The Immortal Player

Pedro pressed the log out button, consequently activating a system countdown in his player interface. And when the countdown finished, his vision slowly faded. Almost a minute later, he started to regain his vision and was welcomed by the constant beeps of the medical instrument.

Then, he breathes heavily through the mask on his face—that was connected to a ventilator, as he moves his head, glancing around slowly. He was inside a transparent version of the VR Box, allowing him to see the people waiting outside his glass-walled intensive care unit room.

"Maaaa… Laaaaa…" Pedro faintly cried as his eyes were locked upon his mother—who was seemingly watching some Kdrama on her tablet, and his grandma—who was sleeping on his mother's shoulder. At this moment, Pedro used all his strength to move his body. And fortunate enough, he was able to lift his finger, in fact, even his arm, and was able to tap a button inside the VR box and open it from inside.

"Tsssss…" Smokes came out of the transparent VR Box but it was still not loud enough to get the attention of Pedro's mom from the Kdrama she was watching.

'Mom…' Pedro shook his head and sighed deep inside. 'She can't be helped when she starts to get hooked to those good dramas. Well… I can't blame her! It's probably just a way for her to distract herself from her worries about my current state. But… Can't your instinct at least tell you that your son is already awake?'

'Well… She better notice that I am awake before grandma does… She would definitely be scolded by grandma because of that.' Pedro could not help but force out a smile deep inside. At the same time, he had his fingers crossed—hoping that his mother notices that he was already awake before his grandma does.

At this moment, the doctor monitoring that was tasked to monitor Pedro in the nurse station had noticed the changes in Pedro's vitals. The interval of Pedro's vitals had suddenly become more irregular compared to how it was when he was unconscious.

"What's happening…" The doctor murmured to himself as he scanned through the rest of the information about Pedro's vitals. Then, his eyes finally landed on the monitor that was displaying the live video inside Pedro's intensive care unit room.

"T-The VR Box… It's open!" He cried as he reactively shot up on his seat and ran towards Pedro's intensive care unit room. At the same time, this had caught the attention of Pedro's mom, making him glance towards Pedro's room.

However, before she could even react, Pedro's grandma had woken up and noticed that Pedro's VR Box was open. She pointed towards Pedro's VR Box and said, "It's open?"

She glanced to Pedro's mom—whose attention was focused on the doctor running towards them. Thus, she can't help but to glance at the doctor and was also seemingly waiting for his remarks.

Unfortunately, contrary to their expectations, the doctor simply nodded in a rush towards them and said, "Madams, Kindly stay here for the moment. Let me have a look at the patient first. I'll inform you if you can visit the patient."

The doctor was in a rush to get inside Pedro's intensive care unit room, so, he was not even able to allow Pedro's mom and grandma to utter a word in response. Pedro's mom could only shout, "Doctor, please do your best to save my son!"

The doctor simply nodded in response as he hurriedly wore the required protective equipment in compliance with the protocol that was needed to be followed upon entering the intensive care unit. At this moment, Pedro gazed towards the doctor with a smile. Then, he said in a weak voice, "Doctor…"

With a "Fwshhh!", the door of the intensive care unit opened and the doctor immediately rushed to Pedro. He said, "Mr. Pedro, G-Good afternoon! I am Dr. Ecar Mahgilom! One of the physicians under the VR Therapy Department that is in charge of your recovery."

"Ahm!" Pedro said in a weak voice as he made a slight nod towards Dr. Ecar Mahgilom.contemporary romance

On the other hand, Dr. Ecar Mahgilom took out a pen-looking instrument and placed its rounded metal tip towards Pedro's chest before pressing a button in its opposite tip. In the next second, A weak wave traveled through his body, which seemed like it scanned the whole body of Pedro.

While the pen-looking instrument was scanning Pedro's body, Dr. Ecar Mahgilom gazed at him and said, "Mr. Pedro… Based on the equipment data, I learned that you were the one who opened the VR Box, right? Can I know if you can move any parts of your body, or even speak?"

