Cast addition
Anna Akana as Ingrid Li
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There are so many things to hate about hospitals. As soon as you walk into one, you're bombarded with the nauseating sterile smell that wafts through the halls. As if that weren't enough, there's also the heart-wrenching sight of worried family members who sit restlessly in the waiting room as they wait to hear about their loved ones.
But nothing compares to the dread you feel when it's you who's the one sitting there, and you're doing everything in your power not to break down because breaking down means assuming the worst and you just can't do that.
Or maybe that's just me.
I sat beside Henry in absolute silence, trying to ignore how uncomfortable it was to sit still in the hard plastic chair. I focused on the eerily clean white walls and didn't say a word – not because I preferred silence, which actually seemed to make everything worse – but because I just couldn't bring myself to speak.
But nothing had to be said for me to pick up on the feeling in the air. It became very apparent to me that people handle grief in vastly different ways.
Jasper was pacing the length of the room, paying no mind to anything or anyone else. This had been going on for multiple cycles: he would pace for a while before getting tired and sitting down. Then he could start to fidget, unable to sit still, before finally getting up and starting to pace all over again. I had tried to get Jasper to tell us what happened, but he seemed far too traumatized to talk about it, so I simply dropped the subject.
Henry was taking it better – or so it seemed. He hadn't said very much of anything since we got to the hospital, so it was hard to tell, but I couldn't imagine that he was terribly distressed. He only flipped through a stack of magazines before tossing them aside dismissively and reverting his attention to his phone, quietly keeping to himself all the while.
As for Jasper, he seemed to be getting more and more anxious by the second. He continued to circumnavigate the room, wringing his hands together. I could just barely register the sound of him murmuring incoherently to himself. My sights trailed after him, and I longed to call out and comfort him, but my mouth was as good as if it were bolted shut.
After countless minutes of this madness had passed, Jasper suddenly stopped and screwed his eyes shut, placing both of his hands behind his head. I swallowed hard, wishing I could be rid of the lump in my throat. Beside me, Henry cleared his own. It was the first sound he'd made since we'd gotten there.
"You okay, man?" Henry asked tentatively. Jasper inhaled sharply as if he were breathing in Henry's question so as to analyze it properly.
"I just want to see her." He let his arms drop to his sides, and when he opened his eyes, I could see just how red they were. He shook his head pitifully. "I need to see her."
There was an awful pang in my heart when I heard the way his voice broke. My eyes filled with hot, stinging tears. I wanted nothing more than to tell him that I knew my cousin and that she was strong, and she would be okay, but I couldn't bring myself to say the words. I knew then that if I opened my mouth to speak, I'd only be able to cry.
"The party for Lyah Bolton?"
All three of us immediately shifted our attention to the young nurse who stood at the entrance to the waiting room. She glanced down at her clipboard and nodded. "The patient is in stable condition. She should be awake soon."
A collective sigh of relief resounded from the three of us before Jasper took a step toward her. "Are we allowed to be with her?"
"Family only until further notice." Despite her words, her expression was apologetic, and I could tell by the look in her eyes that she felt bad about it. "Doctor's orders."
I could see Jasper's shoulders slump out of the corner of my eye, but I had already turned to glance at Henry. He nodded curtly, and I immediately shot up from my seat and approached the nurse.
"I'm family," I asserted. "Take me to her."
She led me through the halls to the room where Lyah was being kept. My eyes fixed on her as soon as the doors were opened. Lyah looked absolutely pitiful to me, laid in a hospital bed and wearing a hospital gown with an IV insertion in her hand. She seemed to have been asleep at first, but when the light from the hallway spilled into the room, her eyes opened and a listless smile appeared on her face.
"Lyah," I breathed, rushing over to her bedside. I grabbed her hand and held on tight. "I'd kill you for making me worry like that if you weren't nearly dead."
Her smile grew at that, and she closed her eyes again. "Guess that makes this my lucky day."
"Lyah!"
Before I knew it, Jasper had rushed into the room and taken up on the other side of the bed. He lifted Lyah's hand in his own and pressed it to his lips, wearing a relieved smile. "I managed to guilt-trip the nurse into letting me see you. Thank God you're okay."
Lyah eyed him wearily. "I'm okay, and you're a bit too overprotective. But I love you anyway."
The corner of his mouth quirked up into a smile. "And you're an asshole, but I love you too."
A pair of arms wrapped around me from behind, startling me for a split second. My eyes flitted down to take in the sight of flannel sleeves that were rolled up to expose familiar tattooed forearms. A soft smile played on my lips and I lifted a hand to trace my finger over the inked skin.
Lyah looked over at me and raised her eyebrows at the scene. "Look at that! Absolutely rich is what it is. I never got to say anything about you two and your deplorable shenanigans, but believe me, as soon as I'm well—"
The sound of the door opening again interrupted her mid-sentence and grabbed my attention. I looked over my shoulder to see a man in a white lab coat looking back at us with a puzzled expression.
"I thought I mandated family only," he said, speaking more to himself than to us as he took a closer look at her file.
