"A Yun, A Yun, A Yun..."
Father Hua gently shook his son by the shoulder.
"A Yun!"
He shook him a little harder.
"Wake up!"
The young man's fingers twitched.
Father Hua, focused on his son's face, didn't notice.
When his son still wouldn't wake, he grew more and more anxious.
"Hua Ziyun's fingers moved."
Xiao Xiao spoke up to remind him.
"...Huh?"
Only after a beat did Father Hua register the young man's voice beside him. "What did you say?"
He was so focused on waking his son that he hadn't heard what the young man had said.
"Just now, Hua Ziyun's fingers moved."
Xiao Xiao repeated himself slowly.
"Really?!"
Father Hua cried out, his face lighting up with delight.
"A Yun, A Yun... wake up..."
This time, he kept his eyes on his son's hand.
After calling out a few times, his eyes suddenly widened. "They moved! They really moved!"
"A Yun's fingers moved!"
He looked up at the young man standing on the other side of the bed, his face full of delighted surprise.
"Mm."
Xiao Xiao nodded. The sight at the edge of his vision made the smile tugging at his lips grow wider at Father Hua's joy.
"His eyes have opened, too."
"What?"
For a moment, Father Hua didn't understand who he meant by "his."
"Da... Dad?"
A hoarse, feeble voice reached the man's ears.
Father Hua was struck as if by lightning.
The voice was so faint that it was almost hard to believe it wasn't his imagination.
A month.
He hadn't heard his son call him Dad for a whole month.
Father Hua's eyes suddenly reddened.
He lowered his head, almost cautiously.
Both his hands trembled slightly.
"Dad."
The call was nearly a whisper.
Seeing the familiar smile on his