Fan Fiction |
by Mimosa
Parts of Nanjing were breathtakingly beautiful! The old eastern ambiance saturated the air, infusing into the very cell of my body. The landscape, the people, the music… each and all brought me a peaceful, and sometimes rather sentimental, feeling of a great glory of ancient China. Maybe it wasn’t just great China history that got me into this state of mind… It was the fact that I was in the mid of a beautiful scenery, and was thinking of him. How I wish Gallen could wrap up whatever business he was on and fly here, to be with me. Together, we could breathe in this dewy stillness of a fresh morning. And together, we would wander into that amazing tranquility of evergreen old pines and graceful ageless willow.
Just us! Just him and me!
I missed him so much! And it was only the second day!
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[Nanjing – 23rd day, Monday - Nanjing Institution of Heart]
[Flora]
Gallen called, and told me he was just a few steps from my place.
“Really?” I jumped off my chair, and rushed to the door “Where are you?”
“On NJ Turnpike!” he said “I should take exit 10, right?”
“You!” I cried “I hate you!”
“Wh… what happened, Flora?” He flustered in a pleading way “Hate me, but don’t excite yourself!”
“When you said “your place” just now..” I pouted “I thought you were already here in Nanjing!”
“Oh,” I heard him laughed softly “No, I meant your house here in Princeton!”
“Why do you want to go there, Gallen?” I was a little incredulous about him willing to go see my parents. He must be joking “Meet my parents?”
“Why not?” came the immediate response. I frowned. There was not even a split second of hesitation
“Are you out of your mind, Gallen?” I laughed “Are you sure you want to meet up with my parents? I meant, you don’t have to!”
“But I want to, Flora!” He said, and I couldn’t mistake the seriousness in his tone. I frowned again. He’d never failed to surprise me.
“You’re strange!” I stated smilingly “My cousin and my brothers would do virtually anything to get away with having to face their girlfriends’ parents!”
“They will be willing to, one day!”
“And may I ask when?” I asked teasingly
“When they need to ask for the permission, Flora!” he said simply “Just like me now!”
My heart skipped a beat “What? What kind of permission? Stop playing, Gallen!”
“I’m not playing!”
“Are you telling me…” I stuttered “Are you… are you …” I stomped my feet nervously “You can’t… you can’t do this!”
“Why?” He asked innocently “You don’t want to marry me?”
“Gallen!” I gasped “This is how you propose?”
“Will you, Flora?”
“I’m not playing with you!” I pursed my lips “That’s not funny!”
“Sorry” he hurried on with a soft chuckling sound “I’m just passing by the area, and I thought it might be nice to pay your family a visit…”
“Well,” I smiled and felt warm “You’re much welcomed to my house, Gall! That is, if you’re comfortable with talking to my parents.”
“Why? Are they that scary?”
“Not quite” his slightly nervous undertone when he asked the question amused me much “Not quite, Gall, if you compare them with my brothers!”
“No!” he exclaimed “are they THAT scary?”
“Hmm… you still have time to back out!” I teased
“Well…” came a dramatic sign, to which I couldn’t resist to laugh “well, I guess if I don’t see them now, I still have to face them one day…”
“Again… tell me why!”
“Because…” Gallen paused for a moment, and then his voice lowered down to that delightfully sincere and affectionate tone “because I’m in love with their little sister!”
“Right,” I grinned, feeling so happy “Just make sure you walk out of my house alive, okay?”
“I will, Flora! I will!”
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[Princeton – NJ – The 24th day (Tuesday)]
“My sister talks to us about you all the time,” Roger passed Gallen a glass of sparkling water “Has she been giving you a hard time?”
“Well…”
“Asking you tricky questions all the time?” asked Julian
“Er..”
“Even yells at you?” inquired the rather timid Sunny
“Well… sometimes..” Gallen managed to say that much, before he got cut short again by the forth brother of the Chan, whose name Gallen didn’t quite catch.
“This little sister of us is rather spoiled, but we love her!”
“That goes without saying!” agreed the other three, who stopped sipping their glasses and now was observing Gallen attentively…
“Well,” Gallen shifted a little on his chair “Flora is a special girl!”
“That, again, goes without saying!” said Steven, who had kept quiet up till now “Gallen, are you dating my cousin?”
“Aren’t you her boss?” Julian raised an eyebrow
“Isn’t that something against the company law?” Sunny appeared a little shocked
“They’re not working for a company, Sunny, let alone US company!” Roger pointed out “And Flora isn’t exactly Gallen’s subordinate! She is only volunteering for the summer…”
“Thank you Roger!” Gallen smiled “You’ll be my favourite brother!”
“Who said I’ll be your brother?” Roger grunted incredulously
“Flora!” said Gallen with a mischievous smile
“Dinner is ready!” Mrs. Chan announced proudly from the kitchen…
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[2 hours later - Chan's basement - Game room]
“You’re not just here to hang out with us!” Steven observed “What is that, Gallen?”
