What Happened?

When Xiajun woke up, he found himself staring at a white ceiling.

"Thank God you're awake!" someone cried beside him, and he slowly turned his head to see Qi Lei and someone with a mildly rememberable face getting up from a white couch.

"Where am I?" Xiajun croaked. Gosh, he sounded horrible.

Qi Lei grabbed Xiajun by the hand. "Look, you are in no position to be asking questions right now. And I should be the one deserving some answers, anyway."

"For God's sake, Qi Lei, tell me where the hell I am."

Qi Lei squeezed Xiajun's hand one last time and let go.

"Běijíxīng Hospital, of course." He held his face in his hand. "Where else could I have taken you when you had lost so much blood. And for your information, you got a blood transfusion of about 78 thousand HKD worth."

Xiajun sighed and stared at the ceiling again, his jaw aching from talking and his eyelids struggling to stay open. The hospital room was painfully bright and his whole body was numb with pain; every movement made him ache. He tried to synchronize his breathing to the constant beeping of the vital signs' monitor:

Breathe in. . . Breathe out. . . Breathe in. . . Breathe out. . .

Then he remembered that there was someone else in the room with him and Qi Lei.

"I'm sorry but who are you?"

The woman looked up in surprise. "Have you forgotten me already?" She smiled and somehow that made her look even more familiar to Xiajun, who was trying hard to remember but his mind was all fuzzy. The woman got closer to him until she was close enough that Xiajun could move his hand and touch her.

"I thought you were supposed to be getting ready to be my date for tomorrow night," she said sadly. And that's when it clicked in Xiajun's head.

"Argh. . . Lin. . ." he muttered, covering his face with his hand. "I'm embarrassed that you have to see me like this."

"I'm alright with this," she said, patting his hand lightly. "I came t the hospital the moment I heard you had gotten hurt. What happened?"

"Yes, Jun," said Qi Lei from the distance, coming to stand beside Lin. "What exactly DID happen?"

He glanced at Lin; he wanted to discuss this with Qi Lei in privacy. Half of it was because he didn't trust Lin yet, not when she was the sister of an assailant in his case. And half of it was because he didn't want to expose his vulnerable side to an outsider.

Lin must've gotten the hint because she smiled and said, "I guess I'll wait outside. You two can talk in peace."

Qi Lei waited until she was out of sight and that's when he decided to pounce on Xiajun.

"What the absolute hell have you gotten yourself involved with??" he cried, throwing his hands up in the air. "I think must've driven around half the town before I finally managed to find you lying unconscious in that street. I thought you were dead! And all that blood!? The bodies!? What happened??"

Xiajun's head was already starting to hurt from all the nagging but he still told Qi Lei everything he managed to remember. After he was done, Qi Lei flopped down on the couch, his greying hair matted to his face with sweat.

"But how can this be?" he asked weakly. "Why would someone want to kill you?"

Xiajun could think of a ton of reasons.