Li Mo
Outside the ICU, time becomes a viscous and cruel torture. Every minute, every second feels like a dull knife cutting into your heart.
Li Mo refused to leave the corridor. She stubbornly sat on the cold floor, her back against the glass wall that isolated her from the rest of the world.
Zhou Man and Shen Peixian tried to persuade her to rest, even if it was just to close her eyes for a moment, but she just shook her head, her gaze fixed on the figure inside entangled with various tubes, as if the slight undulations on the monitor would turn into a cold straight line if she looked away.
Day 1. The doctor came out and informed him that a second debridement surgery had been performed in an attempt to control the infection, but his condition had not improved. The shadow of sepsis clung to him like a leech. Li Mo listened to the medical jargon—
"Multiple organ dysfunction", "intracranial pressure monitoring", "vasoactive drugs"...
Each word felt like a boulder crashing down on her already overburdened heart. She began to tremble uncontrollably, her nails digging deep into her palms, leaving crescent-shaped bloody marks, yet she felt no pain whatsoever.
On the third day, Liang Xinchong developed a persistent high fever. Even with an ice blanket covering him, the burning temperature could not be completely suppressed.
The doctor said that this was the body's desperate struggle, but it could also accelerate the depletion of his already weak vitality.
Li Mo watched through the glass as his brows furrowed unconsciously due to the high fever, and her heart ached.
She longed to go in, wipe his forehead with a damp towel, hold his hand tightly, and tell him, "I'm here."
But there was nothing she could do; she could only curl up helplessly outside like an abandoned child.
On the fifth day, Li Mo was almost completely devastated.
Severe insomnia, weakness from not having eaten or drunk anything, and the immense mental blow caused her to faint in the corridor when she tried to stand up.
She was forcibly injected with sedatives and intravenous fluids.
When she woke up, she found herself lying in a hospital bed with needles stuck in her arm again.
She frantically pulled out the IV and stumbled back to the ICU entrance.
Shen Peixian hugged her tightly, her voice trembling with tears: "Momo, Momo, listen to me, you can't fall down first, Xin Chong still needs you!"
At that moment, Li Mo broke down in tears in her mother's arms, like a lost child: "Mom... what should I do... what should I do..."
Day seven. The doctor had a difficult conversation.
It meant that if the situation did not improve, they might need to consider... The doctor did not say the rest, but the heavy tone and hesitant expression made Zhou Man faint on the spot. Liang Zhiyuan supported his wife, and this usually composed man's back hunched over instantly.
Li Mo neither cried nor made a fuss.
She was unusually quiet. She walked to the glass window, looked at the person inside who seemed to be asleep, and spoke softly, her voice hoarse like sandpaper:
"Liang Xinchong, do you remember? When I had a stomachache in my senior year of high school, you carried me to the infirmary."
"Do you remember? You wrote 'Forever with Li Mo' on the graffiti wall."
"Do you remember? You said you wanted to take things slowly with me, and didn't want to rush things..."
"I still have the foxtail grass ring. You said you'd exchange it for a real one... You can't go back on your word..."
She spoke each word as if trying to awaken dormant memories, or perhaps as if she were making a desperate farewell.
Tears fell silently, dripping onto the cold ground without a sound.
On the tenth day at dusk, the blood-red hue of the setting sun shone through the high windows of the corridor and splashed onto the cold ground.
Li Mo remained like a soulless sculpture, leaning against the glass wall. Suddenly, she sat bolt upright, almost pressing her face against the glass—on the hospital bed, Liang Xinchong's fingers, which had been silent for ten days, twitched almost imperceptibly.
Then, his eyelashes began to tremble, as if struggling to lift a heavy curtain.
Then, under Li Mo's almost breathless gaze, his eyes, which had been closed for too long, slowly and laboriously opened a crack.
"He's awake...he's awake!" Li Mo's voice was a broken scream, filled with an almost manic joy.
She staggered and pounded on the glass, trying to get the attention of the nurses inside.
