Never Meeting Again In Our Next Life (Living Life Over) - Volume 1 (5)
Chapter 5 Diagnosis
At this moment, Song Yan heard his stomach growl.
Only then did he remember that he had forgotten to eat his lunch because he was so busy inquiring about Xia Lin’s whereabouts, and now even the dinner time had passed.
He got up and went to the fridge to look for food. But, the moment he opened the fridge, he suddenly remembered that Xia Lin had previously put labels all over the fridge, and he had later thrown them all into the waste paper basket.
Feeling sorry for Xia Lin, he went to the waste paper basket and squatted down. He knelt down and picked up the sticky notes one by one.
Looking at the familiar handwriting on the sticky notes, he felt as if he was seeing Xia Lin’s OCD-like methodical style again. It was something that Song Yan used to resent about him, but now he somehow missed it.
When he picked up the last note, Song Yan found a crumpled ball of paper lying at the bottom of the wastepaper basket. Looking at the nature of the paper, it looked like an official document of some kind.
Puzzled, he picked the ball of paper up and opened it to find that it was actually a hospital diagnosis of Xia Lin.
“Intracranial tumour…advanced stage?” He read the emboldened line of text, his eyes widening incredulously.
———-
For the past few days, Xia Lin had spent most of his time in a lethargic state.
When he opened his eyes again, he looked out the window into the dim light and for a long time could not remember where he was.
A familiar voice came from outside the door: “Second young master, are you awake?
He remembered that this was Zhou Shuo’s single person flat.
Zhou Shuo was a year younger than him, and used to be one of his bodyguards, and was also the one who had been with him the longest.
When he was a student at school, Zhou Shuo was often ordered to follow him around to protect him, and they had a good relationship.
Later, when he broke up with his family over Song Yan, his father cut off all his financial resources and withdrew all his bodyguards, except for Zhou Shuo, who was still protecting him secretly on his grandmother’s orders.
It can be said that Zhou Shuo is the only person in this world that Xia Lin trusts unconditionally.
Xia Lin tried to speak, but all that came out was a hoarse coughing sound. This cough shook him to the point of a splitting headache.
Zhou Shuo pushed open the door and skilfully poured a glass of water for Xia Lin, then handed him some pills.
Xia Lin swallowed the pills and only after a while did the headache fade away.
He raised his eyes to Zhou Shuo and asked, “How long have I been asleep?
Zhou Shuo looked at his watch, “You slept for more than ten hours after you returned from Lawyer Zhang’s place.”
Xia Lin thought silently, the longer he slept, the less time he had left
Zhou Shuo added, “Probably because Lawyer Zhang told the Eldest Young Master about your transfer of shares, and the Eldest Young Master called in the afternoon to ask about your whereabouts.”
“What did you say?”
“I said I wasn’t sure, and he didn’t press the issue any further.”
Xia Lin nodded.
Having Zhou Shuo secretly protect him was a secret arrangement made by his late grandmother, and even Xia Liang didn’t know about it. Xia Liang was probably just casually asking Zhou Shuo about it when he called to inquire about it.
“You must not reveal anything about to my brother.” Xia Lin urged, “The sudden transfer of all my shares to him will definitely make him feel uneasy. He will definitely step up his efforts to find me next, so you must keep a tight guard.”
Zhou Shuo frowned, “Second Young Master, your health is already like this, don’t you want to see the Eldest Young Master one last time?”
Xia Lin shook his head, “My brother is very stubborn, if he knew that I was sick, he would definitely force me to go to the hospital for treatment…”
“There might be a ray of hope in going to the hospital…”
Xia Lin smiled bitterly, “Look at me like this, I don’t have many days left, why bother with a blind…These last few days, I just want to spend them in peace and quiet.”
Zhou Shuo turned his face away, his eyes slightly reddened.
Xia Lin gently patted his hand: “In my life, I don’t have many friends who are close to me. I’m happy to have you to accompany me on my last journey.”
Zhou Shuo looked back at him, “Don’t you want to know, Song Yan he…”
Xia Lin waved his hand to stop his words, “Don’t mention him, I’ve spent too much of my life on him. I don’t want to die and still deceive myself. Whether he wants to continue to live alone or get back together with Yu Luotong, it has nothing to do with me anymore.”
Zhou Shuo then changed the subject, “Are you hungry, I’ll go and cook you some porridge?”
Zhou Shuo was about to turn around and leave, when suddenly his mobile phone rang.
He took cover outside the door to answer the call, and when he pushed the door in again, his face became very odd.
“What’s wrong?” Xia Lin asked.
Zhou Shuo hesitated for a moment and said, “Song Yan learnt about your illness from somewhere and immediately told the eldest young master. Now the Song and Xia families have been alerted and are searching around for you.”
Xia Lin was stunned for a moment. He had not told anyone about his illness except Zhou Shuo, and he could not understand where Song Yan had got the news from.
He didn’t expect that Song Yan had taken the initiative to beg the Song family in order to find him, this was not something that Song Yan’s stubborn nature would have done!
Zhou Shuo said, “Second Young Master, if the Song and Xia families really join hands, the news network will spread throughout B City. I am afraid that my place…will not be able to hide you.”
Xia Lin was silent for a long time and sighed, “Things have come to this point, there is no way to hide…you can send me back to the Xia family. Just tell my brother that you found me in some small hospital in the middle of nowhere, so that my brother won’t blame you.”
