The Caged Bird on the Medical Report

After the car accident, Gu Niansheng’s world shrank to this single examination room. Her attending physician, Lu Beichen, tended to her with an almost obsessive meticulousness, mending her bones while slowly consuming her life. His white coat was pristine as snow, but the concern in his eyes was so thick it felt suffocating. Gu Niansheng believed it was merely a doctor’s compassion, unaware that she had long since been measured, inch by inch, and locked into place. Tonight, as the beeping of the monitors was swallowed by the darkness, Lu Beichen finally decided to take off the mask called “doctor.”