Play vs Play

CHAPTER 7: PERCENTAGE

The door of the big, hall-like ward opens as a doctor walks in. A doctor walked up and stood beside Kian and patted him on his shoulder, even though the doctor was considerably shorter than him. He gives a few sheets of paper to a nurse and mentions a few things before taking the checkboard hanging at the base of the bed. The doctor takes a few looks at some sheets and then at Kian's mother. He puts it back and looks towards Kian, needing to tilt his head upwards to make eye contact with him.

"Your mother should be fine. We've put a stent in to open the clot. She was lucky it wasn't her heart. Could've been worse."

Kian just nodded, not knowing what to say. He was relieved of course but he still didn't like seeing his mother like this, so fragile and close to meeting her maker.

"In the meantime, just sit tight and wait until we can confirm that she is in fit condition to resume her daily life once more." The doctor pats Kian's back this time and moves on to another bed.

Kian sits in the chair placed beside the window. "You're ok, mummy." He whispers, smiling a little.

Kian looked around the hall before his eyes caught a glimpse of the bed closest to the door. It was the old lady from before, probably looking at her granddaughter. Mrs. Tan turns around and spots Kian. She smiles and waves at him. He just gives a slight smile and raises his hand towards her. While the old lady was turned, he sees the leg of her granddaughter. Funny, she had dark skin instead of the typical light skin like her Chinese grandmother. Must be a mixed-race girl then. He thought of going up to them before a nurse walked over and closed the curtain around the girl's section of the ward. 

Kian sighs and holds his mother's hand when Mrs. Tan came up to him.

"Hi boy, is your mother okay?" She smiled at him.

Kian smiled back. "Yea, thankfully."

"My granddaughter also okay. She really need to be careful next time." She shakes her head but by the look on her face, she wasn't disappointed at all.

"Oh ya, aunty," He took the blanket the old lady gave him which was folded beside his chair. "I want to give this back."

"Ah, thank you, boy. If you wanted to keep it also can."

"No need lah aunty. I going back home after this already."

A nurse walked up beside the lady. "Mrs Tan, you can see your granddaughter. We're done."

"Thank you, young lady." Mrs. Tan walked back towards the closed curtains.

Another nurse came up and called out for Kian. "Sir, please follow me to the front desk. We will need you to confirm a few things and also brief you on visitation procedures."

Kian nodded. As he walked towards the door of the ward he looks to the area where the girl was lying down just now. The curtains were still shut but there was a little gap where you could somewhat make out what's inside. Hanging on the chair beside the bed was a green jacket.

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The evening was nice and cool with clouds scattered across the sky, giving a very "snap" worthy feel to it. Kian enjoyed this type of weather because that meant he could wear his favourite outfit, a t-shirt and hoodie with jeans, without sweating like a pig. Then again, he wears the same thing every day to classes anyway no matter the weather. Beside him was Goh, the secretary of the gaming club. Kian and Goh were seated at one of the picnic tables placed outside the computer faculty which was facing the sports area. It was designated as a place for the students to "get some fresh air". However, it was always considered useless since computer science students never really needed or wanted to go outside anyway. Nevertheless, it was still a great spot for meetings and discussions should the need arise.