Nina's lips were moving slightly. John leaned in and put his ear close to her mouth. He heard her calling his name again.
Even though her eyes were still closed, he could not help smiling.
"Wake up, my little girl." He closed his eyes and planted a soft kiss on her brow. A tear escaped from his left eye, ran down to the tip of his nose, and finally dropped on Nina's pale face.
His hot tear seemed to reach Nina in her dreams. Her finger twitched.
"Did you see that? She moved." Surprised and overjoyed, Vicente turned around. "I'll call the doctor."
On her way out, she ran into Leon who was with a nurse.
"Leon, Nina's finger moved just now! And she called...that name." Vicente glanced at the nurse and immediately corrected herself.
When John heard the sound of the door swinging open, he stepped away from Nina and stood aside.
"Her finger moved? And she called out that name?" Leon asked Vicente, still unable to believe it.
Vicente nodded, "Yes, it's true. I saw and heard it myself."
Then, the nurse said, "The doctor says that Princess Nina is not in a vegetative state. She's just sleeping, which means she still can perceive what's going on around her and react accordingly.
It's like when we have dreams. If the temperature is too low, we will feel cold in our dreams and try to find a quilt."
"What? Have we rejoiced too soon?" The smile on Vicente's face gradually disappeared, and she looked a little depressed.
The nurse said softly, "Don't be sad. This is a good thing. We weren't expecting Princess Nina to respond like this given her bizarre condition. This can only mean that she's not far from waking up now. We should introduce more external stimuli to draw out her responses, preferably things and people that she cares about the most."
Vicente turned her gaze at John and said, "She can't even remember what she cares about the most."
"She's a new mother of twins, isn't she? There's nothing stronger than the bond between a mother and her children. Bring her kids to her, and it'll increase her chances of waking up." The nurse walked to Nina's bedside and gently took her hand.
Vicente walked over and asked, "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to draw some blood. We need it to run more tests." With a series of fluid, calculated movements, the nurse grabbed a syringe and carefully prepped Nina's arm.
"Be gentle. She may be asleep, but she still can feel pain." Vicente watched as the nurse caught Nina's vein on the first prick. Bright red blood rushed through the needle and filled up the clear tube. Then, the nurse expertly removed the tourniquet, pulled out the needle, and pressed a clean cotton ball on the injection site.
"Count Nangong, please do me a favor and press the cotton ball on the princess's arm. I have to go take the blood for testing."
"All right." Vicente took the nurse's place and held the cotton ball in place. She also held Nina's cold hand and tried her best to ignore the little blood that had started seeping into the swab.
Leon's eyes never left the nurse. Even if he had already thoroughly investigated every doctor and nurse in charge of taking care of his sister, he still could never be too careful.
"We should get Van and Don here. They should be here for their mother," Leon said, watching the nurse walk away.
Silence once again reigned in the ward, but it was soon broken by a ringing phone.
Vicente took out her phone and stared at the screen. "It's Noah. He must have been trying to reach Nina for the past couple of days. He must be worried sick."
When John heard Noah's name, a hint of coldness flashed through his dark eyes. He glared at Vicente.
When Vicente turned around to answer the phone, she felt a shiver run down her spine.
"Vicente, I've been trying to reach Nina, but she's not answering. Is everything all right? Did something happen to her?"
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