Her Worst Nightmare

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

She could fell her heart instantly drop to to her stomach, and a look of confusion etched unto her face, he didn't lift his head up to see it, he didn't want to be faced with her look of disbelief, so he just continued talking,

"I don't want you to have to work your self up just for me , plus, there's no assurance that I'll survive anyway, it'll probably end up usel.."

"No!", He could tell it was supposed to be a scream, but it came out as some sort of broken whisper, he could tell by the obvious shakiness in her voice, "don't you ever,-she placed the emphasis on 'ever'-, repeat those words again", she gave a short pause collecting herself , and the atmosphere in the room was tense due to her little 'outburst'

"You're the only family I have left, who else would I overwork my self for if not you, and besides, you're not planning of leaving me now, are you?", she couldn't understand how she could even try making jokes at a time like this, but she did, it didn't exactly improve anything though, the fear in her voice could be clearly sensed

He lifted his head and watched her dumfounded, he had never seen her afraid before. During their childhood, he had never even seen her cry, she would always face obstacles without complaints, she was strong, so much so even he sometimes forgot she was human.

He tried summoning a chuckle, it was very fake, but it would do, "Why would I leave now, it would be too much hassle, plus there's still so much free food to be eaten, I can't possibly leave food behind"

"Tch", she scoffed, "I can't believe your only staying for food, I feel betrayed"

"Oh, that reminds me,", she continued, " I talked to Dr. Cheng, he said you're well enough to be taken out, so I'm planning on taking you out tomorrow, we can go any where you want so long as you don't get too worked up"

"Wait, then can we go to the restaurant at the sea front?"

"Sure, if you want"

The atmosphere in the room had lifted and they didn't bring it up again, the nurse came in a little later informing Liling that visiting times were over and she had to leave,

So after packing her stuff up, she gave him a "good night" and left.

*************************

-Liling's apartment

Liling's eyes abruptly shot open, her breathing disoriented and back drenched in sweat.

Realizing it was nothing but a bad dream, she took slow deep breaths to calm her nerves, and then turning to the clock on her bedside to discover that the time was '6:01', she slowly sat up.

She stared down letting her long messy black hair cover most of her face, she recalled bits and pieces of her dream, and she could feel her breathing once again quickening.

She shook her head trying to clear her mind, and reminded herself again it was only a dream.

Getting up calmly and taking a quick shower, she put on something casual for her outing with Xu Ming.

She put on a pair of black flare jeans, a white turtleneck sweater and a pair of white sneakers, she never normally wore stuff like this, but Shen Ru would continually pester her to dress more casually, so she decided on taking that approach today, for her hair, she brushed it and tied it into a ponytail, letting her short bangs and tendrils, frame her face

Getting to the kitchen for breakfast, she simply warmed up some of the stir fry noodles that were left over from the day before, and sat down at the wooden dining table to eat.

Only a few minutes into her breakfast, her phone began ringing. She got up and retrieved it from the kitchen counter while checking the caller profile

Initially thinking it was Shen Rong calling to complain about her not a getting a day off, she was planning on not taking it, but seeing it was only a string of numbers-and as she rarely gave out her number- she picked it up

"Hello"

"Hello, is this Miss Xu Liling?"

With a bad feeling settled in her stomach, she responded, "Yes, it is"

"I'm a nurse from City Y-hospital, I'm calling to inform you that your brother's condition worsened early this morning and he is now in a life threatening state, the surgery will need to be brought forward, so we will need deposit and consent forms have to be signed. You..."

Liling could no longer process the information from the nurse and momentarily blanked out. Her worst nightmare was finally coming true.

The sound of beeping from her phone once the call cut off brought her back to reality, she fought to keep the burning sensation in her throat down, whilst telling herself she had to keep it together, crying wouldn't solve anything

Without thinking, she got her keys, got in her car and drove off to the hospital.