Awake

The brightness in the room was unbearable as Lina cracked open her eyes slowly. She had a thundering headache and her body felt weak. It looked liked the sun had long risen and the curtains in the room were drawn wide open.

She stared at the white ceiling, it was bare and plain. The bed felt soft, but she was hardly comfortable. One side of her body felt paralysed in a dull ache and it was hard to breathe, like something was stifling her chest. As she came to her senses, she could hear soft, gentle breathing on her side.

'There's someone here!'

she tried to turn, but was finding it hard to move. The person smelled lightly of spice and musk, and she could feel her hand enveloped in a big, warm one. She slowly turned her face towards the sleeping person.

'It's a man! Oh my god, what happened?! And why does my body hurt?'

She panicked quietly, trying not to wake the stranger up. As she tried to control her breathing, she felt a stabbing pain in the left side of her chest. As she peered at her body, she saw she was dressed in a loose white gown, with several healing bruises. She felt wrecked.

She looked over again at the man sleeping beside her. She felt a strange sense of calm as she observed his face. He looked slightly dishevelled, dark bags under his eyes and a messy, crumpled shirt gave away the stress and anxiety he seemed to have experienced for a while. His stubble seemed to be growing out, and his skin was pale. Yet, his expression was gentle. His dark hair fell over his angular, chiseled face and his light pink lips were set in a thin line.

'What am I thinking!' Lina snapped back 'I need to get out of here. How did I get here, I need to go home.'

'Wait, where is home. Who the hell am I?' Lina began to panic again, as she tried to tug her hand away from the man's grasp.

Sensing movement, his eyes quickly snapped wide open. Lina was taken aback. Suddenly, this gentle face came alive, and his dark brown eyes bore their gaze straight into her, terrified and first and then slowly filled with emotion.

"Lina..." he choked, "you're awake..." as he began to tear up, Lina's heart started to ache. He looked like someone gave him his life back, and she didn't even know who he was!

"Uh...yes...hello..." she said as she looked at him awkwardly, not knowing how to react.

"Hello?" he repeated, confused. And then he smiled warmly, "How are you, my beautiful angel? How do you feel?" His voice was full of adoration and concern.

He fussed over her, cupping her face and trying to kiss her head. He still held on to her hand, unwilling to let it go, but careful not to hold too tight in case he hurt her sore body.

She pushed away a little, and noted a flash of confusion in his eyes.

'His beautiful angel? What in the world?!' she thought to herself. 'What exactly is our relationship?'

"My body hurts...but I think I'm okay. What happened?" Lina asked the man slowly.

A relieved laugh escaped his throat, as Lina thought it was the most charming sound she'd ever heard. She quickly snapped out of it.

"You were attacked! Twice! At the same time! You were shot in the chest and hit by truck, at almost the same second. You are so lucky to be alive. I don't know what I would have done without you." He began to tear up again as he ranted, disbelieving of the fact that she was talking and moving and alive again.

"When did this happen?" Lina asked quickly as she began panicking again.

"You've been in a coma for three months, love." he said quietly. He leaned forward to kiss her as his hand moved up to touch her cheek. But Lina instinctively turned away and edged backward. A flash of hurt and confusion appeared in the man's eyes, and Lina felt a pain in her heart again when she looked at his upset face.

"Lina...what's wrong. Did I hurt you? I've just missed you, and you're finally okay and alive. You finally came back to me" the man said to her earnestly, gazing at her like he was about to break.

"Who...who are you?" she asked quietly as she looked down, a sense of guilt flooding her as if she should've known. Clearly they had a connection and it was obviously romantic. But Lina just couldn't remember. She just felt blank and confused.

The man's lower lip began to tremble very slightly as his hands got warm. He looked away like he had been struck and wouldn't recover from the blow. He took a deep breath, looked back at her and forced a smile.

"Sweetheart, it's me - Shen. Your husband!"