Love Began with the First Meeting
Chapter 714 Waiting For Him To Wake Up (Part One)

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Every person's love is different, just like the hyacinth flower... one is red, one is purple, one is dark blue.

Molly sat beside Brian's hospital bed and gently massaged his hands and legs. She knew how to massage his body like a professional now, since she had been following this routine for three months. As she massaged his muscles which had become rigid because of his comatose state, she looked at his calm face and said, "Bri, you have slept through autumn and winter is already here. When are you planning to wake up?"

Grief flashed in her eyes, but was soon replaced by courage. Molly tried hard to be strong-willed for him. With a faint smile on her lips, she continued, "The winter is really chilly this time in A City, just like the one five years ago. It has been cloudy outside for the past few days. I guess, it would start snowing soon enough. Do you remember the first time we met on that snowy day?" Her hands stopped moving. The scene of her walking barefoot in the snow in her nightgown was still vivid in her mind. "I was pretty embarrassed at that time, but what is more important is that you have come into my life since that day. Brian..." she looked at him. Anyone would have thought he was just asleep. He looked so serene. Her shoulders drooped slowly, "How about waking up now? When it snows, we can go and build snowmen. This time, let's build three of them. One for you, one for me, and one for Mark. Sounds good, right?"

Her question went unanswered. In the quiet ward, besides the sound of their light breathing, the only other sound was that of the instruments beeping, which proved that Brian was still alive.

Molly's eyes sank. She sighed and went on with massaging his muscles. She talked to him once in a while when she remembered some incident which had happened between them. There were no more doubts in her mind, no more pain. All of those painful memories had been replaced by happiness and Brian's hidden love for her. His love was undeniable because he had been willing to sacrifice his life for her. If that was not proof of his undying love, then what was?

"Bri, let's go to see Wing together when you wake up, okay?" Molly said. She felt a slight ache in her heart as she said it, "I miss her so much. But Weston refuses to tell me anything about her. He is still angry with me. I know that it's all my fault. Wing wouldn't have to suffer like this if I hadn't involved her." She could not stop her tears. She choked on her sobs, "And you wouldn't be lying in a hospital bed here either if it weren't for me. This is also my fault."

Large teardrops fell on the back of her hands like broken pearls. Molly gritted her teeth hard to prevent herself from crying out loud. She told herself that she had to be stronger every day, stronger than the day before.

She had been weak at first, not thinking about what Brian had done for her. But now, she wanted to be strong enough to stand by his side. She wanted to be as strong-willed and independent as Shirley was, who was able to handle any situation bravely. She wanted to be Brian's support, and for that she had to forge on.

Standing at the entrance of the ward, Eric watched her silently. He wanted to go inside and see Brian, but he decided not to. Instead, he just stood there quietly, looking at what Molly was doing and listening to what she was saying to the unconscious man on the bed. A small smile appeared at the corners of his mouth. He could not tell whether he was relieved or miserable.

Someone tapped on his shoulder lightly from behind. He turned around and said with a smile, "Aunt Shirley."

Shirley returned his smile and indicated with her eyes, asking him to follow her. She turned around and walked towards the exit of the corridor. Eric glanced at the two people inside the ward and closed the door softly so as to not disturb Molly. Then he followed Shirley outside.

The hospital cafeteria was filled with patients and their acquaintances, even doctors and nurses, all chatting in small groups. Some were reading, some were just having their food silently. Shirley and Eric sat face to face at a table beside the window. "Have you finished visiting all the countries?" Shirley asked Eric, who looked more matured now in his slim suit. He was not the arrogant child he had been before.

"Yeah," Eric nodded, "The Chief Commissioner is visiting the smaller countries on my behalf. I was worried about Brian."

"There is no danger to his life now, but since his brain was injured," Shirley sighed, "he fell into a comatose soon after the accident."

"He's gonna be fine!" Eric's words sounded somewhat childish. "If he doesn't wake up, then I'll just steal Molly back from him."

Shirley shook her head with a smile. A moment ago, she had felt that he had become matured, but he was already back to his usual self. "Since Brian had almost sacrificed his life for Little Molly, I'm sure that he will wake up for her sake too."

"I couldn't ask for anything more," Eric felt his nose ache all of a sudden. Abruptly, he turned his head away to look out the window, feeling a bitterness rolling in his heart. Wing was in a vegetative state for now. The doctors had said that it was difficult to predict if she would ever wake up or not. And Brian was in a coma too.

The one going through the most agony was Shirley. Both her son and her daughter were unconscious in bed. As a mother, there was no worse punishment than this. She was suffering silently. She tried hard to smile, but it disappeared in an instant. "Frank and Smile returned to Dragon Island the day before yesterday. You haven't seen them in a couple of months, right?" she asked.

Eric nodded and said, "After his retirement, Frank went to Moonlight Island with Smile for a new development program there." Looking at Shirley, he smiled and added, "That island is important for all of you."

"Yeah..." Shirley answered as her mind went back to those times. She could hardly comprehend how she had gone through all those difficulties at that time. She had concentrated only on moving forward without thinking about anything else. She had persevered and now, here she was. Sometimes, when she saw how Brian and Molly behaved with each other, she would recall her early years with Richie. At that time, they had experienced a lot of difficulties too. She couldn't even begin to tell how hard it had been to overcome those difficulties one by one. The love she had for Richie had given her the strength to deal with all kinds of problems that had come her way. She hoped that Molly could be that strong for Brian as well.

"How long will you be staying here?" Shirley asked, coming back to the present.

"I'm not sure," Eric said in a low voice. "I just hope that Brian will be awake to send me off." There were a lot of things that he had to deal with in Dragon Island, but Frank knew that he had to come here before going back to the island, or he wouldn't concentrate on his job.