The date is 29th March 2005 ,10:25 am.
14-year-old Li Chengyu is currently enrolled in a secondary school near his home for the past three years. His academic results are above average. But his school life is far from ideal as compared to others. In his time here, he was constantly being insulted by a bunch of bullies who are actually gang members from a teenage gang. All their members are studying in the same school as he is. The psychological pain started when Chengyu challenged the head member of the teenage gang for the position of class monitor in Secondary Two.
As the system of selecting the class monitor is already seriously flawed by choosing the ideal candidate by popularity and not by merit, his bid of responsibility over authority is unfairly beaten by the gang head honcho for the position, but the head honcho's anger lies in the fact that he is supposed to get that position unopposed, so the insults and psychological pain is unfairly directed at him. Even his best friend at that time has just started to side with those street gangsters despite being a person that usually sides with reason. And these insults intensify by the time he gets into Secondary Three. And the damage will go beyond just verbal and psychological attacks...
“Not you morons again!!”
“So what if we're here again? One of you against the four of us, you stand no chance against all of us!”
“Even if it's four against one, I'm not backing down on my stand!”
“Then we'll make you do so...... by this!!”
Blows and kicks started raining down on him as he starts fighting back at them in an attempt to escape their clutches, blocking every punch and kick as hard as he can do, but four against one is just too many blows to deter, and he was beaten until he bled profusely and couldn't keep his consciousness up.
But the next thing he knew what was happening, he was already in a different set of clothes and in a different place this time.
“Where...... am...... I......”
Then he realized that he is now wearing the same clothes as those lying in
beds beside his own.
At this time, a woman appeared near his bed.
“Chengyu! Are you okay? Did the wounds hurt??”
“Mum......?? What am I doing here??”
“You've been sent to the hospital because of those terrible things that those gangsters did to you and you're been unconscious for the past three days already. I don't know how that head of the teenage gang became your class monitor, but the police has been informed and will definitely get to the bottom of this. But for now, try to rest as much as you can.”
“Thanks......”
Then Chengyu starts to feel something missing from his hip.
“Why do I feel something missing inside my left hip......?”
“Oh, I thought the doctor didn't tell you about the donation of your bone marrow, right?”
“What do you mean......?”
“Haven't you told me before that you wish to help someone to keep living if you have a chance to donate human tissue while living? Actually the doctor has just made your wish come true.”
“Huh??”
“The bone marrow tissue you donated during the operation has just found a perfect match for a foreigner from Japan that requires an urgent bone marrow transplant due to her own bone marrow failing to function properly, and the transplant was a success which caused little rejection from your bone marrow tissue.”
“Okay, that means that the transplant was done while I was in the operating theatre undergoing treatment for my wounds?”
“That's right. Fortunately, your internal injuries were not life-threatening so the doctors managed to repair some of the broken bones that you suffered during that time, although that involves a short six-hour stay in the Intensive Care Unit and a three-and-a-half-hour operation to fix all of those bones that were broken.”
“Broken bones?? I'll never forgive those bloody morons until they pay up for what they've done to me using their bloody lives...!!”
“So why do the transplant when I am sent in for injuries??”
“That's because the parents of the foreign patient awaiting transplant wishes to save their child immediately, otherwise she would lose her life due to organ failure within 48 hours. The operation was done as soon as the operation to fix your broken bones was complete and your condition has been stabilized enough to perform the transplant.”
Chengyu was immersed in deep thought about the matter.
“Her whole family was really grateful to you for your selfless donation at that time, but they'll have to rush back to Japan within a week so they won't be able to fork out any time to see us after the successful operation.”
It was then that an announcement was broadcast.
“Dear visitors, visiting hours for the afternoon session will close in about 15 minutes, please make preparations to let the patients rest, thank you.”
“Oh, visiting hours is almost up, I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Have a good rest.”
His mother then packed her things and left his ward, leaving Chengyu alone by himself.
“Why does it all come down to this... why...?? My wish has been fulfilled in a way I least expected it to, but why do I still feel this uneasy after all this has been done......?”
The next day, Chengyu's wounds have healed considerably, so he requested the nurse there to try and climb out of his bed and take a walk around the ward. After the nurse who have checked him gave him the green light, he slowly climbs down, bringing his wallet with him and takes short steps out of his Class C ward. As he slowly walked towards the main entrance of that level where the vending machine is, he was bumped into by a small boy, who dropped an unfamiliar item after the collision. Although the impact wasn't enough to make him fall, it invoked anger inside Chengyu and he stared at him with a very angry face and his fists tightly clenched. The small boy saw his expression and immediately showed a scared look, which made him run away in the opposite direction.
A few seconds later, the small boy returned with a woman beside him who seems to be the small boy's mother, she immediately saw him and started scolding the small boy for bumping onto a patient, while apologising to Chengyu at the same time before leaving. However, Chengyu noticed the strange object and picked it up.
“What's this...?”
Chengyu inspects the item and acknowledges it to be a key-chain bearing the shape of a red-coloured ribbon.
“Such a girlish kind of key-chain shouldn't belong to that boy... Wonder if anyone have had this missing by accident...?”
While he was pondering who could have been the owner of that key-chain, someone in a wheelchair appeared, apparently moving on its own.
On that motorised wheelchair sat a young girl with black hair and a fair complexion. She is also wearing the same patient clothes as he is right now.
“Who exactly is that girl...... is she even from this level of wards at all?”
The wheelchair stopped moving two metres away from where Chengyu is, and the girl reached her right hand in his direction, speaking in a language he doesn't seem to understand. Chengyu looked at the girl, who has her hair tied up in a ponytail using a red ribbon that resembles that of the key-chain.
“My intuition tells me that she might be the owner of that thing......”
Looking at the key-chain, he starts to ask her in English:
“Is...... that...... yours......?”
The girl nodded her head and spoke something again in the same incomprehensible language.
Chengyu slowly and painstakingly walked towards her and placed the key-chain in her extended right hand.
“Keep...... it...... properly...... Don't...... lose...... it...... again......”
Chengyu left behind those words while painstakingly trying to get his message across. The girl on the other hand received the key chain and replied with a cute smile on her face. However, his heart is so damaged at this time that no friendly expression can get through to him anymore. He turned back and walked painstakingly towards his own ward.
“There goes my chance to get my coffee for now......”
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