Still Alive

Back at the central hospital was Ray who unlike before had been placed in a rectangular box with all types of wires and tubes connected to it.

With the dry atmosphere of his room, one could easily deduce that he had been in the box for a long time. A slight stubble was beginning to grow on his chin, but it was left there since his nurses were sure that it would in no way impact his health and even if it did, it wasn't like they could open the box.

Two nurses, were inside his room, in a hurry to quickly clean up the room, as they began rearranging and wiping things off, after being instructed that some heroes might be visiting,

"I really can't wait for this patient to wake up and leave the hospital," One of the nurses with dark hair, bundled up in a bun, spoke up the moment she paused a little, standing up to look around at how much work they had left, which wouldn't have accumulated if not for the fact that everyone wanted to avoid the room.

"...and if he doesn't?" the other nurse with the blond hair asked, seeing the possibility since the boy had been put in a rejuvenation machine for more than a week and although his body was completely healed, it was obvious that he wasn't showing any signs of waking up,

"I just want to be transferred from this floor and hopefully Doctor Harrin would be able to help me," she said with a light blush on her cheek that couldn't be missed, enabling the other nurse to infer that more was going in between her and the doctor she just mentioned.

"mmm...just be careful. For me I learned quite early that all men are scum and the ones that aren't are just simply still preparing and learning the requirements for the role," Feena, the dark-haired nurse replied knowing that doctors especially fit the profile when it came to new nurses but she wasn't however surprised to see Loin, her colleague shake her head in disbelief.

"He's special, he's not like other men," she ooohed with an adorable look of affection on her face, and at this point, Feena knew better than to continue to hammer on what she said.

As quickly as when she stopped she went back to bending down to finish the work on her side of the room as quickly as possible, but Loin, however, saw that moment as the best time to laze around the room.

Her curiosity of course took her closer to the transparent metal box Ray was lying in. She had just reached it, and placed her hands on it when red caution sounds began appearing on it, along with a loud blaring wail.

The doctor in charge also got notified the moment the machine went hay-wired so it wasn't a surprise when he came barging in through the door.

Both Loin and Feena's necks instantly snapped in the direction of the door to see who had just barged in.

Breathing a deep sigh of relief the moment she laid eyes on him, she moved closer to him while the doctor moved closer to where she had been standing to check on the equipment.

"Doctor Harrin…" Loin began batting her eyelashes at him, not at all faking the look of relief on her face.

"I'm so glad you're here. I and Feena were just cleaning when the machine just suddenly began beeping. We have no idea what is wrong," Loin cried, going as far as to grab the edge of his white doctor's coat as she pleaded.

And although Feena didn't like the fact that her name had been dragged into the situation, she still couldn't help but be glad that the doctor with them now was Harrin and not Yoret, who placed the importance of machines way above any man or woman.

At first, Harrin didn't say a word as he looked at Loin, recalling how when he first entered,  she had been the one standing closest to the machine, but still, he didn't see a need to mention it. 

"It's fine Loin, don't cry," he replied, wiping off the tears that were leaking out of her eyes with the sleeves of his coat, paying more attention to her than the still beeping machine where an error was still occurring.

"It's not your fault. No one can blame you for this…" he consoled but he was still talking with his arms around Loin's shoulders when the door was again barged open, with someone else wearing a doctor's cloth banging the door open and walking in for the second time that day.

"What's going on? What's wrong with the machine?" Yoret said the moment he walked in, his vision zoned directly at the rectangular machine, with him walking towards it without looking anywhere else.

"Did someone break it? Why are there so many errors on the panel? There are only three of these in the entire city…" Yoret began to speak in a clearly worried tone, as he made it obvious how worried he was about the machine completely ignoring the patient in it, without even once glancing at him...

The hospital was the only one in the city of levigne, and the doctors and nurses in a bid to improve their standing in society were already used to treating wealthy patients, better than normal citizens that had nothing to offer them.

Which was why most workers in the hospital were pissed when the rumor that Ray, who was currently poorer than most of the normal citizens would get to use such an expensive machine, when even if they were to get seriously injured, they would die before they would be allowed to set their eyes on it.

Yoret had just finished speaking, already turning towards Loin and Harrin, about to demand an explanation since they were in the room way before he got there.

But before he could even open his mouth to speak, A woman walked in along with two bodyguards sticking close to her as she leisurely strode into the room, ignoring the small crowd that was already gathering outside the door

"What's happening here? Did something go wrong?" Jirena, Glow's assistant asked as she looked around the room, sparing a single glance at the machinery that was still furiously whining and blinking red all over before turning to look at the doctors and nurses that were in the room for an explanation.

"We...We…" Loin began trembling all over, knowing that if they did a thorough investigation, especially with the high-tech cameras installed in every room, there was no way she wouldn't be blamed for it, even with all the money she had been promised.

"We have no idea what happened? Maybe the boy wasn't fated to wake up in the first place. I'm sure the machine did all it could," said Harrin, interrupting Loin before she could say more, pointing to the computers placed beside the machine as they showed how the heart of the patient was no longer beating which signified that he was dead.

"Of course, the machine did all it could. Reconstruction surgery is a wonderful feat in science and regardless of how close to death the boy was, he still managed to survive for this long. He should be thankful," Said Yoret, with conviction completely missing the smile that flashed across Harrin's face, who wasn't at all surprised to hear Yoret defending the credibility of the machine.

"Hmmm...if that's what happened then it can't be helped," Jirena sighed, turning around just as quickly as she came, and heading out of the room.

Jirena had just taken a couple of steps out of the room, walking out and through the corridor, while heading towards the elevator at the far right corner of the patient rooms on the first floor where she was when she spoke out loud while touching the earpiece in her right ear,

"Contact Madam glow," she said loud enough for no one else but the bodyguards walking solidly behind her to hear,

A second had barely passed when she heard a click, that informed her that it had connected.

"It's done. The machine malfunctioned and the patient is dead. I'll release the information to the media while enunciating how great our efforts were in keeping him alive," Jirena informed her even as she continued walking, already sighting the elevator in her sights that was less than five feet away,

A female voice could be heard speaking on the other side before another click, sounded again in Jirena's ears, a signal that the call had been disconnected.

With a sigh, allowing her bodyguards to touch the elevator button, she was just about to step in, incapable of waiting any longer to be back in her office on the topmost floor where there was nothing but peace and quiet when she heard someone scream at her from the corridor, with Jirena looking a little surprised to see one of the nurses she had seen in room number seven where Ray was the only patient, running at full speed towards her.

"What's wrong?" Jirena asked with a look of confusion on her face, not seeing a reason why she had any more business to do with a dead patient and a malfunctioning machine with a small problem that she had already called someone to replace.

Feena was annoyed. After doing all she could to remain invisible the moment she saw Glow's assistant step in, yet the moment bad news happened, Loin had instantly fainted while her dear doctor held her in her arms trying to revive her. While, the other doctor instantly concentrated on the machine completely ignoring everything else around them with them strategically shoving the delivery of bad news in her direction.

"Well...spit it out. I don't have a lot of time to waste," Jirena said in a slightly annoyed tone, watching the nurse in front of her gasp for air while trying to catch her breath instead of saying exactly why she ran all the way to her.

"The...The boy ma. He's...He's alive," Feena said, wincing a little as she heard the words come out of her own mouth.

"WH...What?" Jirena scoffed with a half-smile completely convinced that there was something wrong with the nurse in front of her spitting nonsense.

"Yes...He actually woke up," Feena repeated herself while bowing her head slightly, not daring to look into the face of Madam Glow's assistant when she could already feel her brewing anger from where she stood.