The Love We Choose

Chapter 55

The afternoon after Lynne was admitted to the maternity floor, the bleeding stopped on its own and her hCG levels continued to rise. However, they made her stay another night for more in-depth observation. For Lynne, it was absolute torture. The only sunshiney moment was when she got to hear the baby's heartbeat on the ultrasound as a reassurance. Dr. Nettle let her know that her stats were good, but she would have to schedule a follow-up with her own OB-GYN next week to confirm that the pregnancy was still progressing correctly. She was to get as much rest as possible and not put any unnecessary strain on her body. They had even given her a note excusing her from work for the next week. In other words, more waiting and doing nothing.

Once she was finally discharged, got on the elevator back to Huan's room, and parked herself back in the chair. Catching up with Huan's mother she learned that in her absence she missed visits from Auntie Lijuan, An-Mei & Rose, and, surprisingly, Veronica. At least she visited again. She should be here more often, but I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt, like Ava suggested.

Lynne was back at her post next to Huan's bedside two days later. Exhaustion had caught up with Mrs. Zhang and she had nodded off in her seat on the opposite side of the bed, her head lolling onto her shoulder.

As Lynne stared at Huan's rising and falling chest, she mulled over the past week. Six days. Huan's been on this bed...in a coma...for six fucking days. No change in response in a positive or negative way, so that's something.

Trying to get her mind off of the monotony of the situation, she worked on the book of crosswords she had bought from the gift shop. When her eyes crossed half an hour later as she tried and failed to figure out a seven letter word for "strew randomly," she put the book down and grabbed Huan's hand between both of her own.

Barely audible above the sound of the heart monitor in the room, she started talking to him. "Hey, I hope you can hear me. Your mom misses you. Rose misses you. I miss you. We all do. And I know your body needs to recover, but if you could give us all a break and wake up to let us know you aren't going to be a vegetable it would help out a lot of our nerves." She let out a weak chuckle as she felt the skin on his hand.

Feeling it was a little dry, she went over to the side table where the nurses left his toiletries and grabbed the bottle of lotion. Sitting back down, she began to massage the lotion onto his hands and arms while she continued speaking to him. "How is it they can remember to sponge-bathe you, but skip the lotion each time. You'd think taking care of one of their own would make them focus on doing the job to completion. I'm sorry I wasn't here to remind them. I've been a little occupied with the mooncake. But you don't need to worry about that. I hope this isn't hurting you. I know most of your bruises are fading, but I wouldn't want to cause you pain. I mean, if you would wake up for us, you could tell me if it hurts. Feel free to cuss me out if it hurts. But you'd have to be awake for that. You get the theme here? I hope you do, because we need you to wake up. We all need you," she rambled on while she went about putting lotion on his limbs. Settling back into her chair, after she finished, Lynne picked up the crossword puzzle book and tried to finish the puzzle.

XXX

Huan was floating in darkness. Feeling disoriented, he tried to get his feet on solid ground, but every attempt failed.

"Misses you. I miss you," a voice swam around him in the void.

I know that voice. How do I know that voice? It's Lynne. Why does she sound so sad? Lyndy. Lynne! Lynne! What's wrong? Why can't she hear me?

Pressure on his left hand caught his attention. That feels nice.

"Mooncake."

Mooncake. The baby. Oh no. Why is Lynne sad about the baby?