Taeyong felt his body sore all over as he opened his eyes slowly. He could smell food as he adjusted his vision. He could feel the tightness around his abdomen and looked down to see that his clothes were different. He blinked in confusion and looked around the unfamiliar house. “You’re awake.” He heard an unfamiliar voice, making him tense and snapped his head towards the owner. He widened his eyes when he realized who it was. He knew her.

She gave him a smile and sat on the edge of the bed. She placed her right palm on his forehead and her left on hers, checking the temperature. She smiled in satisfaction when it was similar. She took his wrist and checked his pulse, 1000…2000… 3000… She counted in her head. Taeyong just stared at her, thinking that she shouldn’t be doing this to him but he didn’t even make a move to stop her. He just couldn’t.

“Good. Your vitals are fine and your temperature went back to normal. The vaccine must be working.” She said and Taeyong continued staring at her. Her smile slightly widened when she looked into his eyes. It was pretty, no doubt. Without realizing, she said it out loud. “Your eyes are pretty.” Taeyong was evidently taken aback and his eyes widened a tiny bit. That didn’t went unnoticed by Jimin who just gave a soft chuckle.

“I’ve prepared some food. You need energy after losing that much blood. You were unconscious for almost 2 days and I had to get an IV drip for you at the hospital.” Jimin said, standing up and going back to the kitchen corner to prepare the table.

“2 days?” Taeyong muttered under his breath but Jimin heard it. She hummed in response as she set up the table for the both of them to eat. Taeyong saw a tube connected to his inner elbow and realized that it was the IV drip she was talking about. “Kim Jimin.” Taeyong muttered under his breath unconsciously as he stared at the needle that was embeded into his skin.

“How did you know my name?” Jimin froze and looked at Taeyong in shock. She was about to put the food that was already placed in the bowl on the table when she heard her name slipped from his lips. They never met each other before, so how did he know her name?

Taeyong looked around the house and pointed at the certificate that was framed and hung on the wall. Jimin looked at the framed certificate that she got from winning a Mathematics Whiz competition. She got it framed up because it was the last competition that her parents attended before they were murdered.

“Oh.” Was Jimin’s simple reply before she continued setting up the table.

“Anyway, come over here and have your food. You must be famished since you haven’t eaten for 2 days.” Jimin continued after she finished setting up the table. It wasn’t much. She just cooked mixed vegetables with meat, and chicken ginseng soup that she made last night. She was hoping that he would wake up yesterday but he didn’t so she just saved it for today. Jimin helped Taeyong took out the IV needle as Taeyong continued staring at her.

“Can you stand up on your own?” Jimin asked and Taeyong simply gave a nod. His legs nearly gave out on him again but before he could even lose his balance, Jimin had helped him regained it.

“Careful. Come on. You need energy.” Jimin gave him a smile and led him to the kitchen corner, holding his hand. She sat him down before sitting opposite him.

“Thank you for the food.” Jimin said and looked at Taeyong, waiting for him to say it as well. Taeyong just stared at Jimin who was starting to feel self-conscious under his gaze. She noticed that he had been staring at her with his dark eyes. Then again, it looked strangely familiar but she couldn’t point out where she had seen it from.

“You should say it too.” Jimin said, breaking the awkward atmosphere. Taeyong gave her a questioning look and Jimin just sighed. Wondering if this man had ever been grateful in his life before.

“Thank god for the food.” Jimin said and Taeyong blinked. “I don’t want to.” He never had to thank anyone, not even his parents. It was an act of kindness which was taught to be a weakness to Taeyong. This girl in front of him was showing him a weakness. But seeing that weakness for himself made him feel strange. It was the first time someone showed him kindness. The maids never showed him kindness. No, they respected and treated him like the employer he partly was.

He had the power to fire any maids. Strangely though, when he did, his parents would seem to be proud of him. Telling him that it was fine to fire anyone he wanted. He didn’t even know what he was supposed to think about that privilege. So the treatment that he received from them were partly due to fear as well. Kindness was never in the dictionary for him.

“Fine then. At least thank me for doing all these things for you.” Jimin said, looking at him in the eyes. Not at all afraid of what it might hold. It should be intimidating but Jimin had learnt a lot in the hospital. She had witness many kind of patients and Taeyong was one of those ‘stubborn’ ones who refused to eat their ‘medication’.

“I never asked for it.” Was Taeyong’s simple answer before he started digging in. Jimin let out a scoff in disbelief and threw him a look of dissatisfaction. So much for helping a dying person. She thought to herself. She started digging in as well. The only sounds that were heard were the clings and clangs made by the spoon and the ceramic rice bowl.

After finishing, Jimin went to wash the utensils while Taeyong was scavenging in the house, looking for his weapons. Jimin who seemed to notice it didn’t even bother telling him where she kept them.

“Where are my belongings?” Taeyong asked, giving up on finding them on his own. It wasn’t his house so he had no idea where to even find it without destroying anything.

“Why? Are you leaving in that state? You’re not fully healed yet so stay here until you are. Besides, you’re not in the best shape to start on your training Mr Lee Taeyong.” Jimin said in a mocking tone when she spoke his name and his eyes visibly darkened, skipping a few shades even.

He walked towards her and she widened her eyes in fear.

“How did you know my name? And what do you know about the training?” He asked, his voice menacing. Jimin gulped in fear. She opened to response but closed it back out of fear. This guy was scaring her to bits. Was that a way to show gratitude to someone who saved his life? Thinking about it just pissed her off but she couldn’t do anything about it.

