CHAPTER 201: CHAPTER 200. BACK-ALLEY WONDERLAND

"Fix him!" Sarah slammed the clinic door in agitation. Wide, anxious eyes stared at the staff members inside—only a doctor and a nurse. "Please..."

The doctor and the nurse looked flabbergasted at first, but smiled a second later. "You must be Miss Diamond."

"Yes?"

In her agitation, Sarah couldn’t help but feel confused about the clinic’s situation. It was not a hospital, but it wasn’t small either, and yet there were only two staff members: a female doctor who looked either bored or sleep-deprived and a male nurse who loved to draw with needles all over his exposed skin—including his face.

Is this...really the right place?

"She’s not used to someone getting shot," Hajin told the them when Sarah was too stunned to give any reply.

"Who would get used to that?!" Sarah glared at the bodyguard. And why did this guy walk out on his own?

"People like me, Master." Hajin stroked the agitated girl’s back, somehow keeping himself tall and straight despite the should be excruciating pain as they walked inside the clinic.

The doctor chuckled with a soft and soothing voice that didn’t match her expressionless face. "It’s been a while since I saw you. Feeling queasy?"

"I feel fine, so I don’t think it punctured any organs," Hajin shrugged.

"There’s no way you feel fine!"

"I’ll prepare the room, then~" the doctor hummed a tune while turning toward a deeper part of the clinic, nonchalantly ignoring Sarah’s outburst.

Meanwhile, the male nurse who had just closed the clinic’s door returned with a wheelchair and patted its frame. "Aight--special treatment since your owner is panicking," he said cheerfully to Hajin. "Do you need an anesthetic?"

"Of course, he does?" Sarah frowned deeply.

"Just a local one," Hajin said.

"What?!"

"Okey-dokey!" the nurse helped Hajin toom a seat on the wheelchair before pulling a trolley over. "I’ll start the blood transfusion."

Sarah parted her lips, completely flabbergasted. What...what is this? Why was everyone, from the doctor to the patient, looking nonchalant as if it was only a case of a light flu? Why was there only two people in this whole place? And for fuck’s sake, why was she the only one who was worried and panicking?

Was she the weird one here?!

Hajin made a soft chuckling sound--as much as he could without tensing his stomach. "Don’t make that face, Master. Despite their look, they are one of the best in this field."

"What do you mean despite our looks?" the nurse narrowed his eyes beneath his pierced brows.

Ignoring his caretaker’s glare, Hajin held Sarah’s trembling fist. "This is where his people came to treat wounds they couldn’t explain to regular doctors--you know, stuff that would invite investigation," he explained. "It’s not exactly my first time."

Sarah knew that much, of course; she had already seen the scars on Hajin’s body. "Still..."

"Don’t worry, I promise it’s not life-threatening," Hajin said calmly, still with the gentle and soothing voice he always used when Sarah was having a mental breakdown. "They’ll patch me up in no time. You know he doesn’t employ unskilled people, right?"

"Aren’t you..." Sarah bit her lips, scrunching her face to hold back her tears as she glared at the big red stain on her scarf. Her voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. "Aren’t you in pain?"

Hajin smiled mischievously. "I am, actually. So..." he tilted his head up, "Can you kiss me?"

Hajin was only teasing to lighten the mood, but Sarah grabbed his face and kissed him hard on the lips, almost as if she wouldn’t be able to do it again. Such a bad premonition, although Hajin didn’t mind at all.

"Wow," he smiled against his princess’s shaking lips and planted a brief, soft kiss once after she pulled away.

"My, my..." the nurse stroked his chin. "Almost makes me jealous."

"I’m ready!"

Just in time, the doctor yelled from the hallway, and the nurse grabbed the wheelchair. "Don’t worry, Miss. We’ll ’fix’ him as you requested," he winked at Sarah and pushed the wheelchair to the hallway. Of course, Sarah followed them, clutching the edge of her sweater anxiously. "Oh, you can take whatever you want from the pantry over there--have a tea or coffee if you’d like--or just lie down in one of the empty beds. There are blankets on that shelf too if you want to cover yourself."

How could she lie down at a time like this? Sarah looked at the nurse in disbelief, watching him push Hajin inside a room that didn’t even look like an operating room--although it did look clean and sterile from what she could see through the gap before the door was closed.

Finding herself alone in the hallway of a questionable-looking clinic, Sarah felt like a little Alice in a back-alley wonderland. She stared at the closed door, silently, for a few minutes before finally looking around. Honestly, the place looked more like a super clean office with bedrooms rather than a clinic--much less a hospital. There was no patient chart and the like; the only thing that reminded Sarah of a hospital was the smell--that clean, sterile smell.

"Is this place really alright?" Sarah muttered skeptically.

