WAITING FOR THE BEGINNING

34. Hello, Thank You, Goodbye.

Where am I?

Unlike the last time when she woke up in a hospital, this time she remembers that she is presently Zhang Xian Ling, married to Zhang Wei Xin.

She sits up and sees that face - the face that is so familiar yet so elusive to her. Her face flushes, those lips call to her.

"Hello." De Yi says gently. "How are you feeling."

"I think...fine." She looks at him, trying very hard to recall his name.

De Yi stands closer to the bed and bends down. "Do you know who I am?"

She shakes her head and then nods.

"Your face is very familiar. I don't know why...but I see your face in my dreams."

"You remember my face?" De Yi grasps her hand, encouraged by this small victory. "Do you remember..."

Just then, Wei Xin walks in, followed by Tao Zhen.

"Wei Xin."  Xian Ling / Ping Ping perks up and instinctively pulls her hand out of De Yi's.  The gesture feels like paper cuts in his hand, a burning and hateful sensation.

The two men size each other.

De Yi remember Wei Xin from when they entered the hospital, with another woman hanging onto his arms. De Yi cannot imagine what business this tattooed gangster looking man would have in this room.  And he hates it so much that she is calling him in such a familiar manner. Wei Xin weighs as to what is the right thing to do.

"You know this man?" De Yi asks Xian Ling / Ping Ping.

"Um. He's..." She pauses, remembering that they are not supposed to know each other.

"I'm her guardian." Wei Xin finishes for her. "Technically, her husband."

"Technically?" De Yi is surprised at that specificity and struggles a bit as the metaphorical dagger stabs his heart.

"Yes, President Chin." Wei Xin looks at Chin De Yi with some resignation. "Lee Ping Ping is currently known as Zhang Xian Ling, my wife."

"What did you say?" De Yi wants to verify it again. He's reeling from how casually this strnager answers the most important question to him and equally casually claiming his Ping Ping as a married woman.

"Lee Ping Ping?" Lee Ping Ping repeats the name and it has that same familiar and hazy feeling.

The phone in Wei Xin's hand buzzes. He looks at it. Hong Ge: Where are you. He replies: On my way.

"Ling Ling." Wei Xin looks at the woman who, only a moment ago, is his wife. A sense of loss already has crept into his heart. But right now, his heart has no room for this - except for finish his assignment. "I will have to break that promise I made. I'm sorry."

He turns to Tao Zhen, "Thank you for taking care of this." With that, he turns to leave.

"Wei Xin." she calls after him. Words are stuck in her heart, she doesn't know what to say. Her husband of nearly two years is leaving her. It feels like abandonment. It is abandonment. In the end, all she can muster is "Thank you for everything."

"Good bye, Zhang Xian Ling." He says with his hand on the door and then he's gone.

She tries but the tears fight their way down her face. When De Yi moves to hug her, she flinches away. Instead of jealousy, he finds himself aching for her.

But the exchange has brought a sense of relief to his heart. The dagger slowly melts away, replaced by a new sense of uncertainty. This is not how he imagined finding her.

Tao Zhen walks up and puts a firm hand on De Yi' shoulder; he moves De Yi out of the way, kindly like a father figure. He holds the girl in his arms and two men wait until she runs out of tears.

"Zhang Xian Ling." Tao Zhen speaks deliberately. "Your name is Lee Ping Ping. You are a missing person for the past three years. This man Chin De Yi, according to our files, is a good friend. Perhaps more. And I believe he can tell you about who you were. When you are ready."