283 Shut his mouth

Nothing Tang did or wrote on his communicating screen, fazed her. It was as if she was oblivious to his sulks. And she didn't hesitate in using her superior physical strength in making him bow down to her instructions. In fact that was the only condition which she had when she had taken up the job. She would not tolerate any kind of interference in her work from any of them.

"Well, the doctor praised brother Tang for managing to shut his mouth," Chu said, tongue in-cheek.

She had taken a liking for this bossy woman who encouraged her to say as many outrageous things as possible. Patricia believed that the family needed to stop tip toeing around Tang as if he was going to die. Neither Mr. Xie nor his wife could bring themselves to follow her lead but Chu had seen her brother animated only at the time when either she or the physiotherapist had managed to aggravate him.

"What does the doctor know? It is my mouth which has become numb after repeating all those instructions for him to follow. But who looks at my hard work?" she rolled her eyes theatrically.

Tang snorted and brushed past too close to Patricia in his motorised cart, making her jump back. He had surfed online and custom ordered a wheelchair for himself. The chair was fitted with a screen which was visible to the person communicating with him as he wrote on the attached keyboard.

"Enough playing on that toy chair. Time to practice walking like a real man. C'mmon, you have wasted enough precious hours in that hospital visit. You need to work harder to make up for the missing time," she ran after him in the gym room which they had created in their house specific to his needs.

"I find her too harsh and blunt for my liking," Mr. Xie frowned at her retreating back.

He didn't appreciate the way she spoke with his son. Only if she knew who he was in his past life, she wouldn't dare treat him like this.

"I understand but if you think about it, you will realise that Tang used to avoid the previous trainers and find a corner to sit and brood in. She challenges him and angers him enough for him to retaliate in his own way. I want to believe that she can help him get better," Mrs. Xie put her calming hand on his forearm.

He nodded his head reluctantly in agreement.

"Chu, where is Ethan? Ask him to come over tonight. We need to finalise your wedding date and discuss the preparations. It is better that he is involved at this stage," her mother reminded her.

"Mom, where is the fire? Ethan and I are not in any hurry. I want brother Tang to be fully recovered before I walk down that aisle. Ethan agrees with me on this. We have already had a chat about it," she said in a firm tone.

Even before she finished, her mother was shaking her head.

"I have come to realise that life is cruelly unpredictable and we should never let happiness wait. It needs to be grabbed with both hands immediately. I know you both are secure in your relation but it is high time that you make a home with him and give him babies," her mother said emotionally.

Mr. Xie cleared his throat and added, "this is one occasion where your mother has displayed some wisdom. If for nothing else, you should get married just to celebrate that."

Chu laughed as her mother glared at her husband.

"Stop laughing and tell Ethan to join us for dinner. Matter closed," her mother told her sternly and walked off.

In the gym room, Tang was perspiring and breathing hard within the first ten minutes of his warm up exercises.

He reached for his phone and typed, "aren't you being a bit too brutal today? Is it sexual frustration? Joanna not being kind to you these days?"

She read his message and laughed hard.

"Pretty boy, don't tell me that you are already tired. And do you think by cracking bad jokes about my sex life would get you any relief from me? In fact, I am thinking about upping the ante today, what say you?" she said with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Tang groaned and covered his face with his right hand.

"Do you need a handkerchief to wipe your tears? Where did the determination of the past few days go away? I thought you wanted to defeat me in two handed combat. Or did I read that wrong few days ago? Actually, I think that you are right in feeling low. Even if you were to regain strength in your entire body, I would still beat you, with my hands tied behind my back," she threw him a challenge.