The Love We Choose

Chapter 18

I'm sinking into the ocean. Huan's body felt heavy and moving his limbs was an arduous task. His body was ablaze, causing his scrubs to stick to his sweat-soaked skin. In his haze he could barely make out the images of varying colors that were passing in front of his face.

Somewhere in the distance he could hear a repeating pattern of three thuds. Was someone bouncing a ball somewhere? He slowly turned his head in the direction of the sound to focus onto it better. The sound repeated two more times before a disembodied voice spoke to him.

"Huan, open up, it's me."

I know that voice. That voice is a cool balm to the fire of my soul.

The voice drifted back to him at a higher volume before he could pinpoint who it was, "Princess Pistachio Zhang, if you do not open this door by the time I count to ten, I am either going to kick it down or use my spare key to come in on my own! You better not be dead! I'll never forgive you. 1...2...3...4...this is your last chance, buddy!"

Ok, maybe not a soothing balm all the time. Right now, it is gasoline poured over a forest fire. Thanks, Lynne. Wait. Lynne. Why is she here? Snapping his eyes open, Huan struggled to shake off the grogginess of sleep to get himself off of the couch and answer the door.

"5...6...7...I'm either reaching for the key or raising my foot, the gamble is yours to take...8!"

Shit. Shit. Shit. What is she, crazy? "Lynne, stop, I'm coming!" He replied, cotton-mouthed, in the direction of the voice with all his strength as he quickly stumbled his way to his door. Throwing it open, after momentarily fumbling with the lock, he was shocked to not only see Lynne standing in his doorway, but that she was wearing a surgical mask and rubber gloves. She held a plastic grocery bag in the crook of one arm and her orange backpack was over her shoulders. "You haven't called me Princess Pistachio in years."

"Well, I had to come up with the most efficient way to get you to answer your door. And the most effective way was through shameless teasing since someone has been ignoring my calls and text messages for the past hour. I'm glad you answered the door. I planned on kicking it with all my might. Don't think your neighbors would have appreciated that at eleven at night." Taking a quick glance at his appearance she tutted. "You would get sick this close to the holiday season. I guess it's better that it happened to you now and not later," she mused. "Get it out of the way so they could use you when it counts at the hospital."

"What are you doing here, Lynd?" He said through his stuffy nose, pulling a crumpled tissue out of his pocket, intent on using it in the next few seconds.

"You sounded like absolute Hell over the phone. Then when I didn't get a text back or a phone-call I thought, why not check up on you and your little cold. It's not like I'm really doing anything else on a Friday night since I got knocked up by someone, who shall remain nameless." She told him with a chuckle. Looking at him she took in his deathlike pallor. "It seems I was too right though; you look like Hell. Now let me in." Not waiting for him, she pushed him back into his apartment, kicking her shoes off, and blowing past him to the living room where she deposited the backpack she was wearing onto the empty chair.

Flustered, Huan followed behind her, "I'm probably contagiouth. It's not safe for you and the baby. What if you catch what I hab?" To emphasize his point, he took a deep inhale, letting the mucus rattle in his sinuses.

"Don't try and scare me off, mister! Thanks to work, I got my flu shot and prior to that all of my immunizations and boosters were up to date, so I should be pretty protected. Plus I have the constitution of an ox thanks to my genetics. I think that's the one thing I can thank the history of slavery in my heritage for, breeding superior field-hands and such." She paused at the wry look he shot her. "Ok, ok. Bad joke. Bad joke. Just trying to lighten the mood a bit," she raised her hands apologetically.