I Might Have Fallen in Love With My Childhood Sweetheart
Chapter 244 - 236 Vulnerable

Chapter 244: Chapter 236 Vulnerable

After dinner, Qingran didn’t manage to return the call before she took Xie Ying’an, who was repeatedly running a high fever, to the hospital.

Xie Ying’an didn’t want to go to the hospital, his face full of rejection, but the sick him couldn’t resist Qingran and Li Qing Mo.

Even if he could get past Qingran, Li Qing Mo showed no mercy and pushed him onto the car.

At this time, only emergency care was possible.

With a body temperature of 39.2°, it was a severe fever. They hadn’t been at the hospital for long when the emergency room doctors quickly set him up with an IV.

Hearing about the IV, Xie Ying’an was even more reluctant. From his childhood to now, he always hated hospitals, and getting an IV was even worse.

But as a patient, he couldn’t overrule Qingran, who suddenly became assertive, nor the doctor who had already prepared the medication.

When it was time to insert the needle, Xie Ying’an lying on the hospital bed was reluctant to extend his hand, and Li Qing Mo, leaning on the doorframe, laughed at him: "Xie Ying’an, are you still a three-year-old? Afraid of needles? If this gets out, it would be laughable to death~"

Saying this, he had completely forgotten his own childhood fear of needles.

Xie Ying’an hung his gaze low in silence, his face clearly showing his refusal, looking like a pitiful child.

In the face of this handsome little brother, the nurse was surprisingly patient, comforting him like he was a child, claiming it wouldn’t hurt at all.

It’s not that Xie Ying’an was afraid of pain, he just simply didn’t want the needle.

Stubborn as a mule, the nurse spent a long time trying to calm him down, but he kept his gaze down, unwilling to extend his hand no matter what was said.

Qingran didn’t want to indulge him anymore, she sternly grabbed his arm and forcefully placed his hand in front of the nurse.

Xie Ying’an glanced at her, a flicker of emotion in his eyes, which extinguished when Qingran looked at him, and then he turned his head away in a fit of pique.

Qingran turned and smiled brightly at the nurse: "Go ahead, thank you for your trouble."

Nurse: "..."

Had she been in the hospital for too long? Do girls change their minds that quickly nowadays?

The nurse was quick and efficient, setting up the needle in Xie Ying’an’s hand in under a minute and reminding him not to move around too much before leaving with her medical equipment.

Xie Ying’an was pale, lying in the bed watching the IV drip, not making a sound; due to the long-lasting fever, his lips looked dry and chapped.

After the needle was set, Li Qing Mo mocked Xie Ying’an a bit more before taking out his phone and half-lying on the accompanying bed to play games.

Afraid of disturbing Xie Ying’an, Qingran went over and drew the curtain between them, and the game-engrossed Li Qing Mo didn’t even notice her small action.

Qingran sat by Xie Ying’an’s bed, accompanying him by watching the dripping IV. While watching, she started to doze off.

Tired!

After being tense for a long time, she finally relaxed and felt extremely fatigued, both physically and mentally.

Qingran didn’t know when she fell asleep, only that when she woke up, she was directly facing Xie Ying’an’s dark eyes.

The young man was lying in the hospital bed, turning his head to look at her sleeping on the bed’s edge – he had been watching her for who knows how long, and even when Qingran woke up, he didn’t move his gaze away.

Qingran was a little groggy, and her first reaction upon waking was to check on the IV, which still had one third of the medication left, so she breathed a sigh of relief.

As she got up, she felt something slide off her back, she turned to look, and saw a coat had fallen to the floor.

A man’s coat.

It was the one she had grabbed from her brother to drape over Xie Ying’an when they left the house that day.

People always feel cold when they have a fever, Xie Ying’an hadn’t said he was cold, but when Qingran put the coat on him outside the living room door, he just gave her a glance, his brow and eyes softening a lot.

Qingran didn’t go to pick up the jacket that had fallen to the ground; almost subconsciously, she first checked the hand where Xie Ying’an was receiving the IV.

Sure enough, a little bit of blood had come out from where the needle was inserted, already dried on his arm, but thankfully the needle hadn’t come out of the vein.

Right now, Qingran didn’t want to talk; she turned around, intending to get a cup of water for Xie Ying’an.

Just as she turned, Xie Ying’an pulled on her hand from behind, his hoarse voice tinged with urgency: "Li Qingran, where are you going?"

Qingran frowned, turned her head wanting to shake off his grip, but stopped struggling when she saw the somewhat vulnerable expression on Xie Ying’an’s face.

"I’m going to get you a cup of water," she explained: "Let go of me first."

Xie Ying’an insisted on not letting go: "I’m not thirsty."

Not thirsty then forget it!

Qingran sat down again by the bedside, and looked up seriously at Xie Ying’an, asking him: "Xie Ying’an, do you feel very insecure with me?"

Without waiting for Xie Ying’an to speak, she continued emotionlessly, word by word: "We have a long life ahead of us, and we will meet new friends along the way. Similar incidents will happen, and there might be more than one. I—"

"Li Qingran!" Xie Ying’an interrupted her before she could continue, suddenly letting go of her hand, covering his eyes with his other arm not hooked up to the IV, his tone emotionless: "Give me some time, I..."

I’ll try to change.

It was painful inside, after all.

Qingran’s heart was not at ease either; she didn’t know when it started, but Xie Ying’an’s emotions had begun to influence hers.

But it seemed Xie Ying’an had misunderstood her. She grabbed his hand that had covered his eyes and knelt on one knee on the bed, leaning forward to meet his gaze.

The words she hadn’t finished saying just now, she asked again word by word: "What should I do to make you feel secure?"

Xie Ying’an appeared stunned by her question, looking bewildered, and stared at Qingran without blinking.

After a long while, he finally responded.

A pale smile of extreme joy curved on his lips, and his dark eyes shone with long-missed stars. He suddenly pulled Qingran, who was half-bent over him, close into his embrace with one arm around her slender shoulders.

The girl’s delicate ear was right next to his lips. He slowly closed his eyes, finally just being a human being, and simply said: "This is enough!"

Through the thin layer of clothing, one could hear their rapidly beating hearts.

Worried about affecting Xie Ying’an’s IV bag, Qingran quickly struggled to sit back at the edge of the bed.

Silence was restored in the room again; Qingran got a cup of hot water, and this time Xie Ying’an obediently drank it.

It was unclear who had informed Zhao Yan.

By the time Zhao Yan hurried to the emergency room, there wasn’t much going on that night, and the doctor, who had just strolled over to do the rounds, began to scold her upon learning that she was Xie Ying’an’s mother: "How could you let your child’s fever get this bad before bringing him here? What are you parents doing? Take some time to care about your children’s health, will you?"

Zhao Yan, looking at her son with an IV on the hospital bed, suddenly teared up, not waiting for the doctor’s lectures as she was already blaming herself enough.

Xie Ying’an had always been in good health since he was a child. An intense and persistent fever like this was actually the first time it had happened.

After Zhao Yan arrived, she told Qingran and Li Qingmo to go back first and that she would take care of Xie Ying’an. Since there was no need for hospitalization, they could go home after two bags of saline.

A content Xie Ying’an also cheerfully urged Qingran to go back first. When Zhao Yan wasn’t looking, he whispered to Qingran: "I’ll come to see you tomorrow."

Qingran: "...Okay."

Qingran was indeed very tired, and without much resistance, she took the sleeping Li Qingmo from next door and went back with him.

Perhaps it was because the medication included a sleep aid. After Qingran left, Xie Ying’an also began to feel drowsy.