Chapter 11

When We Believe

The last class for the day had been over for twenty minutes.  Chin Chin was making her way down the corridor to make the final check before locking up the dance studio for the night.   As she approached the last room, she could hear music playing faintly and was curious who was there.  She thought perhaps Nathaniel was putting together a dance composition but was surprised to see Annabelle instead.  The little girl was practicing her dance moves with great diligence on her prosthetic leg.

Chin Chin watched the little ballerina for a good five minutes and was touched by the child’s persistence.  Then she entered the room to turn the music louder before joining Annabelle.  They danced about happily doing a lot of demi plies.  When she held the child’s hand, Annabelle was able to do the grand plié.  When she let go of Annabelle’s hand and tried to do the Arabesque, she fumbled on her left leg and fell to the floor.  At that moment, resentment set in followed by frustration as she tried to choke back her tears.

Fei saw the entire scene from the time Chin Chin entered the room. 
He was about to rush inside the room to help Chin Chin when Nathaniel pulled him
back.  The two men watched from the entrance as Annabelle crouched down next to Chin Chin to grab hold of her hand.  “It’s okay Ballerina Chin Chin.  I fell many times too!”
Chin Chin smiled and then allowed the child to help her to a standing position.  Then Annabelle continued with her dance.  “Watch this!”  Annabelle performed an Arabesque and ran back to Chin Chin.  “I couldn’t do this before, but Grandma told me not to give up.  She always believed I could do it one day.  Watch me again!”  She did another one to proof her point.  Then Annabelle took Chin Chin’s hand and they both started dancing again.  “One day, you can do it too.  I know you can!”
A few weeks later, Chi Shan and his unit were wrapping up a homicide investigation by the waterfront.  They were heading towards an open field when Fei noticed a toddler running away from his young nanny who was busy chit chatting with another maid.  When the child’s nanny noticed the boy had gotten out of her reach, she quickly dashed towards him.  But it was too late for the toddler had crawled under the railing and fell into the open harbor.  Fei wasted no time as he ran towards the toddler and jumped into the water.
​​Chi Shan and the rest of the unit didn’t know what was happening until they ran up to the railings and saw Fei diving into the water and resurfacing 20 seconds later with the toddler.  By that time, a crowd of people had gathered around to watch the spectacle.  “Gigi, call an ambulance right away!”  Chi Shan commanded.

Korean surveyed the area and saw a barge about twenty feet away.  “Fei, we’ll meet you there.”  He pointed Fei to swim towards the barge.  The crowd followed the direction Fei was swimming and gathered again to watch the toddler being pulled out of the water by Korean placed on the barge.  Many of them gasped and held their breath in prayers as Fei performed artificial respiration on the child.  When the resuscitation was accomplished, the cry of the toddler brought on cheers and applause from the crowd.  Korean placed his jacket around the boy and carried him up the steps as the ambulance attendees were making their way through the crowd with a gurney.

Fei remained on the barge and took off his jacket to wring off the excess water.  He turned around and took in the view of the busy harbor and wondered how many times he would need to shower to decontaminate himself from being soaked in this polluted water.  And he was trying to train his brain not to think about the smell on his body at this moment.

As he turned his head to the direction where Gigi was calling him, something in the water caught his eyes.  It was a glistening light.  He turned back to look at the spot where the sparkle came from and noticed a floating Coke can was hitting the side of the seawall embankment.  The metal can was about three feet from the barge and the noon sun was causing something on top of the can to glitter.

He walked towards the edge of the barge and his eyes grew wider.  He had to lean slightly forward to make sure he was seeing correctly, blinking a few times to make certain he was not imagining what he was seeing.  Then He called Gigi and Chi Shan to approach him so they could take a look for him as well.

“What’s the matter?”  Gigi approached and stood next to him.

“Do you see a ring stuck to that Coke can?” Fei pointed towards the can that was about two and a half feet away now.  However, the object of interest was now submerged in the water.

