It hurts. Everywhere.

Even trying to open my eyes requires me to put in a lot of effort. 

What happened to me? 

After a few moments of fighting the pain, my eyelids start to flutter until they are fully open. Though, I had to squint because the sunlight in the room was too glaring. 

I hear a gasp from beside me. "She's awake!" The voice announces and I instantly know who the person that just spoke is.

I truly force my eyes open and she’s there standing beside the bed I’m on. "S-Sun-" I wanted to say her name, but immediately stopped as I winced in pain. My throat hurts so much and my voice is nothing but strained. I gingerly reach out a hand to her and she takes it, wrapping her small hands around to cradle it against her face. 

It looks like she’s been crying and it causes my chest to clench in pain to see her in a distraught state. 

“Miss Ari,” she cries, taking one hand away from mine to wipe the tears falling down her face. I can’t find the strength in me to force myself to talk so I gently tug her to me, and she takes the hint. She climbs on top of the bed with me and slowly wraps her arms around me, careful of the bandage around my neck which I’ve just noticed only now. 

“She wouldn’t stop crying when she heard about what happened,” A new voice rings above the air. I had to shift my head a bit on the pillow to see Yejin standing by the doorway. It’s only at this moment that I realize that I’m in my room. 

I open my mouth to form words even if no sound comes out. Hopefully, Yejin can read my lips. “What happened to me?” I mouth out. 

She sighs and throws a side glance at Sunja before taking a few steps inside my room. She must have understood my question because she answers in a careful manner, “You...had an encounter with the man in the infirmary.”

“I told you that I didn’t want you to go near him!” Sunja chides, pouting her lips. She even had the temerity to point a finger at me to prove her point. 

“Sunja,” Yejin speaks from the side, saying the young girl’s name sternly, “Miss Ari did not know. She only wanted to help him. Though,” she breathes out and purses her lips together as she looks at me, “he wanted to retaliate in a violent manner.”

What violent manner? What kind--

I stop my thoughts running in my mind as I remember it all now. That stupid guy wanted to strangle me to death.

Those images flash through my mind. I was innocently looking through the infirmary before I was attacked. And that fucking bastard wanted to kill me!

The anger I had at that moment surges within me again, that I push myself off the bed causing Sunja to move back all of a sudden. I shuffle out of the bed and do not even bother to put on my pair of slippers as I dash out of my room, my mind fixated on doing one thing. 

“Miss Ari?” Sunja calls out, climbing down the bed to run to Yejin. 

“Unnie?!” Yejin exclaims, watching me leave the room with her mouth agape. It takes her a few seconds to realize that I left before she follows right after me, bringing Sunja with her. 

I go through the corridor, rushing to the infirmary. Once I’m in front of the door that leads to it, I do not hesitate and push it open to reveal the same man who wanted to kill me on the bed, this time his hands and feet are tied tightly to the railings of the hospital bed. 

The fury in me from seeing him pushes me to grit my teeth, narrow my eyes, and go near his neck to wrap my hands around it as he did to mine. His eyes widen with my sudden action and I’m more than glad to know that I can finally attack when he’s vulnerable. A growl forms in my throat but I can’t let it out since it’s painful to do so.

Perhaps I may have acted out of my wits because, in an instant, I feel different sets of hands prying me off him. 

“Ari!”
“Woah, let go of him!”
“Ari, no!”

Different voices shout and exclaim at me as I try to thrash my way out of their grips. 

Let me go! I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs, Let me give him a taste of his own medicine!!

“Ari!” a voice, one belonging to Mrs. Oh, calls me from behind, and the people holding me keep me in place for her to walk to my front. Her eyebrows are scrunched together, the creases on her forehead are more evident than before. “Ari,” she repeats my name, sounding more in disbelief. I think it’s because it’s her first time seeing me all riled up and ready to hurt the one who has hurt me. It’s everyone’s first time seeing me like this. Heck, it’s even my first time to realize that I am capable of feeling such anger. 

I breathe heavily, keeping my gaze locked on Mrs. Oh. “L-Let…” I whisper, my voice cracking constantly, “Let m-me go…” 

“No,” she utters in a loud voice, raising a stern finger at me. “If you want to give him a piece of your mind then we are going to do it in a civil manner.” She reaches for something in her back pocket and, to my dismay, pulls out a pen connected to a notepad. “We can’t let you strain your throat because it has been strained enough. I’m sure you would know that.”

I huff inaudibly and suppress an eye roll knowing that it would make her madder if I did it. Mrs. Oh softly tells the people holding me to let me go and they follow her request.

Yejin enters the room with Sunja as Mrs. Oh hands the notepad over to me so that I could use it to communicate with them. 

“Miss Ari,” Sunja raises her hands, reaching over for me. Yejin puts her down on the ground then runs to where I’m standing. I’m thankful that Sunja did not see how wrath and fury got the best of me for a second there. The last thing I want is for Sunja to be scared of me again.

I rub a hand on her back as she holds onto my legs, but her attention is now on the man watching the scene unfold before him silently but with wary eyes.

