Fan Fiction |
by Mimosa
“Annie,” Flora caught the shadow of the girl just in time before the elevator door shut closed “Where’s your brother gone to?”
“Er…” Annie pushed the button to reopen the door, and avoided Flora’s eyes “I don’t know… I came up just now and he wasn’t in his ward…”
“What is it, Annie?” Flora sensed something uncomfortable in the way Annie spoke “Is there anything you are trying to hide from me?”
“No, of course not!” The vehemence in Annie’s reply didn’t soother Flora, and that smile on the petite girl’s face looked not at all convincing “Such an idea, Flora jie!”
“Annie!” Flora positioned herself to face Annie squarely “There must be something!”
Annie’s subtle flicker of the eyes gave her away. Flora grabbed onto the girl’s arm “What is it, Annie? Where’s your brother now?”
“Why do you insist to know?” Annie turned and tried to yank free from Flora, but the later would not give way “Don’t make it harder for both of us!”
“It’s Gallen, isn’t it?” It was Flora’s turn to have that flicker in the eyes, a flicker of fear and agitation “Last night… It wasn’t just a cold he had? It is the inflammation, isn’t it? Isn’t it, Annie?”
Annie didn’t answer. She didn’t have to answer. Flora would just simply guess. She felt a wave of frustration building up inside her “He promised me he would stop going back to the lab! It’s too disturbing to his wound, we all know that Annie!”
“My brother,” Annie said very quietly as she leaned against the wall in an effort to keep herself standing “just wanted to prove to you that nothing is impossible!”
“By risking his life like this?” Flora raised her voice and started pounding on the blinking buttons “Come on, come on! Which floor Annie?” she almost yelled at the girl “Which floor did they bring him to?”
Annie reached out and grabbed Flora’s hand… “Flora jie!” Both of them were trembling…
“How am I supposed to feel if something happens to him?” Flora asked in a hoarse whisper “How am I supposed to live?”
Annie only waited until then to break into tear “I don’t want anything to happen to my brother,” she threw herself at Flora “and I don’t want anything to happen to you!”
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[HKU - Nick Cheung’s Analytical Laboratory]
“I have no idea why Flora changed her mind so quickly!” Ada scrutinized the screen, and spoke to no one in particular, referring to the call she had just received from her best friend.
“Why?” Kevin looked up from his lab bench, cocking an eyebrow “I think it’s great that she has finally agreed to this therapy plan. I can’t believe you feel bad about it!”
“Kiddo!” Ada lifted her eyes off the screen and pierced into Kevin “Be careful the way you speak!”
“But you sounded as if you were disappointed” Kevin turned to Nick “Did she sound like that, Dr. Cheung?”
“First,” Nick carefully replaced the micrographs he was studying back to their cases, before walking toward Kevin “it’s Nick, or Nick Gor!”
Ada and Kevin rolled their eyes “Second, it’s a no!” Nick gave a quick glance toward Ada “I think Ada sounded pleasantly surprised that Flora actually called to tell us she will do it!”
Ada lifted her chin smugly at Kevin “You do have problem understanding people, Kev. I pity Annie!”
“What has it to do with Annie?” Kevin groaned, rolled his eyes again and strolled into the adjacent lab. He could feel the burning glares of his colleagues behind his back. Deep down, Kevin didn’t mind being teased like this anymore. The mention of Annie just brought him a warm feeling, which Kevin himself had not a clue why.
Kevin stood in the middle of the room full of equipments and stared blankly at his hand. His mind must not be properly functional these days. He chuckled to himself, and returned to the previous lab.
“My samples!” He muttered sheepishly before the inquisitive glances of Ada and Nick. “Forgot to bring them with me!”
Kevin swiped the samples onto a tray and almost ran out as the other two stifled their laughter with great difficulty.
“Silly fellow!” Nick shook his head…
“Seriously,” Ada appeared a little thoughful “I’m glad he’s finally realized how good Annie is to him!”
“Seriously,” Nick sat down the arm of Ada’s chair, and mimicked her tone “Even a silly lad like Kevin realized someone is good to him… I just wonder...”
“Nick Gor!” Ada cut him short, pointing at the screen “Look!”
Nick stared curiously, not at the screen, but at Ada. He couldn’t be sure if she was just being so artful in avoiding his point, or she simply didn’t know what he was driving at.
“What do you think?” Ada urged, moving her mouse in circle around an area of the screen “Nick Gor! Nick Gor!”
