Feeling dumbfounded by the information she had just heard, Sarah's eyes widened in surprise as she leaned back in her seat. "Huh? Sixteen years? What happened?"
"Like I said before, it's a long story, Sarah. A really long yet complicated story." David sighed, rubbing his temples as if a headache was brewing at any moment. "But if I were to summarise, there was a big falling out between me and my family. A huge one. And at that moment, I just kind of cut ties with them. Completely."
"Wow, that's rough," Sarah said, lightly shaking her head, feeling sympathetic and a little surprised at the same time. "What argument led to that?"
"Honestly? I don't even remember what it was about now," David casually admitted, shrugging his shoulders while looking directly into her gaze. "It was a long time ago, and many details have faded. All I remember is that we had a massive argument, and things got ugly. I said some things I didn't mean, and my parents said some things that really hurt me."
"In the heat of the moment, I just stormed out and never looked back. I cut off all contact with them. I didn't answer their calls or respond to their emails," he continued, leaning against his seat and shifting his gaze toward the ceiling. "I know, it sounds drastic, but I was so stubborn back then. I refused to apologise, even though I knew I was wrong. I just wanted to prove…a point."
While picking her mug up and taking a few sips, Sarah couldn't help but frown when she noticed something amiss as she tried to process the information she had just heard. She looked at him with slightly raised brows. "Then how did you know that he is your nephew?"
"Wait, no...what I meant was, if you haven't been in touch with your family for sixteen years, how did you even know he existed?" Sarah immediately corrected her words when she realised it sounded a bit too straightforward from her own mouth. Still, she didn't expect David to soon chuckle out of nowhere, leaving Sarah slightly taken aback before shifting his gaze toward her. "Honestly…"
"It was just nothing more than pure coincidence, Sarah," David said, with a hint of amusement in his voice, before picking his mug up and taking a little sip. "The other day, I went through some patient records while updating the file record and noticed a familiar last name. I looked closer and realised that the patient's last name was my little sister's husband's last name."
"Wait, you know your sister's husband's last name? Did you keep in touch with her?" Sarah then asked, her eyes widened in surprise again, and with a sheepish grin spreading across David's face, he awkwardly replied, "Well, I wouldn't exactly call it 'keeping in touch."
"But I do keep tabs on them from time to time. I check up on them online, you know, just to see how they're doing," he calmly admitted, scratching the back of his neck. Sarah raised an eyebrow, a playful smirk playing on her lips. "So, you're telling me you've been stalking your family on social media for the past sixteen years? Is that it?"
"Come on, Sarah. Can you not make it like I'm doing something diabolical at the very least?" David replied annoyingly, rolling his eyes before beginning to stir his drink using the silver spoon that was already in there with his gaze fixed on the swirling brown liquid. Feeling slightly guilty from seeing David's current mood, Sarah decided to change the topic by rubbing her neck while asking, "So, are you planning to reach out to her?"
Hearing her questions, David paused momentarily, his gaze still fixed on the now still brown liquid before sighing, letting go of the silver spoon and looking up toward her. " No…"
"Not yet," he said, lightly shaking his head with a troubled frown creasing his brow. "I'm unsure what to say or how she'll react if I do."
"I know it feels daunting, but maybe you still should at least give it a chance," she suggested gently after nodding understandingly at his words. "You never know, she might be willing to reconnect. This could be a chance for both of you to heal."
"Maybe you're right," he said, lightly nodding, but his expression soon turned difficult as David glanced and continued, "But I don't know if now is the right time. My nephew is in the hospital, and from what I can see, things are pretty chaotic right now."
"No, I think now might be the perfect time," Sarah instantly countered with her firm voice after feeling unsatisfied with seeing the man she knew to be this cowardly. "This situation could be a good way to start reconnecting. You could visit Edwin, slowly connecting with your sister through him, and see how things go from there. It could be a way to bridge the gap, to show her you care."
David was silent momentarily, his brow furrowed as he wrestled with his thoughts. The weight of sixteen years of silence, of unspoken words and unspoken feelings, pressed down on him. He could almost feel the ghost of the angry words they had exchanged, the hurt that lingered long after the storm had passed.
After a brief silence, David sighed, feeling mentally tired and said, "I honestly don't know, Sarah."
"It's just… It's been so long. What if she doesn't want to see me? What if she still resents me?" he continued, his voice heavy with doubt, and instead of saying anything, Sarah's hand suddenly reached across the table and gently covered his right hand.
"It's scary, I know. But sometimes, you have to take the first step, even if it's terrifying. You never know what might happen. You might be surprised," she said softly, leaving David completely stunned and unable to say anything. It took a moment before David finally opened his mouth. "I'll…think about it."
"But I can't promise anything," he then said, crossing both hands from each other and slumping back in his chair after lifting his hand from her. Feeling satisfied, she lifted her mug while saying, "Just take all the time you need."
"There's no rush. Just… think about it." Sarah said, taking a couple of gulps and then a satisfying sigh. As she leaned back into her seat with the hot chocolate, she quietly yet secretly stared at David, feeling happy that everything was slowly going well for David. Still, for some reason, a sense of lingering uneasiness came out of nowhere and caused her to frown slightly.
