Chapter 10 - Break Up

They have been in the hospital for over 3 hours now and still, there is no news about Atian. Finally, the door opened and the doctor came out after his 4 hours surgery.

Removing his mask, he sighs but it was not a happy one but not a bad one either.

"He is safe for now but-" the doctor stopped midway and with that everyone's heartbeat stopped with him.

"But what doctor?" Hu Meng Yao asks desperately.

"But he is in a coma," the doctor said sadly.

"Oh my!" Everyone is relieved to know that Atian is alive even though he is in a coma; it is good news to know he is alive.

Shi Lian finally looks up and walks over to the doctor "Doctor, can I see him?" she urges.

Before the doctor could reply to her, Hu Meng Yao pushes her forcefully.

"What do you want now? Are you so unsatisfied that you want to kill him now?" she insulted her, yelling at her face.

Shi Lian looked vulnerable; her face is pale with no color in it. She is controlling not to bail out in front of everyone.

"I-I just wanted…" Shi Lian tries to speak but Meng Yao cuts her off.

"You wanted what? Kill him?" she humiliated her again.

Tears started rolling down Shi Lian's cheeks, hearing her soon-to-be mother-in-law spitting these kinds of words.

"I need to see him, please," Shi Lian begged, kneeling in front of her.

"You are not allowed to see him, ever!" Hu Meng Yao hissed. The words cut through her chest making an unbearable pain she never had suffered. She kept pleading but his mother was determined to not let her enter.

"Sha Sha, take your daughter back!" she said through her gritted teeth. Mo Zheng Yuan wanted to say something but his wife stopped him before he could.

"Shi, let's go," her mother said gently, approaching to hold her. Shi Lian shakes her head frantically.

"I want to see him! Just let me see him for one last time," she begged Meng Yao, her glassy hazel-brown eyes pierced through her eyes.

The doctor nodded but Hu Meng Yao was still not willing to let her enter.

"This will be the last time you see him! Remember your words! In the future don't come near my son!" she barks at her.

Shi Lian nods at her demands; Meng Yao let her go to see her.

Hu Atian's face was covered with bandages, not only his face; his whole body is covered with bandages. The doctor has allowed only one member can enter at a time. Shi Lian entered inside but froze when she saw his boyfriend's condition. Her heart clenched by the sight of what she saw in front of her.

"Atian…I am so sorry" Shi Lian broke apart; she cries her eyes out. She gently holds his hands in hers and whimpers in silence. "You know…how scared I was when you were…" she sobs. "If anything would have happened to you, I would….never…I would never be able to forgive myself" she whimpers, her voice low and hoarse because of all the crying and screaming.

She gently holds his hands in her, her body shaking from seeing the distraught. "I love you, Atian. I will always love you and you should also promise that you will never forget me, okay?" she says.

It is not easy for her to say these words but she has already promised his mother that she will never be entangled with him again after she leaves this hospital. "If it weren't for my carelessness, you….you…I hate myself," she cried. "Just wake up as soon as you can…please," she begs, holding his hand to her chest.

She decided it would be better for both of them to not see each other ever again; it took her utmost courage to make her inner self amend to this.

"Are you done?" Hu Meng Yao snaps. Even after his mother has said various humiliating things to her, she does not take it to her heart because she knows she deserved it.

"Atian…take care of yourself," she whispered, kissing him on his forehead.

She came out of the room, looking the same but a little more alive. "Mother,Father, let's go," she said to her parents who are worried for her pitiful daughter.

They nod and make their move with her.

"Mo Shi Lian, I hope you will not pester my son ever again," Meng Yao says; it was more like a warning than just a saying. Shi Lian nods weakly.

Hu meng Yao has always treated her very well, just like his own daughter. She loves both her son very much that she always needs to know about their whereabouts. When both of them started dating, Meng Yao was more than happy. Mo Sha Sha and she were good friends so they already decided about the marriage between both of them. When she got to know about the accident of her son, she was broken. She was going to run barefoot to the hospital but his elder son insists his mother take the car.

At the hospital, the sight of only Shi Lian made her more and more anxious. When Shi Lian uttered that, it was all because of her, without any thinking, Hu Meng Yao yelled at her. She was not in the state to think about any logic or understanding.

When Shi Lian and her parents reached their home, her mother asked several times bout the accident but Shi Lian declined each time.

Days after days, weeks, months, Shi Lian did not utter a single thing about the accident. When her father saw the results,he was upset as the results were low.

Shi Lian was the topper of her class but this time her results were very poor. Her father could not bear to see her like this so he decided to send her to America for higher studies.

