Incurable Pain

IP Chapter 48

Incurable Pain | Chapter 48

“Awake?”

But the young man from back then was now a ‘man’, and Yu Luoyin eventually spoke, breaking the silent stillness, looking at the woman sitting blankly on the bed and calmly asking, “Feeling better?”

“Much better.” 

Bai Xunyin’s cold voice, somewhat hoarse due to the fever, regained clarity, and she slowly responded, “Are you a doctor here?”

Seemingly finding her question amusing, Yu Luoyin’s lips curled slightly, and his eyes blinked without wavering as he looked at her. 

“What do you think?”

…

“Sorry, it was a dumb question.” Bai Xunyin pursed her lips. 

“How did I end up here?”

“Fell asleep with the IV drip. Aren’t you afraid of air entering your veins?” Yu Luoyin chuckled lightly. 

“Just helping out an old classmate, isn’t that too much?”

It dawned on Bai Xunyin that she had inadvertently owed Yu Luoyin a favor. She looked at the man who was already sitting at the desk and politely thanked him. 

“Thank you… Are you an internist now?”

Yu Luoyin didn’t answer, just wrote out a prescription for her, his voice faint. 

“IV drip for a week, along with these medications three times a day. Buy them outside the hospital; they’re expensive here.”

Bai Xunyin never expected Yu Luoyin to utter such frugal words. She silently took the prescription, her gaze falling on the sharp, thin handwriting as if it could pierce through the paper, just like in the past.

She heard a clear voice from above asking her, “When did you return to Linlan?”

Turns out, Yu Luoyin was willing to ‘chat’ with her. 

Bai Xunyin blinked, “A week ago.”

Yu Luoyin sat on the swivel chair in front of the desk, crossed his legs in a languid manner, and smirked at the three words ‘a week ago.’

Then he said, “Yu Shitian also attends GD University. Did you meet each other in school?”

Bai Xunyin had already gotten out of bed, propped up by her weak limbs, and was tying her shoelaces, nodding silently.

She felt a headache coming on from the favor she owed Yu Luoyin today, not knowing how to repay it.

The atmosphere between the two of them seemed to be filled with the word ‘awkward.’ Bai Xunyin just wanted to tidy herself up and leave immediately.

But as luck would have it, the office door opened again, and another doctor walked in.

“Huh? Xiao Yu, why are you here?” 

This doctor, who looked to be in his thirties, mature and somewhat playful, glanced at Yu Luoyin and Bai Xunyin with some surprise. 

“Aren’t you a surgeon? What are you doing in our internal medicine department?”

…

Yu Luoyin’s slender fingers twirled the pen he had just finished writing with, and he said calmly, “Sorry, just bringing a friend here to rest.”

Even if Bai Xunyin were a fool, she now understood that Yu Luoyin was deliberately pretending to be an ‘internist’ in front of her.

“Let’s go.” 

The man took off his white coat and casually tossed it onto the nearby hospital bed, then said to the doctor who had just entered, “Bro Gong, can you cover for me for a bit? I’ll take a friend home first.”

With that, he didn’t even pay attention to any complaints from Doctor Gong and left first.

“I actually don’t need your help.” Bai Xunyin followed him, massaging her temples with her slender fingers. 

“I can go back on my own.”

She didn’t want to owe Yu Luoyin any more favors.

“Let’s not risk it. What if you faint on the way?” 

Yu Luoyin pressed the elevator button, his long hands in his pockets, and said calmly, making a slight gesture to let Bai xUNYIN enter first. 

“After all, you can fall asleep with just an IV drip.”

“…I don’t want to waste your time,” Bai Xunyin said, feeling tense.

“No problem.” Yu Luoyin glanced at his watch. 

“I’m just an intern doing odd jobs; I’m not that busy.”

Bai Xunyin also understood in her heart—studying medicine is a long process, five years for a bachelor’s, three years for a master’s, three years for a doctorate, and even longer if you add residency training… 

Given Yu Luoyin’s age, this should only be the beginning of a long journey.

Especially since the doctor just mentioned that Yu Luoyin was studying neurosurgery, Bai Xunyin naturally knew how demanding neurosurgery work could be.

As the elevator descended floor by floor, she felt slightly relieved, then stopped Yu Luoyin from stepping out when they reached the ground floor.

“Can I ask you a question?” 

With only the two of them in the elevator, Bai Xunyin faced Yu Luoyin’s inscrutable black eyes and asked earnestly.

Close at hand, Yu Luoyin stared at her delicate and fair face, as if coated with a layer of milk, and replied with just one word, “Ask.”

Bai Xunyin asked, “Why did you choose to study medicine?”

She still remembered that Yu Luoyin’s initial dream was astronomy. Six years ago, the ambitious young man once said to her in the hot corridors of the school that his dream was the vast expanse of the night sky…

A world away from the cold medical instruments.

In Bai Xunyin’s soft questioning, Yu Luoyin’s black eyes flickered for a moment, but it was like a breeze passing by, leaving no trace. 

He smiled indifferently, “People change, Bai Xunyin.”

Dreams change too.

“People change,” Bai Xunyin repeated his words silently, smiling silently.

“You’re right.” 

The girl stepped out of the elevator first, then pressed the ‘close door’ button before Yu Luoyin could react, trapping him inside. 

Only a faint voice reached Yu Luoyin’s ears, “Thank you, I can manage on my own.”

