"Doctor Jung! Thank god you’re here!”

Krystal stalled at her office’s doorstep, Mrs.Lee rushing to her side like a wild bird fleeing from forest fire.

“What’s the matter?” She fixed her woolen scarf self-consciously, clutching at the material firmly to hide the grotesque nail marks on her neck from any possible spotter.

“It’s about Irene! The nurses found her earlier this morning with a bloody wound down her head!” Mrs.Lee sounded full-blown panic. “They tried to take her to the ER but she started throwing things at them so now nobody can go near her.”

Krystal’s face darkened at the mention and she walked over to her desk with slow, unfocused footsteps.

“Doctor Jung?” Mrs.Lee readdressed her with worried tone, panic and trepidation still clear on her face. “What should we do with her? Should we administer sedatives on her forcefully?”

“No.” Krystal blurted out faster than she could consider, and at Mrs.Lee’s confused expression, she withdrew her answer shamefully. “I mean yes. Yes, you should. No, actually, get some male nurses to do it. You can’t get hurt. Ask them to put her to sleep so we can bring her to ER.”

Mrs.Lee nodded once the order was given and dashed out from the room without second thought.

Krystal fell to her padded chair and clamped a hand to her forehead. It slid down to her still tender neck and she swallowed.

Reaching out for the office phone, she punched in the numbers she had thought of calling since last night and readied herself.

“Hello.” Her dry voice creaked and she wetted anxiously. “Can I speak to Chairwoman Bae, please? My name is Krystal Jung and I’m the doctor who tends her daughter.”

----------------------------------------------------------

“Seulgi.”

“Seulgi, that syringe is empty.”

Seulgi snapped from her daze at the second call, her eyes flicking forward to see her tall friend frown at her with distaste.

Joy’s gaze moved to the level of her hands, and Seulgi gasped when she realized that the syringe she was using to inject drugs to one of the comatose patient’s tube was already empty. For God knew how long.

“You can’t work like that, seriously.” Joy exasperated, as Seulgi withdrew the needle from the Y injection port and closed the opening quickly.

“You can’t go around zoning out while you are injecting people! What if you make a mistake? These people are dying enough with their and they don’t need you to make it worse!” She half yelled, half whispered.

Seulgi put the needle away, peeled off her latex gloves and ran a hand over her face in frustration.

“You are right. I’m sorry. I should have concentrated better.”

“You really should.” Joy finished her own job shortly after and looked at her friend with concern. “Just -- maybe don’t do serious work for a while until you clear your head. You can go and help Yeri read the CT-Scans in the ER instead. She’s been whining about being the only neurology intern there today because Kai is sick.”

Seulgi nodded dejectedly and without any word, shuffled out from the neurology ward with low spirit.

She arrived in the partially empty ER shortly after. It was quite a calm day there.

“Hey.” Yeri jogged over to her, carrying a stack of black and white papers which undoubtedly came from the CT and MRI room.

“Why are you here? I thought you were assigned to the ward.”

Seulgi gave her a slow shrug. “Not in the best state to handle patients, apparently.”

Yeri passed her a sympathetic smile and huffed the stack of images onto the nurse counter.

“Well then, you can help me read these. It’s safe and the worst you can get from mistaking haemorrhagic as ischemic is a scold from the neurologist.”

Seulgi quirked her a small smile and they both got into work quietly.

It was five minutes later that the silence was broken and Seulgi’s ears stood to attention.

“Bae Joohyun...” Yeri mumbled to herself, holding up a black and white CT-Scan against the bright, reading light. “Huh? Feels like I have heard this name somewhere before.”

Seulgi snatched the paper from her hand faster than a bolt of lightning. The younger intern looked startled. “What? Do you know her?”

“It’s Irene.” Seulgi muttered, unable to trust even her own vision. Her eyes opened widely as she read the photo owner’s identity and age in details. “It’s Irene. It’s really her. Where did you get this from?”

Yeri stammered at the sudden reaction and pointed at the direction of the CT room outside the ER hastily.

