Shi Nian was shocked to meet face to face with Jiang Jinyan.

She hadn’t been preparing herself for it at all. Thus, when he saw the man’s profile, shrouded under the sunshine with his head lowered, Shi Nian almost tripped and fell if not for Nurse Zhang supporting her from behind. “Are you okay?!”

Shi Nian’s heart thundered in her chest so fast that she heard Nurse Zhang’s question with much difficulty after she repeated it for two more times. She shook her head and smiled, even though her smile looked absolutely stiff and her hands had gone clammy from the cold sweat.

The therapist lifted her head from the notes and saw her standing by the door, her eyes lit up as she approached. “Shi Nian, I’ve been waiting for you!” Seeing Nurse Zhang’s worried face, she inquired with concern. “What’s wrong?”

Shi Nian shook her head, harder.

She patted Nurse Zhang’s hand and gave the worrying woman a comforting smile.

After repeatedly making sure that there’s nothing wrong with her, Nurse Zhang sighed in relief and smiled at the therapist. “Then I will leave her to you.”

“Sure,” Therapist Ma smiled back as she beckoned for Shi Nian to come in. “Come in.”

The psychotherapy room was wide, like a room which was used to train a group of people in dancing. Except there was no huge mirror on one side of the wall. The machine and mechanism inside the room varied, for example Shi Nian had been using the treadmill for the last two consecutive sessions, while there was another patient who looked like they had just started the treatment, trying to move their fingers with the weighted machine like Shi Nian did before.

Thus, even though there were ten or more people in the room, everyone did their own things and no one interfered with each other.

But today, for the first time, Shi Nian saw Jiang Jinyan here.

He looked thin in his patient gown, his hair was longer than the average man, almost reaching his neck, and his skin was pale, very fair, unlike the General’s tan skin which used to kiss the sun and soaked in the bloody war.

He was clutching the handrails on both his sides, trying to advance step by step with only one leg…

“Shi Nian?”

Shi Nian snapped out of her stupor from the call and smiled apologetically.

She walked to the side as usual while the therapist started to operate the treadmill. “You can start stretching your body first.”

Shi Nian nodded absentmindedly, her eyes often straying to the thin figure less than ten meters away.

From such a distance, she could hear their conversation intermittently. “Very good. That’s a great development. Don’t force yourself, you’re already doing very well.” His therapist said while guarding Jiang Jinyan’s side.

Sweat trickled down Jiang Jinyan’s body in a heavy stream and it didn’t take long for his hands to turn slippery. He almost lost his grip on the handrails, but fortunately, the therapist was strong and sturdy as he held onto him and supported him to the bench. “We will wrap it up today. Good work. Meanwhile, you can try to move your legs often to exercise your muscles.”

When he almost fell earlier, from the corner of Jiang Jinyan’s eyes, he caught a figure who rushed forward toward his direction as if wanting to catch him.

He lifted his head and gave the person a glance, only to find a tiny, skinny little girl.

Nowadays, Jiang Jinyan developed a new habit. He always lowered his head, not wanting to look at other people’s eyes. He didn’t want to see the same pity and sympathy he saw in Wei Xiameng’s eyes which was why he had done so.

Thus, he only caught the girl’s silhouette and hastily retracted his gaze away.

“When will I be discharged from the hospital?” He asked hoarsely, eyes darkening with indiscernible light.

The therapist was stunned from the sudden question and smiled sheepishly as he scratched his head. “I have no idea about it either. Who is your main doctor?”

“Doctor Chun Liang and Doctor Yi Shubo.”

“Ah I see. Then you will have to ask them for that. I’m very sorry.”

Jiang Jinyan shook his head. “Then, when can I…use a prosthetic?”

“This—” He smiled softly and said, “Mr. Jiang. Your wound hasn’t dried up completely yet. Using prosthetics hastily will result in inflammation and further injury, thus I recommend that you wait for a while longer.”

Jiang Jinyan pursed his lips hard and spoke no more.

“Shi Nian?” A woman’s gentle voice floated to his ears. “What are you doing there?”

Jiang Jinyan gave a glance and caught the skinny girl’s figure again who hurriedly rushed toward the treadmill nearby. Her movement was dexterous, her gestures agile that it didn’t look like she needed any further therapy. A recovered patient, he thought inwardly.

Jiang Jinyan didn’t know why he paid attention to her. Maybe it was because of her strange name. Who would give their child that kind of name? He mused. Shi Nian[1]. Longing. Ardent yearning. It was quite a peculiar name.

“Do you know Miss Shi?” The therapist’s question brought Jiang Jinyan’s attention away. He shook his head in answer.

“Oh.” The man smiled. “I thought you do, because the girl has been looking your way since just now.”

Jiang Jinyan raised his eyebrows but didn’t give it much thought.

Maybe she hadn’t seen a disabled man before. He thought gloomily. That’s why she gave him a few glances.

“She looks worried and sad.” The therapist smiled in amusement. “Say, is she your fan?”

Jiang Jinyan’s body stiffened. Fan. He never cared about fans before. Even though he knew he had quite a big fan base as a young and fresh athlete who currently attracted attention from a huge range of ages, Jiang Jinyan never thought of himself as a public figure.

The bitterness in his heart deepened. If his so-called fans knew his condition now, would they still want to be his fans?

Similarly, Therapist Ma looked at Shi Nian in confusion and asked. “Do you know Mr. Jiang over there?”

Shi Nian almost lost her balance and fell. She grabbed the treadmill tightly and gave a scrunched up smile that looked worse than crying.

“I noticed that you’ve been stealing glances at him since you entered.”

Shi Nian wanted to bang her head into the wall and fainted. Was she that obvious?!

“You’re so obvious.” The woman answered as if she was a worm in Shi Nian’s stomach. She scooted closer and pressed down the speed on the treadmill much to Shi Nian’s relief. “It’s okay. He’s quite handsome after all.”

Shi Nian gave an awkward laugh and turned all of her focus to running. In the end, she didn’t even realize when Jiang Jinyan left the room. When she stepped down from the treadmill, she couldn’t find him anymore. A faint disappointment bloomed in her heart which made her look gloomy and sad.

Of course, Shi Nian would never know that on that day, Jiang Jinyan had remembered her name and possibly, took notice of her.

[1] Shi Nian’s name has a very similar pronunciation as Si Nian which means longing but hers is a different character.