A Billion Dollar Exchange

Mr. Fang's chest was rising and falling heavily. He could not believe that all these happened while he was sleeping. 

''Thank goodness he was not in that plane; I don't know how my frail heart would have taken the news. We'll go pick him up at the airport tomorrow. Now, you need to rest. Goodnight Da Xia.''

''Goodnight father. ''

Da Xia was so happy that Mr. Fang agreed to go pick up Liu Wei from the airport; she twirled around on the bed happily since she would get a chance to chat with him. Feeling great, she closed her eyes and drifted to sleep.

…

''Wang Feng, I'll be returning to China now, handle anything you can with the client.''

Arriving at the airport, Liu Wei phoned Wang Feng instructing him on what to do. Wang Feng, who was woken up from sleep by the ringing of his phone, looked at the wall clock and was surprised to see that it was past eleven in the night. He rubbed his face twice to check if he was dreaming; it was when Liu Wei called his name again that he realized that it was not a dream. He wondered if there was an emergency to have prompted his boss to return that night.

He wanted to ask but on a second thought decided not to. For him, to return that late meant that there was an emergency.

''Yes, Boss. But he insisted that he wanted to meet with you…''

''Meet with him, tell him there was an emergency, if he continues to insist, tell him to meet me in Beijing, if he refuses, call off the deal.'' 

''Yes, Boss.''

''Good, e-mail the details of the meeting and return once you're done.''

''Alright, Boss.''

Liu Wei checked in immediately and by twelve o'clock he was already seated in the plane going back to China. All through the trip back, he was not relaxed one bit, he wished he could fly back to China in just thirty minutes but it was not possible, he had to deal with the anxiety and panic as he waited patiently in the plane.

…

Liu Wei…

Liu Wei… Liu…

Liling clutched her pillows tightly as she whispered in pain. She rolled from one end of the bed to the other with a deep frown on her face, after a few minutes, her eyes fluttered open. She was quiet for a minute looking around her surroundings.

It took her a while to realize that she was in a hospital ward. No-one was in the room at the moment, only the sound of the heater was heard. Liling tried to sit upright on the bed, but she received a piercing pain on her right hand. Her eyes immediately looked down on her hand to see that there was a clinic watch on her arm.

She was about to touch it, when the door flung open and Xin Yong walked inside looking unhappy. Her worried face instantly brightened as her eyes met the figure on the bed.

''Liling! Oh my God, Liling you're awake! Liling, Liu Wei is not dead, he's not dead! He's coming back today.''

Xin Yong, who had dashed with the speed of light to where Liling was, continued screaming. She wanted to explain everything immediately but she was soon out of breath. She sat down beside Liling and breathed slowly.

Liling watched her with a frown on her forehead. She blinked severally as she remembered the events of the previous night.

''He's not dead?''

''No, he's not…''

''Where is he?''

Xin Yong looked at the wall clock in the hospital ward and immediately exclaimed.

''Oh my! This is past one, he should be at the airport by 2pm, the plane arrives by two, let me go call Jin Yue…''

''He's not dead?''

Xin Yong who was about standing up from the bed heard Liling's question again. She turned to look at her and realized that she was almost at the brink of tears. Sighing, she sat down back on the bed and explained what happened in details.

''Liling, Liu Wei was not in the plane that crashed. He called Jin Yue last night, to inquire if you were okay, since he was calling your phone and you were not picking. Jin Yue asked him where he was, and he explained that there was an emergency and that instead of coming back to Beijing he went to America. He said he called to tell but your phone was switched off. That was when Jin Yue told him that you were in the hospital and that…''

''Why? Why did you tell him that? Now he had left his important meeting only to come back to see me.''

Xin Yong needed sometime to fully comprehend what was going on.

'Did she just take Liu Wei's side?'

''He didn't even get to rest, why did you tell him that?!''

Xin Yong did not understand what was going on. She was not mad that Liu Wei did not call her, or that she fainted for naught, but here she was angry at them for telling him that she had fainted.

She leaned closer and felt her temperature, wondering if something had gone wrong somewhere.

''I'm okay, when did you say he is arriving?''

Liling asked with a small frown on her forehead, almost at the same time, the door to the ward opened again and Jin Yue stepped in.

''Liling! Thank goodness you're awake, how are you feeling?'' Jin Yue, who was elated to see that she had woken up asked with a small smile on his lips.

''I'm okay. Xin Yong just told me that Liu Wei is coming back today.''

''Yes, err... this is past one, the plane should arrive by 2pm, Xin Yong and I would go pick him up at the airport…''

''I'm coming with you.''

Liling interrupted immediately, not waiting for him to complete his sentence. 

''No! ''

Xin Yong and Jin Yue said at the same time, as though they were both thinking the same thing.

''Liling, you just woke up from a coma, you should rest.''

Jin Yue explained, and Xin Yong nodded in support.