Love and Loyalty in Vietnam

I pull into the parking lot and take the first spot I see, a little too close to the entrance for my liking. I turn off the engine and sigh at the long walk ahead of me. I grab my purse, rest it on my shoulder, reach for the door handle and get out. The heat is overwhelming as I make my way to the hospital entrance.

I am dressed in a simple blue dress with matching flats and a small white handbag on my arm, nothing fancy but that’s how I like it. I don’t want any extra attention brought onto me. I don’t want any attention at all besides from who I came here for.

As I step into the lobby, a middle aged receptionist greets me with a warm smile and asks how she can help.

"I'm here to visit Luke Martin," I say politely. "He's a patient in room 318."

She nods back at me and starts typing away on her computer while looking down at her screen. She doesn't say anything for what feels like an eternity but then she finally speaks up and says, "You can go on up to his room now."

She points over to the elevator and walks over to unlock it so I can enter. When we both go inside, she presses number three which is Luke's floor number. We ride up in silence until we stop at his floor where she lets me out of the elevator first. After opening the sliding doors, she points again to Luke's room number when we get to his floor and walks off back towards her desk leaving me alone in front of his door. Taking a deep breath, I open the door slowly and walk inside gently closing it behind me without making any noise.

I stand there quietly for a moment just taking in everything around me. The walls are a calming light brown color with two windows on one side facing out onto some trees in the distance between other buildings. There are also two chairs sitting at a small table next to each other facing away from where I'm standing towards the windows facing away from each other as well; one red chair and one blue chair. There's also an old style wooden bed right next to where he sits in his wheelchair facing away from me across from those two chairs with a window above it looking out onto the same beautiful landscape that was outside through those windows before entering this room. It was peaceful, calm and serene yet very welcoming at the same time. In fact everything about this room felt welcoming even though it wasn't much different than any other hospital room you would find anywhere else; just peaceful instead of noisy, relaxing instead of busy, serene instead of chaotic... Maybe that was just Luke himself influencing everyone else around him by his own presence?

I walk over closer to Luke's wheelchair only about five steps away now and place my hand on his shoulder which brings him out of thought as he starts turning around slowly towards me when he sees me standing there next to him now smiling warmly at him as if we were old friends just catching up after months apart since last seeing each other instead of meeting each other today for our first time ever... He smiles back at me brightly as he moves himself around in his wheelchair until he's facing me directly now with his legs still left straight out in front of him in his wheelchair but leaning forward slightly so he can get closer to me easier without having to lean too far forward towards where I'm standing because he didn't want to be rude by getting too close to someone you've never met before or make them uncomfortable by invading their personal space but still wanted desperately not just her company but her friendship as well...

After smiling back at him for what seems like forever but was really only seconds later than that, he finally speaks up saying, "You must be Sally..."