534 Do you promise me?
*Meow*
Ever so slowly, Ai opened her eyes, seeing a hazy furry figure before her. His dark brown eyes peered into hers.
“Jun…” she weakly whispered. “Jun…”
*Meow*
Jun-cute placed his paw on her forehead and moved his furry body against her head.
“Jun…cute?”
*Meow*
Ai stared into his dark brown pupils and recalled how the same cat had shone in her memories and guided her path along an exit.
“You brought me…out of there…?”
Jun-cute didn’t respond and only turned his head away.
Her lips curved into a tired smile. “You…protected me?”
*Meow!*
Jun-cute fiercely hissed at her as if saying, ‘How dare you test my patience, human? Do you think I care about you!? You were better off sleeping!’
The door opened and as the nurse entered, she stumbled and gasped in shock at a cat in the hospital ward. “W-what is a cat doing inside? How did you get in?”
Jun-cute looked as if he shrugged at her.
She quickly noticed that Ai was conscious as well. “Oh my, you woke up! Please wait, I will call the doctor. But first…”
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*Meow!*
Don’t you dare touch me!
Ai said, “It’s okay…Jun-cute lives with me…Let him stay here. I feel better…”
Jun-cute struck Ai’s temple with his paw.
Excuse me, you humans live with me, not the other way around. How dare you call my kingdom your house?
Ai pursed her lips. “Why did you hit me…?”
After Ai’s checkup was done in Jun-cute’s fierce vicinity who had his eyes fixed at the doctor and the latter sweating hard by the strange presence of a cat’s company in a ward – he finally let her parents in.
“Ai!”
Xie Nuying rushed towards her, her tired eyes wet with tears again. “Ai…”
Zhou Yichen quickly wiped off the corner of his eye with a huge sense of relief washing over his heart upon seeing his daughter awake.
“How is Ai now, doctor?”
The doctor nodded. “Her vitals are stable now. She just needs some good, long rest to recover.”
“But why did she collapse like that?” He anxiously asked. “Jun as well. They were perfectly healthy when we had dinner.”
The doctor had a perplexed look on his face. “Honestly, Mr. Zhou. We are trying to figure that out as well. We did some tests but found nothing wrong with their bodies. It’s difficult for us, too, to explain why exactly they suddenly fell sick. We really didn’t find any abnormalities in their bodies. Rest assured, we are conducting more tests and will be closely monitoring their condition. We will let you know as soon as we find something.”
Zhou Yichen gravely nodded.
As the doctor left along with the nurse, Zhou Yichen stood behind Xie Nuying, watching his daughter with a warm gaze.
Xie Nuying sniffled and held Ai’s hand as her own fingers shook. “You and Jun scared us, dear…You suddenly collapsed like that.”
She lowered her head, letting her tears fall. “You don’t know how worried we were…”
Ai stared at her parents and strangely, this scene before her right now matched the past memories she witnessed in that world.
Xie Nuying had similiarly held her hand as she cried. Zhou Yichen stood behind her, holding back his own tears. The only difference was that Ai laid dead on that bed.
Behind Xie Nuying, Ai caught her father’s action of hesitantly and awkwardly trying to hold Xie Nuying’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. His expression looked stiff but in the end, he couldn’t garner his courage and simply stayed behind.
A tear slipped past Ai’s eye onto the pillow. “Mom…Dad…”
The pair stiffened, watching her cry. “Why are you crying, dear?” Xie Nuying paled. “Is it hurting anywhere?”
She slowly shook her head.
“Dad. Hold my hand…” she breathlessly said.
“Of course! Your father will do anything for you!”
He stretched his hand but saw Xie Nuying was already holding it. He silently coughed and decided to walk over to the other side of the bed and hold Ai’s left hand instead.
“Stay there and hold my hand. Don’t come to this side…”
“…”
“Well…”
Zhou Yichen coughed again and looked at Xie Nuying. “Please make space for me. You hold the other side and I will hold this one.”
Xie Nuying frowned. “Why do you get to hold three fingers of hers and me only two?”
“…”
“Because Ai-chan loves her father more than her mother. So I get to hold more fingers in her hand,” he harrumphed. “Now make some room for me.”
“Sorry but I protest. You hold her index finger and thumb and I will hold the other three. Your hand has roughened so much by carelessly hopping from one job to another. What if you break her delicate hand with your monstrous pressure? You get to hold the least,” She narrowed her eyes.
His mouth violently twitched. “At least, I can firmly hold her hand and provide comfort and assurance unlike you who has only ever held a pen in her life and cannot provide either with your jelly-like touch!”
“Our daughter is so frail and weak at this moment and you are being so selfish.”
“Excuse me, do you think I will cruelly break my loving daughter’s delicate hand!? What do you take me for?”
“Well, you cruelly broke her mother’s delicate heart at one point in time so can I be really sure?”
“…”
A peak of soft laughter echoed in the room. With the sound of Ai’s laughter, Zhou Yichen and Xie Nuying beamed the brightest.
Ai softly held her mother’s hand first and then placed them both atop Zhou Yichen’s hand. She was laughing but at the same time, her irises had a faint reddish hue to them.
The past life’s events now clearly made her see just how much her parents loved each other. They fought and fought over the years but never once fell out of love from one another.
She still remembered Xie Nuying’s cries and a faint memory of catching a glimpse of her father’s death. It was very light but she had seen a glittering object slipping out of his pocket.
She knew at a glance that it was his wedding ring. He had carried it with himself all along.
“Mom, Dad. You…You two must be happy this time,” her voice choked.
They tilted their heads at the same time. “But we are already happy. Whenever you are at our side-“
“No…” her eyes ached. “I am not talking about…as parents. You two must be happy…together. Life is very short…Every moment is so precious. You absolutely cannot…experience another tragedy when you two…”
When you two love each other so much…
“I don’t w-want to see my parents suffer anymore. I don’t want to see them apart anymore…That’s why, you have to get together. You must live a happy life…until your hair turns white. Do you promise me?”