Love 020 : Love and family

Chapter 7 -Trials and tribulations

Weiwei was in excruciating pain over the next few days. Her heart ached desperately for Nai. She would not log into the game to avoid crossing his path.Nai for his part attended every class and hung around campus trying to catch a glimpse of his beloved. He was determined to win her over and he left her a dozen messages in game. His mother had given him her cell number but he refrained from calling her. He would win her over the right way.

Weiwei on the other hand barely ate, barely slept, only made it just in time to her classes and left for her apartment as soon as classes were done. She did not even check her cellphone. Her dorm sisters worried sick about her. On the fifth day, her dorm sisters ambushed Weiwei after class  and dragged her to the cafeteria. She had yet to say a word to them.

Xiaoling : " That's it. We have had it. What is wrong with you? You look unhealthy and grief-stricken. Did something happen?"

Weiwei: " I can't explain right now. Please be patient with me. I will tell you everything. I need time. I really do have an off-campus apartment in Beijing, I have been going home"

Er Xi : " Fine. But you are not running away anywhere today. You don't have to tell us anything but you are not staying alone and we are not leaving this cafe till you eat something" and dragged her to the lunch line.

It was sheer coincidence that Nai was in that cafeteria today. He and his brothers had also joined the line next to Weiwei's. He could tell that Weiwei had deep feelings for him, she just chose not to act on them and as a result created more suffering for herself. He had overheard her conversation with her sisters and was glad that Weiwei had such good friends looking out for her. Weiwei glanced to her side and noticed Nai next to her. Her sisters were engrossed in a conversation about something on the wretched gossip forum and Nai's brothers were busy debating what they would eat. She gave him a furtive glance.

Nai whispered without looking at her," You look horrible my love. Have you eaten anything in the last few days? You either take care of yourself properly or I will."

Listlessly, she whispered back, " Please don't. I am doing my best to move on"

Nai, " The sooner you realize I am not going to give up, the better. I will wait as long as you need. My whole life if need be"

Hao Mei heard the last part, " Whole life what Nai? What are you muttering to yourself about?"

Nai said loudly, " Nothing. I was just thinking about unnecessary self inflicted pain based on some notion of perceived bad luck", addressing both Hao Mei and Weiwei at the same time. Blinking back tears, she moved ahead to the counter and started putting little food on her plate.

Nai was also doing that next to her and Weiwei could smell his clean scent. His sleeve brushing against her arm made her shiver involuntarily and her desire shocked her. Taking advantage of her momentary shock, Nai whispered, " You promised me my furen, you'd be with me as we win the tournament. So, I'll be waiting for you at 7" . He discreetly dropped a sweet rice cake on her plate and left. Stunned , Weiwei returned to sit with her sisters in a daze. The rice cake was the only thing she ate that afternoon.

At 6:30, Reed Weiwei stood outside the arena in Dreams of Jianghu. She thought,' Her husband, no Naihe was right. She had made a promise to him and she was going to keep it. This was the last time she would see him'. At the exact moment, Nai and Banshan were returning from a farce of a pitch meeting with Chairman Zhao of Zhao enterprises. Nai was anxious to see his furen again and was preoccupied with that while Banshan drove and chatted absently. A few kilometers away from campus, a drunk van driver veered into the wrong lane . Nai noticed at the last second, grabbed the wheel to turn them away from the van but ended up crashing against a tree. He was unconscious and at 6:45 Banshan was rushing him to the hospital.

It was quarter to 7 and Naihe was nowhere to be seen, Weiwei noticed that his brothers weren't online either. This was unusual. Nai would not stand her up or embarrass her, it was just not in his DNA. Something must have happened. She knew that he was trying to launch a business, maybe a meeting ran long? She made a decision then, she would make Naihe the all time top player by winning the couple's tournament and all the extra points. It was not much, but it was all she could give him. She contacted the moderator, invoked a clause that would allow her to wager all her levels in exchange for battling on behalf of him. It was a never before seen move. What followed was a battle, that would be replayed a million times across the community. A lone swordswoman, a wife fiercely battling for her husband against a couple and defeating them soundly.Not waiting for congratulations, Reed Weiwei bowed and logged off.

Weiwei just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Cursing her inability to stay away from Nai, she started a trace to find his phone. As an accomplished hacker( something that very few people knew about her), this was child's play to Weiwei. She was shocked to see his phone pinging at a hospital.Fearing something was very wrong ,she left a note to her sisters saying she would be at her off-campus apartment and ran to the hospital.

She arrived just in time to hear the doctor tell Nai's dorm brothers " Patient has sustained a head injury. His vitals are stable but we don't know when he will regain consciousness. As long as he wakes up in the next 48 hours, he has a good chance of recovery. We will test cognitive functions once he wakes up".  Nai's brothers had not noticed her, she collapsed into a seat in the waiting area, near the door and buried her face in her arms. She thought ' Who am I kidding. I won't survive if something happens to him. I don't know how I fell in love with him so hard, so fast by just chatting with him in the game.  What would Auntie Lin and Uncle Xiao say? What if they hate this idea? Oh god, what have I done? Please save him ', she prayed.

Banshan was distraught, " It was all my fault. He saved me. What if he doesn't wake up?"

Hao Mei: " You can't think like that. It was an accident. You heard the doctor, he is stable. He will wake up. Houzi, you take Banshan back to the dorm. I will stay here. Some one should call his parents. I can't reach them"

Since visiting hours were over, Hao Mei peeked into Nai's room from outside, saw that he was still unconscious and settled into a chair. Weiwei waited for him to fall asleep and snuck past the nurse on duty and made her way to Nai's room. She told herself she was caring for him since his parents were out on an excavation project ( even she knew that she was making up flimsy excuses at this point). She loved him,and that was fact.