[September 1st, 2020 | 10:00 AM]
A slam of the hospital door rang through the hallway. It was loud enough to startle other patients.
They all looked towards the VIP ward with a big question mark on their faces, wondering what was the commotion all about.
All the nurses and the doctor face became pale when they saw the empty room.
A man in a black suit who had slammed the door gritted his teeth as he dialed a number. When the call was connected, he ordered in a stern voice, "Bring everyone! She has escaped!"
Afterwards, he ended the call without waiting for the other party to answer. Then, he turned around and rushed out of the hospital.
He had to find her before his boss got news of her disappearance!
One of the nurses looked helplessly at the empty bed. She glanced at the doctor who had now become frantic and ordered the security to open the security camera.
She sighed. One thought lingered in her mind, 'How did the lady escape in her weak state?'
Suddenly a loud thunderous sound followed by a flash of lightning resounded from outside. She knitted her eyebrows while she watched the somber sky and the thumping of rain on the window sill. The raindrops were too loud to pass as a simple drizzle.
It had been pouring all day since yesterday.
------
'Hey Airi... I love you.'
Her breath was impended as she continued to sprint down the slippery road.
Without a care of how freezing cold the rain was and how the pain had seeped into her bones, crushing every organs in her body, she continued to run.
The rain was continuously pouring, smashing down harshly at her frail and thin body like thousands of needles piercing through her skin.
She knew, her body was failing her. Her body was giving up on her. The pounding in her head and the squeezing pain inside her chest that tormented her, along with the twisted feeling inside her stomach.
But she couldn't stop. Not for the pain. Not for the cold. Not for her life.
She had to run even in this agony she was engulfed in.
Because there was no greater pain than the last memory that emerged as soon as she woke up in this new body and there was no greater sorrow than what she had heard when she dialed the number just now.
"It's a lie," she muttered in denial.
It was not a soft and clear voice that had escaped her lips. It was broken like a snap of a guitar string.
Even then, even if it killed her to speak in such voice that her throat felt like bleeding, she still muttered under the loud drizzle of rain, simply to calm herself.
"It's a lie."
"It's all a lie."
As she kept on running and running, step by step dragging her numb feet, her tears fell, mixed in the drop of rain that had wet her pale cheeks.
It was aching, her heart. Crumbling like a ruined pillar. The pain was unbearably suffocating.
'Lian-ge, it's hurting. I can't take it anymore.' She whispered inside her heart while pressing at her chest hard as if believing this gesture could help ease the throbbing pain within her.
It was then, in her moment of weakness, she slipped and fell onto the asphalt. Both of her knees slammed onto the ground loudly, scraping her pure white skin. The blood oozed out from the wound in an instant.
"Cough!!"
She hit her chest a couple of times as she coughed again and again until she finally threw up blood.
Ba-thump!
At first, she stared in panic at the blood staining her hand.
But slowly, her pale lips curled into a beautiful smile. Her ink-black eyes were sparkling like the starry night sky above the cerulean sea.
A drop of tears fell onto her palm. Even then, she wasn't aware that she was crying. The tears flowed together with the rain.
No one and nobody noticed her weak presence. They just passed by in hurry to take shelter. Hustling about minding their own business.
And the girl just sat there on the cold hard ground, staring lifelessly at the blood. The blurring of her vision worsened by the seconds.
Before long, her body swayed and she dropped weakly onto the ground. The blood on her palms and her clothes melted away staining the asphalt, following the flow of the water.
Before she completely lost her consciousness, the only thing in her mind was him, the one who she loved dearly.
"Lian-ge, what do you love most about me?"
Lian Hua chuckled. As he pinched her adorable cheeks, he answered, "Your smile."
She grinned. He yanked her into a big hug. He squeezed her with such longing and love.
"So Airi, always smile, okay? I love seeing your smile."
One by one, the people around came to her as they tried to save her. They were all shouting in panic. One of them was on their phone calling the ambulance.
They all tried to encourage her to stay conscious while they carried her to a safe place, away from the rain. But, all those voices had transformed into a buzzing noise in her ears. It only intensified the throbbing in her head.
The darkness had long engulfed her vision, pulling her back to the peaceful slumber she had been in.
Under the bleak sky, the woman laid there at the side of the road, frail and lifeless, but a rare beautiful smile cracked on her dry blue lips.
'Lian-ge, see...I'm still smiling...'