The Love We Choose

Chapter 56

Mrs. Zhang turned on her son with kind eyes. "You need to relax and heal like she said. You have three cracked ribs, a concussion, lots of bruising, severely sprained ankle, and they removed your spleen. Don't worry too much about Lynne. She's a big girl and can take care of herself."

"She thinks she has to do it all by herself Mama. But-"

"Ah-ah. No more talking about Lynne's situation. We need to focus on yours. I'm going to go get the doctor in here to check on you."

A couple of minutes after his mother left for the nurse's station to tell them that Huan was awake, Dr. Sanderson, Huan's doctor, entered the room to take his vitals. Dr. Alan Sanderson was the 53 year old Head of Neurology and one of the doctors assigned to Huan's case. Huan had been both an intern underneath his charge and a resident, so they were familiar with each other. "Welcome back to the land of the living Dr. Zhang. It's good to see you are awake. How are you feeling?" The older man walked over and began his examination.

"Like I've been hit by a bus, Alan."

"According to the police it was a 4-door sedan, so there's no need to exaggerate, Huan. Had it been an actual bus you probably would have been examined by Dr. Ionna."

Huan shuddered at the thought of being on Dr. Ionna's cold, sterile, metal exam table in their morgue and thanked the universe he was alright. "True. Glad I'm seeing you instead. What's the verdict on the patient?"

Dr. Sanderson completed his cognitive and then physical evaluations of Huan before he gave his answer. "Aside from the damage to your ribs, the severe concussion, and the third-degree ankle sprain, it seems you are going to survive. You are a very lucky young man. Nothing vital was broken. We are going to keep you a few more days for observation because it seems your skull is not as thick as one who worked with you had thought. You're going to have to take a couple weeks off to properly heal." Huan opened his mouth to protest, but was stopped by a raised hand from the older doctor. "No excuses. We can't have medical staff at half-capacity treating patients. You'd likely over-exert yourself and wind up being admitted. Take the time to relax. Maybe play a little Nurse-Doctor with your girlfriend." He wiggled his eyebrows at the younger man suggestively.

Furrowing his brow, Huan turned to his mother and asked, "Veronica's here?"

Reading the perplexed look on Huan's face, Dr. Sanderson gave him some clarity. "If that's your lovely friend who was sitting by your side in that chair earlier with the braids, then yes. She hasn't left your side much since you've been here. Well except for one night I came by she wasn't here. She's feisty too. Gave the night-shift hell when they were late changing your ivs."

"That's Lynne. We've known each other for more than half our lives. I can't really remember a time before I knew Lynne. She's just always been there for me. She is a stickler for promptness and schedules." He chuckled at the thought of her ragging on some poor, unsuspecting nurse who had never seen the effects of Hurricane Lynne when someone was late. He had experienced her wrath at his tardiness on several occasions, but knew how to diffuse the situations with many years of practice. "Wait, did you say the whole time? Lynne's been here the whole six days?" He looked over at his mother for confirmation.

The older woman nodded in agreement and stood next to the bed, "it's true. She hasn't been back to work since they called her about your accident. Barely ate or slept either. She's been worried."

"Lynne can't be doing that. It's not healthy. Not for her or our baby."

His mother's eyebrows shot up at his admission. "It's your baby Lynne is carrying?!"

"I thought you knew!"

"No, I just knew Lynne was having a baby. I didn't press her for further details. It wasn't the time and definitely not my place."

He mentally cursed himself for letting it slip like this. He took a deep breath and answered his mother, not looking her in the eye. "Yes, mama. Lynne and I are having a baby. This wasn't how we planned on telling you. This is why we were coming over to dinner on Friday. We wanted to tell you together. But I guess I just messed that up. You should be a grandmother in June if everything goes smoothly from here on out." Dr. Sanderson finished writing something on Huan's chart and quietly exited the room, leaving mother and son alone.

For the first time in his life it seems as though Huan had floored his mother. Ying Zhang was rarely thrown off guard with her natural serenity and calm, go with the flow demeanor that her son had inherited. However, this information had come out of nowhere and momentarily threw her world off-balance. She sat down in the chair that Lynne had been sitting in to collect her thoughts.

After what felt like an eternity of dead-air and silent disapproval, Huan broke the silence in the room. "Mama. Aren't you going to say something?"

Mrs. Zhang was silent for a good measure before she responded to her son. "I'm not going to say I'm not disappointed that you two are having a child and you aren't even in a relationship, or even married. Were you cheating on Veronica this whole time with Lynne? Unless there's something else you'd like to tell me?"

"No, mama. We're still just friends. It all happened-"

She raised a hand up to stop him from continuing. "Spare me the details; I understand your generation's flippant regard for sex so I can fill in the blanks. But, I had that poor girl on her feet all afternoon and evening for the party and then you let her help clean up the next day. How could you do that? She is carrying your child, my grandchild. You need to be more responsible." She frustratedly clucked her tongue at him. "I guess I hadn't taught you as well as I thought I had."

"I'm sorry Mama, but you know Lynne. She isn't going to let anything like being pregnant stop her from helping out when she signs up for something."

"What do you mean Lynne's not going to let being pregnant stop her?!"

Looking in the direction of the booming voice in the doorway of his room, Huan met the enraged eyes of Mr. Prentice. Beside him, Lynne's mother stood with one hand holding a small potted plant and the other hand covering her mouth.

"Juuust great." Forget worrying about her brothers, Lynne is going to murder me.

XXX

A/N: Hello dear readers. I hope you enjoyed this double-update. Please like, comment, and share!
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