Chapter 39

If there was one thing that Tim Riedel hated it was doing the night shift. Nothing was worse than a hospital at night. Not because of the potential of 'haunted hallways' but because you couldn't afford to be careless and always had to be near the nurse room if an emergency occurred.

Also it was very hard to stay awake. Especially if you worked the day shift the week before like he had to. I need a vacation he thought as he stood before the coffee vending machine, waiting for the plastic cup to be filled.

He ran a hand across his round face and noted that he also needed a shave.

A few seconds later he grabbed the cup and walked towards the entryway of the hospital, taking a sip and wondering how anyone could call this piss coffee.

Tim stopped and looked at the receptionist lady that he tried talking up these past few nights, then shrugged and turned to face the door. It wouldn't hurt to get some fresh air he supposed. Just for a short moment, to clear his head. Maybe that would help him stay awake if the 'coffee' didn't.

As he passed the automatic doors the cool night air hit him directly in the face and he was pretty glad he had something warm to drink right now. Taking another sip from the drink he leaned against the wall and looked around, as if he would spot something of interest at this time of day.

A few minutes and an empty cup later he was about to return back in when something caught his eye. Something that hadn't been there a few seconds ago.

His curiosity getting the better of him he walked over and saw that it was a person lying on the ground, wrapped up in a blanket. He knew immediately that something was wrong and knelt down beside the person to get a better look. He stumbled backward when he saw who was lying there.

"Hitomi!" he exclaimed and noticed that she was in a bad shape. But she was still breathing, very flat though. He checked her pulse and his eyes widened. Damn this wasn't good!

He got back up and ran towards the entrance to get help. "We've got an emergency!"

Leifang's steps echoed through the night as she ran across the street. She had just gotten out of the taxi, having grown impatient with all the waiting on the traffic lights and decided to run the rest of the way on foot. Willing herself to go even faster she remembered the talk from about fifteen minutes ago.

She had been in her apartment, pacing up and down, waiting for an answer from Hitomi when the call came. The Chinese practically jumped over to the phone, picking it up without checking who it was.

"Hitomi!" she had said.

"Leifang..." came the voice from the last person she wanted to talk to right then. Viktor.

"What is it?" she had asked, her thumb already resting on the hang up button.

"It's Hitomi..." he said, his voice lacking any emotion. "She's in hospital."

Leifang had went numb at that. "...What?"

"She's been in an accident or something. I don't know the details. She's in the university hospital."

Back in the present she bit her lower lip and once more quickened her pace. She almost stumbled to the ground as she rounded the corner and the hospital came into view. Finally.

Breathing hard she ran towards it, ignoring the people she almost ran over on her way. Inside she quickly headed over to the receptionist.

"Hitomi Buchfink." she said and placed her hands onto the counter. They were shaking.

"Sorry but the visiting hours are over."

Leifang slammed her hands down hard against the counter. "I'm searching Hitomi Buchfink. I got a call that she was here!" She didn't have time for stupid things like that.

"Leifang." she heard behind her and turned to see Viktor standing there. He looked like he had been ringed right out of bed. Which probably wasn't far from the truth. "Over here."

Not saying anything she let herself be led by him.

"She's still in the operation theater." was the only thing he said as they walked. They stopped in front of a set of double doors. A young man dressed in scrubs was leaning against the wall and the most catchy detail on him was that he was rather big and seriously needed a shave.

"Tim, this is Leifang. Leifang, Tim."

"Hello." she said curtly and leaned against the wall as well, rubbing her hands a little to have their shaking under control.

"Hi."

"He was the one that found her." Viktor explained.

Leifang's head snapped immediately to Tim. "What happened?"

Tim sighed and crossed his arms in front of his chest, his expression grim. "I've seen my fair share of injuries since I'm here. I can tell you that it wasn't an accident. Maybe some mugger?"

"No way." Leifang shook her head. "Hitomi is too good for that."

"I see. But I can tell you she received a sound beating from the way she looked."

"How...bad is it?" Leifang asked in an almost whisper.

"I shouldn't tell you this but Viktor filled me in on your relationship just before you got here." Leifang looked over to Viktor, who simply shrugged at her and she could see in his eyes that he wasn't in the condition to fight with her now. God knew she wasn't either. "She had a stab wound and had already lost a lot of blood. Her pulse was pretty low. So pretty bad...Sorry if that wasn't what you wanted to hear."

"You aren't the one that should be sorry." Leifang's eyes turned downwards. This was her fault, wasn't it? If she hadn't had that fight with Viktor all this might have not happened. She was the only one to blame.

Tim uncrossed his arms. "I really should get back to work. I'll page the doctor in charge of the surgery that you two will be waiting."

And with that he went back the way they had come, leaving Leifang and Viktor alone. The Chinese didn't look at him, instead focusing on the doors. Somewhere behind those was Hitomi, fighting for her life.

Please don't die. She thought. She didn't notice it at first but tears were running down her cheeks. It was only when Viktor handed her a handkerchief that she finally did.