By the time Yu Luoyin reopened the elevator doors, the bustling ground floor of the hospital was so crowded that he couldn’t catch a glimpse of Bai Xunyin’s figure.

That slender, slender figure, those delicate butterfly-like shoulder blades, her slender waist… he had never forgotten.

Yu Luoyin closed his eyes and felt ridiculous.

Since seeing Bai Xunyin for the first time yesterday evening, his heart rate had been like that of a hypertensive patient rushed into the hospital, unable to calm down. But he had to keep his face indifferent and distant.

And Bai Xunyin was still Bai Xunyin, just as decisive and ruthless as ever, whether it was six years ago or six years later. She always walked away so decisively, leaving no room for illusions.

Refusing to give anyone even a shred of fantasy, that was cruel.

Bai Xunyin took the prescription Yu Luoyin had written for her, bought the medicine as instructed, but the next day she went to another hospital for an IV drip.

She admitted that she was avoiding Yu Luoyin—anyone who said that as long as one’s heart was calm, they wouldn’t fear any entanglements with an ex was lying.

If she didn’t want any connection or ambiguity with her ex, the best way was to avoid any possibility of meeting.

Yu Luoyin was already engaged, they both needed to have some sense of propriety and restraint.

After three days of IV drips, when the sudden cold and fever were almost gone, it was almost the weekend. 

Yu Shitian’s reminders came one after another, his voice sweet and teasing, urging her incessantly, “Sister, don’t forget about our date this weekend.”

The occasion carefully prepared by the young girl for “introducing friends,” to be more accurate, was a blind date.

Bai Xunyin rubbed her temples with a headache, the words of refusal were on the tip of her tongue, but she found it hard to say—actually, she had agreed impulsively at first, and now it was too late to refuse. She felt embarrassed to speak up.

She couldn’t bear to disappoint Yu Shitian, who was so concerned about her.

“Alright.” Bai Xunyin reluctantly agreed. 

“The address?”

“Tonight at six, ‘Wellshore’ on Bayside Road.” Yu Shitian quickly gave the name of a restaurant and couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Sis, dress up nicely, I’m introducing you to a really handsome guy. Don’t stand me up.”

…

Yu Shitian’s occasional ‘straightforwardness’ made it hard for her to handle.

With a wry smile, Bai Xunyin hung up the phone and glanced at herself in the makeup mirror, subconsciously rubbing her face.

Perhaps because of being sick, she had lost some weight these days, her face was pale and meatless, with two big glassy eyeballs hanging on it, looking like a ghost haunting the world.

Bai Xunyin shamelessly belittled herself, then lowered her head to observe the plethora of bottles and jars on Ah Mo’s dressing table. She furrowed her brows lightly, and after a moment’s thought, she decided to put on makeup for herself—for the first time in her life.

Yu Shitian introduced her to the legendary ‘Mr. Hunk’ out of kindness, and even if she wasn’t very interested, she couldn’t directly ruin things, especially since Yu Shitian deliberately told her to dress up nicely.

However, smart people learn quickly, and Bai Xunyin, with her outstanding talent, quickly followed a light makeup tutorial she found by searching online. After finishing the makeup, she looked quite presentable.

Makeup was truly a magical thing, capable of bringing life to her pale and delicate face.

Just before six o’clock in the evening, Bai Xunyin appeared at the Left Bank Restaurant on Bayside Road as agreed.

She was still wearing the dark green dress she had worn to Yu Shitian’s birthday party last time, casually paired with a knit cardigan. 

Unfortunately, she hadn’t had time to buy any other ‘formal’ clothes since returning to Linlan.

The Wellspring was a glass-enclosed revolving Western restaurant on the edge of Bayside Road. Reservations needed to be made a week in advance, with an average cost of 2000 per person. When she arrived at the door, the doorman led her in.

Yu Shitian had reserved a table on the second floor. Following the doorman upstairs, Bai Xunyin looked up and saw Yu Shitian, dressed in a yellow dress, waiting for her.

The youthful and beautiful girl was quite eye-catching, and Yu Shitian quickly spotted Bai Xunyin. 

Her eyes lit up, and she waved eagerly, “Sis, over here!”

Sitting across from her was a man whose upper body was mostly obscured by a column, presumably the legendary ‘Mr. Hunk.’

Bai Xunyin adjusted her lips into a stiff smile and walked over to greet them. 

“Sorry to keep you waiting…”

But halfway through her sentence, her eyes caught on the man sitting opposite Yu Shitian, and she froze.

Bai Xunyin looked almost dumbfounded as she stared at Yu Luoyin, who wore a smirk at the corner of his lips. His black eyes usually showed no emotion, but his expression was clearly one of pleasure.

With his long legs crossed, Yu Luoyin held a coffee cup with slender fingers. Seeing Bai Xunyin, he nodded slightly, almost ‘ignoring’ her.

To Bai Xunyin’s astonishment, Yu Luoyin seemed calm, as if he had expected this all along.

Her mind buzzed loudly, and she turned her head away with difficulty, pretending to look at Yu Shitian as if nothing had happened.

Unfortunately, the young girl’s mind was too naive to detect the ‘hidden currents’ between the two.

“Sis, this is my brother.” 

Yu Shitian just stood up and walked to Yu Luoyin’s side, patting his shoulder with confidence. 

“Isn’t he handsome? If he doesn’t meet my standards, I wouldn’t introduce him to you. Now, seize the opportunity while you can!”