After Ethan helped Anita alight from the SUV, she pushed him to get back inside his vehicle before giving him another chance to nag at her. He had been wanting to go with her to see her doctor at the hospital, but Anita had refused to give in. She told him she wanted to venture out on her own, and wanted to regain her independence again. After Ethan settled back into his driver’s seat, Anita turned around and said goodbye to him once again.
“Remember to call me if you get tired. I will come pick you up.” Ethan urged one last time.
“I don’t need you to come. You need to concentrate on your work. What if you are in the middle of chasing a thief?” Anita staved him off. “If I get tired, I’ll take a taxi home. Now go to work and stop nagging me.”
“Just be careful!” Ethan gave his last word before starting his car’s engine.
As Anita was walking down the corridor towards her doctor’s office, her attention was captivated by a little ballerina coming towards her. The little girl seemed to be dancing down the corridor with one leg and crutches. For a short moment, Anita thought she was imagining the entire visage until a voice brought her back to reality.
“Annabelle, wait for grandma please!”
Anita lifted her eyes to see an elderly woman in her 70s turning from around the corner. The elderly tried her best to catch up to her granddaughter, but Anita knew that could never happen if the little girl didn’t stop. When she did and turned around to face her grandma, Anita couldn’t help but smiled.
“Hurry Grandma, Mr. Ho said I cannot be late for the fitting or the doctor won’t wait.” The little girl turned around and continued to dance towards Anita again.
At the same time, Anita reached the door to the office of her doctor. When she was reaching out for the doorknob, a man swung the door wide open and knocked right into her. If the man didn’t catch hold of her and steadied her, Anita would have tumbled over onto the floor.
“Sorry!”
“Thanks”
“Anita Mak?” The man was happily surprised. “Is it really you?”
“Nathaniel Ho?”
“Mr. Ho! I am here for my leg now!” The little ballerina tugged on Nathaniel’s shirt with eagerness.
“Hi Annabelle!” Nathaniel checked his watch. “Your appointment is not for another hour.”
Her grandma finally reached the door. “Oh Annabelle, you kept telling me your appointment was at nine.”
“I wanted to make sure we were not late.” Annabelle took the older woman’s hand and led her into the waiting area and helped her grandmother into a chair.
Anita smiled at Annabelle’s enthusiasm. She was very touched by her love to dance, especially in a physical challenged condition. She looked at Nathaniel, “are you her ballet teacher?”
“Yes, and her therapist as well,” Mr. Ho acknowledged. He noticed the prosthetic appliance on Anita. “I saw your name but didn’t think it was you. I thought you went abroad to dance again.”
Anita decided to avoid the topic of her dancing. “So you are also my therapist too?”
“That’s only if you are willing to hire me.” Nathaniel responded jovially. “I work with Dr. Kwok’s patients for casting and fittings of prostheses.”
Anita looked at Annabelle who had put aside her crutches and was dancing about in the waiting area. “You also teach them to dance with the prosthetic leg?”
“You mean her?” Nathaniel turned to look at Annabelle and chuckled. “She doesn’t need to be taught. She is a natural, just like you!”
After the appointment at the hospital, Anita decided to pay Gillian a visit at her office. Thinking Gillian was very busy with her scheduled clients, she was prepared to wait until Gillian was ready to take a break for lunch. To Anita’s surprise, Gillian had no patients waiting and was able to see her the instance she spoke with the receptionist.
“Thanks for seeing me so last minute.” Anita said as she opened the door to Gillian’s private office.
“Come in and have a seat,” Gillian stopped going through some file folders when Anita entered the office and walked towards the chaise lounge.
“Do you have time to go for lunch? Or do you have patients coming to see you later?” Anita asked Gillian as she made her way to the lounge and sat down.
Gillian came over and sat down in the arm chair next to her. “Well, I have stopped taking appointments since last week.”
Anita looked around the office and noticed the empty shelves. There were a few boxes by the corner and she got curious. “Doing your year-end clean up, are you?”
Gillian chuckled lightly. “I guess you can call it that too. I have resigned from my position.”
“You’ve resigned?” Anita was shocked. “Why? Does Ethan know?”
The answer was obvious that he didn’t, but Gillian tried to hide the answer with her smile and changed the subject. “Why don’t we go for lunch? Let me treat.”
And so that topic of conversation never came up again. During lunch, Anita told Gillian about the morning appointment at the hospital and how surprised she was to learn that her friend, Nathaniel Ho, from dancing school had worn a prosthetic leg since he was twelve.
As Gillian sat listening to Anita described how Annabelle danced about the room with one leg, she could tell from the expressions on Anita’s face how much she loved to dance. Gillian finally understood why Ethan would often search for Anita whenever ballet dancers came to town. In the past, Gillian knew Ethan would often search for new dance productions on the internet, hoping to see a picture of Anita among the dancers. Now, Gillian knew it was also Anita’s dream to be able to dance on tours.
“So when will you be checking out Nathaniel’s dance studio?” Gillian asked at the end of Anita’s retrospect.
“He asked me to come by on Thursday. He has a class to teach in the afternoon.” Hesitance came across Anita’s face.
“Do I sense a bit of reluctance?” Gillian asked directly.
Anita let out a deep sigh. “I might fall back into resentment again. I have put dancing out of my mind since the accident. It was such a coincidence that I saw Annabelle today.”
“I truly believe passion for something will always overcome all obstacles,” Gillian told Anita. Then she reached into her purse, took out a music CD and handed it to Anita. “Friends of mine sent me this song they are working on. It hasn’t been released yet, but I will share it with you. I found the lyrics very inspiring.”
Anita took the CD with a smile. “Thank you.”
“And I hope you dance too!” Gillian smiled back.