"What am I even thinking?" she murmured, lightly shaking her head, trying to clear her thoughts. "This is great news. I should be happy for him."
However, as anyone would expect, her womanly instinct is almost right on the money when inside room 331, where the air was thick with the smell of medicine and something faintly metallic-like blood, the rhythmic beep of the heart monitor was the only sound that broke the silence as a young man lay still on a bed in the centre of it all.
As an IV drip hung over him, slowly dripping a clear liquid into his arm, his face was pale and drawn, while his body was a patchwork of bruises and bandages with wires and tubes snaking across his chest, disappearing under the sheets.
*beep*
*beep beep*
*beep beep beep…!*
….
Suddenly, the beeping of the heart monitor sped up. It was like a drumbeat getting faster and faster. A low groan escaped his lips as he slowly opened his heavy eyelids. "Hmmm…."
!!!
"Ughhhh…Fuck" The young man cursed, feeling annoyed when the fluorescent lights above him assaulting his vision as he gradually opening his eyes and forcing him to squint. While he was blinking a few times, trying to regain his sight, the young man could feel his throbbing head, growing stronger with every sluggish blink. "Wha…My head."
As he got up from the bed, his right hand instinctively tried to reach up to rub his forehead, but a jolt of pain stopped him in his tracks. "The fuck? What is going on?"
The young man was startled by the sudden pain in his right hand and carefully glanced at it. His eyes widened in shock when he saw that his right arm, from wrist to bicep, was encased in a bulky white bandage.
"What the..." He rasped, feeling dumbfounded by the sight, and he immediately sat up to have a better look at the bandage, only to realise that effort had sent a fresh wave of nausea crashing over him. "Ugh…."
"Fucking damn it…" He groaned, suppressing the nausea as much as he possibly could with his left hand covering his mouth. After finally suppressing his nausea, the young man sighed exasperatedly, looking at the hospital bed that he was in, covered in crisp white sheets, which creaked slightly with his every movement. "Anyhow…"
"Am I…in a hospital?" the young man whispered, taking in the humming machines, the beeping monitor next to his bed, and an IV drip, suspended from a metal pole, slowly dripped a clear liquid into his arm. Yeah, definitely a hospital. He had seen enough of these places over the years. Too many, if he was being honest with himself.
"But how did I get here this time?" He then muttered, feeling a little puzzled, before noticing a tangle of tubes and wires snaking under the thin blanket from various machines, their blinking lights casting an eerie glow. "What the hell?"
"Did I get in a terrible accident or someth-Ugh?" The young man muttered quietly, trying to move his body, but that effort immediately sent a jolt of pain through his body, and caused another groan to escape his lips. Feeling confused about himself, he immediately lifted the blanket and saw the bandages covering his stomach and torso. "What the fuck?!"
"What the hell happened to me? How did I get this badly injured?" The young man questioned himself, furrowing his brows as he cautiously ran his left fingertips over the bandages on his stomach, the gauze feeling rough against his skin. "A car crash? No… that doesn't feel right."
"Okay, let's think this more carefully…What was I doing before I woke up here?" He sighed, closing his eyes and trying to recall the last moments or events that had led up to his current predicament.
It didn't take long before, in his attempt to do it, the young man felt like he was trying to grasp blurry smoke in his head—a vague image of several cars swerving, several loud screeches from unknown creatures... and then nothing.
Badump~
Badump~
Badump~
!!!!
"Ughhh!! THAT FUCKING HURT!!!" the young man exclaimed, his eyes snapping open again, wider this time. He instinctively clutched his head, his teeth gritting against the sudden, sharp throb that lanced through his skull when he tried to dig deeper into his memory. "What in the actual hell?"
While coughing several times, he immediately squeezed his eyes shut again, waiting for the pain to subside, with his breath coming in ragged gasps. After a moment, the intense pressure gradually eased, leaving behind a dull, persistent ache. "Okay…"
"Breathe, Victor, breathe," the young man, Victor, murmured, slowly opening his eyes, and felt something rough on his fingers, which he glanced in the direction of his fingers and noticed the edges wrinkled and stained with a faint brownish-red.
"You've got to be kidding me," he sighed, discovering that a thick white bandage swathed his head. He cautiously lowered his hands, his bandaged right arm now feeling heavy and alien. As his mind calmed down from the pain, Victor took a deep breath and exhaled a few times while coughing slightly, trying to regain some semblance of peace despite his racing heartbeat. His eyes glanced around the room again before landing on the heart monitor.
Beep… beep… beep…
The frantic pace had slowed down. Good.
"Honestly…That hurts like a bitch." He sighed, attempting to sit up again after feeling relief from seeing the heart monitor return to normal. However, this time, he positioned himself more carefully by supporting himself on his elbows despite the lingering discomfort from the dull abdominal ache and sharp head pain. "I just don't understand…"
"What the hell is g-huh?" he muttered, really annoyed by the confusing situation, before his expression frowned when he finally realised something was off. "Wait a goddamn minute!!"
It was…his voice.
To Be Continued