In front of the hospital room, the air twisted again, collapsing into a deep, black vortex, a tunnel shimmering with dazzling, colorful lights.
A figure emerged.
A pale hand picked up the Blue Rose Bouquet from the floor.
The girl stood at the hospital room door, gazing at the now withered bouquet in her hand, dazed for a long while.
Next time, I’ll just buy a new one.
Xunian tossed the bouquet into the trash, walked over to the bedside, and pulled a chair over to sit down.
On the bed, a beautiful, pale, and thin woman lay quietly, dressed in a blue-and-white striped Hospital Gown.
The woman’s face bore a resemblance to the Duke’s Daughter—about thirty percent alike.
At the corner of her closed eye, there was a tiny tear mole, in the same spot as Shen Mosi’s tear mark.
Xunian gently took her sister’s icy hand, her gaze softening, eyes full of deep affection.
Her voice was very soft, tinged with grievance and reliance, as she softly called to the one on the bed, “Jiejie.”
The one on the bed didn’t react at all, still lying there quietly, not even an eyelash moving.
Xunian let out a light sigh. A dull ache spread in her chest, as if a knife had stabbed straight through her heart and twisted several times.
She gripped her sister’s cold hand even tighter, trying to transfer her own warmth to her.
But it was still cold, no matter how tightly she held on, it would not grow warm.
Before the age of nineteen, Xunian had been a happy child, her family whole and loving, with her parents and her sister giving her all their love.
Her only troubles were the odd little worries of a girl in adolescence.
For example, her inexplicable dependence on her sister.
Because of this, she once had an argument with her.
In a fit of rebellion, Xunian left home to live on her own. That year, she was nineteen.
But in that very year, a Car Accident took away her parents, and her sister was left in a Coma.
She regretted so much, wondering why she had avoided her sister for so long.
Because of her own dark, shameful thoughts, she hadn’t even answered the phone when her parents and sister needed her most.
When the accident happened, her sister had called her—the sister she trusted most.
A single moment’s hesitation, and she lost her last chance to speak with her sister.
When she called back, the line would not connect; when she saw her sister again, it was in the Hospital.
Her parents… had already been covered by white sheets.
She couldn’t even remember how much she’d hurt at that moment, only that she saw her family covered in blood, and fainted dead away, losing all consciousness.
When she woke up again, only she was left.
Even though two years had passed, she still thought about it every day. The pain was so unbearable, it made her wish for death again and again.
She had lost her parents forever, and her sister was now a living dead in a Coma.
The Doctor told her, “At present, there seems to be no sign she will wake up. The family should prepare for her never waking again.”
The hope in her eyes faded into darkness.
Xunian numbly passed her days moving between work, the Hospital, and the Rental Apartment—a three-point routine.
She had sold the family home, just to pay for her sister’s sky-high medical bills.
She had tried everything, but there was no sign of waking.
Xunian fell into complete despair.
She hated herself. Hated that she had avoided her sister because of those dark, twisted thoughts; hated that she hadn’t been there when disaster struck.
She had once locked herself in her tiny, twenty-square-meter Rental Apartment, sealing all the doors and windows, intending to turn on the gas stove and follow her parents into death.
She hesitated for a long time, but in the end, gave up.
For her sister, she had to keep living.
But her soul had died alongside her parents the moment the accident happened.
And so she lingered on, eating only when she remembered to, not caring if she forgot, her once-healthy body long gone, muddling through each day like the walking dead.
Once, she had been a girl who always wore a smile.
But ever since entering the Guaitan World, it seemed she hadn’t shown a real smile in a long time.
Her heart felt sealed away, locked in a place with no light.
The real world was like a terrible dream. She lived on day after day in this nightmare without family, struggling to survive in a cruel world.
Perhaps, being forced into the Guaitan World wasn’t such a bad thing for her.
Only in the Guaitan World could she briefly escape the suffocating reality and give herself a little space to breathe…
……
Xunian fetched a basin of warm water, and used a towel to gently wipe her sister’s body.
Afterwards, she helped move her sister’s limbs a little, carefully shifted her back to her original position, and tucked in the corners of the blanket.
When everything was settled, Xunian sat back in her seat and started chattering away,
“Lately I’ve been playing a Game. There’s someone in it who looks a lot like you…”
“I accidentally dropped your favorite flower on the ground. Would you be mad? If you’re mad, hurry and wake up, then you’ll have the strength to hit me…”
“If you don’t wake up soon, I’ll eat all your favorite foods in front of you every day, and make you drool with envy…”
“Jiejie, I miss you so much…”
She even found herself saying those sentimental words she used to despise.
Only with her sister would she have so much to say.
The Doctor had said that talking more to the patient might help.
After that, Xunian came every day to talk to her sister, saying things that would annoy her, things to provoke her.
She could only hope her sister would one day truly wake up, and just like when they were young, give her a flick on the forehead in anger.
“Bzzzt—bzzzt—”
Her Mobile Phone suddenly vibrated in her pocket.
Xunian pulled out her phone. The caller ID read “Boss”.
Even before she answered, she’d already guessed the reason for the call.
She took a deep breath and picked up.
A middle-aged man’s thickly accented voice came through, “You dare skip overtime when I tell you to work overtime? You’re fired.”
“Beep—”
Xunian pressed the hang up button.
Looks like it’s time to job-hunt again.
Xunian put her phone back in her pocket. Just as she was wondering where to go for interviews, her stomach suddenly cramped in pain.
She clutched her abdomen where it hurt, a thin layer of sweat forming on her forehead.
It took a long time before she recovered.
She’d forgotten about her Stomach Disease.
In the Guaitan World, her physical condition seemed much better than in the real world.
Her body felt stronger than before, she had more energy—was this a benefit brought by the Guaitan World?
Not knowing what the Duke’s Daughter had sacrificed for her during her high fever, Xunian was left confused by it all.
Today was a holiday, so Xunian stayed until nightfall, eventually dozing off at the bedside.
The girl slumped over the bed, her hair disheveled, her pale face weary, eyes tightly closed, brows faintly furrowed, as if caught in a bad dream.
In her sleep, she murmured to the one on the bed, “Jiejie, don’t go.”
The person on the bed’s eyelashes trembled.
A vortex suddenly appeared in the air, and the girl by the window vanished.