"We've tried all we could Xin Ling, but having diagnosed the cancer at a late stage, it's even a wonder your body is still holding out and hasn't given up yet. The tumors keep spreading and at this point-"
"How many days?" Xin Ling asked weakly.
The doctor sighed sadly.
"You don't have more than a week Xin Ling." He responded. "I'm sorry." He added and walked out of the room.
Xin Ling who was lying on the hospital bed, used all the strength her weak body could muster, to sit up a little.
Maybe dying was the best. She found herself wishing it would happen soon so she can finally leave this cursed existence of hers.
She lost both parents in the same accident when she was eighteen. None of her extended family took her in, instead like the savage scavengers they are, they took away whatever little things her parents left for her, leaving her with nothing.
She didn't give up on life then, she continued fighting till she was finally able to stand on her feet again. She was twenty four currently, her business was growing, and she has Mu Chen too- her boyfriend for four years now and they were soon to get married. But life wasn't done with her yet.
Just when she thought she was finally getting a little bit of happiness in this cruel world, she got the diagnosis of cancer.
She has been so busy, she brushed off all the signs she has been getting of the illness. Now it was at the stage of no remedy and she only has a few months to live. She felt her whole world crumbling. How was she going to tell Mu Chen?
But she still had to let him know, he has a right to know. She drove to his place that night, only to meet the unexpected. Never in the world did she ever thought that Mu Chen would cheat on her. She caught him cheating on her with no one else but her secretary and only friend. To worsen it, they didn't act a bit remorseful at all. The three of them were all friends since she was nineteen, a year after she lost her parents. They had all met in the university she went on a scholarship. She met Lan Ai, her secretary first, then Mu Chen. They were all friends, but she and Mu Chen started dating a year later. She never thought they could do this to her.
"I mean you dating my dream guy was bad enough, your business started doing well and it gave you the audacity to come up to me to ask me to be your secretary, as what huh? Your slave? You think you're better than everyone else. (SCOFFS) You just always have it easy, don't you?" Lan Ai said to her. Xin Ling was just trying to help, since Lan Ai was the only one struggling after school, without a job. She couldn't believe all that was being said.
The whole thing took a huge blow on her, and she ended up in the hospital again that night. She's been bedridden since then. Not even a soul came to visit her even though they all knew her condition now, it was then she truly realized how lonely she was in this world and those moments of happiness were all not true. It was only her lawyer that finally paid her a visit one day to break to her the news of the current state of her business. Turns out Mu Chen has been laundering money with her company for two years now with the help of her secretary, that's to say, he's been cheating and colliding with her friend for that long, and she being blinded by love and false ecstasy didn't have a clue.
The authorities were after them now but they'd already ran away from the country, along with all of her small company's funds, leaving her and her company bankrupted, with only her little assets to her name. Maybe she was just destined to be alone, and betrayed by everyone. Even as far to her lawyer who she told to sell all her assets and give it to orphanages and other charities, since she was dying anyways, instead he coveted it all for himself.
...
The days dragged on, she just remained in the hospital bed as always, too weak to go anywhere else. Her hands clenched on her chest as her lungs squeezed for air.
Was this it?
She felt herself slipping away into the unknown and she stopped fighting it at some point and began to embrace it. What was she doing fighting it? She's been waiting for this for days now, this peace.
As Xin Ling took her final breath on the hospital bed - Finally giving in to the cold arms of death, she realized that her short lived life was filled with nothing but pain and few moments of insincere happiness. No one was going to miss her in this world, no one might even attend her funeral, she was truly abandoned, even by the deities. She wished she would never walk this earth again.
Then it was total darkness.
***
Xin Ling's eyes shut open abruptly.
She grasp for breath as her hands clenched unto the ground that seems to be sandy, her knees were on the ground. Everything was pitch-black. She continued to grasp for breath as it was so hard to breathe right now.
'Where am I?' She thought.
Was this the afterlife? Is she really dead?
Suddenly a bright light shone across the dark space as what seems to be a passageway appeared.
'This was truly the afterlife.' Xin Ling thought again. She really was dead.
A figure started to move out of the passage. Yes move, not walk, because it seemed like the figure was floating in the air. Xin Ling continued to kneel there, but she was no longer grasping for breath. She stared at the figure in awe. It seems to be a woman, like some female deity or goddess. The deity exuded great light, Xin Ling's hand went to shield her eyes from the blinding glow of light the deity exuded. That was when she realized how translucent looking she was right now- This was really her soul?
The deity got to her and held her cheeks. For some reason or actually... being a deity, the woman could actually hold her without her hands going through Xin Ling's current translucent looking body.
"Welcome to the in between Xin Ling." The deity told. "I'm Xiao Liu Mei, gatekeeper of the in between."
Xin Ling was too stunned and tongue-tied to utter anything.
***