Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 07:38:09 +0800
From: Johnny Kape <johnny.kape@gmail.com>
Subject: Love Needs Learning, Chapter 2

Before this chapter:

This story, well, is _NOT_ a pure fiction.  Some parts of this story, some
words spoken by the characters, even some places in this story were true.
They are parts of my childhood memory.  However, all the names, and all the
sex descriptions and actions were made up.  Hope you like this story.

Again, I wrote this story in my own language first, then tried to translate
into English.  Great thanks to Matthew Templar, who helped me with my
English, and helped me walk through a hard time during the days I wrote
this story.  I don't know how to show my appreciation to him, so I can just
say "thank you, Matt".  I recommend everyone to read his stories,
especially 'One Gift To Give', which I like very much.  He and his stories
are listed in the prolific writer list of Nifty, except his new story
'Julian and Roman', which was just done a few days ago.

All story writers like to receive your feedback, and I am no exception.
I'd love to hear from you about your thoughts, comments and criticisms.
I'll answer all emails.  Thank you.

-- Johnny Kape <johnny.kape@gmail.com>


Love Needs Learning -- Chapter 2


I walked a long way from the hospital back to the building where I worked
to get my motorcycle.  Fu saw me, and he ran out of the guard room.

"How about the boy?" he asked.

"I don't know.  The police said that he would survive."

"You must be exhausted.  Now go home and sleep.  Beware on your way home."
he patted my shoulder.

I went back to the studio apartment I rented.  I lay down on my bed without
taking off my clothes and fell asleep almost immediately.  When I got up it
was about noon.

While taking only toast as my brunch, I kept thinking about the boy.  The
remaining duties all that week were at night, which would start at 12
o'clock midnight.  I decided to go to see the boy in the evening, before
going to work.

I had nothing to do.  I had no money to buy a computer, or even a TV.  I
turned on my CD walkman to listen to some classical music.  I selected a
book to read.  I flipped through the book back and forth, but couldn't
concentrate on it.  The words in the book became a lot of nonsensical
symbols to me.  The music was just going into my right ear and escaping out
from my left ear.  However, the boy's hand, drenched with blood, kept
showing up in front of my mind's eyes.

I decided to go out jogging.  I put on a T-shirt and shorts, and jogged
along the street.  It was lunchtime, and there were many small boys and
girls who just ended their day in the school, walking and playing in the
street.  I slowed down and watched them playing and laughing.  However,
soon the boy's painful face came back again in my mind.  I almost screamed,
but did my best to hold it back.  I started jogging again.  I ran away from
the street, toward the outskirts, and almost ran to the small fishing port
beside the city.

I walked back toward my apartment slowly, and was surprised that I had
jogged for such a long way.  When I got home, it was almost 5 o'clock.  I
took a shower and then I rode my motorcycle to the hospital.

It was a big hospital.  The night before I got there with the ambulance and
stayed at the emergency room only.  The next day I came there again, alone,
and found that the whole hospital was just like a labyrinth.  I spent quite
some time just trying to find where the information desk was.  When I was
about to ask where the boy's ward was, I found that I didn't even know the
boy's name.

I was standing there without knowing what to do.  Then I screwed up my
courage to ask the girl sitting at the desk.

"Excuse me, I want to find a boy, who was sent to this hospital last
night."

"What is his name?"

"Uh... I don't know.  I just know that his last name is Don.  About ten
years old."

The girl looked at me interestingly.  "Do you know why he was sent here?"

"He slashed his wrist last night."

The girl nodded.  "The surgical ward is on the 6th floor.  You can ask
there."

I thanked her.  It took me some more time to find the elevator.  Finally I
came to the surgical ward.

When I had just stepped into the surgical ward, I heard a man roaring.

"Shit!  Do you know how old you are?  Do you think it very funny, huh?  Do
you know how much you made me ashamed of you?"

I stopped there to see what happened.  A middle-aged man, in a full
business suit, ran out of a room furiously.  He passed me without taking a
glance at me.

I watched his back.  He ran so fast that he disappeared immediately.  Then
I turned back and went to the nursing station.  A nurse raised her head to
look at me.

"Excuse me, I want to see the boy who slashed his wrist and was sent here
hospital last night.  His last name is Don."

The nurse watched me for a while and asked, "Who are you?  What's your
relation to the boy?"

"Well, hmm, my last name is Mai, and I came with him here last night."

"Oh," the nurse nodded.  "he just woke up.  But..."

"But what?"

The nurse pointed to the room which the furious man just ran out of.  "You
saw that, I suppose."

I stuck my tongue out.  "Is the man his daddy?"

The nurse nodded, and sighed deeply.  "Yeah, and it's his third time to try
to commit suicide."

"The third time?"  This time I didn't need to stick my tongue out, because
my chin had dropped to my chest.  "Why?"

"Well, actually he is a good and cute boy, but his father put a lot of
pressure on him."

"How about his mom?"

"His mom passed away because of complications when giving birth to him.
That's probably one of the reasons why his dad was mean to him."

"Oh."

"Go and see him.  Give him some support and comfort.  He is a lonely boy,
and he doesn't have many relatives and friends.  It's good that you have
come to see him."

I nodded, and walked into the room.  It was a small single room.  A small
sofa and a small refrigerator were put against the wall.  A TV was hanging
on the wall.  The boy was lying on the bed.  His left wrist was bandaged,
and his right hand was connected to what must have been an intravenous
feed.  His eyes were closed, but tears were still escaping from his closed
eyes.

I took a chair and sat beside him.  "Are you okay?" I asked softly.

The boy didn't answer me.  His eyes were still closed.

"You may not know me.  I found you on the roof last night."

The boy opened his eyes.  He looked at me.  In his eyes, I saw a bit of
hatred and a lot of sorrow.

"Hmm... how do you feel now?"  I didn't know what to say, so I could only
ask some stupid questions.

The boy still didn't answer me immediately.  He looked at me sadly.  After
a long pause, he finally said, "Why... why did you save me?"

"Why did I save you?"  I scratched my head.  "Well, I just found you when
patrolling.  If I hadn't saved you, I would have never forgiven myself all
my life."

The boy closed his eyes again.  Another tear flowed from his eye to the
pillow.

"What on earth happened?  What made you give up your hope?  The nurse told
me that it's not your first time to try to commit suicide."  I asked, still
softly.  No answer.

"Do you really feel so sad?  Is there any problem that you couldn't solve?"

Still no answer.  Another long pause, then he said with his tiny voice,
"You don't understand... Nobody will..."

I looked at him compassionately, then I patted his head.  "All right.
Don't think that much, okay?  Have a good sleep.  I'm the guard of your
building.  You can come to talk to me anytime, when you feel depressed."

The boy still didn't answer.

I stood up, and said, "I have to go.  I'm on night duty today, and I have
to go home to prepare for it.  I'll come back to see you tomorrow morning
when I'm off duty.  Okay?"

I waited there for nearly a minute, and the boy opened his eyes finally.
He looked at me, and nodded slightly.  I closed the door as I left his
room.


-- To be continued