Lyah held on tighter to Jasper's hand. "They are my family."
"But—"
"Nobody's leaving." Lyah's voice was firm and unwavering, and her expression was grimly serious for the first time. The man examined Lyah with raised eyebrows before shrugging his shoulders and closing the door behind him.
He gave us the complete 411 on what happened, explaining to us that Lyah had bumped her head when she hit the ground and got a concussion, but that she would be okay very soon. "Everything seems fine, but I do want to run some more tests. She should be back home within the week."
After that, the doctor left us to our own devices. It wasn't long before the four of us started to grow very bored.
"I'm going to go find a vending machine." Jasper searched in his pockets before coming back up with some loose change. "Anybody want anything?"
"Get me a Snickers!" Lyah exclaimed. Jasper nodded and headed for the door, just as Lyah called out again, "Wait, no, a Kit-Kat!"
Once Jasper had gone, Lyah allowed her sights to fix on me and Henry. Her expression was quick to morph into a suggestive one and she wiggled her eyebrows teasingly. I had to hand it to her – not even a serious head injury could change her mischievous nature.
"So," she began, wearing a shameless Cheshire Cat smile. "You two."
I closed my eyes and gave out a guttural groan, but I couldn't help the tiny smile that started to creep onto my face.
Lyah crossed her arms, quirking her left eyebrow in question. "I want the low-down on exactly what's going on here. Leave nothing out."
After a generous eye-roll – just to make sure Lyah knew that she was being a royal pest – I opened my mouth to speak. But before I could get any words out, I was interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing.
"That's me," Henry said, releasing me from his embrace. "I should take this."
I watched as Lyah's eyes followed him out of the room and sighed when the door clicked shut behind him. "You want details?" I raised my eyebrows and gestured toward the closed door. "That's about it."
Lyah furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, it's nothing. Just—" I shook my head. "Just that he disappeared for some weird, covert meet-up with some unknown person the other day and he's been obsessively checking his phone ever since. I don't know what to think."
She mulled it over for a second. "It's probably not a big deal. I wouldn't worry your pretty little head about it."
"Worry my pretty little head about what?" Jasper pushed open the door and kicked it closed behind him before tossing a Snickers bar in Lyah's direction. "What did I miss?"
She reached up to catch it and frowned. If she hadn't been bed-ridden, she probably would have stomped her foot in discontent. "Come on, babe. I asked for a Kit-Kat."
"Where's Henry?" Jasper inquired, extending his hand to offer me a chocolate bar of my own. "I got him a soda."
I crossed my arms and mumbled under my breath, "I wish I knew."
"Oh, stop being salty," Lyah scolded me, resigning to tear open the candy bar and bite off a hefty piece.
Jasper furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and looked back and forth between the two of us before shaking his head in defeat. "Girls."
Lyah eyed Jasper dubiously before reaching out to him. "Can I have a piece of that?"
"A piece of—" he began to protest, looking down at the Snickers bar in his hand and furrowing his eyebrows. "Why? You have your own!"
"I know," she agreed with a pout, batting her eyelashes at him coyly. "But yours looks better."
Jasper rolled his eyes before resignedly handing over his candy bar to Lyah, who beamed in response and snatched it from his hands. A smile grew on his face as he watched her silly antics and he walked closer to her beside, nudging her gently. "If I can share, so can you. Scoot over."
He sidled up next to her with a smile on his face as she triumphantly devoured his chocolate bar. It didn't take long for me to realize that I felt very much like a third wheel. Then it dawned on me that I didn't have to feel like a third wheel if Henry was there – at least, not if he felt like being nice to me.
I took one final glance at the happy couple, who were both completely absorbed in each other to the point where they had probably forgotten I was even in the room. Jasper whispered something that made Lyah look up at him and giggle, and I felt so removed from the situation that I couldn't even make out what was said. By then, I decided I had enough.
"I'm going to go find Henry," I said as if either of them were listening. Seeing as they both just continued laughing with each other, I nodded and turned on my heel to head for the exit, making sure to grab the soda Jasper bought for Henry. But right before I slipped out, I took one more look at them. They looked happy.
I didn't make it very far from the door before I bumped into something sturdy – in fact, I had only taken a few steps right around the corner when a pair of strong hands gripped my arms to stop me.
I looked up at the familiar face in surprise. "Henry!" I exclaimed. "I was just looking for you."
He released me from his grip and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Yeah, ditto."
"Jasper and Lyah were being little too Jack-and-Diane for me, so I thought I'd come find you. And I brought this." I held out the soda and he took it uncertainly. My eyes knitted together when I noticed the grim expression on his face. "Everything okay?"
He locked eyes with me, taking in a deep breath and letting it out with a sigh. "You're not going to like this."
"Well, you're sure off to a rocky start," I tried to joke, laughing nervously. Then I stopped and looked at him seriously. "What, Henry? What is it?"
He pursed his lips before shrugging and finally spitting it out. "I have to go out of town. For a week."
