youth in the camera held onto Doctor Luo’s arms and the two of them smiled very happily.

A handsome and cold looking man stood under the shadow of a tree and watched them from afar.

His figure was pale and at this moment he looked particularly thin and frail, like he would be blown away with just a small gust of wind and would disappear from the world.

Over the past few days, he had almost never left the boys side. Again, and again he would call out to him and want to touch him to show that he really existed but, as if all forms of connections between the two had been cut off, the young boy no longer could see or sense him.

He knew that, ever since the boy had realised that he was a ghost, things had undergone a tremendous change. He no longer thought of him as a “human” and since then, the boy was completely unable to sense him. No matter how many times he tried, it was all in vain.

He could only watch the boy cry out his name and beg for him to appear until his voice went hoarse and he fall asleep with a tear-stained face.

Until later, the boy also gradually thought that “Xie Yuan Huai” was just his own imaginary figure that he had conjured up. He gradually became somewhat silent and no longer mentioned that name.

Now, he was about to leave it all behind and was ready to greet a brighter future.

But Xie Yuan Huai’s time would only stop at this point. Forever as a pale illusionary figure, he would be buried in the youth’s memories and gradually turn into fine dust.

His body was in a state of cold, endless slumber trapping his soul to this hospital. He was unable to take any more steps so, until the day he was destroyed, he would not be able to meet the boy again.

He would eventually be forgotten.

But he couldn’t forget.

Even if his body turned to dust and his soul was gone, as long as he still exists, he would always remember this boy, his Xiao Chu.

He would bury him in his heart.

“…………..”

Silent tears flowed out from Xie Yuan Huai’s eyes and it gently rolled down his cheeks before disappearing in thin air.

………..But he still didn’t want his Xiao Chu to leave.

Please.

Don’t go.

Don’t go…………

Don’t go, don’t go, don’t go——————-

“Whoosh…………….”

A sudden gust of wind blew across the courtyard creating a rustling sound as it blew past the trees.

The boy’s hair was messed up by the wind and he had to reach out to rearrange it before continuing to take photos with the nurse.

“Strange.”

Doctor Luo who was holding onto the phone taking pictures for them looked up and looked around him with a strange expression. He mumbled to himself: “How can there be such a strong gust of wind on such a good day like today?”

………..

Xie Yuan Huai slowly turned around and left the courtyard.

He understood clearly. Xiao Chu isn’t like him. He can’t stay in the hospital for the rest of his life.

Not to mention, he also didn’t want that.

His Xiao Chu should live a life that’s better than anyone else’s.

……………

Today was the day when the boy was to be discharged from the hospital.

His parents drove over to pick him up and Qiao Yue had also skipped class to see him. He didn’t hesitate to help him carry his luggage and act like an obedient rabbit in front of the elders.

The nurses were very reluctant to part with this cute a lovely boy. Before he left, they all gave him a hug. The boy was a little shy and he gave his thanks to them one by one. The last nurse avoided everyone and secretly pulled him over to a corner.

“Sorry, I only just managed to get Xie Yuan Huai’s photo. Do you still want to see it?”

The nurse took out her phone and asked the boy. Although the boy had recovered and there was no need to show him the photo, she had already promised him so she didn’t want to go back on her words.

This time, the nurse was astounded. She didn’t expect that Xie Yuan Huai would be so handsome. Even just his registration photo made those seeing it feel their heart flutter and she couldn’t help but look at it again.

Sigh……..Unfortunately, God didn’t have eyes and made his pass away at such a young age. It’s no wonder his family couldn’t accept it…….

The nurse sighed internally and passed the phone over. The boy froze for a moment before moving to accept the phone. However, the moment his fingers were about to touch it, his hand froze and he retracted it back.

“What’s wrong?” The nurse was a little surprised.

“I……I don’t think that I will look at it after all.” The youth’s smile looked a little forced. “Sorry sister, I made you waste all that effort.”

“That doesn’t matter. But why won’t you look?

The nurse was a little confused. She clearly remembered the boy being very eager about seeing his photo before and would even often find her to ask about it.

“……….I’m too scared to look.”

The youth lowered his head and said in a small voice.

He was afraid to see that Xie Yuan Huai and brother Yuan Huai looked completely different.

But what he was more afraid of was that if there was a similarity…….even if it was just a little bit, he didn’t know what he should do.

So, he can’t look.

Brother Yuan Huai was his dream.

But he should wake up from this dream now.

…………..

Xie Yuan Huai came over to the ward where the boy had stayed. The door was open, and it wasn’t locked so he walked in and stood there looking at it for a long time.

The items that the boy had once had in the room had already been taken away and, in order to prepare the room for the next patient, the room had also been thoroughly cleaned. The windows were wide open allowing fresh air to come in and the original scent in the room had already completely dissipated. All that was left was just the smell coming from the warm sunlight.

It was now no different to the other wards……….

He silently thought this, but the boy’s figure constantly appeared in his mind. It was as if, if he stayed there long enough, it would be as if nothing had happened and that Zhi Chu was only out temporarily for his examinations.

As long as he waited, the boy would come back. When no one else was around, he could even hold that warm and soft body in his arms, kiss those delicate lips and, under his shy gaze, he could whisper his name.

Xiao Chu.

Xiao Chu.

“Yes…….This is the room. Please come over.”

Suddenly, loud noise came from outside the door. A young nurse appeared at the door and was followed by a patient wearing a hospital gown and his family carrying his belongings.

Xie Yuan Huai watched them walk in and his eyes suddenly trembled.

“A member of the family should come with me to complete the registrations. Once it’s done, place the new card over here.”