"Thanks." she said. After wiping them off she looked at him and an uncomfortable silence set in. After seconds that seemed like hours he cleared his throat.

"How about we go sit down in the waiting area? We can't do anything anyway. So at least we can sit while waiting." he said.

Leifang turned to look at the doors again, sighed and then nodded. "Yes. Let's sit down."

They walked side by side towards the waiting area and sat down. She looked around the empty room and imagined how it must look like during the day, full of people crammed into this sterile room.

She decided right there that she hated hospitals.

There they were, sitting in absolute silence. It was awkward considering that they weren't really on speaking terms right now and under normal circumstances wouldn't be sitting in the same room.

But these aren't normal circumstances. Leifang thought, her gaze focused on the polished floor.

"I'm going to get something to drink. You want something too?"

"No."

"Alright." he got up from his seat and walked out of the room, leaving Leifang alone with her thoughts. She shouldn't have allowed Hitomi to leave, should have talked with her about it. Then all this might not have happened.

Yes it's your fault that she's lying on a surgery table right now, fighting for her life. She told herself and her vision grew blurry from the new wave of tears threatening to spill from her eyes. It's entirely your fault.

Leifang buried her face in her hands to silence her sobs. She remained that way until she heard Viktor return. Before he entered she used the handkerchief to wipe away the tears once more. If he noticed he didn't say anything as he sat down, taking a sip from his can of soda.

They didn't say anything for the longest time until Leifang just couldn't take it anymore.

"This is all my fault." she said quietly.

"Don't be stupid." Viktor said, shaking his head. "How could this be your fault?"

"Because Hitomi ansd I had a fight over our," she pointed at him then at herself. "disagreement. Called me a hypocrite for keeping it a secret while I always told her not to keep anything from me."

"She's right, you know?" she continued. "I'm a hypocrite. And you're also right in calling me selfish."

Viktor looked at her, not saying a word, but listened to every single one she said, and she was glad for that. She needed to tell this someone. Anyone, really. "When Hitomi and I kissed the first thing that I had been concerned about were my own feelings at the time. I couldn't deal with it, so I ran away, not even paying any mind to what she might have had to say about it. Only weeks later did I realize how much my actions actually might have hurt her feelings. She's my best friend and I simply brushed her off like this because I had my own emotional crisis." she shook her head. "And when I made my decision to do something about it I needed to resolve something else from my past before feeling even remotely ready."

"But the truth is, deep inside, I was still insecure about it." she lifted a hand to hold it on front of her heart. "And still am. Did you know that ever since I got back Hitomi and I haven't kissed even once?" she added with a bitter laugh.

"So you're absolutely right, I'm a selfish person that demands but doesn't give anything in return. Just because of some damn insecurities!" she almost shouted the last part and threw the crumpled up handkerchief across the room. But that short burst of energy quickly dissipated.

"And Hitomi has been nothing but considerate all this time." she closed her eyes. "I'm the worst girlfriend ever."

"Leifang..."

"And now she's here because of my actions. If I hadn't gotten into a fight with you then all this could have been avoided."

Viktor shook his head. "You don't know that. People fight, especially if they care for one another." she sighed and averted his gaze. "Besides, you're not the only one to blame."

"I admit I overreacted over the whole thing, and I can see how you might have thought that I have feelings for her. But it was never like this." he explained. "The reason why I got so mad was that I saw how much it has taken a toll on Hitomi. At first she pretended that everything was fine and dandy, but the cracks were starting to appear soon after. She even got into a fight with her old man of all people."

"And I'm not trying to guilt trip you now but the thing with the lawsuit? She beat those guys up because she was still dealing with the aftermath of your departure. And you're not a fault there, she told me herself that all the anger at the time was only aimed at herself." Leifang looked at Viktor with bloodshot eyes, her expression unreadable. "That's also the reason she didn't want to tell you about the whole thing. Because she didn't want you to feel guilty."

He let out a deep breath. "So you see it's pretty understandable that I reacted the way I did. But I can see that you didn't have it easy either. So I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry. It was stupid of me, really."

Viktor chuckled and shrugged. "Alright, so we're good again?"

Leifang managed a small smile. "Yeah. Let's start over."

"Good, because Hitomi will pull through, and afterward she'll be kicking our ass if we're still arguing."

It was supposed to make her laugh, she knew, but she really didn't feel like laughing right now.

Then something dawned on her.

"How did you get my number anyway?"

"Ah that. Hitomi got hold of me a few weeks ago and gave it to me "'if something happens'" he air quoted.

"Why didn't you just throw it away?"

"I was considering really. But something told me that I should keep it. Good thing I did."

"Yeah."

They fell silent again. But only for a moment when Viktor broke it again.

"Hey?"

"Yes?"

"For what it's worth," he said. "I'm happy for you two."

"Thank you, that means a lot." And she meant it.

With their animosity out of the way the only thing they could do now was waiting.

That's it for now, see you guys next week if isn't down because of updates.