Chapter Summary: Some days can go from zero to a hundred real quick.
A/N: I've been MIA. Again. But this time, I have a valid reason because in a way, my health was compromised, and the past months have been such a bloody roller coaster ride. Still recovering now, but anyway, I am so grateful to all my readers who are still out there reading and supporting me, especially the ones who never cease to comfort me with their words. And please do know that despite life throwing all these hardships against me, I will strive to finish this story no matter what. In fact, this is my gift to you. A long chapter! Hihi!xD
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AN APPLE A DAY – Chapter 14: Fight or Flight
'Why is life unfair?'
A guy with light brown hair tried to delude himself away from his reality, but seeing the dark, cloudy skies upon just stepping foot at the hospital's lobby, and his driver, still nowhere to be seen at the car bay, surely, being late for a business dinner wouldn't hurt that much, right?
Who was he kidding?
Wait 'til his father is informed of his so-called 'negligence'.
Sliding his palm inside his corporate coat's pocket to retrieve his phone, Manta Oyamada hurriedly flipped through his phone contacts to search for his driver number. He groaned in frustration when it was taking longer than it should. It was partly his fault, though, because no matter how many times he reminded himself to save the damn number for one of his speed dials, he still ended up forgetting it every time, to the point of considering having an opinion from one of their doctors in fear of having early onset Dementia.
Finally hitting the jackpot, just as his thumb was about to tap the name on his mobile's screen, already equipped with a few arguments in his mind, Manta suddenly realised that what he had tucked in his other arm were some folders and uninteresting documents—all except for his laptop.
He froze.
He must've left it in the board meeting room when he hurried down the hall after delivering his presentation earlier!
Again, it was partly his fault because technically, he didn't need to fly out of the said place. But by seeing his father's dissatisfied face contrary to all the compliments he received from the other members of the board, still, nothing mattered.
"Aaargh! I love my life!" His sarcasm could never make him believe his words. And to prove his point, a few expletives escaped under his breath.
Succumbing to the reality that he needed to go back and retrieve the scourged object back inside the hospital like his life depended on it, he marched his little feet with a heavy grunt of dissatisfaction every step of the way. His face was fuming, and he was sure that if anyone who knew him saw him like this, then they wouldn't be able to recognise him the way he was projecting his anger. To everyone, he was always the 'fragile, little Manta'.
He wasn't always like this.
Well sure, he was easily stressed out and was always the jumpy one when things didn't happen his way, but he was usually quite good-natured towards everyone. He was always the squirmy type, but he's learned to calm himself down more effectively in the middle of a crisis.
Part of the negativity may have been caused by the immense responsibility that is currently placed on his shoulders and looped around his neck by his family—his father, in particular. On the other hand, bringing out his positive outlook in life was influenced by a certain person. Thanks to his best friend, the infamous Mr. Sunshine, Asakura Yoh.
Manta didn't even realise the smile that crept onto his face after thinking of him.
At first, he couldn't put his finger on as to why he—almost everyone— become pulled by this invisible force emanating from that guy. He used to wonder every single time how Yoh can just stay in his calm and optimistic demeanour even in the event of a catastrophe, and in turn, affect all the people surrounding him in such a positive way.
He can be standing in the middle of a quicksand and could still be laughing about it, for crying out loud!
There was always something odd about him, an undetermined power from the gods, perhaps.
Manta was in his late twenties, but he looked like a lost, timid boy roaming around the place due to his challenged height and young features. He carried on with his detour through the white halls, determined to retrieve his laptop. Though upon passing by the large panoramic windows that showcased the hospital's garden, his vision caught something familiar.
Speak of the devil
Manta didn't expect to find his best friend coolly lounging on the luscious, grass that covered the outdoor grounds. The brunette seemed to be in deep thought because first, he was starting off into the sky that displayed the twilight, his hands tucked behind his head with his countenance, a mixture of apprehension and confusion. Second, he didn't hear when Manta called him the first time, the blonde had to block his view for him to take notice.
It was quite unusual for Yoh to be like this.
"Manta?" Yoh blinked in surprise while shielding his face from the faint sun rays with his palm.
"Aren't you supposed to be on a day off today?" Oyamada inquired.
"Yeah, but I visited Seyram." Manta's face didn't look too convinced, so Yoh added, "Aaand, I dropped by for some reports." He tried to flash a sheepish grin.
After a moment of awkwardness, Manta finally decided to speak his mind. "Yoh, what's going on with you these days?" He continued when the brunette just raised a brow at him. "I mean, not that it isn't normal for you to zone out or be incredibly distracted, but I feel like something's been troubling you and it shows."
"It does?" Yoh glanced at his friend with innocence.
"Well, at least for us, it does." Manta referred to their other friends, mainly Ren and Horo Horo. "It's just that, the last time you were like this, it was because of—" Manta took a breath to compose his words in his mind, "I remember you mentioned something about Anna, but we didn't really get the chance to talk after that."
