Chapter 23

The next day after school I went to visit my student in the hospital. His name was George Sail. When I reached the hospital both of his parent just went back home to take a rest. The nurse on duty told me that George woke up this morning for awhile but he was still weak due to the excessive lost of blood. However, his condition was stable now. I thanked the nurse and went into his ward to accompany him awhile.

I taught George two years ago in the 7th grade. He was a bright and cheerful student. He lived near the school that was why his parents allowed him to cycle to school as both of them had to work. He was the only child in his family.

"Hello, you must be George's teacher," said a familiar voice from the back.

I turned around and my world just went blank. The person who was talking to me looked exactly like Josh. The twenty-one year old Josh. How could this be? Am I hallucinating?

"I am Dr. Shane Wong. You can call me Dr. Shane. I believed we met yesterday. I just wanted to tell you that what you did yesterday saved his life," continued Dr. Shane.

When he saw how shocked I looked.

He asked, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I am fine. I am sorry I had to go," I replied after snapping out of my trance.

I quickly stood up and left the ward.

"Miss wait....," he called out but I did not answer him. I kept walking, still could not believe my eyes. I must have been too stressed up with my work.

Finally, I was out of the hospital. I took a deep breath of fresh air and calm myself down. I kept telling myself that it was my brain playing tricks on me. I started walking down the street when suddenly a hand caught hold of mine and turned me around.

There just standing inches away from me, was....

"Miss you forgot your handbag. I kept calling out to you but you kept walking away...are you alright?" he asked.

"Maybe you should come back to the hospital and let me have a look at you," he said worriedly looking straight into my eyes.

I looked down at my left hand which he was still holding. "I am sorry," he apologized and quickly let go of my hand when he realized.

"Thank you," I told him and took my handbag from him. After that I quickly walked down the cobbled street. I kept walking and did not look back at all until I reached my cottage.

My heart was beating so fast I think it was going to burst out of my ribs. This could not be happening to me. I went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea to calm myself down.

After having a cup of chamomile tea in my backyard looking out to the sea, I managed to clear my mind. I decided not to think about this ever and pushed whatever happened today to the back of my mind.

I took a warm bath and went to bed early.

Thank God tomorrow is Saturday. I will be visiting the orphanage tomorrow. It could help me to take my mind off this. Being with the children always made me happy and they melt away any worries I had.

It was a beautiful morning. I walked to the orphanage and when I reached there all the children were waiting for me at the hall. They always greeted me with morning kisses. The younger children would put flowers on my hair. They said the flowers made me looked like an angel.

We always start the day with some physical activities like dancing and singing in the library before we start the lesson of the day. I taught them English and Math. There were other teachers who would come later for other subjects. I always read them a story before I go.

Today was no exception. I was ending my lesson with a story as usual when there was a knocked on the library door.

"Enter," I answered.

Madam Collins opened the door to the library. She was the headmistress of this orphanage. She was a kind and gentle lady in her fifties. I had known her for many years since I started volunteering at this orphanage.

"I am sorry to interrupt, Ms Sabrina but we have a special guest here today whom I would like to introduce to everyone here," said Ms. Collins.

"Okay children should be stand up and greet our guest....let's gives our guest a warm welcome," I told the children.

All the children stood up. Ready to greet and welcome the mysterious guest.

"Children I would like to introduce Dr. Shane Wong to all of you. He just moved to Rye from Birmingham. He will be our in-house doctor from today onward. Shall we give him a warm welcome," said Ms. Collins.

All the children around me started clapping loudly. I was frozen at my position.

I realized that there were things we could not escape from in this world and one of those things was destiny...