“A ring? Where?”  She looked where Fei was pointing to.
Then the top of tp can emerged from the water and emitted another sparkle.  This time all three pairs of eyes confirmed there was a ring there.  Fei jumped into the water and grabbed the can.  Now looking at the ring, Fei was certain he had seen it before.  He handed it to Gigi before he pulled himself out of the water.  Standing on the barge, he pulled the ring out from the Coke can and was certain this was her engagement ring from him that Kwan told him she had accidentally dropped into the sea around the same time when Chin Chin was rescued from her abductor last year. 
The next day, after having completed some transactions, Fei was exiting
his bank when he noticed a woman figure who looked a lot like Kwan
across the street.  It seems she was waiting for the traffic light to change. 
At first he thought he eyes were playing tricks on him again.  As he approached the junction and the woman lifted her head to look to her left, he thought his mind was really playing a number on him for his lack of sleep last night when he couldn’t stop thinking about Kwan.  After blinking a few times and focusing on the woman across the street,  he was certain his eyes were fine and his mind was sane.  Though Kwan’s hair was now longer than when he last saw her, he had no doubt it was her.  As he was contemplating on how to get her attention when they shall cross path in less than a minute away, Kwan decided to turn and started walking towards her left.  Without thinking, he dashed unto the busy street with moving cars while calling out to her.
Suddenly sound of brakes screeching, horns honking, pedestrians screaming caused Kwan to turn around.  She watched as a man was bumped into the open air, flying about fifteen feet across the street towards her.  Moments later, she thought she saw Fei landed unto the sidewalk and swallowed by a whirlpool of pedestrians. 
By the time Kwan realized what was happening, all the cars had stopped and some drivers had gotten out of their cars and were running towards the fallen victim.  She herself took this opportunity to approach the victim, at the same time praying it was not Fei.

When she saw his face and motionless body lying on the ground, she hurled to his side and called out his name.   Out of panic, she wanted so much to embrace him so he would wake up.  But her professionalism acted first and she took his wrist to check his pulse instead.  After a few seconds, while she was still trying to find his pulse, his became conscious and opened his eyes.
“Kwan?” He met her weary tearful eyes.  “You came back!”  He tried to smile but failed when he saw a Caucasian man appeared standing over Kwan.
“What happened, Quin?”  The man asked and lowered himself next to Kwan.  That was when Fei became unconscious again.
“I think he was hit by a car.”  Kwan finally replied with a trembling voice when Fei did not wake up to her calling his name.  When the man reached out and pulled Fei’s eyelids, she reached into her purse to search for her phone.  “I’ll call an ambulance!”
Then someone in the crowd told Kwan one was on its way.  The Caucasian man continued to check Fei’s neck and skull.  “Neck is okay, no cracks in the skull.  That’s a good sign, right?”  He gave Kwan a grin which brought a look of relieve on her face.  Then he went on to examiner the rest of Fei’s body.  When he was done, he turned to Kwan and asked if she was alright.  She nodded with trembling.  With a twinkle in his eyes, he teased.   “Would you like me to give him mouth to mouth, or would you prefer to do that?”
Kwan’s smile broke through this time and the fear in her eyes vanished.  She knew Fei would be fine.  She knew that because he was just examined by one of the world’s renowned neurosurgeons who happened to be her boss and mentor from John Hopkins University.
When We Believe
Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey
Many nights we prayed with no proof anyone could hear
In our hearts a hope for a song we barely understood
Now we are not afraid
although we know there's much to fear
We were moving mountains
long before we knew we could, whoa, yes ...

There can be miracles when you believe
Though hope is frail it's hard to kill
Who knows what miracles you can achieve
When you believe somehow you will
you will when you believe

In this time of fear when prayer so often proves in vain
Hope seems like the summer bird too swiftly flown away
Yet now I'm standing here my hearts so full, I can't explain
Seeking faith and speakin' words I never thought I'd say

They don't always happen when you ask
And its easy to give in to your fears
But when you're blinded by your pain
Can't see the way, get through the rain
A small but still, resilient voice
Says hope is very near, oh (Oh)

There can be miracles (Miracles)
When you believe (Boy, when you believe, yeah)
(Though hope is frail)