Chapter 3

When she came to, the first person she saw was Jung Wheein, the person she had attempted to rescue; attempted because she didn't exactly save her more than the fact that she's knocked out by the very person she had tried to fend off. There were streaks of dry tears on her cheeks, looking down to her worriedly with her forehead creased and there were fresh tears collecting under her eyes. Subconsciously, her hand raised to brush away the tears with her thumb, trying her best to smile, reassuring that she's fine - maybe.

"Hey there," these were her first words to Wheein as soon as she woke up.

She couldn't utter anything as she blubbered like a baby, speaking incoherent and incomprehensible sentences. Moonbyul belatedly realized that her left hand was unusually warm and only when Wheein took her own hand to dab on her tears did Moonbyul knew that this not-so-stranger had been holding onto her hand, crying. The thought of that warmed her heart as she had been so used to being alone with no one caring about her and it teared her up a bit, alarming the other person in the room.

"Where did it hurt? Do I have to call the doctor?"

"Oh, Hyejin-ssi. I'm fine," Moonbyul replied but when she tried moving her right hand, she had to bite back a scream.

"No, you're not. Let me call the doctor," Hyejin offered as she went out of the room.

So, I'm in a hospital. How much is this gonna cost? I should have called manager-nim to deal with the guy.

"Mo- Mo-Moonbyul-ssi."

"There's no need for honorifics, Wheein-ah."

"B-but…"

"We agreed on this."

"That was before I got you landed on a hospital bed. I'm so sorry, so sorry. This is all my fault," Wheein apologized as more tears trailed down her cheeks.

"W-What happened? How did I end up here? Hyejin?"

"Yes, Hyejin saved us both. I wa-was supposed to meet her nearby b-but as I waited for her to come, th-the guy approached me and cornered me to the alleyway."

"But I interfered and the rest is history. How's your shoulder?"

"It-it's bruised and I got h-his hand mark on my shoulder."

She began to get hysterics after mentioning the guy and since Moonbyul cannot move either of her arms, she just linked her pinkie finger onto Wheein's.

"Shh, shh. It's okay, you're safe. I'm here and Hyejin too. We won't let anyone hurt you," Moonbyul cooed as she tugged on their linked pinkie fingers.

Wheein was still sobbing and Moonbyul taught her breathing exercise to calm her down and they did it until a doctor finally peeked in and checked into her injuries. So far, she had been too occupied with Wheein that she forgot for a minute there about her own injuries. So far, the doctor listed out dislocated shoulder, bruising all over her body and cracked ribs.

"Do i have to stay overnight?"

"As a precaution, yes. We have to monitor your condition to be sure that there's nothing wrong before we can let you go," the doctor confirmed her fear.

Moonbyul didn't exactly have a health insurance and the hospital bill's gonna drain her savings faster than she can blink. She had hoped that she could get discharged early to reduce the bills but the doctor was firm in his decision.

"Doctor, where's Hyejin?"

'Young lady's with her father at his office."

Moonbyul was taken aback by the way the doctor addressed Hyejin, with her eyes wide and her jaw loose.

Young lady???

"Okay, thanks doctor. Can I stay for a little while with her?"

"Of course, there's no problem. Just don't strain yourself too much," he consented as he excused himself out of the room to give the two some privacy.

Truth to be told, Moonbyul's head was spinning and it's not because of her injury but because of the situation she was currently in. She's confined to a hospital bed for the whole day, sustained injury because of someone she just met yesterday, and now apparently the other person - the person she also just met yesterday - was the heiress to the hospital she's stuck in.

But most importantly, work!

She tried getting up from the bed, wincing, but still getting up anyway. Wheein was confused and tried stopping her to prevent her from opening up the stitches but failed miserably. Moonbyul staggered forward onto Wheein as her legs were incapable of supporting her body weight and the two of them collapsed to the floor.

Their heart beat paced up, for two different reasons. For Moonbyul, it was the adrenaline pumping throughout her body to cancel out the effect of opening up her wound so she wouldn't feel as much pain she would without the adrenaline. Her face was flushed just as the person underneath her, Wheein. The warm, heavy breaths tickled her neck and even though she knew that it was not intentional - it's obviously because Moonbyul's having a hard time dealing with the pain - she couldn't help thinking that their position was very misleading and very intimate.

It was a suspicious position indeed, and when Hyejin re-entered the room, she had almost immediately exited the room.

"Yah, Hyejin! Help us up!"

Okay, so maybe leaving them like that is not the best course of action.

Hyejin, as intimidating as she looks, was a strong woman and carefully lifted Moonbyul and helped her onto the hospital bed, aware of the wine red blood seeping onto her hospital gown. After she made sure that she'll be okay, Hyejin extended her hand to Wheein and pulled her up.

"I leave the both of you for 2 minutes and this happened. I'll call the doctor again," Hyejin nagged as she went out for the third time that day.

Still red-faced, Wheein ran out of the room and headed for the rest room, trying desperately to calm herself down. She knew that leaving Moonbyul alone was not right but she needed to get rid of her flushed cheeks and processed what had happened.

What am I even thinking? She's hurt because of me and I just tried to stop her from getting up. There's nothing going on, but why's my heart racing?