#Chapter 116: Recovering

When Erbao's eyes flicker open, my heart races with joy. The first thing he takes in is me sitting next to him as I smooth his hair, then his eyes widen as he spots Kadeem sitting in the corner of the room. "You're here," he croaks excitedly. Kadeem smiles broadly and brings his chair over to the other side of Erbao's bed. "I'm here," he says, warmly. "It's so good to see you awake." And it truly is a beautiful sight. Kadeem's beta meets him in the lobby with our essentials and I'm ecstatic to have a change of clothes and a toothbrush in my possession. In between vitals and the physician rounds, we talk through what happened while Erbao was unconscious, doing our best to explain it all clearly, but as gently as we can. Thankfully, all the doctors and nurses are very kind to him, especially Dr. Nguyen, Erbao's nephrologist. Dr. Nguyen looks like he can't be more than 20. Obviously, he's not - Doogie Howser-esque possibilities aside - but there's certainly a youth about him