"... that line just won't work on me."

"Do you believe in love at first sight?" Barney asks the sniffling brunette.
She glares at him.

If looks could kill, Mitch thinks to himself, Barney would be dead right now.

"No." she said, clearly wishing that she could just get her ice cream & pay for it.
"Well, then. How about we meet up tomorrow?" Barney asked.

The brunette let out a laugh & shook her head. "Sorry. That line just won't work on me. & I think my cookie dough is melting."
She took her ice cream & walked out of the door, humming to herself.

"Ouch!" he yells at her, placing a hand on his heart - or where it's supposed to be, anyway.
Barney turns to Mitch & says, "That's my Dream Girl. She's going to come back, I'm sure."
"Whatever you say, Barney," Mitch says sympathetically while patting him on the back but Barney shrugs it off.

"What about you? Where's your Dream Girl?" Barney asks.
Mitch raises an eyebrow, causing Barney to say, "Hey, man! Don't be cynical on love."
"Please don't touch me." Mitch says.
"Hey, don't you wanna pick up your phone?"

Mitch shrugs & says, "Please. I bet it's my sister trying to boss me around for a ride or something."
"You sure? It keeps ringing nearly every five minutes."
"That's my sis."

The guys keep silent for a while until the brunette returns.
Mitch is very sure that Barney would have a coronary right there & then.

"I told you she'd be back!" Barney whispers excitedly as he reaches for the chocolate mint flavor.
"Mitch? Why are you still here?" the brunette asks.

Barney looks back & forth from the brunette & Mitch.

MItch looks at her & says amusedly, "Because my shift doesn't end till 3pm?"
She shoots him her Death Glance & he laughs. "Relax, Anna! Geez. Can't take a joke?"

"You know each other?" Barney blurts out.
"Well, yea. Through James. Have you visited him yet?" She turns & faces Mitch. "I'm on my way right now."
"Why are you visiting him? In case you're oblivious through the chemistry between Shanice & my uncle..."
"James, this isn't funny! How can you joke about your uncle?"

Wait.

"We are talking about James, aren't we?"
"Who's comatose, Mitch! Didn't your parents call you or anything?"

& suddenly it seems that Mitch's world fall apart.
James... Comatose...?
He rushes to his phone & sees his sister's name on the top of the list, his parents' name following below.

"Tell the Boss I'm off." Mitch says over his shoulder.
"Hey!" Barney says but Mitch didn't have time.

He runs out the door, dragging Anna, ignoring her muttering ("Serves you right for not picking up the phone calls.").

"Her social skills were just as good as her fish"

"&-& the minute I-I got to his house, h-his maid tells me..." Shanice lets out a loud sob.
"Tells you what, Shan?" Anna asks.
"That James is in a coma!" she wails.

Anna squirms in her seat. If choosing between taming a wild bull while wearing a red shirt or comforting someone, she'd choose the bull.
Her social skills were just as good as her fish - no, her fish are better.

"I'm sure he'll be fine. He's young. Comatose patients his age usually gets better," Anna says lamely.
"R-really?" Shanice sniffs.
"Really," Anna assures her.
"Thanks, Anna. You're the best."
"Har." she says.
"No, really. You always think so badly of yourself. But you're really better than that."
"Wish Mr & Mrs Bom my regards," Anna says.
"Bye,"
"Bye."

Anna hangs up the phone & finds a tear in her eye herself.
Shanice is one of her closest friends & so is James. Shanice is practically an older sister to her!

Meaning James is her brother-in-law.

"What's wrong?" a deep voice asks.
She looks up. Way up.

"H-Hi, Colin," she stammers.
Anyone would stammer. By sitting down just makes Colin Turner possible the KL tower!

Being a six foot two is an impressive feat at the mere age of fifteen.

"I have a friend," he says. "Who keeps repeating the question how are you until the person tells the truth. So. What's up?"
Anna smiles again then heaves a sigh.

"It's just my friend. He's in a coma."
Colin keeps silent & puts his hand on Anna's.

She looks up questioningly & sees something - something - in his green eyes.
So, really, who could blame her for kissing him?

But not a real kiss. Just a quick kiss on the lips.

Before Colin could say/do anything, Anna gets up & says, "I'm sorry." before running off, leaving Colin hopelessly behind.

Anna couldn't think of one place to go.
But what other option could there be for a miserable experience than ice cream?

"OK, ice cream parlor, here we come," she said to herself.

