Chapter 8 "Can I find you then?"
A shrill alarm suddenly rang out in the emergency department corridor. As Zhou Ai turned the corner, she heard a hurried shout from behind her: "Get out of the way! Emergency rescue!"
He subconsciously dodged to the side, and the rescue bed almost brushed past the corner of his clothes.
The patient's face was ashen, his chest flat, and Chu Yi, kneeling on the emergency bed, folded his hands, pressing the patient's chest again and again. His white coat flew backwards as he moved quickly, revealing the sweat-soaked blue scrubs underneath.
This time Chu Yi did not wear a mask.
That face, which usually gave off a cold and distant vibe through the mask, was now strained with effort, his cheekbones flushed unnaturally, his hair drenched in sweat, clinging to his flushed skin. His lower lip had been bitten until it was white, but his hand pressed with an eerily steady hand, each stroke delivered with almost brutal precision.
"1mg of epinephrine intravenously!" Chu Yi's voice was extremely hoarse, but it was extremely clear in the noisy corridor.
The wheels of the rescue bed rolled over the ground as it turned, making a screeching sound.
Zhou Ai saw Chu Yi sway with the bumps and his knees hit the metal bed rails hard, but he didn't even frown. When he used his bloody fingertips to pry open the patient's eyelids to check the pupils, the protruding wrist bones glowed white, and it felt like there was enough space for one hand to hold on.
Beads of sweat rolled down Chu Yi's jawline and dripped onto the patient's purple lips. Zhou Ai suddenly remembered the same trembling arc cast by the patient's eyelashes under the light when he used a cotton swab to apply medicine to himself that day.
"Prepare for defibrillation! 200 joules!"
The moment Chu Yi tore open the patient's collar, Zhou Ai suddenly turned around as if he had sensed something.
Across the rescue scene where life and death were at speed, their eyes collided in the air filled with the smell of disinfectant.
Chu Yi's eyes shone frighteningly bright under the emergency light, as if all his calmness and composure had been burned to ashes, revealing the burning soul within.
While looking away, Chu Yi pressed the defibrillator button without hesitation.
The moment the patient's body bounced up, Zhou Ai heard his heart beating heavily in his chest.
———
An hour had passed since Chu Yi finished treating the patient. He felt drenched in sweat. He looked down at the bloodstains on his white coat and rubbed his temples with a headache. The strands of hair on his forehead, soaked with sweat, hung half-dry, brushing against his brow bone as he walked, itching uncomfortably.
Chu Yi frowned and casually pulled back his wet black hair, pulling it all back. This action exposed his smooth forehead completely to the corridor ceiling light. The lingering water marks slid along his hairline to his brow arch, gleaming in the light.
A few unruly strands of hair fell down as he walked, and he casually rubbed them away with the back of his hand dipped in iodine, leaving a light yellow mark on his forehead.
"Are you done?" A familiar male voice sounded the moment Chu Yi pushed open the office door.
Chu Yi paused in his movement to push the door open, and was nailed to the spot by the scene before him.
Zhou Ai appeared in his office at some point and sat on a waiting chair beside him with his legs crossed.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, the other person raised his eyes lazily, his amber pupils like melted honey under the light, and next to him was a bulging paper bag with beautiful outer packaging.
Chu Yi finally came to his senses, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the metal lines on the doorknob. He had indeed seen Zhou Ai in the corridor just now, but the adrenaline from the rescue hadn't completely subsided yet, so he dismissed that quick glance as an illusion.
"Yeah." Chu Yi walked in, closed the door, and took off his blood-stained white coat and hung it on the hanger.
Without stopping at all, he turned around and walked to Zhou Ai, bent down and reached out to tear off the gauze on his forehead to check the wound. However, as soon as he stretched out his hand, Zhou Ai easily grabbed his wrist.
"I'm sorry for not telling you." As Zhou Ai grabbed Chu Yi, an apology came out of Chu Yi's mouth naturally.
Chu Yi felt like his brain was short-circuiting due to the hangover he had drunk last night and the fact that he had just been through an emergency. When he saw Zhou Ai, he thought that he was just here to change the medicine and had been waiting for him for over an hour without complaining.
