Chapter 290 - It was all a dream.

Lena ate the fruit and then the doctor came and checked on her. He told her that she can be discharged in a few days.

"Your friends told me that... you were experiencing some hard time sleeping and minor hallucinations?" The doctor asked Lena.

"No." Lena replied... she was not experiencing any hallucinations.

"Well, don't worry. You're not crazy. It's just some effects from the high fever. Your brain is having more activity since it is trying to protect itself from the heat. It's normal to experience some minor hallucinations."

"Okay..." Lena replied just so the doctor would stop. 

As he said, Lena was released from the hospital a few days after. The doctor prescribed some medicine. At first, she took them but Lena realized that her memory of Kris and everyone else back there was getting hazier. She stopped taking the medication.

She went to work as normal and waited. A week passed, two, then three. Erik got into his car crash, he was in a coma for 2 months before waking up. Lena spent her days visiting Erik every day that Han Liu thought that Erik was the person she loved.

But when Erik woke up... he was not Gary... he was just, still Erik. 

"Do you like me?" Erik asked her.

"No." Lena placed down the laptop on his desk and turned around to leave. She just came up here to give him the project that she finished.

"I heard you visited me every day when I was comatose. Even my family did not visit me so much."

"It's because you paid for my hospital bill, don't think too much about it," Lena replied. 

'I visited you because I thought you were Gary....' 

Erik got up from his chair and walked in front of Lena, shutting the door before she could leave.

"I heard you rejected Han Liu... are you going to reject me too?" He asked.

"Huh?" Lena looked up to him. He was handsome, kind, and... not him. "Sorry, but I don't understand what you are saying."

"I didn't think that I would like someone like you... but these past few days, you're all I can think about."

"That's a horrible pick up line, Mr. Chen."

"Really, see that's why you are so likable! Why didn't I see that before?"

Lena rolled her eyes. "I have someone I like already, Mr. Chen. Sorry, but you're not my type. I hope our relationship can remain professional."

Lena removed his hands away from her path and walked out the door.

Lena was starting to think that maybe she was crazy and that everything was just a dream... but somewhere deep inside her heart... she did not want to give up. She was starting to forget how Kris looked like. The smile that he would only give her and the way he teased her.

She was scared.... to lose something she treasured so much. How can she forget him so easily...?

Months past... but nothing changed. Lena was just getting more depressed and lonely.

Erik could see that Lena was feeling unwell so he forced her to take a vacation. Lena decided to take the break and go visit her parents.

Her parents were older and lived secluded. She has not been herself since she "returned." Still feeling like everything here was just a dream... a very long dream that she needed to wake up from.

"Shen Qian.. my sweetie has gotten so skinny! And look at you, your face is so dull... who is going to marry you like that?" Her mother greeted her.

Lena smiled... a true and real smile since she was back. She hugged her mom tightly and then her dad. She spent a good day with them and then the next day, she went out to go walking with her mother.

As they were walking, Lena's eye caught the glimpse of an isolated stone statue. She stopped and then walked toward it.

"Red Thread of Fate..." Lena's eye lit up. "Mom... what is this place?"

"This... It's a park now... but it used to be a very popular shrine before it got abandoned."

"Can we walk around here for a bit?" Lena asked.

"I am a little tired."

"Why don't you sit here and I'll be gone for just a few minutes?"

"Okay." Her mother replied.

Lena helped her mother find a good spot to sit before going to look around. She doesn't know what she was searching for... but she felt like she was closer to the hazy memories if she was here.

She walked around for a bit... but nothing happened. She turned around and walked back to where her mother was resting.

"Little girl."

Lena stopped and turned around. "Me?" And then she paused. 'It's her! The old lady!'

Lena rushed over the old lady's side and grabbed her hand. "Do you know me? DO you remember me?"

"You are a blessed child." The old lady replied.

"Yes! You told me that before. How do I go back?" Lena asked.

"If you defy your fate, you will suffer the consequences."

"No." Lena rejected her. "Die and reborn, only then will your true soul be fully merged with the body. I already died and was reborn... why am I here? How do I go back?"

"Back? Why back? Your fate is here... there is no back. If you defy your fate, you will suffer the consequences."

"You're saying that I died... got shot, fell in love, just to be back here?"

"Died? Love? How can you experience those if it was never real?"

Lena stepped backed from the old lady. 'No... no matter what everyone tells me... it was real. It is real!'

Lena turned her back and ran. It didn't matter where she was going... just somewhere far from here. She finally stopped when she was out of breath...

She didn't know where she was. She sat on the grass first... and then laid down on her back. She put a hand on her eyes and cried.

'This is a cruel joke that the universe is playing...'

"Die and reborn.... if I died... would I get to see you again?" Lena mumbled. But she knew things were not that easy... death is not something to joke nor play with.

She closed her eyes and tried to breathe.... in and out. 'Maybe if I only see him a dream, that's enough for me.'

"Why are you sleeping here?"

Lena heard a voice but she covered her ears. Why can't people just let her be peaceful for awhile longer... she wanted to imagine his face again and now she got interrupted.

'Focus... focus...' Lena kept her eyes shut.

There was a long silence and then Lena opened her eyes. 

She smiled. 'Yeah... that's how you look like. I remember it now.' 

She placed a hand on the cheeks of the man in front of her. 'This cheek, this lip... How can I ever forget you?'

"I miss you." Lena chuckled.

"I miss you too."