The Inconceivable Flame: A Fallen Angel“s Disguise

*Flashback Continues*

"Do you think he’ll live through this?" Ji Syaoran questioned Xiao Zhi Ren while they waited outside the operation theatre. Using their family’s name, they managed to arrange the best doctors available but they still felt uneasy.

"She’ll live. She seems determined to live." Xiao Zhi Ren stated softly while his eyes were stuck on his own hands which still were stained with her blood.

"She?" Ji Syaoran’s ears perked up like a curious cat.

"Yeah. She. When I was pressing on her chest wound that’s when I realized it." Xiao Zhi Ren’s voice turned even softer as he explained while Ji Syaoran stared at him dumbfoundedly. Because she was covered in blood and mud, he really couldn’t tell the gender. But seeing the persistence, he assumed that it was a man. But boy, was he wrong!

The silence grew thicker between them as none of them dared to utter a word anymore.

Thinking about something, Xiao Zhi Ren turned to Ji Syaoran and said, "What are you doing? Go and block the news of this. No one should know that we brought a patient here. Not even the Ji Family."

"But why? Telling home might bring more chances of her survival." Ji Syaoran argued.

"Duffer! She was attacked. Do you think if the news of her being rescued got out, she’ll be safe? Those people who tried to kill her might come back to hunt her."

Ji Syaoran understood his brother’s intention and left the hospital to clean up the mess. He strictly ordered his personal security team to seal their mouths. But all this while, Ji Syaoran’s mind was wondering how relentlessly the girl was fighting for her life.

While Xiao Zhi Ren’s thoughts weren’t much different either. He had never met anyone so desperate to live before in his life. She seemed like a person who was not ready to give up. Or more like she couldn’t give up. She needed to live but if she was willing to endure this much pain... Then what was she enduring it all for?

"How is she?" Both brothers ran to the doctors who came out of the operation theatre after a whole night.

The doctors shared a look before one of them started talking, "The patient has three broken ribs, plenty of minor wounds, a bullet that was shot at her heart, plenty but luckily she has dextrocardia." Feeling that he was using medical jargons, he changed his words, "It means her heart is facing the right side. The bullet passed right by her heart. So, no major damage was done there. But the bleeding has cost her to lose a lot of blood."

"What else?" Xiao Zhi Ren asked knowing it wasn’t the end of it.

"She has a brain injury from being hit with something hard that caused increased pressure within her skull. It has caused her optic nerve damage. We can’t be sure but from the looks of it, she might never be able to see again." Ji Syaoran took a sharp intake of cold breath. "Her knees had also sustained injuries by being hit with seemingly a metal pole perhaps. But that also means she has very slim chances of walking again."

"How is she alive?" Ji Syaoran had asked the question to particularly no one but he did get an answer.

"To be honest, her survival seems like a miracle. Her sheer will has pulled her through." The doctor stated while the others nodded along.

"She’s persistent." Ji Syaoran remarked.

"Or maybe, she’s just a stubborn soul." Xiao Zhi Ren jutted in with a sorrowful tone.

He could still hear that faint voice echoing in his mind repeatedly. ’Save me...’ They were simply two words but they held an immense determination that didn’t seem to waver before the death. But he was thinking about whether mere surviving was really worth it for her? Wouldn’t living like this feel worse than death?