Footsteps of Spring

立春 [3] / [7]

Hundreds of questions occurred to Alexander. Why does she want to do this? Doesn't everybody think it's so strange that Cynthia let Alexander, who is a man, stay in her own house where she lives alone? How about John? Even though they are divorced, he and John are still friends. What if John discovered his friend is staying with his ex?

But he didn't want to think about that. He would see what would happen next. He made a decision to accept her offer without any objection.

The nurse came to remove his IV, and 30 minutes later, after dressing, and going through a rather lengthy check-out process, and having the nurse pilot him towards the front door in a wheelchair, he got into to Cynthia's car, and they headed off towards her place.

---

He saw Cynthia's apartment for the first time. It had 4 rooms, each not that big, but accommodating, one kitchen and a living room. What he liked most was the balcony, where he could smoke.

"You use the room on the east side. That one's cleaner than the rest of other rooms,"

she explained while showing a room to him.

"Here is the kitchen. I have various kinds of tea, coffee beans, cream, sugar, bread, eggs, etc. you can have whatever you want.”

She raised her head while she arranged things on the table.

"How do you feel?"

she looked back at him.

"I feel like I have no strength in my body at all."

He didn't notice that he felt so weak while he was incessantly taking IVs in the hospital. He sank to his knees on the sofa in the living room. She came near him, and helped him to get up and move to the east room, which he used thereafter.

He laid down on the bed. He could smell fresh citrus fragrance on the sheets. It seemed that the fragrance refreshed his mind. He could still feel the toxic chemical substances floating inside of his body somewhere. He closed his eyes and very soon fell into a deep sleep.

He slept for several hours, but he wasn't sure what time it was. His mind overall was still pretty hazy, and it took him a few minutes to get his bearings and remember exactly where he was. When he left the hospital it was mid-afternoon, around 3:30 p.m, but it was dark outside, and the apartment was quiet. He got up, left the room, and, remembering where the bathroom was, stumbled slowly in the dark towards it. He needed a nice, long shower.

A few minutes later, steam and hot water filled the room, and he leaned against the wall, hot water soothing the sore muscles in his back and neck.

I've been in bed too long, he thought to himself.