All Because Of Me

-City Y hospital

Liling stared warily at the white walls walking through the sparsely populated corridors, she hated being at the hospital, the sounds of wailing, medical instruments clinking, the smell of disinfectant and vomit, it all made her uncomfortable

She could feel goose bumps rising on her arms as her breathing became disoriented,

She came to a halt placing a hand on the wall as she struggled to keep herself standing, she took in deep breaths with closed eyes, she didn't want Xu Ming to see her worked up, he would worry, she had to be alright for him, that was all she could do.

She turned down the corridor to the door on her right and lightly knocked, then immediately poking her head through the door, she called out her brother's name

Xu Ming looked up from the game he was playing on his phone but was quickly pounced on and smothered with love

"Oh come on Liling, let me go", he said fruitlessly struggling against his sister, 'just how strong is she?', he thought breathless from her hug

He got out eventually, but not without having his hair dishevelled, "Urgh, seriously Liling, can my hair find no peace?"

She chuckled in response as she watched him trying to fix his messy brown hair, it was always like that, so she couldn't understand why her brother even bothered trying,

She plopped herself on a chair by his equally dishevelled bed, "Anyway, I made your favourite, stir-fried noodles and sweet and sour pork", she raised the bag swinging it temptingly,

Xu Ming's eyes immediately lit up, "Wait really?!", his response was so eager, Liling could almost imagine a tail wagging behind him,

"Mhm hm" she affirmed, "but you're gonna have to give me something in return",

Her words immediately put a damper on his excitement and his smile contorted into a scowl,

Liling couldn't care less about the look on her brother's face, she continued smiling and drawled on, "If you want it, your gonna have to give me a kiss", she lightly tapped her right cheek, "Here"

"No", he said scoffing and folding his arms, he had to keep what was left of his dignity intact, and food wasn't going to change his mind that easily,

"Oh, it's a pity then, I'm gonna have to throw it away, and just when I decided to incorporate some seafood, aish, I'm deeply hurt", she put on a melodramatic monologue as she temptingly swung the bag in his direction,

The smell of food wafted into his nostrils and he could feel himself swallowing, his dignity flew to the wind, there was no way he was turning down seafood, there was no debate about that.

"Fine then, just give me the food"

"No, first this", she signalled to her cheek, and he let out a defeated sigh,

He indignantly kissed her cheek and made to collect the food

"What type of kiss was that do it properly and smile, I'm not asking you to do a chore",

'You might as well be', he thought, his right eye twitching at his sister's shamelessness, she knew very well he hated physically expressing emotions, so why did she always insist on tormenting him,

He sucked up his complaints and mustering up his best fake smile- which was more of a lopsided grin- he pecked her on her cheek again,

"There, see, it wasn't that hard", she passed the bag to him and he instantly set to work on devouring all of it,

She watched on the sidelines as he ate, her initial playful attitude was gone and replaced with her usual expression, but this time with an endearing look in her eyes, like a mother watching her son enjoying himself.

She felt peace within herself and before long her eyes were drooping, it was only a matter of minutes till she was asleep,

Xu Ming could no longer sense his sister's gaze on him and turned to meet her relaxed sleeping face, his happiness soon dropped, and as he stared absent-mindedly at her, so did his appetite,

Liling felt the hair on her arms rise and slowly raised her head, Xu Ming was staring at her and no longer eating, this had never happened, he always made sure to eat everything, no matter what she made,

"Is everything ok, has the food gone cold?"

"No, I'm just not hungry anymore", he covered the food and quietly turned to face her,

"Are you hurting, should I go get the doctor", there was now worry evident on her face, the last thing she wanted was for her brother to be in pain,

"Can you just stop", he whispered

"Uh?"

"Stop pretending to be okay Liling, I can see the eye bags underneath your eyes, did you think you could hide them again"

She didn't say a word, only a self-deprecating smile played on her lips, she couldn't believe she was making him worry

"You're overworking yourself, aren't you", his voice lowered again and he stared down at his hands, "all because of me"

"No, It's not your fault, I just want you to be able to go back to school and become a doctor, isn't that what you've always wanted?", she reassured him in a calm voice, there was also no way she missed the tone of guilt in her brother's voice, she didn't want him to feel that way, it wasn't his fault, there was no one they could blame for their bad luck,

"Well, can you stop"

"Uh?", there was a sinking feeling growing in her gut, 'second time this month' she thought, 'What's going on with me'

"Stop overworking yourself. You don't need to pay for my surgery"