12:34 p.m. - Beijing Children's Cardiac Ward, Room 402
The hospital room was wrapped in stillness, lit by the soft wash of midday light through half drawn curtains. The faint hum of machines, the occasional beep from the cardiac monitor, these were the lullabies of Serena Sherran's new normal.
She sat quietly in the chair beside the hospital bed, her left hand resting gently in her son's. Aiden's small fingers curled loosely around hers, his chest rising and falling in shallow, steady rhythm. His face was peaceful in sleep, eyelashes dark against his pale cheeks.
Serena exhaled slowly.
In her right hand, she held her phone, thumbing absentmindedly through the news feed, not really searching for anything, just letting the screen pull her attention away from the sterile silence.
Then a headline slid across her view: "J Med & Co. Launches Cardiowatch: Real Time Cardiac AI and Doctor Patient Cloud Network Debuts in Beijing"
Her brows lifted slightly. She tapped the article, skimming through it without much expression.
Heart rate monitoring. Arrythmia detection. Emergency alerts. Predictive analytics. J Link Network. JOS integration.
Serena gave a small nod as she read. Quietly impressed. Clinically curious.
Useful, she thought. Promising.
Her thumb hovered over the screen, pausing on a close up of the watch, minimalist, silver, clearly not just consumer tech.
Serena then just kept reading, occasionally glancing at Aiden's hand in hers.
Then-
"You're reading the news again instead of napping like a normal person."
Serena looked up to see Wang Wei standing at the door with a familiar smirk, holding two paper coffee cups and a small lunch bag.
"You've been clocking twenty hour days," Wei said, walking in. "Your eyes are going to give out before your brain does."
Serena smiled faintly, setting her phone aside. "It's only 12:40. Didn't he scold you last week for leaving early?"
Wei handed Serena the coffee and nodded toward Aiden just after she cleared her throat over Serena's question.
"How's our little hero?"
Changing the topic instead.
Serena glanced at Wei with her eyebrows raised, grinning.
"Stable." Serena glanced at the monitors. "Still waiting on the genetic panel update. ECG was clean today, but... you know how this condition plays."
Wei didn't answer right away. She pulled a chair closer to the bed, settling beside Serena and lowering her voice.
"You're holding up better than I would."
"I'm not." Serena took a sip of coffee. "I'm just not falling apart."
Wei glanced at her, then at the phone. "So what were you reading?"
Serena slid the phone toward her. "Cardiowatch. New system by J Med & Co. Real-time cardiac monitoring. Predictive alerts. JOS. J Link. It looks... serious."
Wei's eyebrows rose slightly as she skimmed the article. "Oh-this. I heard about it. There's some buzz going around the department."
Serena looked up. "huh?"
Wei nodded. "Mhm, word is, MistTech's Medical Division might be entering a collaboration with J Med & Co. They're in early talks. Nothing public yet, but if it happens, we'll have to compete with Team B."
Serena blinked. "You're kidding. The article was just published a few minutes ago."
"Nope," Wei said, handing the phone back. "And if that deal closes, you might not have to fight through red tape to get a Cardiowatch trial for Aiden. We'd be part of the pipeline."
Serena looked down at Aiden, then back at Wei. "Do you know who's leading the project on their side?"
"Some CEO type," Wei shrugged. "Jùn Míng, I think? The one who gave the launch speech today."
Serena nodded slowly, but didn't say anything.
She wasn't interested in CEOs.
She was interested in what worked.
And now, she had one more reason to stay alert.
"Is he sleeping?" Wei asked as she glanced at Aiden.
Serena blinked, confused by the question-it was obvious he was asleep.
"Yeah, he is."
"Mm... I don't think so."
Wei stood up from her seat and leaned a little closer to the bed. Her eyes narrowed slightly, studying Aiden.
His lips were twitching, and beneath his closed eyelids, there was unmistakable movement. He was holding back laughter.
Serena, curious now, stepped closer too.
Wei was right.
Aiden's mouth was curved just slightly at the edges, and his fingers had started to squeeze hers with mischief.
"Aiden," Serena said, her voice soft but playful.
"You little faker."
Aiden burst out giggling, eyes popping open as he clutched his mom's hand tighter.
"I almost had you both!" he grinned.
Wei rolled her eyes with a smile.
"You almost had us. But you forgot the eyelids."
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