Granting You A Second Life

Yu Guan-Yin: "Dr. Li. Can you be with me when I talk to the police?"

Li Xiuying nodded.

Li Xiuying: "Why don't you try to sleep? The police will want to talk to us and your mother first."

Yu Guan-Yin felt exhausted after releasing all the emotions she had bottled up for so many years: "Will you be here?"

Li Xiuying: "I need to have a team meeting but that should only last for an hour. I'll be here when you wake up. There's security waiting outside and they won't let anyone in. There's an emergency call button by your bed if you need anything."

Yu Guan-Yin slowly closed her eyes and gently nodded.

Li Xiuying gestured for everyone to leave the room.

Li Xiuying spoke to the security guards outside: "Do not let anyone in, including the police. Call me if there's any trouble."

Both the guards said in unison: "Yes Dr. Li"

Li Xiuying: "Relatives room." Li Xiuying started making her way and everyone followed. B had also finished updating the police and rejoined the group.

As Li Xiuying walked towards the door she could see Dr. Ma standing outside.

Li Xiuying: "Dr. Ma please follow us to..."

B: "Dr. Li I booked meeting room B. I've also called a pediatrician to be present and look at Yu Guan-Yin's records and create a chronology. A member of our safeguarding team will also be present."

Li Xiuying looked at B: "Good."

.......

Meeting room B

Li Xiuying: "Please introduce yourselves."

The senior pediatrician: "I'm Dr. Han Biyu."

Member of safeguarding team: "I'm Duan Hong."

Li Xiuying: "Dr. Ma update?"

Dr Ma: "Cheng Meilin continued to scream profanities and became more hostile after you left. She refused to talk to me and tried to leave but at that point the police had arrived. The police were in with her when you all arrived."

Li Xiuying: "Dr. Han, the chronology?"

Dr. Han Biyu: "I've compiled a detailed report of all of Yu Guan- Yin's medical record from this hospital. I found some details of a former primary school that Yu Guan-Yin attended for 3 years. Mr. Duan has contacted them and they have faxed us her school records including attendance and statements from various teachers. I have made copies of everything and will pass a copy on to the police." Dr. Han tapped the folder in front of her.

Li Xiuying: "Thank you both."

Li Xiuying: "The brother and father?"

B: "The brother was picked up from school by the police and he is currently waiting in the child's play room. The father has been arrested."

Li Xiuying: "Yu Bai needs to be evaluated."

Dr. Han: "I'll go talk to him now."

The other psychiatrist: "I'll come with you."

They both left the room.

Li Xiuying: "Dr. Ma, Mr. Duan I will inform you if there any new developments to the case tomorrow."

Dr. Ma spoke with sincerity: "Dr. Li I would just like to say that your powers of observation and deduction and remarkable. I fear that Yu Guan-Yin would have died at the hands of her mother if it wasn't for you seeing the warning signs. My experience of this disorder and the research about it indicate the victim usually dies because of the years of numerous surgical interventions/procedures or dies at the hands of the perpetrator when they try to induce symptoms in the child using methods such as poisoning and starvation. In most cases, those who do survive have complex psychological and social issues such as an altered perception of their health and have difficultly reintegrating into society. "

Li Xiuying: "Yu Guan-Yin is remarkable." Li Xiuying was able to offer help but Yu Guan-Yin was brave enough to accept it.

Dr. Ma then left the room with Duan Hong.

Li Xiuying turned to the social worker. The social worker immediately sensed something was wrong. She figured Dr. Li was angry with her for her comments earlier.

Li Xiuying addressed B. F and the social worker.

Li Xiuying: "All of you are very early in your career and most people who have worked for 50 years will not see a case such as this."

Li Xiuying looked at B and F: "I have seen the looks of disgust in your eyes." B and F looked down at their shoes.

Li Xiuying tone was cold and fierce: "I would like to remind everyone here that we should not impose nor try to enforce our personal beliefs, opinions and attitudes on the patient. It is not our place to assume anything. Yu Guan-Yin's situation will evoke strong emotions in all of us but in that room it is not your feelings that matter. Yu Guan-Yin still loves and cares for her mother; it is no one's place to urge her to stop doing so. Yu Guan-Yin is able to make her own decisions. As a team our role is to protect her and her brother and ensure their physical, mental and social well being. If Cheng Meilin is able to accept that she has this condition and admits to her actions she will be offered treatment whether that's in a hospital or a prison that's not for us to decide. This case isn't black and white."

Li Xiuying tone remained cold but was no longer fierce: "I understand the difficulty in seeing such a situation. The doors to a hospital do not differentiate between good and evil. For the next month all of you will have a weekly one hour appointment with me in my office please arrange this with my PA."

When F heard he had to report to Dr. Li weekly his heart sunk:"Dr. Li are we in trouble?"

Li Xiuying: "No. The appointment is to allow you to speak through your thoughts and feelings in a safe environment."

All three of them felt touched at having someone who cared about them. B and F particularly so.

As doctors sometimes you would see different situations that caused you to feel a battery of emotions; some could reduce you to tears others would induce nightmares. But you had to pull yourself together and continue working because someone's life depended on you.

Li Xiuying made her way to private suite 3.

B, F and the social worker remained seated lost in their own thoughts.

.......

Outside the door of Suite 3- 6:30 pm

Li Xiuying sighed. She felt emotionally and physically drained. Yu Guan-Yin had given her statement to the police. She revealed even more horrific events which she and her mother had been subjected too.

Yu Bai eventually joined them in private suite 3. The police also took a statement from him. Even with Yu Guan-Yin's protection Yu Bai had not escaped unscathed. He was a severely introverted child and looked frail.

He detailed the scenes of abuse he had witnessed at home as well as the things he had been subjected to. He spoke about how his father would often take pictures of him when he was changing or how he had once left a spy-cam in his room.

After the police left, Li Xiuying stayed a little longer. She just sat by the bed as the siblings cried in each other's embrace. Li Xiuying only left when Yu Guan-Yin and Yu Bai fell asleep clutching each other tightly.

Li Xiuying sighed again and shook her head.

She took her phone out of her pocket to check the time; it was already 6:30 pm. Li Xiuying just wanted to go home, have a long hot shower, put on her polar bear pj's and cocoon herself in her duvet.

Li Xiuying started making her way to her office. This was the most exhausting day she had had since her rebirth.