Ethan gained consciousness in the emergency room of the hospital. He felt physically weak but tried to open his eyes. It took him nearly half a minute to get hold of his orientation. Looking up at the ceiling, he couldn’t figure out where he was. He closed his eyes and tried synchronizing his brain to figure out what had happened. Blank! Blank! Blank!
Slowly, he moved his head from one side of the bed to the other side and then back to the center. Staring at the ceiling once again, he figured out the environment looked very much like a hospital. Confusion set in, and he asked himself why he was in a hospital. Then thoughts of oxygen came to him and so he tried taking in a breath through his nostril. Relief set in until he realized he wasn’t wearing a mask. No oxygen! That couldn’t be good, he thought to himself. With a rush of panic, he moved his arms and tried to sit himself up. That was when he realized someone was resting at the foot of his bed.
Gillian startled awake from Ethan’s movement and stood up as if she was caught slacking off on her job. But when she saw Ethan’s puzzling eyes looking back at her, she relaxed, cleared her throat and managed to compose her appearance again.
Suddenly, images of seeing Gillian at a traffic junction flashed across Ethan’s memory. He remembered making that particular move when he jumped into the traffic to run after her. After that, it was all mumble jumbo, and nothing was making sense in his recollection.
When Ethan’s eyes were still fixated on her with confusion, Gillian thought perhaps he couldn’t recognize her in her white coat. Though she knew she should be nice to him in his current condition, she just couldn’t help herself.
“Do I look like a ghost?” She asked playfully. Once again, Gillian found Ethan irresistible when he continued to stare at her for a few moments longer.
“Am I dreaming or am I in Heaven?” Ethan finally spoke up when he couldn’t understand why Gillian was in his presence.
When he caught the twinkle in her eyes, his heart rate began to increase. His heart was throbbing hard when she started to slowly lean in towards him. He wasn’t sure what to expect from her but definitely not a hard tug on his left earlobe causing him to exclaim out loud. “Ouch!”
“Now you know you’re not dreaming!” Gillian chuckled at his lame, childish, yet adorable pretense. “And you’re certainly not in Heaven!”
In a matter of seconds, Ethan regained his memory of being bumped by moving vehicles. He kept his eyes on Gillian to buy himself some time to remember the entire incident that led him to the hospital. He remembered seeing Gillian just before his last memory went blank. So, Ethan continued with his play-acting and gave Gillian a pout as he rubbed his earlobe.
“I’m still a patient, how can a doctor treat a patient like this?” He complained.
But deep down, Ethan was really, really, happy that Gillian was here with him. In fact, he was over the moon. However, he was doing everything he could not to reveal his joy.
But nothing could escape Gillian when it came to Ethan’s emotions, she was amused to see him having trouble putting on a grouchy face for the first time in his life. Knowing his brain was still in tack and certain he was back to his normal self, Gillian decided to play along to see how far he would take the game before surrendering to the smile hidden in his eyes.
And playing to win was her goal, so she folded her arms across her bosom as he continued to whine about his ear. At the precise moment when their eyes met again, she asked him. “Then would you like your doctor to kiss it better instead?”
While making his best effort to keep his smile from surfacing, Ethan saw the grin in Gillian’s eyes. He knew that meant their game was on. He braved it up and aimed straight for the grand prize. So, he pointed to his lips. “That would be a start!”
With a smirk, Gillian took on the challenge and started walking to the other side of the bed. Both of them had their eyes on each other, careful not to make a single blink.
When Gillian reached the head of the bed, she leaned forward just to make Ethan think she was giving in to his request. She even reached her right arm out towards his neck, just enough to press the button located above the headboard. “I’ll call your doctor in and tell him your request.”
Realizing he’d been tricked, Ethan immediately grabbed Gillian’s left arm. His action caught Gillian by surprise, causing her head to land on his shoulder. Adrenaline overtook Ethan and he lifted his other hand up to her neck. Instantly, he settled his mouth on hers. Her lips were soft and tender. His were desperate and hungry, awakening Gillian’s deepest hidden desire for Ethan all over again.
Like sweet surrender, Gillian opened up to his kiss. She could feel his wanting desire for her once again. It only took a few seconds into the kiss to realize that her guarded emotions for him over the last year were becoming undone. As their kiss deepened, she had to admit to herself the wanting for him never went away no matter how she had tried to shield herself from being with him since their breakup.
Suddenly the curtains drew open and a Chinese man in a white coat cleared his throat, he stepped forward as he watched Gillian pulled away from Ethan. Then a nurse entered, she was holding a tray of medical supplies. The nurse smiled and appeared much more smitten than the couple who was just caught in the act.
“Looks like our patient got the best medication in the house. We may have found the prescription that cures all!” Said the Caucasian man who gave Gillian a wink and a cheeky smirk. When he walked and stood next to the Chinese doctor, Ethan thought he looked very familiar.
Ethan watched as Gillian backed herself into the nearest corner. He felt embarrassed and could tell Gillian was feeling the same way. Instantly, he couldn’t stop his smitten smile from surfacing.