I blinked, trying to process his words. A week. He had to leave town for a week. Leave town and go where? To meet who? I looked back at him, feeling the concern make my heart go berserk. I didn't want to react wildly, so I bit down on my tongue to make sure I held back.
Henry shook his head in an apparent show of disbelief. "Aren't you going to say anything?"
I slowly released a huff of air from my nose in an attempt to remain calm. "Why?"
"The million dollar question," he replied with a nod of acknowledgment. "I can't tell you that."
I nodded, looking down at the spotless tile floor to collect my thoughts. The sterile smell of the halls was coming back to me now, infiltrating my nostrils and giving me a headache.
"You can't tell me," I repeated. I looked up to see him nod his head, and I did the same. "Of course not."
"Okay, here." Henry walked by me to a more secluded area with padded chaise chairs and gestured for me to sit down before following suit. "I know how this probably looks to you. I know I'm not the most trustworthy of guys—"
I gave him a look. "—fine. Not very trustworthy at all. But I have to go. And you're going to have to trust me. I might not know a whole lot about the boyfriend thing, but I'm pretty sure trust is part of it."
"You're just lucky you're good with words," I snapped. Henry's lips quirked up into a smile and he leaned closer to me, but I leaned back and held a finger up to his lips. He narrowed his eyes, unamused.
"Ah, ah," I stopped him coyly. "I'm not that happy with you."
He frowned. "Jesus. There's one thing I won't miss for the next week."
My smile slowly disintegrated as I mulled over what he said. "Wait. This week?" I asked, shooting up from my seat. "You mean you're leaving today?"
Henry shrugged. "Yeah, I thought you—"
"B-but," I sputtered, growing more irate by the second. My fists clenched together at my side. "But my cousin is in the hospital – your friend! She almost died!"
"Lyah's fine, Meryl Streep. No need for you to put on a performance."
My eyes began to well with tears. At first, it was out of anger. But then a small part of me shattered inside, right as a tear slipped down onto my cheek. My voice lowered to a whisper. "What about the gala?"
Henry stopped. "What?"
"The gala, Henry! The Penbrooke gala, that's this week." I spit-fired rapidly, waving my hands about. I stopped suddenly to look him in the eye. "You'd miss it?"
His eyes fell shut in realization. "Shit."
"I'm going to find out if everything I've worked for amounts to anything or not on that night. It's possibly going to be the single most important night of my life." I felt my breath catch in my throat. "You're willing to miss that for something you can't even tell me about?"
He pressed his lips together for a moment before replying in a low voice, "I have to go."
I nodded, swallowing hard. "Fine."
"Shortie—" he began, but I stopped him by holding my hand up and turning my head away. Then I brought my hand to my mouth to stop myself from sobbing – or at least muffle the sound.
"Listen. I—" he tried again, but I shook my head. He didn't let that stop him though. This time, he stood up and took both of my hands. "I have to go, okay? But promised you I'd be there, didn't I? I'll be there."
I looked up into his eyes through my blurry, tear-filled ones. And maybe it was the impairment of my vision, but I thought I could see the uncertainty in them. I cleared my throat and did my best to blink the tears away.
"You promise?" I asked, and he nodded. I did the same.
"Fine then," I said. "You'd better."
I turned on my heel and walked away.
☽
I found myself back at the door to Lyah's room. Upon pushing it open, I found that Lyah was propped up against her pillow and snoring with her mouth wide open, and Jasper was covering her with her blankets. I felt my heart warm and I smiled at the scene just as he looked up at me.
"Oh, hey Char," Jasper said quietly, taking a seat in one of the chairs beside her bed. "You find Henry alright?"
"Sure did," I replied with a half-hearted laugh. "Though I can't say we make as cute of a couple as you two do."
Jasper looked at me carefully, analyzing what I had said. I swallowed hard. I had hoped it would just blow over as a joke. Clearly, I was wrong.
He gestured to the seat beside him. "We can talk about it if you want. Or whisper about it, at least."
I reluctantly took the seat beside him but tried to put on a fake smile. "Who said there's anything to talk about?"
Jasper looked me over for a few seconds before nodding. "My mistake, then."
We sat there in silence for a moment before he spoke again.
"You know, I feel terrible about what happened to Lyah." He stopped and took a deep breath. "There was a taxi coming right for us. The only thing I could think of to do in that moment was push her out of the way. I had to. I couldn't let her get hit."
I looked over at him suddenly, surprised that he was finally opening up about what happened. He was deep in thought. After a few pensive seconds, he continued on. "When she hit the ground and her eyes shut, my heart dropped. I knew she was hurt. I hurt her. And I never wanted to hurt her."
I could see from my spot beside him that his eyes were filling up and I reached out to touch his shoulder. Just as quickly as I made contact with him, he blinked the tears away.
He focused his gaze on her. "I may be the reason she has a concussion, but I may also be the reason she's alive. I guess sometimes we have to hurt the people we love to help them."
I allowed myself to take in the words he had just said before clearing my throat and looking away.
"Yeah," I said as I watched my cousin doze off peacefully in a hospital bed. "I guess so."