Chapter 34 Endurance

Early in the morning, when Santichai woke up. He didn't remember if he had a dream at all, but when he woke up, he didn't see KK, but some food was on the table and bag. He was a little disappointed, but at the same time he understood that KK had to work. Then the door was pushed open, and KK walked in with a thermos and a cup.

KK put the thermos and cup next to the food on the table. He smiled at Santichai, "How do you feel? Are you in any pain?"

"I didn't feel anything," Santichai said.

"That's because you still have general anesthetic in your system and the fentanyl is just given to you intravenously," KK said. "Once you can eat, you're likely to be on tramadol. When the medication wears off, you will have pain. For your comfort, if you feel a little bit of pain, make sure to let the nursing staff know right away, because it takes a while for the pain medication to take effect." He poured a cup of hot water and pushed the table to the edge of the bed. "You have to eat to take the pain medication. The nurse said the pain medication will make you sleepy afterward."

Santichai asked, "Aren't you going to work today?"

KK said, "I'll leave after you have breakfast, and come back tomorrow night."

Santichai said, "Don't worry, there are nursing staff here, I will call them if I need anything, you don't have to miss work to stay here with me."

"Doctor Lin said that if all goes well, you can be discharged within a week, but you need to take physiotherapy classes for a month or more," KK said, pouring the porridge into a bowl. He scooped up a spoonful of porridge and raised it to feed Santichai.

Santichai blocked KK's hand. "I can eat it myself," he said.

KK said, "Okay." He put the bowl on the table. "Wait until it cools down a bit before eating it."

Santichai said, "Are you going to work?"

KK looked at Santichai and asked, "Why do you keep asking me when I go to work? Is someone coming to visit you and you don't want me to be here?"

Santichai said, "No, I just don't want you to delay too much work because of me."

KK said, "Okay...well...I'm leaving now. I'm on duty tonight, so I won't be able to visit you until tomorrow evening."

Santichai said, "Don't worry about me, I will ask the nursing staff if I need anything."

KK kissed Santichai's forehead and said, "I'm leaving, remember to eat and take medicine."

Santichai smiled, "Mmm."

Santichai watched KK walk out the door with tears in his eyes. The truth is, he wanted KK to leave because he couldn't hold back the tears. He knew that if he cried in front of KK, KK would not go to work. The tears he shed today were not bitter tears, but happy tears. For the first time in his life, someone truly cared about his well-being. KK has done a lot more for him in the past two months than Asnee had done for him in their ten years together. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and Sarah came in. Santichai quickly wiped away his tears.

Sarah asked, "Are you in pain?"

Santichai said, "No..."

Sarah asked, "If you're not in pain, why are you crying?" She walked over to Santichai's bed. "Did he bully you?"

Santichai said, "No one bully me."

Sarah asked, "Do you have any family living around here?"

Santichai said, "I don't have any relatives."

Sarah was taken aback. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't know that you have no relatives."

Santichai looked at the nervous doctor and smiled. He said, "It's okay. I don't mind." He started eating the porridge.

Sarah said, "Tomorrow, you need to get up slowly and try to walk."

Santichai said, "Thank you." He put the spoon down. "KK, tell me you are his little sister."

"Even if you're not dating my brother and you're a complete stranger, I'll still care for you like any of my family members," Sarah said, grinning at Santichai. "I treat you no differently than my other patients."

Santichai said, "I still want to thank you for helping me."

Sarah said, "The person you should be thanking should be Pi K. A nurse will help you get around. Try five minutes and we'll slowly increase the time. If you feel pain, please let the nurse know, but if you take pain medication on time, you shouldn't feel too much pain." Santichai nodded. "Anything you need, tell the nurse to call me or have him call me."

Santichai said, "Thank you, doctor Lin."

Sarah smiled and left the room.

After Santichai took the pain medication, he fell asleep again. He didn't know how long he had slept, but he was awakened by the throbbing in his back. He knew that the pain medication lasted between four to six hours at a time. He must have slept for more than six hours, but when he slowly opened his eyes to call the nurse, he saw KK sleeping on the sofa beside his bed. He didn't want to disturb KK's sleep, so he lay down and endured the pain. He coaxed himself, the pain was incomparable to the pain he had suffered in the past.

When it was time to check on Santichai, a nurse entered the room, and Santichai put his finger on his lips. The nurse smiled and walked slowly to the bed, "Mr. Kittibun, it's time for your evening walk."

Santichai whispered, "Can you get me my pain medication bottle over there?"

The nurse went to the table, picked up the medicine bottle and handed it to Santichai. Santichai grabbed the medicine bottle and slowly got out of bed with the help of the nurse. Santichai minimizes his moving noise as much as possible trying hard not to disturb KK.

After Santichai and the nurse walked out of the hallway, Santichai walked slowly to the drinking fountain, opened the medicine bottle, and took a pain medication.

The young nurse asked, "Mr. Kittibun, how long would you like to walk today?"

Santichai said, "Let's try for twenty minutes."

The young nurse was stunned, "Mr. Kittibun, today is only the third day of your operation, are you sure you can walk that long?"

Santichai said, "I'll let you know when I want to go back to my room."

The young nurse laughed at Santichai, "You decided to walk longer because you want Mr. Suwannarat to sleep more, right?"

Santichai smiled and said, "Help me walk."

The young nurse put the safety belt around Santichai's waist, and she started walking down the busy hallway with Santichai.

May waited outside of Santichai's apartment building. She waited a whole week, but she didn't see Santichai back at his apartment. She picked up her phone and called Asnee.

Asnee picked up, "Speak."

May said, "Mr. Siriporn, the debtor has not been home for a whole week."

Asnee said, "Are you sure?"

May replied, "Yes."

Asnee asked, "Have you checked his workplace?"

"I did, but they told me he was no longer working there," May said.

Asnee paused for a few moments than he said, "Go and ask the building manager if he's still there and call me back."

Asnee hung up the phone, a surge of anger and disappointment flooding his heart. He knew that he might not be the perfect boyfriend that Santichai expected, but from the bottom of his heart, he really loved Santichai very deeply. He has been trying to find a way to satisfy his parents and Santichai's wishes, but the more he wants to make everyone happy, the more complicated the matter between the four of them becomes, so in the end he decided to force Santichai's hand to surrender to his parent's request; in this way, he can make his parents happy and have Santichai by his side all the time.

After waiting for nearly two hours, Asnee's cell phone rang. He picked up, "Speak."

May said, "Mr. Siriporn, the manager said the debtor has not moved."

Asnee said, "Thank you." He quickly sent a text message to Santichai's cell phone. He put the phone back on the table and sighed. "Chai, I miss you."