A/N hey, sorry for the slight delay. was going to update this yesterday but i was stomped with college programs. here the next update. :)

“What’s wrong with her, doctor? You said that everything went fine! Why the hell is she not talking?”

“The surgery went well, Mister Kim. The wound on her neck has nothing to do with the inability for her to say anything. We believe that it may have been caused by what she has gone through.”

Taeng gulped. “What do you mean?”

“Have you heard of PTSD?”

“What is that?”

“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.” The doctor answered. “I believe she developed a PSTD because of the horrible incident that happened to her.”

 “And this causes her to be a mute?”

“The symptom varies but yes, one of it is her refusing to talk.”

Taeng swallowed the pain he felt when realized that the girl he loves was afraid to talk because of being traumatized by what happened to her. “Can we cure it?”

“There’s really no cure for it.”

“She’s going to stay that way forever?!”

“No, what I mean is, there’s no real cure for it but there’s always a solution.”

“What do you mean?”

“We have to figure out the reason she’s not talking, and in this case, it may have been caused by the incident. We have to know what really happen to her that make her like that.”

Taeng bit his lips, hesitating to tell the truth.

“Still not willing to tell us?”

“It’s not my decision.”

“But you know what happened to her. We’re not trying to do anything to her, we’re just trying to figure out the necessary steps to make her all better again.”

“I want that too.”

“So?”

He clenched his fists before taking a seat in front of the doctor. He sighed and palmed his face. After a couple of minutes gathering his thoughts, he finally opened his mouth and talk about the incident that happened to the beloved girl of his that has scarred his heart so much that talking about it just make himself hurt even more.

Taeng walked back into the room with heavy steps, he just did the hardest thing he ever does in his life, talking about what he had seen that night. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, as it felt sore from the way he slept through the night. When he entered the room, he felt weird to hear sniffing sounds from inside that made him alarmed.

“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” Taeng rushed over and questioned the girl who was hiding her face in her knees.

The girl didn’t answer and kept on hiding her face.

“Fany? Are you in pain? Hey, please, look at me.” Taeng tried to lift her face up but the girl was strong enough to resist his pull.

Seeing no other way around this, he sat down on the bed, and hugged the crying girl tightly. “Please don’t cry. I don’t want to see you like this.” His voice showed that he was in pain too.

She sniffed and shook her head.

“Stop, please? Tell me what’s wrong?”

She lifted her head up and threw her arms around Taeng, burying her head in his chest.

Taeng was surprised but he adjusted his hands and lightly her hair in a soothing manner. “Were you scared?”

Taeng felt the girl nodded her head, and he felt that his heart just shrunk in pain again. “Why were you scared? I was only going to see the doctor. I have not left yet.”

She pulled out of the hug and looked up at Taeng. Her eyes were full of tears. They were searching his eyes to confirm the truth behind his words.

“You were sleeping. I wanted to ask the doctor about…” He stopped and sighed. “I’m sorry. I won’t leave without telling you again.”

The eyes he was staring twinkled and a smile was plastered instantly on her face.

Taeng couldn’t help but to smile too. It feels like a long time since he last seen that smile on the girl. “Are you hungry?” He asked as he took the girl’s hand and played with it.

Tiffany nodded enthusiastically and with those tears still on her face, it really made her look like a little girl.

Taeng chuckled. “What do you want to eat?”

She pondered for a while and finally thought of something. But the smile on her face dropped when she realized that she could not tell Taeng what she wants.

Taeng realized what the girl was thinking, he told the girl to wait for him while he stepped out to the counter outside. He came back into the room and gave the girl a piece of paper and a blue pen.

Tiffany took them and began to sketch something on it, but when Taeng tried to peek, he received a glare from her. After a couple of minutes, she finished her work and showed it to Taeng, with a twinkle in her eyes.

Taeng chortled seeing the drawing. It was a circle with lots of things on top of it. Taeng took a wild guess, and said out loud. “Pizza?”

She nodded and looked back at her drawing.

“You know you can just spell it instead, right?”

Tiffany froze and blushed because of her silliness. He laughed and reached out to tuck the messy hair of the girl behind her ears. “I’ll get that pizza.”

Before he can stand up, Tiffany grabbed onto his arm.

Taeng gave a questioning look, before he can ask about it, he saw the answer that was right in front of his eyes all along. It was the same reason Tiffany was crying earlier, it was not because she thought that Taeng had left without telling her, it was because she was afraid. Terrified to be left alone.

Taeng clenched his jaws. His anger started to boil again. That son of a b’tch would pay!

But before he can let his anger control him, the girl tugged his arm and he left with no choice but to sit back down. “We’ll ask Yul and Jessica to come bring it, okay? Sunny and Dennis said they’ll come too. But you have to wait a little longer.” He smiled.

Tiffany nodded her head and finally let go of his arm.

Taeng felt relieved that her scared eyes returned back to normal. Tiffany has started to doodle on the piece of paper he gave her earlier and sometimes showed them to him. He took her free hand and kissed it lightly. Although he wanted to do so much more than that to the girl, maybe kissing her cheeks, or forehead, but he can’t get any closer to the girl without her flinching. Taeng felt frustrated in the first place, but he was going to settle for now just holding her hand and kissing it. It was the only thing he can do to comfort her and chase her bad thoughts away.

***

“What do you mean he got away?!” Taeng shouted at his friends. The nurses that were passing them gave a weird look at them.

“Taeng, this is a hospital. Please calm yourself down.” Dennis said.

“Calm down? How the f’ck can I calm down when the person who did this to Fany is still out there?!”

“He got bailed out. Technically, he’s still under the police supervision.”

“Well, I don’t want that!” Taeng still has his voice raised. “I don’t f’cking want any police around when I killed that bastard. I told you not to call the police!” He snapped his head toward another boy who kept his head down, furious at him.

“Huihoon didn’t call the police. We did.” Yul interrupted.

“Well, f’ck you then!”

“This is why I called the police, Taeng. You can’t keep him hidden, and you certainly can’t ask Denny to do that for you. And no, you can’t go around killing people!” Yul looked so serious that Taeng seemed to be digesting what he said.

“Why can’t I?”

“Are you seriously asking me that, Taeng? You’re not a killer!”

“Maybe I should be just this once.” His voice was low. “You didn’t see what he did, Yul. You don’t know how much it hurts to see her so scared like that.” He clenched his fists tightly, holding it in the rage he was feeling.

“Taeng..” Yul moved closer to Taeng to give him a hug, but the latter avoided it, taking a step back.

“If you’re not going to help me with this, then, I’m going to have to do this on my own.”

“Taeng, please. Think of your company. Think of your family. Think of Tiffany.”

“That’s the only reason that I want to kill that lowlife!”

“Taeng…”

“Enough. I told you once, Yul. I’m not going to let anything hurt her. You know I meant it. I failed, Yul.” He sounded disappointed. And the only way I can redeem myself is by getting rid of the person who hurt her.”

“Killing him is not the way!”

“Well, can you see any other way? It’s not even two days yet, and the police have already let him walked. What the hell can the law do to him anyway? Lock him up? Sue him? That’s not enough for me.” His dark eyes showed again.

Yul didn’t know what to tell his friend anymore, it seemed that his friend already made up his mind and Yul knows that nothing can change that. He just have to be around to stop Taeng  from doing anything reckless again.

Yul’s phone rang