Making Up

“Sorry.”

“I’m sorry.”

The two voices rang out at the same time.

Hua Yu stood at Wei Yin’s bedside with her hands clasped behind her back. There were only the two of them in the ward; Zhao Qi had gone for a checkup, and Hua Yu had taken the opportunity to come see Wei Yin.

Wei Yin had just sat up when she heard the sound. The moment she saw Hua Yu, she blurted out, “I’m sorry.”

They apologized over each other, glaring at one another for two seconds before both looking away and smiling.

“What are you apologizing for?” Hua Yu walked two steps closer, her gaze falling on the stray strands of hair hanging over Wei Yin’s forehead.

Wei Yin gathered up her hair and pulled the blanket aside to sit properly. “I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that before. Dr. Hua has been very good to me, so I should apologize for my attitude.”

Hua Yu sat down in the chair, her hands still behind her back. She thought about Wei Yin’s words for a few seconds. “Then I mean the same thing. I should apologize for my attitude too.”

Wei Yin never hid her feelings well; whenever someone even slightly took care of her, she would look startled and flattered, reacting more slowly than most people, as if she didn’t know how to accept such kindness.

But this apology was crisp and straightforward.

Hua Yu looked at Wei Yin’s flushed cheeks and suddenly felt that the faint, unspeakable frustration in her chest no longer seemed necessary.

Why bother holding it against Wei Yin? She was just that kind of slow, gentle person.

“I checked on that omega. He’s awake now, and his condition is more stable than before.” Hua Yu took one hand out from behind her back. “You ran over there, and I got a little anxious, so my tone was sharp too. To make up for it, I bought you a… little flowerpot.”

A palm-sized flowerpot lay in Hua Yu’s hand, with a tiny succulent planted inside.

Wei Yin had naturally seen succulents before, but never such an adorable one. It had only two layers, each plump and round, packed tightly together like little steamed buns; the green leaves carried a faint pink tint.

“Is this for me?” Wei Yin’s eyes widened. “It’s so cute.”

“Mm, I grew it myself,” Hua Yu said. “I saw that you like going out onto the balcony, and the hospital colors are too plain. I originally thought of bringing you flowers… but a little flowerpot works too.”

Wei Yin nodded repeatedly. “I like this!”

Hua Yu watched her for a while. The joy on Wei Yin’s face was unguarded; it even lifted Hua Yu’s own mood quite a bit.

“And there’s one more.” Hua Yu brought out her other hand, holding another small thing. “This is a Brazilian turtle; it was just born not long ago.”

It was a palm-sized little tub, shaped like a chubby doll, and inside lay a turtle no bigger than two finger joints.

Wei Yin gasped, “Wow!”

With the plant and the turtle, Wei Yin carefully arranged both on her bedside table, moving them from one spot to another over and over, unable to put them down.

At first Hua Yu had planned to buy Wei Yin a few little fish, but then she thought of how the fish might die, and how sad Wei Yin would look clutching the fishbowl, and changed her mind.

On the other side, Wei Yin started rummaging for something. She lifted the pillow and felt around for a while.

Just as Hua Yu was about to step forward and help, Wei Yin handed something over.

That’s right; a handful.

“This is my… apology gift too.” Wei Yin lowered her voice and stuffed it into Hua Yu’s hand.

Hua Yu spread her fingers and looked closely for two seconds before she burst out laughing. “Peppa?”

They were five little pig rings folded from candy wrappers, each in a different color, with their expressions marked by hand using a marker.

Hearing Hua Yu laugh, Wei Yin’s face turned even redder.

It was over; this was too childish. Dr. Hua was probably going to laugh at her.

“I like it very much.” Hua Yu closed her hand and put all the rings away. After less than two seconds, she opened her palm again to look at them, then picked one up and slipped it onto her ring finger.

What was a little flowerpot or a turtle compared with Peppa? Handmade little things like this held the wonder and love for life that adults had long since lost. Who would have thought of using pig rings as an apology gift? Compared with the gift itself, wasn’t the person who made such adorable rings even cuter?

Wei Yin gave a little hehe of laughter. Hua Yu’s fingers were long and fair; even with a cheap candy-wrapper ring on them, they didn’t look bad. On the contrary, the pig design somehow made Hua Yu’s usually aloof, abstinent air dissolve, turning her into something even more, even more… Wei Yin couldn’t find the words. Anyway, this kind of Hua Yu made her want to get closer, including in the physical sense; she wanted to touch her, hug her, that sort of thing.

