Jiangzhou City First People’s Hospital, Hematology Department.
In a two-person ward, bright sunlight filtered in through the glass window and shone on the bed by the window. A young girl lay there with her eyes closed, her beautiful profile nearly translucent under the sunlight; one could almost see the dilated pores on her skin. Perhaps the sunlight was a bit too glaring, as the girl slowly opened her eyes.
Black as ink, they gleamed with a luminous sparkle.
The little boy in the other bed, having been observing the girl, jumped down and ran to her side. With his big round eyes full of curiosity, he asked, "Pretty sister, you’re awake. Did the sunlight wake you up? Shall I block it for you?" As he spoke, he placed his hands above her eyelids to shield her from the sun.
The boy’s smile was innocent and pure; in the sunlight, he looked like a little angel.
The girl gave a pale smile, and the boy’s eyes widened in amazement, "Sister, you are so beautiful, even more lovely than the fairies on TV. When I grow up, can I marry you?" Then his brow furrowed in distress, "But I’m ill, I have a very serious illness. Pretty sister, will you wait for me?"
The girl slowly lifted her hand and caressed the boy’s eyebrows and eyes, her gaze reminiscent as if she were seeing someone else through him.
The boy felt her hand was very cold, chilling him to trembling, but for some reason, he didn’t want to pull away because her gaze felt so warm.
"Miaomiao..." the girl managed to speak with effort, her voice rough and hoarse yet filled with boundless tenderness.
The boy leaned in closer, "Who’s Miaomiao? Pretty sister, I’m Tongtong."
"Miaomiao...I’m sorry, I’m so sorry..." She began to cry, tears sliding from her eyes like diamonds in the sunlight. Yet beneath those tears, a profound sadness engulfed everything, leaving Tongtong feeling helpless as he stretched his little arms to wipe away her tears.
"Pretty sister, don’t cry. Wuu, when you cry, it makes me want to cry too. It feels so sad..." Overwhelmed by the enormous sorrow, he couldn’t help but start to sob.
At that moment, a woman, carrying a thermos, walked into the room. Upon seeing Tongtong crying, she hurriedly set down the thermos and rushed over to embrace him, "Tongtong, don’t scare Mommy. Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"
Tongtong wiped away his tears and stammered, "I started crying when I saw the pretty sister crying. For some reason, it just made me want to cry. Mommy, is the pretty sister in a lot of pain? Should Tongtong blow on it to make it better?"
Tong Jia observed the quietly weeping girl on the bed with a complex expression, pursed her lips, and, holding Tongtong, turned to leave, "Tongtong, be good. The pretty sister probably misses her mom. She needs to rest. Don’t bother her, okay?"
"But..."
"But what? What did Mommy tell you before she left? You’re not allowed to get out of bed. Did you just let Mommy’s words go in one ear and out the other?"
"Okay, Tongtong knows he was wrong, don’t be mad, Mommy."
Tong Jia watched as her son fell asleep and glanced at the girl lying in the bed by the window. The girl had been in the ward for four or five days now, having neither moved nor spoken. At meal times, a care worker would come to feed her easily digestible liquid food. Already thin, the girl now looked even more skeletal. Every morning at eight and again at eight in the evening, a nurse would come to give her injections, and doctors regularly checked on her, yet no friends or family ever came to visit.
Initially, Tong Jia thought the girl was ill until she accidently caught sight of the doctors’ notes and realized the girl was a bone marrow donor. As Tongtong had leukemia, she paid close attention to such matters. Shouldn’t bone marrow donors be treated well? Why did this girl seem as though she had been abandoned?
Lately, she overheard two nurses whispering and learned that the girl’s aunt was suffering from leukemia. She was the only match with a high HLA compatibility. Regardless of whether the girl was willing, her family had made the decision for her. To prevent her from escaping, they even injected her with a sedative before leaving her in this ward, indifferent to her wellbeing.
Tong Jia felt a bit dismayed. The girl’s relatives seemed rather heartless. She later heard they were from a wealthy family and thus understood better; she remembered the soap operas she had seen about the sordid affairs within such affluent families. Although she pitied the girl, Tong Jia wouldn’t dare to oppose such powerful people; otherwise, they as commoners would not have a moment’s peace.