Try Again chapter 3
Can You Come?
After taking the iced lemon tea the shop assistant handed him, Jiang Lin walked toward the boardwalk entrance.
The wind by the sea was strong, making his hair under the cap fly uncontrollably. After walking a short distance, large droplets of water formed on the cup of iced lemon tea. Staring at the sweet drink, Jiang Lin hesitated before biting down on the straw.
His stomach was sensitive, and he usually avoided cold drinks, but he was in a bad mood. Plus, he had downed half a dozen beers the night before without issue, so he took a big sip without worrying.
The ice cubes clinked together as they jostled in the cup, and the cold liquid slid down his throat, quickly cooling him off and soothing his restlessness.
The iced lemon tea was made in an authentic Hong Kong style—its perfect balance of sweet and sour left a subtle bitterness, reminding him of the tea Lu Zhe used to make for him. Realizing today was Lu Zhe’s return day to the country, he pulled out his phone and messaged, [What time do you arrive in Hong Kong?]
Swiping left to exit the screen, his eyes fell on the pinned contact at the top of his chat list. He zoned out for a moment, then opened Ji Minglun’s chat window and looked at the timestamp of their last message.
Fourteen months had passed.
For fourteen months, they hadn’t spoken a word to each other—until today.
Even though Ji Minglun had been cold, Jiang Lin could completely understand his feelings. After all, he hadn’t given Ji Minglun any chance to explain back then. No matter how many calls Ji Minglun made, or how many times he showed up at Jiang Lin’s door, Jiang Lin had avoided him, even blocking him on WeChat.
If Ji Minglun had done that to him, Jiang Lin probably would have reacted even worse.
Before he could fully process his emotions, his thoughts were once again disrupted by the two boys who had been with Ji Minglun.
Ji Minglun hadn’t been the type to fool around before. Could he have changed in the past year?
Opening Chen Nidan’s WeChat, Jiang Lin sent a voice message asking about the boy with the baby face. Chen Nidan quickly replied, saying the boy was probably from the school’s basketball team and a history major, and he had a girlfriend.
Jiang Lin then asked about the long-haired boy, but Chen Nidan didn’t remember anyone like that and asked Jiang Lin to describe him in more detail.
But Jiang Lin hadn’t gotten a good look at his face either. Last night in the car, the person had been wearing a black hoodie, and Jiang Lin had thought it was a girl. It was only earlier that he realized the person was male. Although the boy had been wearing a mask, covering his mouth and nose, he still seemed oddly familiar.
Air entered the straw, making a “sizzling” sound, and Jiang Lin came back to his senses to realize that his iced lemon tea had unknowingly been finished.
He set the empty cup down, thinking he’d throw it away when he left. As he raised his arm, a familiar sharp pain surged through him.
Frowning, he clenched his left hand into a fist and pressed it against the spot just below his chest.
This year, studying in Los Angeles, the pressure of his studies often left him skipping meals, and his stomach had started acting up more frequently. Fortunately, he later met his current roommate, Lu Zhe, a kitchen whiz who cooked up different dishes daily, slowly helping him nurse his stomach back to health.
Bowing his head, he endured the pain, but it only intensified. Sitting there wasn’t helping, so he got up and headed back to his car. However, he soon slowed down, his steps faltering, and before long, he was hunched over, gripping the wooden boardwalk, struggling to catch his breath.
It was nearing noon, and the scorching sun was searing his skin, quickly causing him to break out in a sweat. Clenching his teeth, he continued walking, but by the time he reached the parking lot, even taking another step felt like an effort.
He hadn’t experienced such a severe episode in almost half a year and was beginning to regret his earlier stubbornness. Wiping away the sweat dripping down his forehead, he realized he wasn’t in any condition to drive. He headed toward the street and finally flagged down an empty taxi amidst the sparse traffic.
When the driver heard he was headed to the nearest hospital, he turned to see Jiang Lin’s pale, sweat-drenched face and worried he might collapse in the car. Jiang Lin weakly explained that it was just his recurring stomach problems, and only then did the driver step on the gas, rushing him to the hospital.
By the time he stepped into the emergency room of the First Hospital, Jiang Lin was in so much pain that he could barely stand. Fortunately, his experience with medical visits allowed him to concisely describe his symptoms and medical history to the nurse. The nurse supported him to the triage desk, took his blood pressure, and called a doctor to examine him.
The doctor ordered several tests, learning that Jiang Lin hadn’t fully adjusted to the time zone, had drunk a large iced lemon tea on an empty stomach that morning, and had been exposed to the sun on his way over. The doctor diagnosed him with acute gastritis, prescribed medication, and ordered an IV drip.
A nurse came in, took the prescription, and helped him to the desk for ID registration. When he reached for his wallet, he realized he’d left his chest bag in the car.
Finding out he hadn’t brought any identification, the nurse said she could go ahead with the medication but insisted he get a friend or family member to bring his ID. Jiang Lin sat on a row of chairs by the wall, the pain making him feel as though his nerves might snap. Meanwhile, an image of Ji Minglun became clearer in his mind, reminding him of how, in the past, Ji Minglun had always been by his side during hospital visits.