Her doubt about this place’s eligibility and the reassurance from Hajin, as well as the fact that this place probably belonged to Yonghwa, felt very disorienting. Sarah felt her head throbbing from the confusion and anxiety, and decided to get out of the building for some fresh air, taking the phone she had left in the car while at it.

A good decision, since her phone was filled with messages and unanswered calls. Some were from Amber--probably asking about Andrew--but the newest was from Sua and Sol, who told her they would take care of the rest, letting her focus on Hajin instead.

Sarah bit her lips hard, sighing as she slumped on the visitor’s chair in the clinic’s hallway. Perhaps because everything had been going so smoothly these days, she broke down the moment something went wrong. She could still remember the gutwrenching feeling as blood was dripping from Hajin’s stomach; she remembered the way her heart stopped beating for a moment.

And in that moment, she felt like she was alone. Even while her eyes captured Hajin’s movement, she thought she would be alone again.

She couldn’t.

As she clutched her writhing stomach, Sarah realized that no, she couldn’t live alone anymore.

"It’s so quiet..." she whispered into the empty hallway, shuddering at the seeping cold, realizing dumbly that she was too dazed to even grab her coat from the car when he took her phone earlier.

Well...there was nothing she could do while waiting anyway, so Sarah wobbled toward the pantry-looking corner and boiled some water on the electric kettle. Good thing she already learned how to operate one. She stared at the red light of the kettle, once again in a daze, once again prayed everything would be alright despite knowing how strong Hajin was and knew the people Yonghwa employed should be skillful.

And it was just her luck when the treatment room opened just as she was pouring hot water into a mug, almost burning herself from the splash as she jumped in surprise. That fast?! She abandoned her warm drink and ran to the hallway, where the doctor was walking away while pointing at the room with her thumb.

It was definitely not the right procedure, but there hadn’t been any procedure from the start anyway, so Sarah slammed the treatment room open--which was surprisingly clean already. No speck of blood in sight except for the one in Hajin’s shirt.

He didn’t even change? Sarah was out of her goddamn mind, but Hajin was sitting there on what looked like a dentist chair instead of a hospital bed, so she couldn’t think anymore.

"Hey, Princess," the bodyguard raised his hand--the one not connected to a blood pack. "I told you I’ll be fine, right?"

Sarah opened her mouth, and closed it again. She looked at the bandage covering Hajin’s stomach, and then his brighter complexion. He looked a bit pale, but not ashen. In short, he looked fine--if his wide smile was any indicator.

Taking a deep breath, Sarah walked briskly toward the chair and slapped the wounded man on the cheek. "Who told you to get hurt?" she screamed. "With whose permission?!"

This time, Hajin didn’t even surprised anymore. He knew it was coming the moment Sarah pressed her lips shut while glaring silently. He smiled and held the hand that slapped him, kissing it gently. "I’m sorry," he said, pulling the girl to his lap while the painkiller was still active. "Did I scare you?"

"Why are you so careless?!" Sarah grabbed his shoulder, shouting with her trembling lips. "You said you’ll protect me! Who will protect me if you’re hurt, huh?!"

Hajin reached up, wiping the tears streaming down her pale cheeks. "Don’t cry, Princess."

"So, what?! It’s your fault!"

Hajin smiled helplessly as Sarah didn’t even bother to deny that she was crying anymore. He knew she had been holding it back from the moment she saw he had been shot. She couldn’t stop trembling while driving toward the clinic, couldn’t maintain her calm at all. Only after knowing that Hajin was alright did she finally let it out.

"Yeah, I’m sorry," Hajin stroked her hair, pulling her forward to kiss her cheek soothingly.

Sarah, however, grabbed his collar and kissed Hajin on the lips, even harder than the one she gave him before the treatment. Harsher too, made of anger and fear.

"You stupid puppy! Don’t you dare let this happen again," she hissed a warning, even while tears still fell from her eyes.

"Mm, it won’t," Hajin stroked her waist and patted her back. "Can you kiss me again, though?"

"Ugh..."

Sarah grumbled, chiding him between sobs, but also still leaning forward to kiss him; slower this time, softer, and more careful. Despite the situation--or perhaps because of it--they couldn’t sense anything but themselves, wrapped up in a warm, gentle isolation.

Oblivious to the eyes watching them from the door.

"Uhh...what should we do?" Sua whispered while peeking through the gap.

"Let’s just send her a text and go back," Suoh shrugged.

They came out of concern about Sarah’s state of mind more than about Hajin’s wound, but it didn’t seem like they needed to worry much. They looked at each other and turned around with a sigh, leaving a bag of changing clothes with the male nurse.

"Well, I guess he deserves a little indulgence after getting shot," the twins snickered as they left the building, letting Sarah have her rest while they continued to sow chaos in her place.