Seulgi dashed off before she could say a word.

As she thundered down the intensely drug scented corridor, all Seulgi could think about was how Irene could have a brain contusion.

Because she swore that was what she saw from the photo before she took off.

She wished hard that she was wrong.

------------------------------------------------------

“Please make your order.”

Krystal sat across the gray-suited woman stiffly, clearing .

“No, thank you. I don’t feel like eating at the moment. I just come here to talk.”

Mrs.Bae leaned back against her seat, and without touching the overly fancy menu book, signaled the waiter to write her order. “A bottle of Château Margaux, please.”

The neat guy nodded and walked away after politely bowing.

“So,” The old woman began, resting on her chair with her eyes covered by the dark shades as usual. “What do you want to talk about, Krystal Jung?”

Krystal felt strangely intimidated and undermined with the lack of ‘doctor’ in her name. She felt like she was back to being the young, loansharks-chased girl whose integrity had been shattered forever in front of several millions won.

She swallowed.

“I want to talk about your daughter, Joohyun.”

Mrs.Bae balked. “I only have one daughter and her name is Wendy.”

“Please don’t talk like that.” Krystal’s fist curled and she fought hard to keep her voice steady. “You know you are her only family left. You are her only guardian.”

“On the paper.” The old woman said expressionlessly. “What is it that you want, Krystal? I didn’t come here to hear you preach about my family’s matter.”

“I want you to cancel your request for her transfer.” Krystal blurted at the end, feeling like she had just spat out a large chunk of mass. “It’s open. She knows everything now. She knows all the dirty things we did and I’m sure Wendy knows about it too. It’s done. There’s no point trying to move her away now just to keep things hidden from your daughter.”

Mrs.Bae looked distant as she thought. “All the more reasons to do so, don’t you think? I can’t have Wendy running back to her now when she is probably as insanely furious as ten years ago if not more. She will hurt her the moment she sees her.”

Krystal stared at her widely, floored.

“Do you...not have conscience at all? After everything you have put her through, you owe her a chance to at least prove herself otherwise!”

“I did what I had to do, Krystal.” Mrs.Bae cut her short, sounding tired with the whole conversation. “I wanted to protect my daughter just like how you wanted to protect your sister. Nobody enjoys being villain here, we just do what we need to do in order to keep our loved ones safe.”

She let out a long sigh and shook her head. “You, more than other people, should understand this concept by now.”

Krystal in a heavy breath and willed herself to not cry like a helpless child. “I’m asking you to stop the transfer because I understand this point perfectly well.”

Mrs.Bae frowned at her and what sounded like an absolute non-sense.

“Wendy has you to keep her safe and my sister has me to keep her safe. But who does Irene have?” Her voice shook a little and squeezed. “She only has this one girl looking after her in the hospital and right now you are about to rip her apart from the only person who cares about her.”

She looked down to her lap then, and pleaded. “Please, don’t take her last piece of sanity away. Please, I beg.”

Mrs.Bae was silent for what felt like eternity.

“Please. Please let her stay.”

“Aren’t you afraid of her?”

Krystal looked up to the old woman, her eyes teary.

“Aren’t you afraid of her?” She repeated. “She must be outrageously furious with you right now. Aren’t you afraid to keep her there with you? She can rant you out to people anytime. Though I doubt anyone will take a looney patient seriously, she can still hurt you physically.”

Krystal was hit by extreme anger at her response. “I don’t care!” She spat. “If she wants to hurt me, she’s very entitled to do so. I also don’t give a damn about my position. I will step down from this job on my own. I can rot in jail for all I care, I just want to make things right!”

She looked at the stoic woman desperately and begged. “Please. Please think about her for once and let her stay.”

-----------------------------------------------------------

Don’t let them go.

Don’t ever let them get away with this...

They made you suffer alone in this place for ten years..

Ten ing years of stolen life and laughter while all of them walked outside, lived freely and moved on..

You can’t let them pass just like this...

You need to make them pay..

They wanted you to be a monster... you should give them one.