"I~I can…" Pedro was barely able to say in a weak voice.

Dr. Ecar Mahgilom could not help but gasp in response. Deep inside, Dr. Ecar Mahgilom was teary-eyed and, at the same time, celebrating after knowing that there were improvements in Pedro's therapy and recovery.

He was relieved and happy that one of their patients had shown positive signs of recovery, but he cannot rejoice outwardly and give Pedro and his family a false hope that he had fully recovered already. After all, his treatment is not yet finished, and… Anything could still happen at this point in time, including unfortunate events like eternal sleep. 

After a few seconds, Dr. Ecar Mahgilom was able to calm himself and said, "You have a nice voice, Mr. Pedro! Were you a singer or a WeTube personality?"

Pedro could not help but stare at Dr. Ecar Mahgilom with a forced-out smile, seemingly at loss for words. And before Pedro could even respond, Dr. Ecar Mahgilom chuckled and said, "Just kidding! I just want to make you smile Mr. Armaz. Anyway… Can you tell me if you are feeling pain somewhere? Some discomfort or such?"

Pedro simply shook his head slowly in response. And Dr. Ecar Mahgilom could only smile in response as a hologram was projected to the tip of the pen-looking instrument, showing Pedro's body that was colored light green. Some parts of it were light red in color, especially some of the nerves on his feet, but was not critical in particular to make Dr. Ecar Mahgilom worry.

"Based on the Instant Scan, I found no life-threatening irregularities in your body. That said, your legs were the most damaged part of your body. So, it might take time and effort before you can walk again properly. But, it's not like you are not going to be able to walk once again, right? In any case… you are doing great in terms of recovery. And since you are not feeling any pain, anywhere in your body… I guess, I can let you see your family." Dr. Ecar Mahgilom smiled towards Pedro and nodded once, saying, "Please excuse me for a second!"

Pedro simply nodded as Dr. Ecar Mahgilom left the intensive care unit. At this moment, outside the intensive care unit, Pedro's grandma could not help but frown as her eyes saw the Kdrama that was paused in the phone of Pedro's mom.

"We went here to watch your son's recovery! But why are you watching Kdrama instead?!" Pedro's grandma scolded in Tagalog. "If you are going to watch that, stay in the apartment instead!"

"Ma… Please… It's just a way for me to distract myself from my worries about Pedro's recovery." Pedro's mom said in English. "What about you, ma? You said that we are here to watch Pedro's recovery, but why were you sleeping?"

"Aish… You!" Pedro's grandma glared at Pedro's mom and said in English, "You don't English, English me ha! Your son… Like you… Answer, Answer me! An elderly!"

At this moment, Dr. Ecar Mahgilom was about to approach them—consequently averting the attention of Pedro's grandma back to him. Then, Pedro's grandma grumbled, "This brat would not even have a car if you did not spoil him like this! When he recovers… Hire his uncles to drive for him! Experience, Experience in driving? He'll have a lot of it in the future! You don't need to hurry it!" 

Pedro's mom simply kept silent with a smile painted on her face. She knows that Pedro's grandma was only grumbling because she was somehow concerned about Pedro. In fact, her grandma was the one who wanted Pedro to grow up and become independent—that is why she constantly scolds Pedro for playing games in both of Pedro's life.

That said, just based on what she said, his grandma seemed like she wanted a more experienced driver to drive for Pedro instead. Thus, it showed her concern about Pedro's safety.

Fortunately, before Pedro's grandma could grumble any further, Dr. Ecar Mahgilom called them, saying, "Madams… You may visit the patient. Please follow me."

Pedro's grandma stood immediately, leaving Pedro's mom behind. Then, she went ahead and wore the protective equipment with the guide of Dr. Ecar Mahgilom. Pedro's mom followed after her and they all entered the intensive care unit at the same time.

"Maaa… Laaa…" Pedro uttered in a weak voice that consequently made his mom and grandma teary-eyed.

done.co