ICU
“Wei.” It was Mei Lai, Andy’s mom. Sky would recognize her voice anywhere.
“Wei. Nin hao. This is Sky.”
“Ni hao ma?”
“I’m fine. Thank you.” Sky lied. He didn’t feel fine at all. Andy was out of the ICU but still very drowsy. The doctor had advised more sleep.
“How is Andy? He hasn’t called me for a few days.”
Sky couldn’t bring himself to speak. He felt deep hurt inside. He had held his emotions under check until then, but not any more.
“Are you okay? Are you both okay?” Mei Lai sounded alarmed.
“No. Something’s happened here.” He managed to speak.
“What? Tell me, please. Is Andy okay?”
“He’s had an accident.” Sky took a moment to breathe in and control himself.
“What accident? Is he okay?” Mei Lai had raised her pitch in concern.
“He fell down a staircase. The doctor said he’s out of danger.”
“Oh.”
“He was in the ICU for two nights and was moved to a private room this morning.”
“The doctor said he’s okay, right?”
“Yes. He confirmed there was no internal bleeding. That’s a good sign.” He paused.
“I’ve never been to Shanghai. I may need your help to get there.”
“Don’t come here. I’m planning to take him back to Guilin,” Sky said. “I’ll take care of him. I’ve failed him once but I’ll not fail him again.”
“But you’re getting married. The news is everywhere. It would be unfair to your bride.”
“Mom. I’m not getting married to her.” He’d just called her mom. He’d never done that before.
“I’m worried about you as much as I’m worried about him,” Mei Lai said. “You are both my sons.”
“I’m sorry. I should have taken care of him. This is all my fault.” Sky cried.
“Come on now. Look at the brighter side. You are with him. The doctor said he’s okay. And you’re bringing him back.”
“Yes.”
“Please call me when he’s awake. I want to hear his voice.”
“I’ll inform you as soon as he comes around.”
Sky ended the call. There was so much to do. The first thing was to take Andy back home. Then break off the wedding. That would mean a huge loss of face to his family. But he didn’t know what else he could do. It was either his life, with Andy, or hell, trying to please his family and society. He was tired. He decided to walk back to Andy’s room and take a nap.
###
Energy woke up with a bad headache. He wasn’t happy with himself for having drunk at the banquet. He wasn’t a person who could handle alcohol at all. A bottle of beer could get him high. One of his friends had mixed the Moutai with his soft drink without his knowledge. He remembered wondering at one point why he smelled soy sauce when there wasn’t any at their table. And then he had gone red and started sweating. He remembered fanning himself but it was too late. He was drunk.
Then he had joined the couple and their close friends as they walked from table to table. They were supposed to drink Moutai from a tiny cup. But there was a catch. Keeping up with tradition, the cup was replenished at every table and he had to go bottoms up. Towards the end, he was on his knees.
After the banquet, friends had dragged him to a karaoke party. He remembered getting there. He remembered dancing on top of the coffee table. But he didn’t remember the striptease. It was much later when he discovered a video of his performance on one of the guys’ cameras. He was lucky because he’d passed out before doing a full Monty. After a lot of pleading and emotional blackmail, the video was deleted. But Energy was afraid his photos would end up on Facebook. What a shame it was! How on earth had he managed to lose control?! Now, no girl, who had mutual friends with him, would ever give him a chance. Aarrrrrrghhhhh!
Oliver had sent him a text. He was going to Hangzhou with his friend and would be back in the evening.
Well, it was evening already! In fact, it was past dinner time. No wonder he was feeling so hungry. He didn’t remember eating anything all day!
He picked up his cell phone. The battery was hanging on to the last bar. He had to find the charger first. He opened his bag and emptied it on the bed. The charger was easy to find in the pile. He plugged it into an electric socket and hooked up his phone. He had read somewhere that the charger should be disconnected from the handset when making calls. There had been a few cases where the cell phones had exploded and burnt their users! But that was mainly because they were using duplicate batteries. Shit! He used one as well. Damn.
Fearing the worst and hoping for the best, he dialed Oliver’s number.
“Good Morning,” Oliver said.
“Where are you?” Energy asked him, ignoring the jibe.
“Dining with my friends.”
“Since when have you got friends in Shanghai?”
“Since somebody ditched me to go to a banquet.”
“That’s not true. I’d asked you to come along, but Mr. Shyness had refused. That’s not my fault. Friendssss? Pretty, huh?”
“Very.”
“Are you introducing us?”
“Nope. I’m not gonna ruin my chances.” Oliver laughed.
“Okay. I’ll remember that!”
“Please do.”
“When are you coming back?”
“What’s the plan? Are you awake? You sound drowsy.”
“I’m awake. I have a headache. And I’m feeling very hungry!”
“Order room service then.”
“Are you going to split the bill?”
“I bet you haven’t eaten all day. So the cost should even out over the day?”
“What do you want to do tonight?”
“Nothing. Just sleep. I’m exhausted.”
“Good. I expect to see you soon.”
Energy hung up and picked up the menu from the bedside table. After hesitating for a short while, he dialed for room service.