“Well,” Nick sighed slightly “let’s see what you’ve got here…”
“It’s not my folder, by the way!”
“What did you say?”
“You heard me, Nick! I didn’t model this! But look at all the stress curves, see these figures?”
“Come back!” Nick ordered
“Where?” Ada’s hand move swiftly “Here?”
“There! Hold it Ada!”
Nick looked at the computer-generated model under numerous angles with skeptical eyes for a while. Straightening himself after some 15 minutes, he wiped a hand over his forehead “Well, I think we got a winner!” He snapped his finger “Let’s forward it to Dr. Johnson and what-her-name!”
“Jessica?”
“Yes, her!” Nick picked up the phone and dialed the direct number to Gallen’s ward. Getting no answer, he switched to the floor receptionist. Then his face changed, and he charged out of the door.
“Hey… where are you going?” Ada called after
“Queen Mary said Gallen’s is in ER!”
“Now? What’s wrong?”
“Finish what you’re doing, I’ll get the car!” Nick ran a few steps backward along the hallway “Tell you on the way!”
“Coming!” Ada nodded
...
“What’s going on?” Kevin came back to find the lab without a single soul “Ada? Nick Gor?” He flashed his wrist watch “It’s not even time for lunch! Where have they gone?”
Then the lab phone rang. Kevin jumped lightly and immediately cursed his silly self. He picked up the receiver, “HKU Analytical, Kevin speaking!”
“Hello Kevin, this is Jessica Hsuan calling from UMDNJ! I’ve just got an email from your group a minute ago, from Ada Choi!”
“Yes?” Kevin looked at his watch again. It must be almost midnight over at the state.
“The valve model she sent me is exceptionally great, but I need to verify some details before I could have the protocol made. I guess I need to speak to the author of that model. Would that be Ada herself?”
“She’s not in at the moment, but I’ll relay the message!” Kevin pushed his chair closer to Ada’s station and log on that computer “What time would be best for her to call you back?”
“Anytime!” said the girl
“I’ll tell Ada so!”
“Thank you, Kevin!”
...
Kevin switched off the phone and opened the most recent item. He right-clicked for the drop-off menu and chose properties…
“Gallen Lo?” Kevin muttered to himself. He went back to the model and began scrutinize it for flaws. “Hmm… quite a good job!” Kevin leaned back on his chair with his hands made into a cushion behind his head. He looked up at a puff of cloud through the narrow opening of the window frame “I say maybe you’re just lucky, Gallen!”
Kevin stood up, paced a few steps forward, then retraced his track… “Or... maybe Flora is meant to be with you?”
He paced a few more times “But Gallen, you’d better recover from your injury. Imagine Flora be with a cripple!” Kevin stopped, and winced with distaste at his own mentioning of the word cripple. But that was undeniably the thing that had been lingered in the back of Kevin’s mind the past three weeks, since that fateful Qantas flight. Kevin wondered if the same thought had ever crossed Gallen’s mind.
The way Kevin saw it, Gallen had been astonishingly optimistic about his own condition. It was him who cheered everyone up; it was him to initiate this join project with Hsuan and Johnson to customize the therapeutic valve to Flora’s condition…
Gallen even opposed Nick’s suggestion of calling an end to the activity of the volunteering HOPE cardiac group…
“Ada will help you, Nick!” Gallen solved the problem quickly by appointing Ada to be the acting group leader, assisting Nick. “Go ahead and have fun,” the injured leader claimed in good spirit “Don’t worry about me, I’ll find some way to entertain myself when you guys aren’t around!”
Yes, Kevin wondered much… Had Gallen ever thought of not being able to walk ever again? Had he ever thought of Flora and their future then?
Well, Kevin knew perfectly well that it wasn’t his business to control, or meddle with.
But Flora was his friend! Kevin wouldn’t want anything unpleasant to happen in her life. Finding out about her congenital heart disease was a great blow to Kevin already… He wouldn’t want her to suffer more…
Was he being a little selfish to protect Flora that way? Was he being a little unfair toward the other man?
Kevin stopped short and gave the valve model on the computer screen another stare. “Maybe Gallen does deserve Flora! He’s done quite a lot for her… And after all, there’s still a glimpse of hope for him to be able to walk again…”
Kevin was skeptical… rightfully, as he himself stood on the base of the great medical science.
But then there’s not only Science. There’s a thing called Hope…
…and another thing called Miracle…
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