45 1.2.8: Momentarily in His Embrace

"Miss Xiahu, how are you feeling today?" Dr. Qiang Yue asked her like he had asked her for the past few weeks. It had become a daily habit for the man to come and check her vitals taken by Ling Qiu.

"I'm better." Xiao Yunhua answered with a small smile. Qiang Yue frowned at how frail she seemed as she smiled. She had lost too much weight despite trying to recover from the coma. It's been a few weeks, but her fragility was still present. Her face was hollowed due to the weight loss and her body was like a twig, ready to snap at any time. Qiang Yue felt deep sympathy for the woman. To suffer like so at her age, which was quite young, was too pitiful.

"Well, luckily that your muscles are used to movement and you can be released at any time. Unfortunately, due to the abnormal weight loss and the sudden wave of depression that we see, you'll have to be monitored here for a bit longer."

Xiao Yunhua opened her mouth to retort in disagreement, but Qiang Yue quickly added, "Mr. Wang and Ms. Ni have arranged it already. They wish for you to be completely healthy before leaving the hospital."

Xiao Yunhua sighed, her honey colored eyes looking dull. Qiang Yue saw the aura around her become thicker with woe and he quickly reassured, "Ling Qiu will still take you out to exercise your leg muscles during this time."

"But it's so boring." Xiao Yunhua childishly huffed, she tried to get up from the patient bed, but ended up slipping. Expecting for the floor to meet her face, she was surprised to find herself in a warm embrace. A whiff of cologne filled her nostrils and she blushed, like a rose blooming on her flawlessly pale face.

"Miss Xiahu, are you alright?" Qiang Yue murmured, making Xiao Yunhua blush even deeper. Being so close to Qiang Yue, she could see the outline of his washboard abdominal muscles behind his maroon dress shirt and tie. Paired with his white lab coat and gentle eyes, he looked very handsome.

"Y-Yes," she stuttered shyly as she tried to get up, "thank you for catching me."

"No problem." Qiang Yue didn't feel flustered in the least bit. He helped his patient get up and lie back on her bed.

"Doctor, can't I walk around for some fresh air?" Xiao Yunhua asked quietly before he left.

Qiang Yue was going to nod but then remembered that Ling Qiu was already gone for the day. As Xiahu Yunhua was a special patient and her guardians requested for the utmost privacy, he couldn't get another nurse to help her.

In this end, after much contemplation, he agreed. "I'll walk with you." After all, he didn't have anything else planned except for reading over some reports in his office. A little walk wouldn't hurt, and he didn't mind the break either.

He couldn't let Xiahu Yunhua walk alone as she was still a patient that was comatose for so long. This solution was satisfactory.

"Alright." Xiao Yunhua didn't mind the opportunity of spending some time with her second target. In fact, this would help her get closer to her goal.

She saw Qiang Yue extend his hand in her direction, to help her get up. With slight hesitance, Xiao Yunhua gripped his hand and stood up. Awkwardly shaking his hand off, she wobbled beside him as they walked around in the floor of private rooms.

Qiang Yue's long legs were walking very slow to allow the much-shorter woman to keep up with his pace. He wanted to chuckle aloud at how cute she was behaving. Like a duck that was beginning to swim for the first time.

Even though she was already walking, it would still take a full month or so for her to return to walking normal.

She had been completely inactive for three months, so it wasn't completely unreasonable.