“Um... are you guys all okay?” Her voice was a thin thread drifting like morning mist.

Tang Coco reclined on the hospital bed, watching three girls by her side, the air heavy like a damp quilt.

“I’m free this afternoon, so of course I’m here to keep Sister Coco company.” Meng Xiaoxiao planted the words like a small flag.

Meng Xiaoxiao had no classes, so she camped in the hospital like a cat curling on a warm sill.

“If she doesn’t leave, I won’t leave.” Li Muyan’s words rooted like two stubborn trees.

She sat in the chair, her gaze a cold blade glinting under a shuttered lamp.

“I have to take care of you.” Her hand held Tang Coco’s like a steady anchor in slow water.

...

Coco ran out of words, silence dropping like a lid, with Li Muyan and Ye Yiyi locked like two wary cranes.

Ye Yiyi tended to her like gentle rain, while Coco sat awkwardly, a sparrow on the edge of a roof.

“Sister Yiyi, maybe... we go home? Here or home, it’s all the same harbor.”

Finally, a small light flicked on in Coco’s head like a firefly under her ribs.

“I don’t know, what if something unexpected happens?” Ye Yiyi’s worry stretched like a thin shadow.

“It’s fine; that old doctor said a few days and I’ll be okay, like a branch slowly mending.”

“Uh...” The sound stalled like a pebble stuck in a stream, and Ye Yiyi’s brow folded like ripples on a pond.

“Besides, look how awkward this is...” Coco lowered her voice, a hush like falling snow, and sent Ye Yiyi a furtive glance.

Ye Yiyi followed that glance toward Li Muyan and Meng Xiaoxiao, her eyes sliding like a compass needle.

“Mm... alright, I’ll go talk with Grandpa Su.” Her decision fell like a pebble, neat and sure.

“Mm.” The reply was a soft hum, a moth’s wing in the dark.

Ye Yiyi rose and drifted out like a light breeze brushing the curtains.

“Hey, you two, cut it out and help me pack.” Coco’s tone chimed like a small bell calling home.

“Me!” Meng Xiaoxiao leapt like a spark flaring off tinder.

“Me!” Li Muyan answered like a second spark catching dry leaves.

...

Coco stared, speechless, and the two whooshed forward like twin swallows, making her jump like a startled deer.

Meng Xiaoxiao flipped the quilt up, fabric floating like a pale cloud.

Li Muyan lifted Coco to sit, combing her hair with hands gentle as a soft brush.

“Hey, hey! Go easy, you two!” Her protest fluttered like a fan in summer heat.

Knock, knock. The door sounded off like knuckles tapping a drum.

Suddenly, knocking rolled through the room like dull thunder behind the door.

“Yiyi’s back?” Hope lit in Coco’s chest like a small lamp in dusk.

She looked toward the doorframe, a picture frame catching light, but it wasn’t Ye Yiyi; it was Lu Kai, the odd-dresser classmate, and his tag-along.

“You?” Her eyes flared like a struck match in the dark.

“Why are you here?” The question fell like cold rain on stone.

Seeing Coco’s stare pinned to the doorway, Meng Xiaoxiao turned, then yelped like a bird startled from a branch.

“I heard Coco was hospitalized, so I came to visit.” Lu Kai wore a smile like lacquer, glossy and thin.

He walked in step by step, his grin pasted on like paper under damp fingers.

“Hey, don’t call Sister Coco like that!” Meng Xiaoxiao’s voice snapped like a twig underfoot.

“Set those there.” Lu Kai flicked a hand like a lazy fan wave toward Li Mao.

Li Mao carried two bags of supplements, the plastic sagging like heavy fruit on a branch.

What’s going on? Coco’s confusion rippled like stirred pond water. How does he know I’m here? Xiaoxiao wouldn’t tell him.

“Hey! I’m talking to you! How did you know this place? You weren’t tailing me, were you?” Xiaoxiao’s eyes pricked like needles.

“Mm... I guessed.” His face stayed smooth as stone in rain.

“Guessed?” Skepticism arched like a drawn eyebrow on a painted mask.

He lied without blinking, a mask nailed tight, but Xiaoxiao wasn’t buying; she stepped forward like a tiger, and Coco stopped her like a gate.

“Xiaoxiao, enough.” Coco’s words tightened like a leash on a restless hound.

“Lu Kai, thank you.” Gratitude warmed her tone like steam rising from tea.

“No need to thank me; it’s what I should do. Coco, are you okay? What illness? I know a foreign specialist here; want me to call him?” His concern spread like a net he tried to throw over her.

He stepped closer to the bed, his gaze drifting over her like greedy fish circling porcelain.

