Gawain looked at Alex's back as he went away, thinking about his last words as he waved at him over his shoulder:
"My sister will come to the hospital in a few days. If luck is on your side, you two will meet, so good luck to you."
Thinking about Leyna, a smile made its way to his lips.
He turned back, and walked back to the pediatric department, his face back to its usual mask of indifference, even under the gaze of the gossipy nurses.
At the same time, elsewhere in the hospital, the same blonde with almost beige wavy hair who had arrived at the hospital around the same time as Alex was standing before the ward she had forced a smile before stepping inside around a month ago.
She was standing with a doctor in white garb, her face nervous, and with a purely polite smile she was struggling to maintain.
The doctor spoke in a low voice, his tone calm:
"Miss, the patient is stable now, but we can't say for how long. Her state can worsen again at any moment. The best option would be to upgrade her treatment, because for now, the best we are able to do is to try keeping her stable, not to improve her situation, much less to bring her back to health."
The blonde bit her lower lip, and slowly nodded her head after a moment:
"I know. Thank you, doctor."
The sadness was obvious in her low tone. The doctor looked at her, saw the same helplessness many other patients' relatives had shown before, and said no more.
He nodded, and after one last look at the ward, walked away.
The blonde remained outside, looking down. Her entwined fingers showed her restlessness as she twisted them and squeezed them. After a while, she raised her head to look at the door of the ward, before she turned to walk away.
She left the hospital at the same time as Alex who had gone for other examinations after leaving Gawain. But in the throng of people coming and going, neither saw the other, especially with how preoccupied each was.
About an hour later, she came back holding a bag, and she went into the ward with the patient related to her. It was a middle level ward, not luxurious, but a single-person room good enough for a single patient.
She glanced at the sleeping form on the bed inside, then placed the bag down, and went to adjust the curtains to dim the the light of the afternoon sun streaming into the room slightly.
She took out boxes of foods and a thermos which she placed at the side, then went to sit down and wait.
In the hours that followed, only the two sounds of breathing softly echoing spoke of the two lives inside the ward. Of course, the silence was broken two to three times before the evening by the doctors and the nurses coming for a visit. Among all of that, only the form on the bed remained unmoving.
As night descended, the blonde woke up from a short nap she had succumbed to without even realizing. She shook her head, and turned toward the lights-dotted city which was now noisy in a different way, before she went to the sleeping form on the bed who had yet to wake up still.
With soft movement she adjusted the blanket for the latter. Her movements were tender, but as she moved her left arm, a slight frown came to her face.
However, thinking about the short nap in the chair, she dismissed the pain she was feeling on the left side of her chest for having been caused by an inappropriate sleeping position in the armchair.
After she was done tucking the sleeping form on the bed, she glanced at the food that had remained on top of the cabinet at the side of the bed. She moved it to the table beside the window, and when she opened it, she was not surprised to find that it had almost turned cold after all the time that had passed.
Her face did not change. She was used to it. She served herself some water that was still warm in the thermos, and started eating while looking at the restless city.
While her blue eyes did not hold despair, they did not have a brightness of their own either, only the brightness of the city they were reflecting.
She ate in silence, one bite at a time, without haste. Even then, despite that, she did not look focused on the food, but instead, on all the troubles that were swirling inside her mind.
By the time she finished her meal, the moon was already up, looking particularly bright, even if not enough to overpower the man-made lights shining brightly.
She put the food box she was holding with her left hand down, and frowned while doing so. The pain from her left side had intensified, like it was becoming clearer.
She carefully put away the empty boxes, and went to the bathroom. She took off her top, leaving only a bra on to keep her well-fed bust from spilling, and turned to the side in front of the mirror. But her frown only deepened. There was none of the bruise she had expected, no redness, nothing to justify the sensation of pain she was getting from that side of her body.
She carefully put her clothes on again, moving her left arm like a patient of the orthopedic department. She exhaled when was done, sweat dotting her forehead, and left the bathroom with her frown about to create a valley in the middle of her eyes.
She thought back to what she did in the day, trying to find anything to justify the sensation of pain she was getting from the side of her body.
The accident that could have caused the phantom pain earlier had taken place away from her, without really involving her.
Then she came to the hospital, and she did nothing that could have caused the pain she was feeling. Even an uncomfortable sleep position could not have caused such a deep pain, like she had been hit on that side of her body.
Her frown did not go away until she returned to the chair in front of the window where she had had her dinner, and she raised her head to meet a bright light.
The moon hanging above, bright, and round. The moon was full.
It was like an explosion happened in her mind, and her eyes opened wide, their blue reflecting the celestial body.