The Love We Choose

Chapter 51

Lynne woke early on Thursday morning with a jolt. A sharp pain caused her to curl up on her side in bed. Placing her hand on the side of her stomach she massaged the area while she spoke to her stomach, "ok mooncake. What's up? Mommy was getting in some decent shuteye this morning. Why'd you wake me up Hmm?"

Another small pain in the same region caused her to squeeze her eyes shut and take a few deep breaths while continuing to massage her stomach. She tossed around the idea of sending a text to Huan in order to assuage her panic, but shook her head as she dismissed that idea. "Ok. Ok. Ok. Dr. Ulias said there would be growing pains. Nothing to worry about. You're just getting bigger and my body is working to accommodate you. That's all this is," Lynne said out loud, hoping to reassure herself.

Hours later, after another "quick administration meeting" that was only supposed to last twenty minutes morphed into an hour and a half monstrosity, Lynne found herself playing catchup on all the work that had piled on to her desk that day. "Just great," she sighed as she took off her nude Jimmy Choo heels, sinking her toes into the plush rug she had hidden underneath her desk. Luckily, she hadn't gotten to the point in her pregnancy where her feet had begun to swell, but she knew that her high-heeled days were swiftly coming to an end. It was beginning to be too much to keep them on her feet for the entire work day. She could only satisfy her body's restlessness by going barefoot on her office floor. Using her knuckles, she worked at a small kink in her lower back before diving back into the work.

She was so far in the zone she did not register her phone ringing until it nearly fell off her desk. Without looking at who was calling, she put the phone on speaker and huffed out a clipped "hello."

"Am I speaking with Lynne Prentice?" An unfamiliar woman's voice spoke over the phone. Damn, it's probably a telemarketer.

"This is she. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking to?" Lynne replied, calmly, as she began signing off on checks that needed to go out to various vendors.

"Ms. Prentice, I'm calling from Kensingtonna Hospital, there's been an accident and you are listed as the patient's emergency contact."

XXX

It had been a particularly busy couple of days at Kensingtonna Hospital, causing the staff to joke about mercury probably being in retrograde since the full moon was still a couple of weeks away. When they got the notice from dispatch that they would be receiving victims from a pedestrian-car accident at their emergency room that afternoon, they took it as par for the course.

Dr. Krantz and the emergency room team prepped themselves for the two new patients they were expecting. "Someone page upstairs to Surgical and get Dr. Zhang back down here before he leaves for the day. From the dispatch one or both of them are going to need to be assessed and we need more help down here," he called to the unit clerk as he went to the Emergency bay.

XXX

Lynne rushed into the emergency room of Kensingtonna Hospital and ran up to the reception desk as fast as her feet could carry her. On the drive over from her job she had been sending up silent prayers to whatever deity was listening that everything would be alright. Huffing, she tried to get her breathing under control as she waited in line for the receptionist's attention. Heart pounding and nerves on edge, she shifted anxiously from foot to foot, trying not to lose her mind. Finally, the familiar looking receptionist turned to Lynne.

"How can I help you ma'am?"

"My name is Lynne Prentice, I received a phone call about Huan Zhang. I'm his emergency contact."

"Lynne!"

Lynne turned in the direction of a familiar voice to see Mrs. Zhang standing next to Auntie Lijuan. Leaving the receptionist, she walked over to the two women, throwing her arms around one and then the other. "Mama Ying, how is he?" She asked, uncertainty evident in her voice."

"He's in surgery. He was bleeding internally and they couldn't figure out where exactly from the scans so they took him up before we got here. No one has given us an update yet."

"Did...did they say what happened? All they told me on the phone was he was in an accident. Was he shot or mugged or in a fight?" She asked, eyes darting between the two women.

"No. No. The doctor that spoke with me said he saved the life of a young woman by pushing her out of the way of a car. He took the brunt of the hit as a result."

"Fucking useless hero complex of his," she grumbled, angry tears filling her eyes. Realizing the words had left her mouth she let out a shocked gasp as she quickly covered her mouth with her hands, a pink blush appearing on her cheeks. "I'm sorry. That was incredibly rude of me," she apologized, looking sheepish.

"It's ok, Lynne. I'm upset as well," Mrs. Zhang told her, placing a soft hand on her shoulder. "But that's just how my son is. He wants to help everyone. We can't change that. "

Lynne shook her head in agreement. "Yeah, he does." She wrapped her arms around Huan's mom, catching her off guard with a tight hug.

Lijuan spoke up from beside Mrs. Zhang, "come on ladies let's sit down." She gently guided them over to the waiting area.

For the next few hours the three women sat in mutual silence as the seconds ticked away. Each sent prayers in their own way to whomever was listening for a positive outcome for Huan's surgery. A few of the medical staff who knew Huan introduced themselves to his mother and wished him well, but none of them had been at the Gala, so Lynne couldn't place them.

Lynne's stomach was in a knot as her logical mind went to war with the sliver of hope she was desperately clinging to as possible outcomes to Huan's surgery swirled around her head. He could have a broken arm or leg. Maybe both. He could be paralyzed and never walk again. He could lose function of his limbs and never perform surgery again. She wrapped her arms around her own shoulders in an effort to calm herself down. He could wake up but be in a semi-vegitative state.

The nerves in her stomach bubbled up, bringing bile along with it as her brain settled on the final outcome. He could die. Scrambling to her feet and throwing a hand over her mouth, she took off in the direction of the bathroom in a sprint. With moments to spare, she made it into a stall and locked it behind her before emptying the remnants of her lunch into the toilet.

"Lynne? Lynne? Are you in here?" Lijuan's calm voice called out to Lynne from outside the bathroom stall a few minutes later.

Lynne closed her eyes and got her breathing under control before flushing away her stomach contents and opening the door. Taking a deep breath, she fixed as neutral an expression as she could upon her face before she exited the stall.

"There you are. We were getting a little bit worried. You hurried off in a rush, is everything ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just nerves, I guess," she said as she washed her hands and swished some cool water around her mouth.

"That's understandable. Let's go sit back down. Ying will want to know you are alright," she told her as she wrapped an arm around Lynne's shoulder and led her back to the waiting area. They each sat on either side of Ying.

Taking Ying's delicate hand in her own, Lynne squeezed it reassuringly before resting her head on the older woman's shoulder. Lijuan took a crossword puzzle book out of her bag and started working on it. The three sat in tense silence that was only broken when Huan's uncle Jin and his family joined them in the waiting area.

After greetings and hugs were given out, a shuffle in seating had Lynne sitting opposite Lijuan whilst Uncle Jin's wife, An-Mei, sat on Ying's opposite side. Uncle Jin was slowly pacing the floor behind their chairs. Rose was laying down with her head resting comfortably in Lynne's lap and squeezing one of Lynne's hands. The young girl had clung to Lynne desperately when they came to the hospital with a seemingly unending stream of silent tears on her face. Putting her own fragile nerves to the side, Lynne did her best to stay strong and resolute for Rose, gently running her free hand through her hair. The young girl idolized her cousin and loved him like a brother. If she were to lose him...

Lynne scrubbed a hand over her face. I can't even let that be a possibility. She won't. We won't lose him. You hear that mooncake? Your papa is going to be just fine!

XXX

A/N: Hey there lovelies! I hope you are all well.

Please like, comment, and share with your friends! As always, choose love! :)