Her pale, tired form lay on the sheets like a porcelain doll, and the sight tugged at him like tide on a small boat.

“N-no, I’m fine. Thanks.” Her voice slid shut like a window pulled down against wind.

Coco felt his stare, abrasive as sand, and filed it away like a dark stroke in a private ledger.

“Don’t thank me! It’s nothing. Coco, you—” His words wagged like a tail eager for attention.

“Who are you?” Li Muyan’s voice cut in like frost across a pond.

His sentence snapped in two, and Li Muyan looked at him with ice-dark eyes like a winter night.

Lu Kai dragged his gaze off Coco like a hook pulled from fabric, and blinked at the new blade in front of him.

“Uh? Beauty, who are you?” His bravado jingled like cheap metal trinkets.

“Bro Kai, looks like she’s Li Muyan.” Li Mao tugged his sleeve, whisper soft as a reed in wind.

“Huh? She’s Li Muyan?” Surprise rose in him like a sudden wave hitting shore.

He muttered, needles of shock pricking under the skin like hidden thorns.

“Hey! Didn’t you hear me?” Li Muyan’s voice cracked like a whip in a hall.

Uninvited guests curdled her mood like sour milk; she’d been chased by boring boys before, and she saw possession in his eyes like hooks.

“Uh... Hello, Senior. I’m Lu Kai, Coco’s classmate. Sorry, didn’t recognize you—my bad.” His smile stuck like glue on damp wood.

“Do you need anything else? If not, leave. Coco needs rest.” Her words shut like a door snicking into its frame.

“I’ll just see if Coco needs anything, if there’s anything I can—” His sentence dragged like mud on shoes.

“Quit dragging your feet. You don’t get to call her ‘Coco.’ Move. Don’t disturb her rest.” Her tone tightened like steel wire pulled taut.

“I...” His voice crumpled like paper in a fist.

“Bro Kai, let’s pull back.” Li Mao’s whisper tugged like a hand on a sleeve.

“Th-then fine. Coco, if you need anything, just ask. Rest well. I’ll head out.” His words trailed like smoke fading in a draft.

“Okay.” Her answer was a small nod, a leaf dipping in quiet water.

She wanted fewer words, so she cut the thread cleanly to hurry him off like trimming loose fringe.

Lu Kai’s sudden appearance put grit in the air like sand in teeth, but Coco was surprised when Xiaoxiao and Li Muyan settled, each minding their own like two cats finding separate windowsills.

Not long after he left, Ye Yiyi returned with the old doctor, footsteps pattering like fresh rain on tiles.

“Sigh... youngsters these days are so hasty, haha.” His laugh rolled like pebbles down a hill.

The old doctor came to Coco’s side like an old pine casting steady shade.

“Come, child, give me your hand.” His voice warmed like broth on a cold day.

Coco nodded and offered her hand, and his fingers rested on her pulse like calm water reading the moon.

“Mm, nothing serious, just slow to mend. Are you sure you want to go home?” His words rang like a measured bell in a temple hall.

“Mm, I’m sure. I feel fine now.” Her certainty sat like a small stone in the palm.

“Alright. I trust your sense. Here’s my contact; if any ‘special’ symptoms appear, call me.” The card in his hand fluttered like a pale leaf.

“Mm, okay. Thank you.” Her gratitude beaded like morning dew on grass.

Coco tucked the card away, the unspoken meaning settling like a seed under loam.

“Haha, alright, pack up, and go easy on her—those bones won’t handle rough hands.” His joke filtered in like sunlight through leaves.

“Hehe, Grandpa Su, you still love your jokes.” Ye Yiyi’s smile curved like a thin crescent moon.

Ye Yiyi laughed and left with the old doctor, two figures gliding like cranes through a doorway.

“Huh? Sister Coco, where are your shoes?” Meng Xiaoxiao’s question popped like a bubble.

“Ah...” Coco’s cheeks flushed like a dawn glow spilling over a ridge.

Her little face reddened in a rush like a ripe apple, the embarrassment hot as a coal in her chest.

“Not under the bed?” Li Muyan’s voice prodded like a stick testing shallow water.

Realizing they hadn’t noticed, Xiaoxiao crouched and checked under the bed, searching like a fox sniffing at roots.

“Um...” The word stuck like rice on the lid, too sticky to shake loose.

It was too embarrassing to say, shame smoldering like a hidden ember in linen.

“Eh? What are you looking for?” Ye Yiyi’s voice slipped in like a breeze pushing the curtain.

She returned to find the two girls foraging like sparrows pecking at the floor.

“Sister Yiyi, hurry! Sister Coco’s shoes are gone—did those two creepy guys steal them?” The accusation flew like a stone skimming across water.

...

...