“Why are you here?” An Xiulan asked Han Zixin as she saw him sitting on the stool.

Han Zixin just shrugged. He peeled an orange and began feeding her.

“I told you to not come daily, ” An Xiulan said as she took a piece of orange in her mouth and began chewing on it. She was not going to say that she hated when he had to leave. She would spend the rest of the day waiting to see him the next day. Yes, she wasn’t going to say that staying at the hospital would become absolutely unbearable if he didn’t come to see her.

“Do you want grapes?” Han Zixin asked as he took grapes from the food basket.

“What are you now? A fruit seller? And I want black one” An Xiulan asked and opened her mouth so he could feed her more grapes.

“Yes, “Han Zixin nodded his head and fed her black grapes.

“Cheat prince, do I look ugly?” An Xiulan questioned him after a long time. “If you lie, I will never talk to you again.”

Han Zixin softly touched her face and she squirmed. “No, quite the opposite.”

“I don’t feel good, ” An Xiulan said after a while. “I feel tired. I want to cry for some reasons that even I don’t know.”

“How about I sing for you?” Han Zixin suggested to make her mood good.

“You never sing for me, ” An Xiulan murmured in the complaint.

“I only like to sing for you, ” Han Zixin confessed. “Close your eyes and listen to me singing for you.”

An Xiulan closed her eyes and listened to him singing for her. He had a beautiful voice that she loved listening to again and again. Would it be very selfish of her to say that she didn’t wish for anyone to have what she has? The privilege to have him sing for her, only her. She didn’t realise when she fell asleep but she did fell into a deep and peaceful sleep after days.

When An Qinyan opened the door to check up on An Xiulan, she found her daughter fast asleep and Han Zixin was gently patting her face.

“Thank you, Ah-Xin, ” An Qinyan gratefully said. “I don’t know what I would do if it wasn’t for you. She doesn’t like her family fussing over her all the time. Thank you for coming to the hospital for her daily.”

Han Zixin only smiled at her and said, “Can I stay here for longer? She will be sad if she finds me gone when she wakes up.”

“Of course, if you can, “An Qinyan said with a smile. ” Today, her father will stay the night at the hospital with her. I’m now leaving for home. Can you stay with her until her dad comes?”

“Sure, ” Han Zixin nodded his head.

...

It has been a whole month since An Xiulan was admitted to the hospital. Her arm plaster was removed. It still hurt sometimes but doctors said that her arm was receiving well. When she was coming back to her room after the check up, she asked the nurse to take her to the garden because she was feeling suffocated in the room.

She was enjoying flowers in the hospital garden when she heard some whispers. Suddenly, the whispers were tormenting her.

“She is so pitiful, ” One voice said.

“Yes, I heard that she got in an accident just a few minutes before exams. How unlucky. Couldn’t she fall after exams?”

As if it was possible.

“She won Miss China but what’s the benefit? She is replaced in the end for Miss Universe. A girl from another pageant is representing China. How unlucky! Absolute waste of resources.”

“Why is she replaced?”

“Haven’t you heard that she may never be able to ramp walk or wear heels again?”

The nurse gave a look to the idle women and looked at An Xiulan with a gentle smile. Couldn’t these idle people see how hateful they were being to a young girl?

“Miss, should we return to our room?” The nurse asked her in a gentle tone.

Absent-mindedly, An Xiulan nodded her head. She couldn’t get the things she heard out of her head. She was replaced in the Miss Universe contest. How could they do that? The reason why she was feeling less bad about her missed exam was that she was hoping that she would be participating in a further international pageant to represent china. But now? She was not sure about her gloomy future.

When her family came to see her, she straightforwardly asked them if she was replaced. Her brothers and parents tried to make her see the silver lining that nothing was more important than her life. She couldn’t even look straight at them. They knew about this for so many days but none of them told her the truth.

She was breaking down, bit by bit and there was nothing she could do.

She felt utterly useless and hopeless.

“Lanlan, please do not give up. Life always throws problems at us. We can’t give up without fighting, ” An Qinyan said and An Xiulan only listened because there was nothing else she could do.historical

How could she tell her mom that she was tired of fighting battles? Could she have a moment of peace when she didn’t have to fight for her survival?

Why did God give her another chance at life just to make her miserable?

Maybe, it didn’t hurt back then when she had everything but now that she had the world at her feet, slowly everything was being taken bit by but away from her.

She had a bad premonition that she was going to lose everything that she held dear to her including the family she loved more than anything.

“Don’t cry, we are here with you, ” She heard Lu Xuan and Gu Shangyan saying the same sentence over and over again but for the first time in life she was not sure if her brothers were speaking the truth or lying to her.