Taeyong’s eyes darkened even more and it scared Jimin equally more. He walked towards Jimin who slowly backed away but she was trapped as her back hit the kitchen counter. “What do you know?” He asked, his voice cold.

“T-that your name is Lee Taeyong. A-and you’re supposed to go back to training when you go back home. There was a message that arrived when you were unconscious so I took the liberty to check the message thinking that it was from your parents so that I could call them and tell them about your condition. It was indeed from your father telling you that you’re going to train when you go back home. Training in your current condition wouldn’t be advisable so I didn’t call your father down and just nursed you myself.” Jimin stuttered the first few words but she managed to gain courage to explain what she did. She was the one who nursed him back to health. There was no way he could hurt her, right?

Taeyong’s locked eyes with Jimin who had slight fear in her eyes, but besides fear, there was courage as well. In contrast with her eyes though, Taeyong was filled with nothing but anger yet emptiness. There was a strange emptiness in his eyes that Jimin noticed, and yet she also felt a sense of recognition. Where did she saw this pair of eyes before? When did she saw it?

“Where are my things?” Taeyong asked right away after Jimin gave him her explanation. Jimin blinked at the question, wondering if she should give him his things and let him leave, or should she keep the things hidden and let him stay here until he’s fully recovered. If he leaves, there would be a chance of him getting hurt again. She had a feeling the training that he had to go through has got to do with the scars that his body bears.

She chose the latter. “You’re staying here until you’re fully recovered and I won’t take no as an ans-“ She was cut off when Taeyong grabbed her neck, choking her. She was shocked. No, shocked was an understatement. She was absolutely terrified.

“I’ll turn this place upside down if I have to. Tell me where my things are before I kill you right here and now.” Taeyong said, squeezing as she squinted her eyes when she felt her windpipe being blocked. She felt her body being lifted up as he kept blocking the air from entering her system, soon she was tiptoeing. Out of instinct -self-defense-, she kicked his injured abdomen making him loosened his grip tremendously and she went into a coughing fit. He put down his hand and looked at her in apparent shock. He never saw that coming. Nobody ever had the guts to hit him. Sure, they struggled to release themselves, but they never had the guts to actually hit him like that.

He could feel the stitch reopening and blood was sipping through the gauze pad and shirt. Jimin started to calm down and saw the blood. She widened her eyes in slight panic. She never meant to actually reopen the stitch. Maybe make him feel pain, but never make him injured. “Oh god, I’m so sorry.” She apologized, looking up at him. Totally forgetting about what happened just a few minutes, or even seconds ago.

“Hold on. Come here.” She said, pulling his arm and Taeyong let her drag him to her bed that he woke up on. Wondering what the hell was wrong with her. He was sure he tried to kill her just now, and it was understandable that she would hurt him to save herself from being killed. But her panicking after hurting him was beyond him.

“Sit down.” She made him sit on the edge of the bed before she hurried to get the first aid kit.

She put the first aid kit on the bed beside her as she sat down beside him. “Lift up your shirt. I’ll stitch it again.” She said as she sanitized her hands before preparing the surgical suture and a pair of forceps. She put on the latex gloves and frowned when Taeyong didn’t do what she said.

“Lift up your shirt.” She said it in a stern manner while Taeyong just stared at her in wonder.

“Goodness gracious, do you not understand English?” Jimin asked in annoyance and lifted up the shirt in his stead. “Keep it lifted. I only have a pair of hands and I need both hands to stitch your wounds.” Jimin instructed and Taeyong obliged unconsciously. He blinked in confusion when his hands automatically went to his already lifted shirt. After making sure the he was holding onto his shirt, Jimin let go and took out the stained bandages, regretting the kick that she did before.

Extra workload and she had to rush to the hospital right after this. She had no time to lose or her chief would have her head, figuratively speaking of course. It would be murder is he really did have her head.

“Sorry about this.” She said as she injected the numbing serum into his abdomen to numb the pain before she started stitching the reopened wounds.

“Don’t apologize. It’s a sign of weakness.” Taeyong said, his voice still hard and cold. Jimin just chuckled at what he said. It was true. Apologizing was a sign of weakness. It meant that you were giving in, no matter whether you were right or wrong. She knew that he was at fault since he had tried to strangled her to death, but that didn’t mean that she was supposed to do the same thing to him. She was a doctor. She was supposed to heal people, not hurt them.

“Alright. I apologize for apologizing then.” Jimin said, teasing him making Taeyong widened his eyes in surprised at that rebuttal. What was this girl?

Jimin continued stitching while Taeyong continued staring at her stitching. Jimin was aware of the pair of eyes that was looking at her but she didn’t let it get to her. She needed to focus on the stitching so that she would be done and over with and she could head to the hospital. “Done.” She said after 15 minutes of stitching 4 reopened wounds and sticking a gauze pad on them after cleaning the blood surrounding the stitches.

Taeyong put shirt down as Jimin quickly kept the first aid kit and threw away all the stained gauze pads as well as used forceps and gloves. “Stay here. I need to get to the hospital. Rummage this place all you want, but you won’t be able to find your things.” Jimin said as she prepared to leave the apartment. Taeyong just looked at her rushing and tensed when she suddenly stopped and looked at him.

“I’ll be back at dawn or something. Until then, you’re free to do as you please. Leave, but without your things. Or stay, and watch the TV or something. I’ll bring supper home too.” Jimin said before giving him a smile and leaving the apartment. Taeyong stared at the closed door where Jimin just left. What was he supposed to do now? He can’t leave the place without his weapons and jacket, neither can he stay after disappearing for 2 days.

For the first time in 10 years, he felt lost.