"... not the time for it"

The following scene is in a residents' elevator, ten minutes after the previous scenario...

Adam whistles as he rocks back and forth on his feet.
He stares at the elevator screen, hoping with all his might that the elevator would stop at a certain floor and a certain person would enter.

21, 20, 19, 18...
The elevator screen flashes those numbers.

"Come on, come on..." Adam urges the screen to pause at his new favorite number.
'Yes!' he screams in his head when the screen flashes 16 with a typical elevator beep!

A blonde girl enters the elevator. She freezes when she notices the dark-haired guy, whistling away.
This is not what she wants. It's just not the time for it.

Ivy's grip on her violet sling bag tightens and she prays to God for a miracle - to glue Adam's mouth shut.
She does not want to put up with him.

"Serious face," Adam smirks.
She ignores him and looks forward at the screen.

'Why's the elevator going so slow? Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up,' she thinks to herself, chanting those two words in her head and heart.

Adam looks at Ivy's blonde hair sweeping her back.
'What's up with her? She's crankier than usual,' he thinks, confused.

Then he notices that Ivy's shaking. Her shoulders, her head - her entire body is just shaking.
Adam's first instinct was to hold her in his arms and ask her what's wrong.

But he knows that he'd either get slapped or sued - or probably both.
So he decides to go for another option - turn up his cockiness a higher notch.

"Boyfriend broke up with you?" he says.
Ivy winces at that sneering tone of his.

'I don't need this right now,' she thinks to herself.
She cringes when she lets out a loud sob.

"How long was it? A week? Two?" Adam asks.

And that was it. She can't just take it anymore.
Ivy turns around and Adam faces, not that cheery blonde he joked around with a few weeks ago, but a distraught-looking teen, runny mascara and nose leaving very unflattering trails on her face.

But it isn't that that caused Adam to take a step back - it's that anger burning in her eyes.
"When will you ever shut up? No, no breakup." Ivy lets out a bitter laugh. "I wasn't even taken! My uncle's in a coma, okay?"

God may not have given the right miracle but it's a miracle, nevertheless because the minute she says the last word, the bell rings and she runs out of the elevator as fast as her legs could carry her.

"... those idiots who just got their license"

Shanice hates traffic jam.
And she is stuck in one right now.

'God,' she thinks. 'Please, please don't make this longer than it would be.'

Just because she (finally) got her driving license, does not mean she is a patient driver.
The line moves, but just an inch.

Shanice is at the brink of pulling her hair out and scream but she quickly remembers old Mrs. Bom, her driving teacher and decides not to.
It's like being in a race and the fastest is at a snail's pace.

After what feels like an eternity, the traffic clears up. Shanice hits the pedals and she zooms off, hoping that she makes it just in time.

There's a lot of things going in her mind right now but all her thoughts are focused on one - James.

A number of cars sounded their horn at her but she doesn't care.
Suddenly, an ambulance whiz past her.

She shakes her head, thinking about the poor careless fool.
"Probably one of those idiots who just got their license," she says to herself.
...

Mrs. Bom holds her son's hand with an iron grip.
"Don't die," she sobs. "Don't die."

She would never forgive James for leaving her. It's bad enough her alcoholic of a husband passed away just twelve months ago.
She doesn't want James to do the same.

Mrs. Bom is a woman at the peak of her fifties and is known for her patience and calm composure.
But at that moment, she feels like a different person. A stranger.

Anger, frustration, disappointment, sadness, anxiety... All these feelings are rolled up into one and buried deep within her.

She doesn't know whether to yell at her unconscious son for being so careless to drive when his energy was at the minimum.
Or perhaps she should cry, beg to wake up, out of the sleep that could be so easily mistaken for death.

Mrs. Bom decides for both.

"James, I told you not to drive. I told you. Now look where you are! In an ambulance."
At the last word, her voice breaks and she begins crying all over again.

Suddenly, the hand in Mrs. Bom's death grip move.
Just his fingers trying to release from his mother's.

"J-James? You're alive!" She hops in the ambulance and is about to hug him (in an equally tender grip as before) when the nurse stops her.
"M'am, please," he says.

James says something softly.
So soft that suddenly everything sounds thrice its volume ; the clattering of the IV, the hushed whispers of the driver and the other nurse.

"What is it, James?" she asks anxiously.
And he whispers again.
"Shanice."

After that, his hand goes limp. His eyes closed.
& then, it's just a blur of people yelling, "Code Blue! Code Blue!"