“Well…” Gallen took a deep breath “You all know Dr. Johnson…”
“Flora’s cardiologist?” Sunny interrupted, and Gallen nodded “Of course we know him…”
“Well, it was purely coincidental… He used to be on my committee when I studied at Sydney U… A few months back he called me up and mentioned to me about a young patience suffering from severed valvular stenosis…”
“That’s our Flora!” Roger said thoughtfully “But she is being very stubborn about the whole thing…”
“Well, stupid me!” Gallen rubbed his face “I didn’t really realize it until four days ago… when Dr. Johnson emailed me her profile, asking me to look out for a donor match!”
“So I guess Flora finally agreed to go back for the transplantation plan!” Roger looked at Gallen inquiringly
“The problem is…” Gallen swallowed “I’ve just come back from Dr. Johnson’s office… Her condition…” He hesitated…
“Just tell us, Gallen!” Julian urged “We need to know!”
“Well… At first I thought all we need is a donor match… But I’ve reviewed her file very carefully, and I think that’s very risky! I meant… transplantation, if done, would only give her another 5 years… at most!”
“And what Dr. Johnson has to say to it?” Sunny frowned. He became another person once it came to technical discussion. Flora did mention her second brother to be an astute scientist.
“He didn’t agree with me at first,” Gallen stated simply “But after 4 hours he suggested me to go and talk to you, Sunny!”
“Why Sunny?”
“Because Sunny has close contact with a Jessica somebody” Gallen retrieved a business card “Jessica Hsuan, head of Cardio-biomaterial group at RWJ?”
“Jessie?” Roger turned to Sunny “Your Jessie?”
“What do you mean my Jessie?” Sunny turned a little colored. He hastened to turn back to the conversation with Gallen “So Dr. Johnson and you are considering using therapeutic artificial heart valve?”
“That looks like the optimal choice…”
“But there is a problem…”
“I’m aware of that, Sunny!” Gallen sighed “What Jessie is working on hasn’t been cleared by FDA yet… It’s still on clinical trial…”
“You’ve done your homework well, I see” Roger and Steven nodded in approval
Gallen turned slightly red “Let’s call up Jessica! Do you think she could talk to us now?”
“She will!” Julian cast a meaningful glance at his second brother, “Jessie won’t say no to our Sunny!”
“Shut up, Julian!” Sunny reached for the storm door and got himself out to the backyard…
“Gallen,” Steven cleared his throat “How did you convince my cousin to get back to Dr. Johnson and her therapy plan?”
“What do you mean?” Gallen appeared slightly lost “Why did she have to get back? Isn’t she always on the waiting list?”
“No” Roger shook his head “Two months ago my sister took her name off that list, telling us she’d rather live short and meaningful…”
“Right…” Julian nodded “My Mom cried so much, but Flora didn’t want to have transplantation at the time…”
“And we couldn’t really force her!” Steven sighed “What did you do, Gallen? To make my cousin change her stubborn mind?”
“Well… I…”
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[Hong Kong – Grantham – Pediatrics Cardiac – One week later]
[Gallen's office]
Annie held her breath and reluctantly walked around her brother’s empty desk. What was that sound she heard? Rats? Urg, Annie hated rats.
The rattling suddenly came back, much louder. Annie uttered a short scream, and jumped onto her brother’s chair…
“Sorry Annie!” Flora propped her head out, her face red and her hair all disheveled
“Is that you Flora?” Annie cried “What are you doing underneath my brother’s desk?”
“I was just looking for the ink cartridges for the color Lexmark… Kevin said they were in a carton somewhere…”
“You should have asked me, Flora!” Annie heaved a relieved sigh and got off the chair “I unpacked them and put them all in that lower left cabinet under my brother’s HP printer… there… see them?”
“I see…” Flora started, then she stopped short
“What’s the problem, Flora?”
“What’s this, Annie?” Flora stared hard at the printed page that was stuck halfway into the cabinet. She took it out with unsteady hand…
“Gallen,” it ran “attached please find the latest test results for patient Flora Chan Wai San! Drop me a message and let me know when you will have time to discuss this case. Sighed, Professor Richard Johnson of UMDNJ.”
Flora turned around slowly, “I can’t believe this!” She whispered “How come Dr. Johnson know Gallen?”
“Dr. Johnson used to teach at Sydney University,” Annie blinked “I think!”
“Your brother… he…” Flora pursed her lips “He’s been running all over the place because of me, then?”
“Flora Jie,” taking Flora by surprise, Annie hugged her tight “You’ll be all right! My brother will make sure of that!”
“Silly,” Flora fought back the brimming tear “Of course I’ll be all right!”
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“Flora, I’m coming back on Qantas 720, 9:00 pm! My car is still there at the airport… So I’ll see you about 9:30 then, sweetie!”
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“This is 5:00 pm and we bring you a breaking news on the hijacking of a Qantas plane. Flight number 720 from Sydney to Hong Kong…”
Qantas...
720...
Gallen...
Flora’s blood froze in her vein. The tray on her hand dropped down onto the floor, shattered…
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