Feelings of regret, guilt, and longing swirled in his chest. After struggling for a while, he pulled out his phone.
【I’m getting an IV at the ER, but I left my ID in the car. Do you have time to help me grab it?】
Jiang Lin edited this message three times, his weak fingers frequently pressing the wrong keys. After several minutes of typing and erasing, he finally pressed send.
When the message was successfully sent, he stared anxiously at the screen, relieved that no red exclamation mark appeared indicating that he had been blocked.
He subconsciously let out a breath of relief and endured another wave of pain. His fingers, gripping the phone, turned white, and each second after sending the message felt agonizing. His thoughts involuntarily wandered to how Ji Minglun would react upon seeing it.
The burning sensation in his stomach, coupled with his emotional turmoil, started to spiral out of control, even causing pain in his lower abdomen. He couldn’t hold out much longer and thought of calling the nurse for painkillers. Just then, his watch vibrated. Lifting his arm, he saw it was a WeChat notification from Ji Minglun.
Without even unlocking his phone, he tapped on the message.
The screen displayed a single line: 【Which emergency room?】
“Something urgent?”
The voice beside him interrupted Ji Minglun’s thoughts. He put his phone down, his gaze lingering briefly on the temporary parking sign about a hundred meters ahead. He turned to the person next to him and said, “A friend’s in trouble. I need to go over. You can take a cab back.”
“Alright,” Su Yan replied without hesitation. “You can drop me off. I was planning to stop by the supermarket anyway.”
Su Yan’s temperature had already dropped to 37.8°C after the IV, and he was feeling better. Ji Minglun parked ahead and let him out, reminding him to call if he needed anything.
Su Yan waved and smiled, “You’re just as fussy as him. Go on already.”
After closing the window, Ji Minglun made a U-turn at the intersection and returned to the hospital in under ten minutes.
Su Yan had just finished his infusion at the outpatient clinic, and now Jiang Lin was in the ER. Ji Minglun parked his car and walked toward the emergency building. As soon as he entered the IV room, he spotted Jiang Lin sitting in the corner, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, resting.
The emergency IV room was crowded with patients, and after just a moment at the door, Ji Minglun’s arm had already been bumped twice.
The second person to bump him was a middle-aged woman who seemed annoyed by his tall frame blocking the entrance, muttering something under her breath. Ji Minglun remained unmoved, his eyes fixed on that familiar figure.
Accompanying Jiang Lin to the ER used to be second nature to him. Both of them came from families that were complicated, to say the least. Despite growing up with every material comfort, they lacked the emotional presence of their parents.
He couldn’t even remember the first time he had accompanied Jiang Lin to the ER, just that they were around eleven or twelve years old. Jiang Lin’s mother had been rushed to the emergency room by ambulance, and while most kids would watch from the sidelines as adults dealt with everything, the two of them were running around, following medical staff’s instructions to pay bills and sign documents.
That night, the doctor issued two critical condition notices. Jiang Lin’s hands were trembling with worry, yet he stubbornly didn’t shed a single tear. When Ji Minglun asked if they should inform Jiang Jianchen, Jiang Lin kicked the wall in fury.
Later, Ji Minglun held him in his arms, comforting him. Leaning on Ji Minglun’s shoulder, Jiang Lin finally spoke after a long silence.
“Why couldn’t it be Jiang Jianchen with cancer?”
The memory flashed through Ji Minglun’s mind like a long-wilted rose, no longer fit to be shown to others. He took a step forward, stopping next to Jiang Lin, and glanced at the hand resting on the armrest.
The IV needle was fixed to the pale back of the hand, with a few thin veins slightly swollen due to the infusion. The skin near the nails of the index and middle fingers had a slightly reddish hue, and there were a dozen or so small blisters the size of sesame seeds, not very noticeable.
As his gaze lingered on those tiny blisters, unable to discern what they were, the owner of the fingers curled them slightly, hiding them from view.
Ji Minglun turned his face and met Jiang Lin’s eyes.
Not allowing himself to focus on the excessive paleness of Jiang Lin’s face, Ji Minglun straightened up and said lightly, “Why are you here in the emergency room again?”
“Got gastritis again.”
Jiang Lin’s gaze followed Ji Minglun, the two of them now in a position where one was looking down and the other up.
Ji Minglun’s face showed no emotion, and just as he hoped Ji Minglun would say something caring, that person reached out to him: “Give me the car keys.”
The car keys were in Jiang Lin’s left pants pocket. He was infusing with his left hand and reached out with his right to get them, but the pocket was too deep, and he couldn’t manage the awkward position. He had to tell Ji Minglun, “Could you get them for me?”
Glancing at him, Ji Minglun bent down, reached into his pocket, and felt around his thigh until he found the car keys.
Jiang Lin watched Ji Minglun’s actions. Even in the bustling emergency infusion room, and despite it being a perfectly normal act of retrieving keys, his mind inappropriately drifted to some intimate dreams related to the person before him.
But before he could indulge in those thoughts, Ji Minglun withdrew his hand and turned to leave.