Jin sneaked back into the hospital and managed to get two hours of sleep before waking up. He filled in so paperwork at the hospital and bought so snacks for breakfast from there as he waited for the police to arrive.
By eight in the morning, the police arrived and asked a few details about the accident. After noting it all down, they left. Jin called his insurance agent and inford him about the situation.
With all that done, Jin finally left the hospital. He had just exited the hospital building when he suddenly thought of sothing.
The next mont, he brought out his phone and took a selfie of himself with the hospital building visible behind him.
.....
Diana was unable to sleep after returning ho. Frustrated, she tossed around in her bed until the early rays of the sun intruded through her windows.
Sensing her surroundings brightening, she opened her eyes only to see the morning light filling her room with frustration.
It was half past six in the morning. Normally, she woke up at eight and went to work by nine, but today her whole schedule was a ss, all thanks to Jin.
’Since I’m up early, I’ll go and check up on Dad a bit.’ With this thought, she soon freshened up, got ready, and left for the nursing ho, which was less than half an hour from her place.
Wishing the nurse, she made her way towards her father’s room. A few months ago, her father was able to rember her at least four out of ten tis, but nowadays that number had shrunk to one in ten tis.
This was a clear indication that her father was getting closer to his limits. Every day, she had to co face to face with this truth and still keep a smile on her face in front of her dad, whether he recognised her or not. She felt that having a smile on her face was the least she could do for him.
As her steps reached closer and closer to his room, her heart grew heavier, while her cheeks contracted, and a wide smile beca apparent on her face.
Turning the knob, she soon entered the door and saw her father sitting on the bed. He had his palms facing him and fingers tightly stretched as he looked at them with a surprised expression on his face.
When Diana noticed this, a frown appeared on her face as she asked in a concerned manner, "Is there a matter, Dad?"
"Diana... this!" Mr. Johan looked at her in excitent and then brought his attention back to his hands. His hands were trembling because of how emotionally charged he was feeling right now.
Although surprised that he was able to recognise her in a single glance, she still asked in a concerned tone, "What’s the matter, Dad?" and walked next to him.
"I-I’m able to count my fingers, Diana!... I’m able to count them without forgetting the numbers!" he exclaid in joy.
He had developed this habit of counting his fingers long ago to keep his ntal state in check. However, over ti, this habit disappeared. To see her father doing sothing he hadn’t done in a long while, she imdiately grew worried and started asking him several questions.
"Dad, what’s your full na?" she asked hurriedly.
"It’s Johan Woods... why do you ask?" he asked in confusion.
"Just keep answering my questions. What is your date of birth?" she asked next.
"It’s..." he squinted his eyes, "...I’m unable to recall," he answered.
"My birthday?"
"8th October," he answered imdiately.
"Your favourite sport?"
"Uhmm..." he struggled once again and was unable to recall.
Diana kept asking several questions, and it was only after hearing his response to around twenty answers that she breathed a sigh of relief.
How could she not know what terminal lucidity was? It was the imdiate thought that entered her mind when she noticed the changes in her father’s behaviour. However, now that she had ruled that out, relief welled up inside her mind, which soon turned to curiosity.
"Dad... did sothing happen last night?" She couldn’t help but ask. Alzheir’s was a mysterious disease, and she had never heard of a case of soone getting better all of a sudden in the last stages of the disease.
"Hmmm... there was quite a vivid dream I had last night," Mr. Johan said with a thought.
"Oh? What was it about?" Diana couldn’t help but ask.
"Jin... he had co to visit here, and I had talked with him for almost an hour. I don’t rember what we talked about, but my heart felt at ease while I was talking with him, and a sense of gratefulness was also there in ..." he tried to recollect what he could rember.
Hearing him, Diana couldn’t help but narrow her gaze in confusion. "Jin ca in your dream?"
"Yes... I felt quite relieved when I saw him... on that note, it’s been a while since I last saw Jin. Is he back from his foreign trip?" Mr. Johan asked suddenly.
"...Oh, that, no, he’s not back yet. You know how tedious it is to make a film, so he must be very busy," Diana imdiately thought of an excuse.
"That’s true... it’s a pity. I feel like spending so ti with him. With how sharp I’m feeling suddenly, I might even be able to play a ga of chess with him," he chuckled in an unrestrained manner.
Seeing her dad’s cheery expression, Diana couldn’t help but feel glad in her heart. She conversed with him for a few more minutes, helped him freshen up, and soon shared a hearty breakfast with him after a long ti.
"Bye, Dad, I’m going to work now."
At quarter past eight, Diana bid her father goodbye and left the nursing ho. A subtle smile could be seen on her lips, which was a rarity these days as she made her way towards her scooter.
Buzz
She took out her phone to check the text notification, and a frown appeared on her face.
’I’ve been discharged from the hospital,’ the text read, and below it was a picture of Jin standing in front of the hospital.
Diana was about to block him, but she rembered her father’s words all of a sudden and changed her mind.
"I’ll just ignore him," she snorted and left Jin’s text on seen. A while later, she left for her office on the scooter.
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