Chapter 42: It’s too late

“Sister Bei comes to see Xiao Xin every Wednesdays, right?”

“Yes! Sister, how do you know? You two are friends?! Xiao Xin is truly...Xiao Xin is truly….” The child seemed extremely stimulated. But suddenly, he spat out a mouthful of blood and fell off the swings.

I caught him, but his fingertips were ice cold. His eyes were tightly shut and he didn’t move at all in my embrace.

“Xiao Xin! Xiao Xin! What’s going on?” I sat down paralyzed on the ground. I was completely at my wits’ end. My screaming attracted the attention of those inside the orphanage, and the woman whom I was following came out.

“This child….” I wanted to explain what happened because I was afraid she thought I did something to him. But the middle aged woman totally disregarded my existence and directly took Xiao Xin from my arms and rushed to stop a taxi. They departed immediately.

Were they going to the hospital? They must be, right? I touched my face and saw some of Xiao Xin’s blood on my fingertips; it made me feel a bit dizzy.

The child’s blood...that child…

I forced myself up and stopped another taxi and told the driver to take me to the nearest hospital.

Soon, the taxi arrived at the hospital’s parking lot. I happened to see a bunch of doctors and nurses gathered around Xiao Xin as they pushed his bed into the hospital. The middle aged woman was running frantically from behind. I also ran after them. We were all waiting anxiously outside of the emergency room.

The middle aged woman was sobbing and making a phone call at the same time. Her voice was raspy and shaky as she cried, “Xiao Xin. Xiao Xin is in the emergency room again. I’m afraid...I’m afraid….” She was unable to finish her sentence because she broke down in hysterical tears.

I wanted to go up to comfort her, but it didn’t seem appropriate. So, I only stood far away as I watched her weep.

After a long time, Xiao Xin still hadn’t been released. It was not a good sign. Time continued to pass minute by minute and Xiao Xin remained in the emergency room.

*thump thump* Then, the sounds of a pair of high heels approached us. The owner of the black high heels was a woman who had concern written all over her face -Xiao Xin’s sister Bei.

“How is Xiao Xin?” The fake Xu Weishan went passed me and ran towards the middle aged woman who looked like she was about to collapse from her sorrows. She failed to notice me as her attention was completely on Xiao Xin.

“He lost consciousness again. This time, it’s more serious than the last…. Xiao Bei, we’re really running out of time. We’ve stalled too long. I’m afraid….”

“It’s all my fault! I had too many worries and delayed it for too long. No matter what, I’ll think of a way to save Xiao Xin!” The fake Xu Weishan spoke with determination. She bit her lips and turned towards my direction. She happened to make eye contact with me. I was currently leaning against the wall.

She seemed scared for a second or two. Then, she made eye contact with the woman next to her and became calm again. She clanged her high heels and walked towards me, “Why are you here?” she confronted.

“This child was with me when he fainted. I was worried, so I came to see how he’s doing.”

“Why would you be with Xiao Xin?” The fake Xu Weishan coldly questioned as she walked closer towards me. “You’ve been following my tracks for a long time now, haven’t you? What's your purpose? Who are you?”

Her eyes were not friendly at all. It reminded me that she might be the person who had killed her biological sister and burned her to ashes. For a split second, I trembled with fear and my courage level dipped substantially.

“You’re overthinking. I just happened to be around. I didn’t think the child would fall off the swings and lose consciousness.” I stood stiffly against the cold wall as I tried to appease her and adjusted my mood accordingly. “Don’t misunderstand…”

I was honestly afraid of her.

“Is that so?” The fake Xu Weishan used her hand to smooth the bottom part of her hair. She pretended to seem indifferent as she turned around, “I’m actually a helper of this orphanage. So..” Before she could finish her sentence, the doctors came out of the emergency room.

In a split second, her act totally fell apart. She dashed to the doctor like a flying arrow. The fake Xu Weishan gripped the doctor’s sleeve as if he was the last rice straw on Earth.

The doctor only shook his head in a helpless manner. The doctor was exhausted. He could not even recall how many times he had shook his head today. On a daily basis, he had to confront and attempt to defy all sorts of deaths.

The fake Xu Weishan weakly fell onto the floor as one of her high heel shoes came loose.

Xiao Xin must be very important for the fearless fake Xu Weishan to demonstrate any sign of weakness in front of me. I thought about him. Our time together was less than an hour. He was sitting all by himself, with his head lowered, wordlessly on the swings. For some reason, it really made my heart ache. I couldn’t help but gravitate to him. I was concerned and wanted to take care of him.

Xiao Xin was pushed out of the emergency room. Earlier this afternoon, he was still playing on the swings. But now, his entire body had been inserted with all sorts of tubes. In addition, Xiao Xin had an oxygen mask on and his eyes were tightly shut. He looked like he was suffering tremendously.

“Doctor, we can have the operation now….” The fake Xu Weishan crawled up as she held onto Xiao Xin’s bed. Due to her hard grip, I could see the blue veins popping up from her hand.