Hungry

When Chen Kaori opened her eyes, she saw an unfamiliar white ceiling. She furrowed her brows as she smelled antiseptics.

She moved her line of sight to her sides. She saw a familiar head lying sideways at the side of her bed.

She smiled as she recognized He Zifeng. He must have been taking care of her at the hospital.

She felt her body was weak. It was hard for her to move. She still found the strength to extend her finger to touch his hair.

He Zifeng instantly woke up when he felt the movement. "You're awake!"

He pressed on the patient buzzer to call for the nurse.

Just then, Chen Kaori's parents went into the room.

"Kaori!" Mrs. Chen shouted and dashed to hug her daughter.

Chen Zhiyi almost dropped the insulated food container his wife suddenly pushed towards him. He smiled as he saw his daughter wide awake. He walked towards He Zifeng and handed him the container. "You must be hungry. You never left her side."

"Uh...thank you, Uncle Chen." He Zifeng politely accepted the food. Then he turned to Chen Kaori. "Are you hungry?"

Chen Kaori nodded.

He Zifeng spread the compartments of the container on the patient table, then he frowned.

"What's wrong?" Chen Zhiyi was observing the young man.

"I'm not sure if she could eat these. Let's wait for the doctor to check on her, then we could ask him." He Zifeng explained. He looked at the nasal cannula on her.

She was almost intubated, but she had spontaneous respiration and good pulse and blood pressure, so she was initially on oxygen via face mask. She had been on close monitoring as she was in and out of consciousness. When she was stabilized, she was weaned into oxygen via nasal cannula.

"Oh...you're right." As Chen Zhiyi said that, the doctor, accompanied by a nurse came in after a couple of knocks.

The nurse took Chen Kaori's vital signs and the doctor checked her eyes and her breathing.

The doctor nodded at the values on the cardiac monitor as they coincided with the manual check.

"The patient is stable now. Her oxygen level is normal. She is lucky to have received first aid immediately. We will repeat the chest X-ray tomorrow to check if the edema in the lungs regressed. If there will be no complications, she can go home before the week ends." the doctor reported.

"Oh my...thank you! Thank you, doctor!" Mrs. Chen was delighted by the news.

"Uh, Doctor, can she eat now?" He Zifeng asked before the doctor could leave the room.

"Oh...yeah, sorry. I forgot. She can have clear soup and other liquids for now. Just make sure she takes everything while in an upright position, so at least sitting up, so that the food will not go into her airway and cause more problems." the doctor explained then went his way when there were no other questions.

He Zifeng started packing up the compartments of the container he spread out on her table.

"Eh...what are you doing?" Chen Zhiyi tried to stop him.

"Uncle Chen, Kaori cannot eat these. I will go and buy her some clear soup and fruit juices."

"Silly boy. The meal is really for you. Don't go anywhere and just eat here. We will buy some soup and drinks for Kaori." Mrs. Chen reassured him.

Chen Kaori's parents went out to get some food.

"You should eat." Chen Kaori smiled sweetly at He Zifeng.

"Uh...but how can I start eating when you don't have food yet?"

Chen Kaori chuckled. "I'm fine."

He Zifeng hesitated, but he felt his stomach protesting.

"Eat." Chen Kaori encouraged.

He Zifeng started eating as told. He had a smile as he munched the food.

Not long after Chen Kaori's parents came back with a similar food container and several tumblers of freshly squeezed fruits.

As they watched the youngsters have their meal, Chen Zhiyi went on to talk about the incident.

"The court had issued restraining orders for the girls who did this to you. Hmmm...I still don't get why such young girls would do this kind of thing."

He Zifeng and Chen Kaori stopped eating when they heard this.