Chapter 6: All Because Of Me
-City Y hospital
Liling stared warily at the white walls walking through the sparsely populated corridors, she hated being at the hospital, the sounds of wailing, medical instruments clinking, the smell of disinfectant and vomit, it all made her uncomfortable
She could feel goose bumps rising on her arms and her breathing getting disoriented,
She came to a halt placing a hand on her chest, her other hand on the wall as she struggled to keep herself standing, she took in deep breaths with closed eyes, she didn't want Xu Ming seeing her worked up, questions would only arise, she had to be alright for him, that was all she could do.
She turned down the corridor to the third door on her right and lightly knocked, then immediately poking her head through the the door, she called out her brother's name
Xu Ming looked up from the game he was playing on his phone, but he was too slow, if only he had been more alert, he would have escaped, but sadly, he was pounced on and smothered with love
"Oh come on Liling, let me go", he said fruitlessly struggling against his sister , 'just how strong is she?', he thought breathless from her hug
He got out eventually, but not without having his hair dishevelled, "Urgh, seriously Liling, can my hair find no peace?"
She chuckled in response as she watched him trying to fix his messy brown hair, it was always like that, so she couldn't understand why her brother even bothered trying,
She plopped herself on a chair by his equally dishevelled bed, "Any way, I made your favourite, stir fried noodles and sweet and sour pork", she raised the bag temptingly,
Xu Ming's eyes immediately lit up, "Wait really?!", his response was so eager, Liling could almost imagining a tail wagging behind him,
"Mhm hm" she affirmed, "but you're gonna have to give me something in return",
Her words immediately put a damper on his excitement and his smile contorted into a scowl,
Liling couldn't care less about the look on her brother's face, she continued smiling and drawled on, "If you want it, your gonna have to give me a kiss", she lightly tapped her right cheek, "Here"
"No", he said scoffing and folding his arms, he had his dignity, and food wasn't going to change his mind that easily,
"Oh really?, it's a pity then, I'm gonna have to throw it away, and just when I decided to add in more delicious sauces and incorporate some sea food, aish, I'm deeply hurt", she put on a melodramatic monologue as she temptingly swung the bag in his direction,
The smell of food wafted into his nostrils and he could feel himself swallowing, his dignity flew to the wind, there was no way he was giving up sea food, there was no debate about that.
"Fine then, just give me the food"
"No, first this", she signalled to her cheek, and he let out a defeated sigh,
He indignantly kissed her cheek and made to collect the food
"What type of kiss was that, do it properly and smile, I'm not asking you to do a chore",
'You might as well be', he thought, his right eye twitching at his sister's shamelessness, she knew very well he hated physically expressing emotions, so why did she always insist on tormenting him that way,
He sucked up his complaints and mustering up his best fake smile- which was more of a lopsided grin- he pecked her on her cheek again,
"There, see, it wasn't that hard", she passed the bag to him and he instantly set to work on devouring all of it,
She watched on the side lines as he ate, her initial playful attitude was gone and replaced with her usual expression, but this time she had an endearing look in her eyes, like she was watching her son enjoying himself. She felt a calming peace within herself and before long her eyes were drooping, it was only a matter of minutes till she was asleep,
Xu Ming could no longer sense his sister's eyes on him and turned to meet her relaxed sleeping face, his happiness soon dropped, and as he stared absent minded at her, so did his appetite,
Liling felt her the hair on her arms rise and slowly rose her head, Xu Ming was staring down at his food and no longer eating, she immediately became concerned, this was very rare, he always made sure to eat everything, no matter what she made,
"Is everything ok?, has the food gone cold?"
"No, I'm just not hungry anymore", he covered the food and quietly turned to face her,
"Are you hurting, I can go get the doctor", there was worry evident on her face and the last thing she wanted was for her brother to be in pain,
"Can you just stop", his voice was very low, and if not for her good hearing she would have missed it,
"Uh?"
"Stop pretending to be okay Liling, I can see the eye bags underneath your eyes, did you really think you could hide it with make-up again"
She didn't say a word, only a mocking smile played on her lips, there was nothing she could say, it was true, she just couldn't believe he had seen right through it,
"Your overworking yourself, aren't you", his voice lowered again and he stared down at his hands, "all because of me"
"Well I have to, that way I can pay for your surgery, and you can go back to school to study and become a doctor, isn't that what you've always wanted?", she reassured him in a calm voice, there was also no way she missed the tone of guilt in her brother's voice, she didn't want him to feel that way, it wasn't his fault, and there was nothing they could do but blame their bad luck,
"Well, can you stop"
"Uh?", she asked for the second time that day, there was a sinking feeling growing in her gut, 'second time this month' she thought, she couldn't fathom what was going on in her brother's mind,
"Stop overworking your self. You don't need to pay for my surgery"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone