"My rascals… how come they're still intact?"
Zee frowned in confusion. "Your what?"
I let go of her arm and felt for both my biceps with my hands. "You said that I've been unconscious for more than a year. How come my muscles are still intact?"
"T-that…" She hesitated before answering as if she was unsure what to say. "The doctors also found it weird. After you started gaining consciousness a few days ago, your body kept growing back to how it was before the accident. They did a lot of tests but they couldn't find anything wrong… except…"
"Except?"
She giggled as if she just remembered something amusing. "You're too fit. Way too fit. It's like the accident never happened."
But I could not share her amusement, because I was once again reminded of the nurse earlier and what she said.
'He looks like he spent an entire year in the gym instead of being vegetative.'
"It caused quite an uproar in the hospital's grapevine." Zee smiled as she sat on the chair beside my bed. "The nurses have been fighting over the duty of checking on you."
"But other than that…'' I tried to think of all the possible implications after being comatose for more than one year. But Zee hated it when I bombard her with medical terms, so I kept my question simple. "Are you sure that there's nothing else wrong with me?"
"Yes. The doctor said that you might still feel soreness all over your body but that will slowly get better with time and physical therapy." She pulled the covers higher up my chest and I caught her hand before I could stop myself.
I smiled at her sheepishly, feeling grateful and sorry at the same time. "Have you been taking care of me all this time?"
"Of course." She chuckled. "Who else would do it, if not me?"
"Thanks, Sis." I wanted to cry at her words. "Was I that pitiful? Do I really have no one else to care for me?"
Zee stared at me for a long time and she was looking at me as if I grew another head.
"What is it?" I asked her when I could no longer bear the silence.
She tilted her head to one side with a frown. "You've been calling me 'Sis' since earlier. Why?"
"Eh?" I unintentionally copied the movement of her head and the frown on her face. Then I chuckled when a thought occurred to me. "If I don't call you 'sis', what should I call you then? GodZEElla?"
'Come on! Hit me with your power punch!'
I closed my eyes to brace myself for the punch.
But it never came.
Again.
I opened my eyes and saw her frowning at me with confusion, so I started whining. "Ahh~ Where's my power punch? I miss your power punch. It's about time you start getting violent. I'm alive. I'm okay. So there's no need to keep holding your anger back. Right?"
The frown on her face deepened. "Huh? Are you asking me to hit you right now?"
I groaned in frustration. "Ugh! I'm asking you to be your usual self. I don't need tender loving care, Zee! What I badly need right now is a good punch to let me know that this is not just a dream. That I'm really alive!"
She searched my face, trying to find any signs of jest.
But she couldn't. Because I was dead-serious at the moment.
Wait. Scratch that 'dead' part.
"All that has happened till now all felt so surreal, Zee. And you acting all nice and gentle towards me is making me feel alienated." I let out a sigh then I buried my face in my hands. "It's as if… as if you're a completely different person that my mind has conjured to satisfy my hidden desires... to have a nicer sister."
'Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! What the hell are you saying?!'
"Sister?" The sound of hurt in her voice made me remove my hands from my face and look at her. "Is that all I am to you? A sister? Even after all these years?"
'Like hell you are.'
I snickered with bitterness as I looked up at the ceiling. "What else should you be? My brother?"
'My brother… Haha.'
Then I stiffened when a fair-skinned dude with gray eyes, soft raven hair, and a panty-dropping face flashed in my head.
"Right! Brother!" My voice rose with worry and horror. "What happened to my brother?! And the wedding!"
Zee gave me another strange look. "What brother are you talking about?"
"Craige, of course! Who else?" I massaged my temple while looking at her because I could feel my blood pressure rising.
She frowned at me. "Who's that?"
"What?" I was too surprised by her question that I wasn't sure if I heard her right.
"What what?" She asked back almost instantly. "I'm asking you, who's that?"
"Who's who?"
"The name that you said just now." She was starting to look frustrated, which was a long-overdue reaction. "Craige?"
Are we speaking in different languages right now? "What do you mean by who's Craige?"
"..." She gave me another confused look.
Understanding slowly came to me and I looked at her in bewilderment. "You don't know who Craige is?"
"No." She shook her head without taking her eyes off me. Eyes that were looking at me as if I've gone insane. "That's why I'm asking you."
'Seriously. Which one of us had an accident? Why is she all over the place?'
I ran my fingers through my hair and chuckled with amusement. "How could you not know who Craige is?"
Her eyes narrowed at me. "Is he a celebrity?"
"He IS a celebrity. But you should know that of all people." I also narrowed my eyes at her. "Did you two had a fight? Is that why you're acting like you don't know him?"
"Arthur…" She started carefully. "I don't know who this Craige is."
'Their fight seemed to be a lot bigger than I thought.' I frowned at my sheets. 'What is it about this time?'
Looking at her giving an Oscar-worthy act, she's probably the one who started it.
Again.
I smiled up at Zee with a scoff. "How could you not know who your fiancé is? Drop this already and tell me what happened. Is it because of what happened to me?"
She shook her head in disbelief, her face filled with worry. "Arthur… YOU are my fiancé."