Zhou Man and Shen Peixian rushed over upon hearing the commotion. Upon seeing this scene, they were instantly moved to tears, clasped their hands together, and kept chanting, "May the Bodhisattva protect us."
Doctors and nurses quickly entered the ICU to conduct examinations. Li Mo and her two mothers were allowed to enter, wearing protective suits.
Li Mo practically collapsed to the bedside. She trembled as she grasped his hand that wasn't receiving an IV drip, tears streaming down her face like broken beads, falling incessantly onto the back of his hand.
"Xin Chong...Xin Chong, you're awake..." she sobbed uncontrollably.
Liang Xinchong's gaze was somewhat unfocused, and he struggled to focus on her face.
He recognized her, and the corners of his mouth moved upward very slowly and weakly, forming a pale yet extremely gentle smile.
He raised his incredibly heavy hand and, with his fingertips, gently wiped away the tears from her face.
"Don't...cry..." His voice was weak, like a candle flickering in the wind, barely a whisper, "I...won't...leave...you..."
These words made Li Mo's crying even more intense.
She nodded vigorously, burying her face in his palm, feeling the faint but real warmth.
Zhou Man excitedly grabbed the doctor's hand, stammering, "Doctor, he's awake! Is he alright? Is he...?"
The doctor looked at the data on the monitor, which showed no fundamental improvement and in some aspects even worsened. He then looked at the patient on the bed, whose eyes, though gentle, had lost their true vitality, and shook his head heavily.
He pulled the family members aside, lowered his voice, and revealed the cruelest truth:
“This isn’t an improvement…this is a ‘last gasp’.” The doctor’s voice carried a professional calmness, but couldn’t hide the trace of compassion. “His organ failure is irreversible, and his body’s last bit of energy…I’m afraid it will only last for the next few days. Please…be prepared.”
The phrase "a final burst of energy before death" struck like a thunderbolt, shattering the newly risen hope.
Zhou Man swayed and almost fell, but Liang Zhiyuan caught her firmly. Shen Peixian covered her mouth, suppressing her sobs.
Li Mo didn't hear the doctor's words; her world consisted only of the person in front of her.
Liang Xinchong seemed to have exhausted his strength. He closed his eyes and panted for a while before opening them again.
His gaze was clearer than before, yet even more heartbreaking. He looked at Li Mo, at her swollen eyes, his voice so soft it seemed it would dissipate at any moment:
"Momo..."
"Yes, I'm here." Li Mo held his hand tightly, as if that would keep him here.
He struggled to maintain that gentle smile, and spoke haltingly, words that broke her heart:
"Can...you kiss me?"
Li Mo bent down, tears falling onto his pale cheeks. Gently, with endless longing and despair, she kissed his chapped lips.
Instantly separate.
He sighed contentedly, his gaze beginning to wander, yet he remained stubbornly fixed on her, using the last of his clarity to meticulously plan her future without him:
"Love me a little more now... and when I'm gone... then... forget me... okay?"
"Little Jasmine..." he called out that most intimate name that belonged only to him, his voice growing weaker and weaker, his eyes beginning to lose focus.
"If tomorrow... I really leave..."
"Then...you...should never...think of me again..."
"No—" Li Mo finally broke down, letting out a shrill scream. She clung to him tightly, as if trying to embed him into her very bones. "No! Liang Xinchong, you can't say such things! You won't leave! I won't let you leave! You promised me! You promised to stay with me for life! You lied to me! You're not allowed to leave me! I won't forget! I'll never forget you, even if I die!"
Her cries echoed in the ICU, filled with despair and a sense of powerlessness against fate.
Liang Xinchong didn't speak again, but stared at her deeply and greedily with his eyes that were gradually darkening, as if he wanted to engrave her image into the deepest part of his soul and take it to another world.
The corners of his mouth still held that pale yet gentle curve, as if he were comforting her, or as if he were saying goodbye silently.
Outside the window, the sun had completely sunk, and darkness swallowed the last glimmer of light.
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