At first, Shi Lian protested but that day she decided she would. The day when she got the news that Hu Atian is out of a coma and is doing well; she wanted to him desperately but she cannot. In the afternoon, she no longer could hold herself and she went to see him despite Hu Meng Yao's warnings, three months ago. Without telling anything to her parents, she went there alone.

"I can't let Aunt Yao see me," she told to her herself. She hid from the eyes of Hu's family who are there to visit Atian. She is been hiding in the hospital's compartment for more than 1 hour.

After they left, she sneaked and went inside. She was elated when she saw Atian, her beloved in a better condition. His eyes were closed, maybe he is asleep, she thought.

She took a seat beside his bed, looking at him for the first time in 3 months is the most satisfactory relief she got.

"Atian….I am so glad you are doing fine" she tried to say without crying but fails. Tears started rolling down her cheeks, the happy tears. "I have missed you so much in these past months. It was…really hard for me" she sobbed. Holding his hand, she cried for a while but she felt a flinch and looks up to see Atian staring at her.

However, it was different, his stare was cold and his jaws were set in a hard line. Shi Lian smiled widely, wiping her tears, and asked "Atian, are you okay?" but the response she got was not something she never wanted to hear, not at all, not in her nightmares too.

"Pardon but who are you?" Atian asked, looking at her like she is a stranger who came out of nowhere.

She froze, her smile fades and she was in shock. "You don't know me?" she says, her voice shaky.

He shakes his head innocently. "Do I know you?" he asked. There were still some bruises on his face but he looked better than before, a lot better.

"I am Shi Lian! You don't remember me?" she cried, her eyes are bloodshot red; the same when she was sitting in the same hospital after the accident.

"Did your mother told you not to recognize me?" she questions him, wiping her tears.

"No, she never mentioned you," he says innocently, without any hint of affection.

Shi Lian is confused right now, she does not know what she will do. It is even more painful than any breakup. She got up from the stool and head outside the room to the doctor's office.

She searched for Dr. Li, Atian's doctor; she finds his office and barge inside without knocking.

"Excuse me? May I help you?" he said sternly, looking at her.

"What happened to Atian?" she asked.

"I can't give any information to outsiders" he declined.

"Please. I need to know about him," she pleaded.

The doctor looks at her again and then he remembered her; the woman from that day.

"Oh, I remember you! You are Miss Mo right?" he said. She nods impatiently.

"Please take a seat. I will show you the results of his condition," he said politely.

"As you can see, Mr. Hu's brain has got serious damage which has made his memory power weak. We also came to know that he forgot about most of the things about himself and his life. When he first woke up, he was unable to comprehend his brother and his mother. It is a type A amnesia and it's common to be seen but we don't have a particular cure for that," he said, adjusting his spectacles. Bile rises in her throat and she could not breathe for a second.

"Will his memory be lost forever?" she asked meekly.

"I can't say anything to that. As I told you, there is no cure for that yet. We can only pray for Mr. Hu to regain his memory by his self soon; medicine will be provided but the real cure will be by himself." He explained.

Shi Lian felt disheartened that his love could not able to identify her; she was just a stranger to him. She wiped her tears with a tissue handed by the doctor and got up; saying thank you to the doctor she left his office. She thought of visiting Atian tomorrow and maybe she could help him regain his memories; after all, she is his first love.

On the way back to the hospital reception Shi Lian bumped with a woman. She apologizes continuously without looking at the victim next to her.

"What are you doing here?" a familiar voice asked her.

She glanced up to see Hu Meng Yao glaring at her with distaste. "I….I am here...to visit someone" she half lied, sheepishly. She felt guilty telling her the truth because she knew if she told her, Hu Meng Yao would jump on her.

"Who? My son?" she scoffed.

Shi Lian looked away from her and nodded lightly "Yess..."

"If I remember correctly, the other day you said you will never be entangled with my son again. Did you forget about that?" Hu Meng Yao mocked.

Yes, she knows about it precisely but how could her heart be at ease knowing that her boyfriend had just woken her? She loved him dearly and somehow she blamed herself for the accident that happened to him.

"I know about it but I just wanted to see him how he is" Shi Lian elucidated, biting her lower lip.

"You have seen him right? Now get out!" she barked.

Seeing this side of Hu Meng Yao, Shi Lian feels utterly disheartened; she never has seen her like this, to humiliate her like this ever again.

She chewed her cheeks to stop herself from crying, "I will go now". Shi Lian ran away from there without saying any other word to her.