“Mr. Yip, you gave this young lady here quite a scare this morning!” The Caucasian man spoke again, this time he addressed Gillian with a nod of his head. “Am I right, Gillian?”
Ethan recognized the voice right away. When Gillian smiled and nodded respectfully at the man, he felt shamefully petty to have thought she was involved in a relationship with this man who looked to be a doctor. Ethan felt foolish for wasting his energy and effort all this time trying to shake off the images of Gillian being in bed with another man since the phone call at Derek’s home.
“Mr. Yip, I’m Dr. Lam, the attending doctor when you were brought into the emergency.” The Chinese doctor introduced himself. Then he pointed to the Caucasian man whom Ethan had figured was also a doctor by his white coat. “Dr. Millard was at the accident site and took care of you. That’s why you were able to recover so quickly.”
Dr. Millard noticed a look of concern from Ethan’s expression and thought it was best to spare him from misery. “Don’t worry! I was not the one who gave you mouth to mouth!”
With a cheeky smile, he referenced Gillian with a nod of his head. “She was the one who brought you back to life!”
At first, Ethan wasn’t sure if he should take the jovial doctor seriously; especially when the doctor grinned at Gillian with another wink. But when laughter broke out in the room, Ethan locked a quick glance with Gillian and noticed her rosy cheeks. He knew the doctor was telling the truth.
Going along with the ambience of the room, Ethan smiled and thanked Dr. Millard sincerely. “I’m really, really happy to know it wasn’t your mouth on mine!”
Hence, Dr. Millard spoke up. “Oh! I recognize your voice! You were the one who called when the line got disconnected!” He looked at Gillian. “He was the guy who called you that morning, wasn’t he?”
Gillian had always sensed it was Ethan, she just didn’t know why he had never called her back when Anita said he would. Ethan somehow sensed what Gillian was thinking and gave her a look of guilt. Now Gillian got her answer and her cheeks turned to a hot pink shade. She focused her eyes on his and that was when Ethan’s dimpled smile appeared.
Dr. Millard caught the exchange of glances and laughed heartily. “Oh Boy! I hope I didn’t cause any trouble that morning! I can imagine how that must have sounded; a strange man waking up your girlfriend in the morning!”
Ethan felt completely transparent and wished there was a hole for him to bury his head into. However, he was glad that Gillian was referenced as his girlfriend. And when Gillian didn’t correct the doctor, he was thrilled.
But knowing Gillian the way he did, he knew she wouldn’t put herself in a position to deny their relationship; especially not after the kiss they just shared before they were untimely interrupted. But neither would she admit it, and Ethan knew there was still work for him to do in that matter.
“If I were you, Mr. Yip, I’d keep an eye on this one!” Dr. Millard continued. “She’s quite a catch on campus!”
Ethan nodded to Dr. Millard to acknowledge he understood his words of wisdom. And when Ethan turned to glance at Gillian, she deliberately avoided eye contact with him.
Ethan had no doubt other men would be interested in her, he was just grateful Gillian still had feelings for him. He watched as Gillian walked to join the two doctors in discussing his medical file. Quietly he thought about the ring he had just placed into his safety deposit box this morning. He smiled to himself when his heart and mind started to conceive of ways to get Gillian back for good.
By early afternoon, after going through multiple tests ordered by Dr. Millard and Dr. Lam, Ethan insisted he was fine. He was trying his best to convince the two doctors that he did not need to be hospitalized for further observation.
But only when Gillian finally agreed to stay by his side for the next 48 hours, the doctors felt confident to discharge him from their emergency care. However, due to the fact that Gillian had a pre-arranged appointment that afternoon, Ethan wouldn’t be able to leave the hospital until her return in the evening. Being certain he wouldn’t know what to do with himself for the extra 2 hours if he had to remain at the Emergency, he convinced Gillian to let Derek assist with the discharge procedures and that they would meet up after her appointment.
Derek was totally surprised to learn of Ethan’s accident. He wasted no time in getting to the hospital upon receiving Ethan’s call just at the end of a court hearing. Derek entered the waiting area for Outpatients and found Ethan sitting alone. Derek was only told by Ethan that he was struck down by a vehicle. When he asked for further details, Ethan had refused to tell him more. As Derek approached, he was comforted in seeing the serenity on Ethan’s face. In fact, Derek thought Ethan looked to be in a dreamy state. So much so he was not even aware of his arrival.
“So what were you doing rushing out to a busy street?” Derek thought Ethan looked too happy for someone who was just hit by a car. He teased Ethan when he stepped in front of him, awakening him from his trance. “Don’t tell me you were trying to catch a thief!”
Ethan was glad to see his friend and the expression on Derek’s face brought out a chuckle. After promising Gillian that he would not to tell Derek of her sudden return to Hong Kong, Ethan tried to come up with an answer that would not sway too far from the truth. “I guess you can say that, I was running after the thief who stole my heart!”
That statement silenced Derek. He was not expecting that and was trying to solve the puzzle of whom Ethan was referring to. When they exited the Emergency, Derek caught the dancing in Ethan’s eyes. The last time he had seen Ethan’s eyes looking like that was when he and Gillian were still dating. Not possible! Derek told himself. Gillian is still in the United States.