Realizing what she’d just thought, Wei Yin was startled. She actually wanted to treat Hua Yu the way she’d treat a pillow or stuffed toy.

Hua Yu admired the ring for a while on her own before coughing lightly. “What are you thinking about?”

Wei Yin had been staring at her for two full minutes.

Wei Yin quickly looked away. “This morning… I was getting some air on the balcony, and a lot of doctors and nurses came to see me.”

Hua Yu frowned. “They’re that free?”

Wei Yin shook her head in a hurry. “No, they were just passing by the balcony during work and would look at me once.”

“On purpose, probably,” Hua Yu said mercilessly. “The balcony is at the end of the hallway. Unless they were jumping out the opposite window to commit suicide, they wouldn’t pass by you.”

Wei Yin’s mouth fell open; she was suddenly getting a preliminary sense of just how poisonous Hua Yu’s tongue could be.

Hua Yu was in a pretty good mood and took the initiative to say, “Don’t worry. They’re just curious. You’re not good at socializing, so just ignore them.”

“That doesn’t seem very polite. Yang Cha even brought me pastries.”

Hua Yu raised an eyebrow. “The pastries in the office were all brought over by me.”

“Oh,” Wei Yin said, opening her mouth with that same slow realization. “Then, thank you?”

Hua Yu nodded with excellent acceptance. “You’re welcome.”

After that, the two of them fell silent. This silence was different from the polite quiet when they hadn’t been familiar with each other; it carried more ease and comfort, like soaking in warm water, or like a cheek brushing against a plush toy; soft to the touch.

The atmosphere made Wei Yin go slack and soft too. Her courage swelled, and she couldn’t hold back the little questions in her heart; they were itching to run out.

She struggled to find the right words, but in the end she didn’t manage a proper lead-in and simply asked in a low voice, “Yang Cha asked who I am to Dr. Hua.”

As soon as she said it, a blush spread instantly from her neck to her ears.

Wei Xiaoyin, you really have grown bold; was that the kind of thing you could ask right in front of the person involved?

How was Hua Yu supposed to answer that? How was this any different from chasing after someone and demanding, “What am I to you?” or “What do you take me for?”

Wei Yin was just about to explain herself when she heard Hua Yu laugh.

Hua Yu actually didn’t smile much; that much was obvious from how she treated other people. But aside from the very first time they met, when Wei Yin had tried to run away from the hospital, Hua Yu’s attitude toward her had always been broad-minded and calm.

Still, even smiles were rare.

And today, she had already laughed because of Wei Yin twice.

“I’m also from Q University; you can call me senior.”

Wei Yin’s eyes gradually widened.

When faced with this kind of question, the usual way to deny it would just be to say, “We don’t know each other.” Hua Yu clearly hadn’t denied it directly.

But that word senior was a little hard to read.

There were so many students who graduated from Q University. Technically, each one could be called senior, but what that seniority meant was another matter.

Wei Yin, who usually had a slow mind, quietly gave herself a point for instantly understanding Hua Yu’s linguistic artistry.

“Did we know each other before?” Wei Yin was a little troubled. She knew she had lost her university memories. Relying on the group chats, private messages, diary entries, and photos on her phone, she had managed to piece together most of her college life, but she truly hadn’t seen Hua Yu’s face anywhere.

If she and Hua Yu had really had some connection, then forgetting it like this would be such a loss.

Hua Yu didn’t miss the obvious change in Wei Yin’s expression; it left her feeling rather unsettled.

If Wei Yin recovered her memory, they might not necessarily still be able to talk so calmly. The favorable impression Wei Yin had of her now was only a hazy illusion.

“We probably met,” Hua Yu said lightly. “The relationship wasn’t close, and we didn’t have much contact.” She had no intention of “reuniting” with her, and there was nothing much worth reuniting over in their past anyway. “If I were really good friends with you, you definitely wouldn’t have become like this.”

A trace of regret flashed through Wei Yin’s eyes. The answer she’d hoped for didn’t appear; still, that was within expectations.

She didn’t ask further and said softly, “Mm. If someone as good as Dr. Hua could be my friend, I’d definitely be taken very good care of.”

Hua Yu rubbed her fingertips together and lowered her gaze uncomfortably, suddenly feeling that she was being a little too much; for some reason, she also felt a little disappointed. Where exactly had that hope come from…