A Life Debt Repaid

“Are you alone?” Ryan asked with considerable exertion.
His voice was so soft Sam barely heard him, and he had to drop to a crouch to hear him clearly.
“Mom and Dad are worried, but they’re too old,” Sam quickly said. “The doctor also stopped US from visiting for another couple
of days, so I sent them to the hotel. I’ll call them now if you want to see them.”
Ryan shook his head slightly, instead asking, “What did the doctor say about me?”
“Your vitals are fine,” Sam assured him. “But there’s organ damage so you need to recover here in the ICU for a while. Don’t
worry-you have the best medical staff here. You’ll get better.”
“Am I disfigured?” Ryan asked.
Sam did a double take.
“I can’t see-you’re totally covered in bandages,” Sam said earnestly before adding. “Your eyes, mouth, and ears are showing, but
those are fine.”
“Am I missing limbs?” Ryan then asked.
Sam paused, surprised that Ryan would ask about that.
Still, it was understandable-anyone who went through such a terrible accident would be either concerned about their survival,
and then their physical condition. After all, it would be easy to be crippled or disfigured after serious car accidents.
“Sam.”
There was panic in Ryan’s eyes when Sam did not answer.
“No,” Sam lied, going against his own conscience-the doctor had told him not to tell Ryan about his condition, since it would be
adverse to his recovery.
If they could deceive him for even a moment, so be it.
“You were hesitating,” Ryan said, his tone feeble but agitated. “You’re lying, aren’t you?”
“No,” Sam repeated. “You’re perfectly fine.”

‘Swear it.”
“I swear,” Sam said, bracing him against his conscience once more.
However, he also clearly sensed Ryan’s changing mood, which was bad, since he was not supposed to get aggravated at the
moment.
“If you lied, you won’t get to stay with Quinn,” Ryan suddenly said slowly.
Sam gulped-he could swear anything about his own life, but not his relationship with Quinn!
Even his tone turned stern. “I won’t swear on anything with the lives of my loved ones, because I don’t fool around with their
lives-not just Quinn’s, but our parents’ too. That’s my principle.”
‘Why not? Because you’re lying?” Ryan asked in rising agitation.
“No, but it’s my duty toward my loved ones. I can swear on my life, but I have no right to swear anything on another person’s life.
It’s not fair to them.”
“So you were lying.”
“I think you need to calm down,” Sam tried to reason. “I’ll get the doctor for you.”
“I can’t feel my right leg,” Ryan suddenly said.
Sam subtly pursed his lips, but he said calmly, “The doctor said the painkillers aren’t wearing off yet. You will feel it once the
effect passes.”
“It’s gone, isn’t it? My right leg?!” Ryan demanded with stubborn agitation.
He always was smarter than the rest and could tell from Sam’s tiniest reactions that something was wrong.
Moreover, he really could not feel his right leg even though he was lying in bed!