The Love Score || Zhuo Zhi

65: I'm Not Dead Yet

It felt like my lungs had opened the passage to oxygen like the opening of floodgates. I sucked in a breath-- it felt like new air was rushing down my throat. I opened my eyes to find worried faces looking down on me. Blinking, I adjusted my vision so that my gaze was fixated on Coach Qi and Ai Qi watching me awaken.

"Yue En!" Ai Qi exclaimed, a relieved smile spreading slowly on her face. "How're you feeling?"

My throat too dry to speak, I tried to prop myself up on my arms but they got caught in the midst of wires. Wires? What the hell? I mumbled something that didn't come out coherent enough for anyone to catch. Coach Qi put a comforting hand on my shoulder, saying that I shouldn't try to get up. At the corner of my eye, I noticed Si Yang, whom I hadn't seen earlier, get up from one of the chairs at the side of the room and walk over to my bed. I looked down at my front to see that I was wearing a thin, white gown.

Ai Qi pressed a button by the side of my bed and I felt it buzz under my body, the top half of it adjusting to a diagonal angle to let me rest on it while sitting up. After I untangled my arm from the wire, I pulled the oxygen mask off my face. I ran my tongue over my lips to moisten it before I spoke in a scratchy voice, "Why am I in a hospital bed?"

Ai Qi, Coach Qi and Si Yang exchanged hesitant expressions. "You fainted this morning," Ai Qi finally answered. "Doctor said it was a respiratory allergic reaction. You lost consciousness because of your throat swelling up and a lack of oxygen."

"Shoot," I muttered. "I'm so sorry for troubling you all--"

"Not at all, Yue En, not at all," Coach Qi reassured. "We're just concerned for your health."

I inhaled sharply. "Is it serious?"

Coach Qi shook her head. "Thankfully, no. The doctor said he may discharge you today."

I glanced to my right to see a heart rate monitor connected by a wire to my wrist, its constant beeps boring into my head. I made a silent movement to reach for the water jug and plastic cup placed on the table beside me, but Si Yang noticed and beat me to it. "I'll do it," Si Yang said in a monotone voice, swiftly pouring the water into the cup. The action itself reminded me of Ah Yan pouring his Yan Juice into the paper cup.

"Yue En!" I heard Zhuo Zhi's panicked voice echo in my head. I jolted up suddenly. "Where's Senior Zhuo Zhi? And uh... Senior Yan?" I added quickly as an afterthought. I took the cup Si Yang was holding in his hand and peered at him. "Coach Qi, did you ask Captain Si Yang to come here too?"

Si Yang's hand froze in mid-air for the smallest second after passing me the cup of water. I was sure that if Ai Qi and Coach Qi weren't in the same room as us, Si Yang would be shooting me look along the lines of: What are you thinking?

I drank the water from the cup as Coach Qi exhaled through her nose, nodding. "I only brought Si Yang and Ai Qi along with me. Si Yang because he is the captain and was at the scene when you fainted, and Ai Qi because she's closest to you. The others are back at the Home, still practising."

I adjusted the blanket on my legs, looking up at Si Yang. "Are--" I stopped myself in mid-sentence, finding my sentence too informal to speak to someone who was pretending to not be my brother. "Senior Si Yang... Senior Zhuo Zhi and Senior Yan, they're not too worried, are they?"

Si Yang shook his head solemnly. "I informed them over message when you awoke. They don't have to worry too much."

Footsteps resounded outside of the room and a doctor appeared around the corner. "Hello?"

"Ah, Doctor Wu," Coach Qi said, acknowledging the doctor's presence. "Please come in."

After Ai Qi and Si Yang exchanged polite bows with Doctor Wu, he walked up beside my bed, holding a clipboard in his arm. He was a short stout man sprouting white hairs on his balding head, but he had a kind look in his eyes like how a grandfather would look at his grandchild. He made a little grunt before he spoke with a smile, "I'm Doctor Wu. How are you feeling now, Mu Yue En?"