In the emergency room at 4 a.m., the air is always filled with the tangy scent of disinfectant mixed with stale coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leo sat on a row of plastic chairs, the light from his phone screen casting a glow on his pale face. As a project manager at an internet company, he was used to this rhythm: still replying to emails at 3 a.m., then being rushed to the hospital by a colleague at 4 a.m. due to severe stomach pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNext patient, Leo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The nurse\u2019s voice was mechanical and weary. Leo walked into the examination room clutching his stomach. He was seen by a gray-haired doctor whose name tag read \u201cDr. Evans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s the matter?\u201d Dr. Evans asked without looking up, his fingers flying over the keyboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cStomach pain\u2014it feels like something\u2019s twisting inside.\u201d Leo frowned and added out of habit, \u201cDoctor, could you please hurry? I have a transatlantic conference at 9:00 a.m. that I can\u2019t miss.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Evans finally looked up, glancing at him over the rim of his reading glasses. His gaze was unreadable, revealing only a detachment that seemed to have seen through life and death. \u201cGo get an X-ray and have your blood drawn. You\u2019re not going anywhere until the results come back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leo reluctantly returned to the hallway. Sitting next to him was a young man in a gray hoodie\u2014he looked to be in his early twenties\u2014who was resting his eyes with headphones on. An IV patch was stuck to the back of his hand, and the fluid in the IV tube was dripping down drop by drop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHey, buddy, did you pull an all-nighter too?\u201d Leo tried to strike up a conversation to ease his anxiety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The young man took out one earbud, smiled, revealing a row of white teeth: \u201cI guess so. I\u2019m a game developer\u2014I pulled an all-nighter last night to launch a new version.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in the same line of work!\u201d Leo\u2019s eyes lit up. \u201cI\u2019m working on an e-commerce backend system. This industry is no walk in the park\u2014I was just worrying about my project\u2019s progress a moment ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYeah,\u201d the young man said, pointing to his IV bag. \u201cTo meet the deadline, I\u2019d been drinking energy drinks for three days straight. Just a moment ago, I suddenly went black at my desk and collapsed. When I woke up, I was already here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leo gave a wry smile, pulled his laptop out of his bag, and prepared to use the time to catch up on a few emails. \u201cSame here. The doctor said I had acute gastric spasm\u2014probably from going hungry. Once this IV is done, I\u2019ve got to rush back to the office.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The young man watched Leo skillfully open his laptop, a complex expression flitting across his eyes. \u201cDo you do this often?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll the time. In our line of work, you\u2019ve got to push yourself. \u201d Leo said as he typed, \u201cMortgage, car loan, and my kid\u2019s tuition\u2014which of those doesn\u2019t cost money? If I don\u2019t push myself, who will?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The young man was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked a strange question: \u201cWhen was the last time you watched a sunset?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leo\u2019s fingers froze on the keyboard. A sunset? He paused, searching his memory for a long moment, but his mind was a blank. His daily routine consisted of home, the subway, and the office; the \u201clight\u201d he saw most often was the blue glow of his computer screen and the incandescent bulbs in his office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI can\u2019t remember,\u201d Leo answered honestly. \u201cI\u2019m too busy\u2014I don\u2019t have time to watch it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The young man nodded, put his headphones back on, and said softly, \u201cI saw one yesterday from the ambulance. The sunset that day was purple\u2014it was really beautiful. I was thinking at the time, if I were to die right then, would I even be able to take that purple sunset with me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leo\u2019s heart skipped a beat. He turned to look at the young man and saw that he had already closed his eyes; his breathing had become steady and deep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just then, a nurse walked over and removed the young man\u2019s IV needle. \u201cAll right, we\u2019ve observed him for half an hour with no reaction\u2014he can go now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The young man opened his eyes, pulled out the IV needle, pressed the site for a moment, then stood up and stretched. \u201cThanks, buddy. Just chatting with you for a bit made me feel a lot better.\u201d He slung his backpack over his shoulder, but as he reached the door, he suddenly stopped, turned back to Leo, and said, \u201cOh, by the way, my name\u2019s Tom. I hope your transatlantic conference goes well, but don\u2019t forget: machines can be fixed when they break, but people\u2014sometimes they can\u2019t be fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tom pushed open the door and walked out, disappearing into the morning light at the end of the hallway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leo remained seated, staring in the direction Tom had gone, then looked down at the dense tangle of code and reports on his screen. Suddenly, the numbers and deadlines that had once caused him so much anxiety seemed somewhat absurd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He thought of Tom\u2019s mention of the \u201cpurple sunset\u201d and realized it had been a long time since he\u2019d looked up at the sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His phone vibrated. It was a WeChat message from his boss, urging him on: \u201cLeo, are the meeting materials ready? Don\u2019t let us down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leo\u2019s finger hovered over the screen. He glanced at the time: 4:50 a.m. The sky outside the window was already turning pale, and a faint golden light was trying to pierce through the city\u2019s smog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He didn\u2019t reply to his boss. Instead, he closed his laptop and stuffed it back into his bag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDoctor,\u201d Leo stood up and walked toward the consultation room, \u201cIs my prescription ready? I want to go home and sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As he stepped out of the emergency room building, the cold morning breeze hit him in the face. Leo stood on the steps and took a deep breath. He pulled out his phone and snapped a photo of the sky. Although it was just a hazy white, he knew that in a little while, the sun would rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At that moment, he hadn\u2019t decided to quit his job, nor had he vowed to change his life. He simply felt that perhaps he could wait a little longer to drink that cup of coffee this morning\u2014and go see for himself whether the sun was truly golden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This slight shift gave him a long-lost sense of light, carefree freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The Emergency Room at 4 a.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[23,24,18],"class_list":["post-797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heal","tag-feeling","tag-heal","tag-story"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":799,"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797\/revisions\/799"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}