CHAPTER 3

JI HOO'S POV:

It has been 7 hours since Saia Caelum limped out of the hospital and I can't stop thinking about her. Her expressive brown eyes, her tan skin, her sun-kissed brown hair, her musical voice, and her thin but toned body had been haunting my thoughts since she left. We have had a full load of patients all evening and I thought it would have distracted me but my mind keeps returning to her and a sickening feeling of worry is growing in my stomach. No matter how many times I try to understand how or why she has made such a strong impression on me, I can't find an answer. She is beautiful but I have never felt anything like this, not even with Jan DI.

I hungrily drank in every detail about her and I continue to replay in my head how soft her skin feels, how she shivered at my touch, and how she had stubbornly refused to look at me when I examined her ankle. Her anger confused me when she finally did look at me. Her voice had been full of fear and panic. Even though she was concerned about getting home to her siblings, something else wasn't right. I could feel it.

When she started limping towards the door, I panicked and grabbed her arm before she got very far. She tried to pull away but I held on tightly.

"At least let me give you something for the swelling and the pain." I had pleaded. All I really wanted at that moment was to wrap my arms around her and keep her from leaving but she walked away. The feeling of loss when she left nearly overwhelmed me. I didn't understand it at that moment and I don't understand it now. I spent maybe 10 minutes with her and find myself wanting to know everything about her. I re-read her chart several times throughout the night but it isn't enough. I finally turn it in for filing but still go through its meager contents in my head. The growing worry in my gut continues to gnaw at me throughout my shift but I finally manage to push everything to the back of my mind. I can't afford to be so distracted on the job.

It is almost 4 in the morning when my stomach rumbles angrily at me. The sickening worry has caused me to lose my appetite and my body is starting to protest. I am exhausted and ready for a hot shower as I drop off my charts at the nurses work station and nod my good bye to Nurse Baek.

It's chilly outside and I remember Saia's thin shoes and thread-bare coat. There is no way they can keep her warm enough. I hope that she made it home alright. Her ankle must have made it difficult to walk. I should have made sure she had at least gotten safely into a cab or something and I berate myself for the umpteenth time for my thoughtlessness. I had hardly been able to think clearly when I was close to her. She smells so good, like coconut & rain and her eyes are hypnotic. I could stare into them all day but…why am I so worried about her?

Shaking my head, I try to stop thinking about it at least until I get home but sirens catch my attention before I reach my car. Debating on whether I should help out or leave I watch an ambulance stop in front of the Emergency Room. The arrival of the second ambulance makes my decision for me. When I approach the first ambulance, several doctors are already attending to the small children that are being taken out of it so I make my way to the second one and the EMT's quickly start giving me a rundown of the patient's condition.

Becoming a doctor has steeled me for some pretty gruesome situations but nothing could have prepared me for the sight of seeing the women I have been thinking about all night lying broken and bleeding on the gurney in front of me. I now realize what my gut has been trying to tell me.

(^_^)

SAIA'S POV:

I can feel myself moving and I hear voices around me but I can't understand them. They are garbled and seem far away. Even the pain seems farther away now but I feel so cold and numb. I don't understand what is happening. I am trying so hard to open my eyes, to make my body move but it isn't working. The last memory I have is of my injured brother and I desperately want to see him. If only I had just runaway with my brother and sister then none of this would have happened. I knew that he could snap at any moment yet I fooled myself into believing that he would never go this far in his abuse.

My mind replays the sight of my father with the knife in his hand, towering over my sister. He was angry at the world yet again for his fate. Overly drunk and looking for someone to blame, he had turned on my sister but there was a different, crazy look in his eye tonight. I realized he had truly lost his sanity and had stepped in to protect her. With my injured ankle, I had already been at a disadvantage. The first time the knife pierced me, the burning pain had caused my breath to hitch but I refused to scream and continued to try and keep him away from Hye Sun. When Young Saeng tried to protect me, our father had thrown him against the wall like a rag doll and he was knocked unconscious. The rage that consumed me at that moment had overridden everything. Pain, logic, all of it. I managed to punch my father a few times but that was all I got before he attacked me. He pounced on me and the knife slid into my skin over and over again with his fist occasionally replacing the blade's punishment. Hye Sun had screamed for him to stop and had pulled on his arm but he twisted her arm away with a sickening snap then shoved her towards our brother. Everything after that was a blur. That last thing I remember seeing was Hye Sun crying over Young Saeng's crumpled body.

So here I am, praying that Hye Sun and Young Saeng are alive and that they have managed to escape somehow. Will I ever see their precious faces again? Or hear my brother and sister's sweet laughter? My thoughts turn to the doctor I had seen earlier and the look of worry on his face when I was leaving the hospital. He had only been in my life for a brief moment and yet I miss him. After I left, I had actually thought about going back but logic had overridden my heart.

Foolish girl! Do you honestly think he is feeling the same things you are? Look at yourself and then look at him…. He won't even remember you.

Yet as I lay in this cold void, I can swear I hear his voice pierce through the garbled noises around me. I want so badly for it to be true and struggle to single it out in my head. Something warm touches my face and I can suddenly hear his voice as clear as a bell. Forcing my body to respond, I turn my face into his hand and open my eyes. He looks a lot paler than I remember and his shocked eyes are full of concern.

"Saia? Try not to move alright? You have lost a lot of blood and we are taking you into surgery right now. Relax." He is running besides my gurney in a white hallway. "Your sister is okay. I'll find out how your brother is doing."

How does he know what I want to hear? I want to thank him but what little strength I have is gone. All I can do is focus on his soulful eyes and the warmth of his hand on my face as the cold darkness overwhelms me again.