As soon as he stepped in, Chu Yi quickly took off his blood-stained white coat. He wanted to treat Zhou Ai's wound quickly, so he acted immediately without informing Zhou Ai in advance and reached out to touch the other person.
When Zhou Ai grabbed his wrist, Chu Yi instantly regained consciousness. He subconsciously apologized and took a step back. "I'm really sorry, I wasn't thinking clearly."
Zhou Ai's fingers tightened a little, preventing Chu Yi from breaking free. His eyes swept across Chu Yi's face, and the other party's retreat made him feel inexplicably nervous.
"No rush. Do you need to take a break?" Zhou Ai's voice was a little lower than usual, and his thumb unconsciously stroked the skin on the inside of Chu Yi's wrist.
Only then did Chu Yi notice that the gauze on Zhou Ai's forehead was clean and there was no trace of blood.
He blinked his sore eyes and his gaze fell on the touching wrists of the two. Zhou Ai's fingertips still carried the coolness of the outdoors, while the skin on his wrist felt like it was corroded by sulfuric acid because of the other's touch, and the burning pain went all the way to the bottom of his heart.
Chu Yi quickly broke free from Zhou Ai's hand. He thought the other party had forgotten to let go. His voice was still a little hoarse, so he subconsciously cleared his throat and said, "It's okay. I'll change it for you first."
Zhou Ai looked at his empty palms, curled the corners of his lips, picked up the bulging paper bag beside him and handed it to Chu Yi, "I brought some snacks, will you just eat some?" He paused, his eyes swept over Chu Yi's slightly red wrist bones, and subconsciously wondered if he had used too much force just now.
"Thank you." Chu Yi took the paper bag, and his fingertips accidentally touched the back of Zhou Ai's hand. They both shrank back at the same time.
Zhou Ai stood up. The height difference forced him to lower his head slightly to look at Chu Yi: "You look tired."
Chu Yi subconsciously wanted to deny it, but when he looked up and met those amber eyes, he changed his words: "Well, I just finished rescuing a patient with a myocardial infarction."
Zhou Ai watched Chu Yi put the paper bag in his hand on the table, turn around and walk behind him, with no intention of opening it at all.
"I'd better change it for you first." Chu Yi came over with a disposable dressing bag in his hand. Zhou Ai watched him skillfully open the outer packaging.
Zhou Ai didn't know how she suddenly appeared and asked again, "Aren't you going to rest?"
In the past, when Xu Yang and the others rejected him for the second time, his face had turned black, but when he saw Chu Yi's subconscious rejection, he actually felt it was reasonable.
Hearing Zhou Ai's second question, Chu Yi's fingers froze in mid-air for a moment, then he put on a talkative look again, "It's okay, I'll change it for you first. You've been waiting for so long, the sooner you change it, the sooner you can go back."
This time, when Zhou Ai heard Chu Yi's answer, he didn't say anything else, but got up and lay down on the dressing bed.
When Zhou Ai lay down, their eyes met under the spotlight, and Chu Yi realized belatedly that he had not been wearing a mask.
In fact, through the photo, Chu Yi could get a glimpse of Zhou Ai's true emotions, but when the real person was completely exposed in his field of vision, Chu Yi felt that he could only get a glimpse of one-third of Zhou Ai's true emotions at most.
It's already the best.
Under the spotlight, not only could Chu Yi see Zhou Ai clearly, but Zhou Ai could actually see Chu Yi clearly from his chin to his eyes just by opening his eyes slightly.
Chu Yi tore off the gauze on Zhou Ai's forehead, revealing the clean, healed wound underneath. "You're recovering well. How many times have you changed the dressing?"
"I can't remember." Without the mask covering it, it felt like Zhou Ai's warm breath when he spoke was almost sprayed all over Chu Yi's face.
Chu Yi paused holding the sterilized cotton ball and instructed, "After changing it this time, you can wait a few days and go directly to remove the stitches."
After saying this, Chu Yi looked at the lying Zhou Ai and raised his chin slightly. His amber eyes seemed to brighten even more, and he seemed to... move closer and said, "Can I see you?"
"Okay." Chu Yi heard himself say.
Zhou Ai suddenly smiled, and the curve of the corner of his eyes reminded Chu Yi of the expression he first saw on the big screen at a concert.
Back then, we were across an entire bustling arena, but now I was so close that I could count his eyelashes.
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