Give them a taste of what they want, Joohyun.

Irene’s eyes snapped open and the first thing she saw above her was the blinding light shearing into her corneas like spears into her skull.

She screwed her eyes shut and winced, pain rippling through her head with every tiny movement.

She tried to lift a hand to hold her head but failed as it got held back by a cold metal. There were handcuffs on her wrists.

“.” She hissed loudly, growling like a wild animal captured inside a cage.

She pulled against the cuffs violently and thrashed until her whole bed shook. The metals bit into her skin and scraped her wrists raw.

“Hey!” She heard someone shout, followed by a barrage of hurried footsteps. “She is up! Give her another dose of strong sedatives!”

Irene threw herself around and wrenched against the cuffs until her blood flow was cut, shrieking and screaming furiously until the vessels in her still painful head threatened to pop.

Amidst her hazy delirium and a blur of faces covered in masks flocking above her, she spotted a pair of almond eyes staring at her with sad, sorrowed gaze.

It was strangely familiar of someone.

As consciousness slowly wafted away from her, she thought she saw those brown eyes glistened regretfully with a layer of tears.

Her own eyes teared then, and she fell to sleep.

Back to darkness and nightmare that never seemed to end.

-----------------------------------------------

“Hey.”

Irene heard a slow voice, so soft and gentle it might as well be made of wind.

“Hey, it’s me.” The voice repeated beside her, but it was so warm and caring that even in her half conscious state, Irene knew that it wasn’t the usual rotten whispers.

She cracked her eyes open and felt thankful that there was no light blinding her this time around. The room was peacefully darkened with only a bedside lamp lit beside her to provide her sight.

It was night time. Everybody was asleep.

“Hey, can you hear me?” The voice called again, and Irene turned to her other side this time to see -- Seulgi.

Kang Seulgi.

“Sssh.” Seulgi put a finger on her own lips and signaled her to stay quiet. Her other hand combed through the hair on top of Irene’s head with gentle caresses. “Please don’t make any noise. I don’t want them to force you to pass out again, please.”

Irene swallowed hardly then and noticed how parched and throat felt. It felt like two sandpapers were rubbing together. She coughed.

“Here.” Seulgi quickly slipped an arm around her back to help her sit up. “Water.”

She sat beside her on the bed and brought the glass to her lips. The cool liquid flowed down Irene’s throat like oasis to her desert.

“Thanks.” She croaked, her voice short and raspy.

She didn’t say anything anymore because there was nothing on her mind.

It felt empty after one day full of torture, fury and sadness. She felt hollow.

“Aren’t you going to tell me what happened?” Seulgi asked slowly, her voice barely above a whisper. “What happened to you, Irene? Why did you...hurt yourself?” She sounded pained.

Irene looked away and when she spoke, she sounded utterly bitter. “Irene...” She muttered to herself. “Now that everything is out, that name sounds terribly sickening.”

Seulgi’s brows arched up in confusion as she continued to listen.

“Irene feels nothing but fake now and Joohyun still feels as sickly as before. Nothing feels right anymore.”

Irene’s gaze bore holes to the floor ahead of them and it remained empty.

“What am I doing here, Seulgi?” She mumbled, asking to no one and everyone at the same time. “Why was I born...only to live a life like this?”

Seulgi failed to keep up with her meaning but Irene didn’t seem to notice. She was severed from the world, all detached on her own.

She didn’t even realize the tears wetting her cheeks until Seulgi slid down from the bed to kneel beside her.

“Hey.” Seulgi clasped her hands tightly, cupping them within her own. “Look at me. Please, look at me.”

Irene stirred her gaze to her and the moment their eyes met, Seulgi squeezed her hands harder.

“I don’t know what happened for sure until you tell me, but I’m going to assume that it has something to do with the past.” Her gaze softened then, and she rubbed the back of Irene’s hand gently with her thumb.

“A lot of bad things have happened, and while some of the actions can’t be undone no matter what, the people must have changed a lot over the years. Everyone is kind of different now from how they were and that includes you. You need t