“Sunja, dear,” Mrs. Oh begins, bending a bit to get down to the girl’s eye level. Sunja turns to look at her. “Is it okay if we take you back to your other friends? Miss Ari has some things she needs to take care of for now. After this, you can stay with her again.”

I feel Sunja tighten her hold on my legs and take a step further away from Mrs. Oh. “But I want to stay with Miss Ari,” she whines softly. 

I set my lips into a tight line as I look between Mrs. Oh and Sunja. I open the notepad and click the top of the pen for its ballpoint to come out. I scribble some words fast then show what I wrote to Sunja. 

She takes the notepad from me and slowly reads the message I left on it, slowly reading out each word and enunciating each syllable correctly, just like we practice in every lesson together. “Li...L-Listen to Mrs. Oh. I pro...mise to p-play with you later…” Her head flies up to look at me with her doe eyes. “But Miss Ari, I don’t want to leave you.”

I could only smile at her as an apology and rub her back with one hand as the other takes the notepad from her hold. I then place my hand above my heart, silently telling her that it’s truly a promise from me. 

Sunja sighs out of defeat and frowns at me. Her eyes start to water and I know that I’m going to turn all weak if she starts to cry. “You...you need to keep your promise, Miss Ari, okay?”

I nod my head vehemently, hoping that she knows that I really am serious. I face Yejin and she takes it as her cue to take Sunja back with her to the open room for the activities. 

Once they both leave the infirmary, I exhale a deep breath then narrow my eyes into fine slits as I glare at the man on the bed. Now that Sunja is not here, I’m not going to hold back anymore. 

He’s not backing down, though. He also is now glaring back at me. I notice how his hands have clenched into fists despite being tied on opposite sides of the hospital bed. 

I turn the page on my notepad and start writing down some words for Mrs. Oh to read. 

“What has he said about himself?”

Mrs. Oh shrugs then answers, “We don’t know. He still refuses to talk.”

My jaw drops at that and I write down a new message in a hurry. “Did you at least call the police already?!”

“...All lines are down, Ari,” she replies in a small voice.

I throw her a look of sheer disbelief. I turn to a new page and write, “We should have gone to them in the first place!! We should have called 119 or 112 when we had the chance!” I tap the pen on the notepad angrily. 

“We’re aware of that already, Ari. And frankly, it’s my fault that we’re in this mess.” She purses her lips and throws a glance at the man. I’m aware that he knows what we’re talking about. Honestly, I don’t care if he knows. “I just didn’t expect him to wake up and, literally, choose violence.” She huffs, “There will be people watching over him, but they will be staying by the door of the infirmary. He’s tied up well and for sure, won’t be able to find a way out of those reins. For now, let’s leave this room and find ways to make him start talking.”

Dread instantly courses through me as this mere thought starts to cloud my mind. Oh, God...don’t tell me that we’re going to be stuck with this man. 

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

Sometimes my colleagues can be really forgetful at times. There are days when it works to my disadvantage or advantage. This time...it’s the latter. 

When it was around one in the morning, I stole a small knife from the kitchen and silently made my way to the infirmary. There is no one watching over its entrance for the night. See? Forgetful colleagues. 

If forcing him to talk would be a way to drive him far from this place, then I’m going to do any kind of strategy, whether unconventional or not, to make sure he leaves. 

I know I may seem crazy and who would ever, in their right mind, go and visit the person who tried to kill them again? 

I am scared, but I’m more frightened for the children. 

Slowly turning the knob of the door to the infirmary, I push it open and close the door, making sure to lock it behind me, until it is only darkness that greets me in the room. I switch on the lights and the man gets startled awake by my presence and the bright light over us. He takes his time to look around the room and I could hear him breathe heavily as I saunter toward him. His eyes widen in panic when I hold out the knife in my hand. 

This is it. No turning back now. 

He clenches his jaw and moves his hands and feet, clearly trying to loosen the ropes around them. I raise my other hand in front of him as he won’t stop trying to move. 

I raise the knife over the rope of his right wrist and start to slice the rope until it’s free. He gasps softly and looks up at me, an appalled expression gracing his features. To my surprise, when his right hand goes free, he just lets it fall to his side. He does not move it nor use it to attack me. I move to the other side of the bed and do the same to his left hand. 

I place the knife under his bed and stand straight, not breaking my eye contact with him. I slowly breathe out a sigh under my breath and unfasten the left railing to bring it down. He continues to watch me with a careful and attentive glare, and I swear, I think I’m sweating like crazy. The kind of anxiety I’m feeling at this moment is truly something else. 

Making sure that his feet are still tied up, just in case, I take a seat on the side of his bed and begin to unravel the piece of bandage around my neck. Once it’s loose, I let it fall to the floor. My bruises are clear for him to look at. 

I pull out the notepad from the pocket of my pants and open it to the page where there are words written on it already. I show it to him with an austere expression on my face. 

“If it was your intention to kill me last night, then finish the job.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you liked this chapter! Ari is really something else hahaha

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