Seeing Lily's unhappy expression from the second floor, Lin Que rushed down the stairs to look for her. Keeping his distance was one thing, but comforting her is another. There is no way in hell he would leave her alone when she looked that way.
Panting heavily, he continued roaming around the halls to look for her. "Damn! Who decided that a big hospital with long hallways was a good thing? Geez." With his right hand on his hip, he tried calming his breath before continuing to look for her.
His throat felt so dry that he coughed a few times. When he looked down at the hallway again, he saw her hugging her knees while sitting on one of the chairs. Her slippers were neatly placed under the chair.
Her head rested between her knees. From where he was standing, he could hear some nurses gossiping about Lily sitting like that in public. Annoyed by the way they were talking about her, he cleared his throat and said, "Did you finish updating all the medical charts?"
Hearing his warning, the nurses scattered back to their seats and started typing again. Shaking his head from how unprofessional they were, he walked towards Lily's direction. "So you were here. I've been looking for you." He sat on the seat next to hers.
She didn't respond to him and continued sitting quietly. Feeling the strong air conditioner coming from above, he stretched his hand out to see if it was directly blowing on her.
"Hmm, it must be cold sitting here." Taking off his coat, he covered it on her back and walked away. As the sound of his footsteps distanced, she slowly raised her head to take a small peek. After making sure he was gone, she wiped away the tear stains on her face.
Her eyes landed on the white coat around her shoulders and a small smile appeared on her lightly flushed face. After fixing her hair, she slipped her arms into the sleeves and stood up. "Pfft, too big.." She looked at the length of the white coat that almost covered her ankles.
Exhaling a huge breath, she decided to go back to her room. While walking up, she started recalling memories between her and Hawk.
'In the past two years, only I would make time to spend it with him. It was never the other way around. From phone calls to messages, everything was just one sided. The first time I cried in front of him; he didn't even comfort me a little. Instead, he told me that I was acting weakly to win the argument. He found me annoying. Since then, I never dared to cry in front of him. Actually, why did I like someone like him?'
She stopped in the middle of walking up the steps and gave it a thought. 'Was it because we were young? Or was I just blind? Eh, actually, I think we haven't even kissed since last year. Did he even celebrate my birthday with me? Ah, he went to pool with his rich friends. Welp, good thing I never spoke about my family to him. He's too materialistic.'
Shaking her head, she took another step and stopped again. Thinking deeply in thought, she didn't even notice that Lin Que was one staircase behind her. He was looking up the whole time wondering if this girl could make it to her room before the sun sets.
For every two steps that she took, he would climb up one step. Hearing footsteps getting closer, Lin Que was forced to walk up to where she was standing. "How long would it take you to get back to your room in this pace?"
"H..huh?" His sudden interruption crushed the thoughts in her mind. He climbed up to a few steps before hers and looked up to meet her stunned expression.
"Y..You.. Didn't you leave?" Turning too fast, one of her foot slipped and missed the step.
"Woahh, watch out." His arms blocked her body from tripping down the stairs. Luckily, one of his hands grabbed onto the rail and the other on her arm. Her hands subconsciously held onto his shoulders from the sudden slip.
"Are you alright?" His gaze dropped to her ankle. As a doctor, he knew how serious sprained ankles could get if it wasn't treated properly, so he made her sit down for him to make sure she was alright.
"I'm really fine." She said calmly and tried to retract her foot from his bare hands.
"Be good and sit still." Facing his steady intent look, she couldn't fight it. While he examined her foot, she thought about the time when she twisted her ankle and had to travel using crutches. Not only did Hawk not visit her, he made her go to his house with food delivery. The taxi could stop outside the apartment building and she had to climb up the stairs to get to him.
The only thing that he did for her was buzz her in and open the door. Seeing how caring Lin Que was, she started to feel that she should have broken up long ago. Still, a part of her devoted a lot of time and effort on him. That part is also the part that hurt the most.
Tear droplets started to form in her lightly moist eyes. Blinking from the cloudy vision, a few crystal-like liquids raced down her cheeks and fell on the back of her hands. Turning her head slightly to the side to avoid him from seeing her cry; she wiped the wet tracts away using her fingers.
Noticing her change of movements, he looked up to see her tears seeping down her cheeks. Using the sleeves of his white coat, she tried wiping away her tears as fast as she could.
"Stop," he said as he gently held her wrist in his palm. Catching the sight of her tears falling from the corner of her eyes, he asked, "What's wrong? Your ankle looks fine, so it shouldn't be hurting. Is it your stomach?"
After asking those questions, he realized that she was crying not from any bodily pain. The tears in her eyes reflected the complex emotions that she could not convey in words. This was the first time he ever saw the girl that he likes cry and he was confused about what he should do. 'Should I hug her? But that might make her feel uncomfortable.'
Since he hadn't said a word, she started thinking about excuses to dissolve this mess. 'If I can't tell him about my break up then I'll complain about the diet plan!'
While he was thinking about what to do with her, she stuttered and said, "Your diet plan is too much to handle. I can't live without desserts! I want to eat ice cream!"
"You want ice cream?" His lips twitched as she hiccupped with moistened eyes in front of him.
"I..Ice cream," she pouted pitifully, sounding as if she needed someone to protect her fragile heart.
He was extremely close to agreeing, but still hardened his heart at the end. Helping her stand up, he replied, "No ice cream."
Her eyes widened and lips pursed in disagreement. Like a child crossing the street, he held onto the sleeve of his coat as he walked her back to her room. If he didn't hold onto either her or something that she was wearing, he would feel too dangerous to let her clumsily walk up the steps. Therefore, the less awkward method was to hold onto the sleeves!