CHAPTER 439: CHAPTER 312: THE ABRUPT END OF THE JOURNEY_2

Doctor Nasu felt relieved seeing his speech was clear.

"You shouldn’t have any major issues going forward. Rest assured, none of the 49 meningioma surgeries I’ve performed have resulted in paralysis or death. Most patients wake up within 24 hours, and after a few days of recuperation, they can be discharged."

Uesugi Sakura: "Thank you, Doctor."

"It’s nothing. You will need further radiology treatment to prevent the remaining tumor from growing in your brain."

"Doctor Nasu, I seem to have been dreaming a lot during this time."

"That’s normal. Dreams are deep brain activities. Signs of awakening often lead to dreams during comas, but most patients don’t remember them upon waking."

Doctor Nasu glanced at his phone to check the time.

"I’m here to check on your condition. If you hadn’t woken up, I planned to conduct another examination. Since you’re awake, that’s great. You’re doing well, so I’ll leave now. I have other patients to see. You’ll stay for observation for a few more days. If there are no issues, you can process your discharge paperwork."

"Did Doctor Nasu personally check in?"

"It’s routine. Doctors must personally assess their patients. By the way, remind your little girlfriend not to stay up late caring for patients. Late nights disrupt hormone balance. Although it doesn’t cause cancer, it can indirectly contribute to it, and hair loss is the most common effect."

"Ah... okay..." Uesugi Sakura realized that Doctor Nasu was referring to Hanamaru Hanabi.

"Young people nowadays really don’t know how to take care of their health. They wear a ’How did this happen?’ expression once they find out they have incurable issues after exams at the hospital."

Shaking his head, Doctor Nasu left the room after finishing his sentence.

Uesugi Sakura felt his chief surgeon was quite straightforward in his actions.

"Yes, yes, Hanabi knows... won’t stay up late anymore."

Shortly after Doctor Nasu left, there was a sound from outside the door.

Uesugi Sakura looked towards the ward door, and a few seconds later, it was pushed open.

"Sakura-kun, Hanabi is here to see... Sakura-kun?!" Hanamaru Hanabi, in a light blue skirt, looked surprised at Uesugi Sakura smiling and waving at her from the hospital bed.

"Sakura-kun is awake?!"

"Yes, I’m awake." Seeing her little face, Uesugi Sakura felt much better, "Who were you talking to just now?"

"Mom and the others." Hanamaru Hanabi was holding a phone with a shark pendant.

She quickly walked up to him, "Sakura-kun, are you okay? Does your head still hurt, should I ask the doctor to come check on you?"

"Slow down, my brain’s just recovering. I can’t process it all at once."

"Ah... sorry, sorry." Hanamaru Hanabi quickly apologized.

"No worries, I wasn’t blaming you. I just said it as a joke seeing you so anxious," Uesugi Sakura said with a smile, looking in good spirits.

Uesugi Sakura noticed she was carrying bags of things, "Put them down first."

"Okay, sure."

Hanamaru Hanabi placed the lunch box and fruits on the bedside table and sat on a stool by the bed.

"This noon, Hanabi went to Meiji Shrine and got a fortune for Sakura-kun."

"What does it say?" Uesugi Sakura looked at her happy little face.

"Middle luck... so Hanabi wanted to come earlier today."

Uesugi Sakura waved his hand, "That’s why getting fortunes is just for thought, no need to fully believe in them. Didn’t I wake up today? What should the fortune have said?"

"Best luck!"

"That’s a bit exaggerated." Uesugi Sakura could tell she was genuinely very happy.

Hanamaru Hanabi quickly took out dinner when previously just having some fruit hadn’t been filling.

"Sakura-kun just woke up... is it okay to eat like this?"

"My brain’s the problem, not my body. It’s fine, I can eat."

That’s one of the reasons.

Another reason is that Uesugi Sakura felt confident in his body’s resilience. Like how he was slightly out of sorts when he first woke up, but soon after, he fully returned to his original state.

Physique 8, strong recovery and adaptability.

Uesugi Sakura took the still warm lunch box from Hanamaru Hanabi’s hands, and upon opening, a familiar aroma wafted out.

Stewed potatoes and meat, vegetable salad, cucumber pieces, ribs, shredded white radish.

Even before he started eating, his mouth was watering from hunger.

Perhaps it was the long absence from eating Hanabi’s cooking that his body began to crave that taste.

He was about to pick up his chopsticks and start eating.

"Sakura-kun... do you want Hanabi to feed you... since you just woke up?"

"Sure." Uesugi Sakura handed the lunch box back to her.

Hanamaru Hanabi held the lunch box with her small hands, picked up a piece of meat, a bit of shredded radish, and rice, and gently fed it to his mouth.

Chewing the food, watching her patient demeanour in front of him.

A full heart of warmth.

She stayed up every night taking care of him... never complaining about it....

Uesugi Sakura could feel her concern for him, or rather... her love all along.

"How did I collapse that day?"

Hanamaru Hanabi gently picked food from the lunch box, "That day... wasn’t Sakura-kun going to help Hanabi and mom take a group photo? Sakura-kun suddenly said your head hurt, then held your head and squatted down, everyone was frightened and hurriedly called an ambulance."

Some discrepancies...?

He had vivid memories of those moments, he felt normal, but in a fleeting moment, Hanabi seemed to vanish from the world... everyone’s memories stayed at when she was 3 years old.

"Do you remember the fire, Hanabi?"

"Fire?"

"When you were three."

"Seems like there was... "

"You weren’t hurt, right?"

"No... Hanabi wasn’t at home then."

Uesugi Sakura savored the food she fed him, tasting the delicious aroma, and his gaze went down, continually touching the engagement ring on his finger.

"Wanna hear about my dream?"

"I dreamt you were gone, just disappeared... entirely vanished in the fire over a decade ago. Mother, Aunt, Aei, Chiaei, none of them remembered you growing up, no photos of you, the whole world had no memory of you except me. I remember your smile, your engagement with me, our every little moment together..."

"Though it might sound cheesy for a man to say this, I want to tell you, Hanabi, that I can’t be without you. I want to live with you, no matter how ordinary, no matter how simple, as long as I can hold your hand, my heart will keep beating.

"I never knew what love felt like, but it was until I met you, Hanabi, that I understood love can be so simple and ordinary, without grand passion, without joys and sorrows.

"Day after day of ordinary life can easily lead to boredom, but when losing your presence entirely, when even the last remaining pieces of information about you disappear, that’s when you realize the common daily life is very precious.

"I’m sorry I didn’t perceive Hanabi’s feelings in the past few days, until Sakisa told me ’Hanabi-chan is very sad,’ that I realized the matter of pretending to be your boyfriend upset you.

"That day we went to Ashikaga Garden for a trip, I originally thought of making Hanabi happy, using the Wisteria flower sea to formally apologize to you, but ended up suddenly getting ill, and troubled you to take care of me again.

"For a week, I knew nothing, but she still stayed up late to take care of me every day, silently accompanying me, even though I had done something to upset her.

"Hanabi, my love for you is not even a tenth of your love for me."

"But even a tenth of Hanabi’s love, that concentration of love is enough to make me honest to you forever."

"I really don’t want to forget your good deeds to me, your love, your image."

"Ask me anything you want, I am willing to tell you. I never want to experience you disappearing again, either in reality or in dreams."

"As your fiancé, I am unqualified."

"I’m sorry, Hanabi, I’m truly sorry."