But then, Sam did have that personality which could rub people the wrong way. Not everyone could tolerate c.o.c.ky, smart mouthed women! Sam sat back at her desk with a thump. She was fuming. What was w.a.n.g Wei"s problem? Why did he have to be nice and then an a**?
"I don"t have the time to think about him anyways. I have bigger issues to tackle, like figuring out what exactly is Zhu Cheng planning?" she thought soberly.
Manhattan, New York
"Oh G.o.d, what is that noise?" Mrs. Xie got up from the bed and ran towards Tang"s room.
It was 2am and the sight which met her eyes was an uncomfortable one. The nurse stood on one side of the bed while Tang was sitting on the floor. A gla.s.s of water lay shattered next to him, the spilled water wetting his night pyjamas.
Before she could ask what happened, the male nurse started to speak, "he doesn"t let me help him at all. Resists my attempts to take him to the washroom, doesn"t listen to my instructions, basically pretends that I don"t exist."
Mrs. Xie could hear the frustration in his voice.
But she steeled her words and replied, "I am sorry. You came highly recommended to us with your ability to handle tough patients. May be those testimonials were exaggerated."
The guy looked at her in disbelief at her blatant disregard of the patient"s behaviour. He went out of the room in a huff. She turned to look at her son who was refusing to meet her eyes. She could see the sullen defiance in his shoulders. Walking towards him, she gentled her expressions. She bent down and grunted in effort when she slipped her arm under his one of his shoulders.
Tang tried to shrug her off but she held on to him in determination. Dragging his body along the floor, he didn"t put much weight on his mother"s old, frail shoulders. He was grunting, drool drip faster with the effort he was exerting but finally he reached the bed and staggered onto it.
"Feel better? Now that you managed to do it almost by yourself?" she questioned him archly.
He turned his face away in a sulk. Sitting on the bed next to him, she cupped his chin with her hand.
His handsome face was hanging low on the left side, making it look like a weird scowl. Within the first few days of getting discharged from the hospital, Tang had broken two mirrors already. He had imagined the impact of the paralysis but didn"t think that he would resemble a gargoyle. The physiotherapy was painful and not as smooth and easy as it looked on TV. He couldn"t feel anything on his left side and it was d.a.m.n frustrating!
The more he found himself dependent upon people for support, the more he resented them and himself for it. A couple of nurses had already walked off due to his uncooperative behaviour.
His mother wiped his mouth clean and tucked the blanket around him. Coming around from the other side of the bed, she sat down and pulled his head onto her lap. Patting it gently, she hummed a light tune under her breath. Within minutes, she could hear his heartbeat slow down. Taking a peek at his face, she saw him fast asleep.
Her heart ached at the helplessness which she knew he would be experiencing right now. But she didn"t know how to teach him to be patient, how to give him faith, to tell him that it would get better. Before getting discharged from the hospital, Chu had tentatively suggested to Tang that maybe they could inform Jia Li, that if the situation would have been reverse, he would have wanted to know, right?
Tang had displayed an extreme reaction to her words. He had flung the medicine tray kept next to his bedside and given the black stare to his sister. His eyes had held unspoken vulnerability, shame and bleakness. Chu had hugged him and apologised, promising him that she wouldn"t bring up the topic ever again.
Maybe he would get better with Jia Li around or maybe he would become even more withdrawn than he was now. Mrs. Xie didn"t want to risk putting her son through any more pain that he already was in. She would respect his choice. In the meanwhile, it seemed that they would have to look for a new nurse yet again.
London
"Li Jie, did you call up Wei and ask him about Tang?" Jia Li asked him on the phone.
Her best friend sighed at the other end and replied, "well, I did. He picked up my call, was politely cold and informed me that he had no clue about where Tang was. Frankly, I couldn"t muster strength to ask him any further about it but what I do know is that Uncle Xie has withdrawn their partners.h.i.+p with Wei"s family. There is a new company who has invested instead."
Jia Li was really surprised to hear this. She didn"t know how to make sense of what she knew till now. She thanked him, knowing that he had already gone out of his way in calling people and trying to find things for her. She had tried to reach out to Xie Chu, herself as well, but the girl hadn"t picked her call nor had she returned it. That was unlike her behaviour. All of this put together was causing a flurry in her gut. What was going on?
She had already applied for a leave from the office but was yet to be granted a leave.
Since Eric had come back, Ying Hui had hardly come to office. He spent most of his time in the lab now. She had been informed that he was working on a new prototype for the British Government. All his office work was being handled by Eric and her.
She decided to go visit him in the lab and ask him for the leave personally. She didn"t want to delay her trip any further.