The doctor heaved a sigh and averted his gaze back to a distance. For a moment, it seemed as if he was contemplating whether to tell the truth or not. Heck, he himself wasn't sure of what's true and what isn't.
"I… I think I'm still in love with her."
There. Finally. The dreaded words came out of his mouth, albeit in a whisper, they were heard crystal clear by his companion.
The silence made Yoh queasy. He couldn't blame himself completely for that since his history with Anna has always been a sensitive topic amongst him and his friends. And after everything that went down six years ago, he was always sure that his friends would have divided opinions about his relationship with his ex.
In all honesty, Yoh was expecting Manta to be ogling at him with his mouth wide open like he confessed to some heinous crime, but there he was, gazing at him with eyes full of compassion.
"Did you even stop loving her?"
That hit hard.
Yoh was caught up in a trance after hearing those words.
Did he? Did he really kept on loving Anna all these years and it took him that long to realize it?
Manta went on when he saw Yoh's mini self-conflict. "Well, we figured out a long time ago that she still isn't married, and she denies being in a relationship with someone. So really, what's stopping you this time?"
A dozen scenarios formed in Yoh's head, mainly about the hundreds of reasons on why he and Anna shouldn't be together and on why they broke up in the first place, but he decided to clear his mind. He got a hold of his emotions before he started bawling like an highschooler within their hospital's 'sacred' grounds.
Out of the blue, Yoh suddenly changed character; his eye steaming with renewed resolve.
He hands started copping his pockets to look for his phone and let out a groan when he saw the time.
Oyamada got startled at his best friend's quick shift in mood. He was always astonished at Yoh's duality even when they were younger, but there are times that he really never ceases to surprise him.
"Shit, shit, shit! I hope she hasn't gone home yet!" The doctor straightened up as quickly as day. "God, Manta, you're right. I don't know what was wrong with me until now. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Will catch up with you guys again soon, 'kay?"
Manta watched as Yoh walked away, determined to open a new, or rather, to continue the interrupted most important chapters of his life. The blonde realised that it was his turn to help Yoh out during an ominous time of his life, just as how Yoh didn't leave him when he needed help countless times.
It felt really good to the point that Manta completely forgot about what he was stressing about earlier.
. . . . . . . . . . .
That was weird.
He was pretty sure Anna doesn't start her training program in Pedia in a week or so, yet it was the only site in their workplace where she was reported to be seen last.
Perhaps she was the only on-call doctor available to see the patient who was just transferred from the Emergency Department at this time.
Yoh was trying to formulate several speculations in his head whilst roaming the familiar halls around him, but an increasing commotion amongst staff caught his attention.
"Oh my God! What should we do!?" a nurse squirmed in panic.
"Someone call security!" another frantic staff pleaded.
By this time, several baffled on-lookers were gathered at the Pedia ward's corridors. Fear was evident on their faces.
Watching another pick up the service phone to call for help, Yoh stopped one of the nurses on her tracks and asked her what the disturbance was all about. All he understood from her terrified words were: "staff," a "hostage," and "rooftop."
One teenage girl, presumably a patient due to the hospital gown she was wearing, came out of her room, inconsolable. She was being assisted by a nurse and her mother who just arrived at the scene.
"It was my fault! It was all my fault!" she kept saying in between hard sobbing.
When Yoh frantically viewed the scene around him and saw all the faces of the Pedia staff—doctors, nurses, allied health providers— present at the ward, Yoh didn't wait for the help to arrive. The unsettling feeling in his gut told him that something was terribly wrong, and he somehow deduced that Anna was in danger, possibly stuck in a hostage-taking situation, at the rooftop of the hospital.
The irrational part of his brain immediately triggered his body's fight or flight response, and he was definitely not running on 'flight'.
Yoh knew he entered the alarm stage when he was able to speed through four-floors worth of staircases via the fire exit when he deemed the elevator too crowded and slow for his liking. With his heart ramming against his chest, sweat sliding on his back, and an undeniable warmth that emanated through his skin, the doctor didn't even realise that he reached the top of the building in less than two minutes.
He threw the heavy door open and was greeted with the blinding lights that emitted from the roof top's lighting.
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"This is blatant disrespect." A hoarse voice echoed in an office room that contained no one but an old lady wearing traditional Japanese clothes.
A pipe was wedged between her lips while she puffed and talked as she pleased.
"Missed you, too." Another voice, a man's, laced with sarcasm, replied through the phone's loudspeaker.
"You have the nerve to do this meeting without even showing your face here." The female grunted after taking another puff from her pipe. Her composure remained calm, like a queen nestled in her leisurely on her throne.
The man simply chuckled. "Well, what can I say? I'm a very busy man."
The silence was too uncomfortable.
"Geez, Kino. Have you ever heard of 'work from home'? It's the trend nowadays. You're welcome."
"And you even talk without honorifics. Let's see if you want to call my name directly again when my cane comes in contact with your face, brat."
"That's exactly why I chose to do a meeting remotely—" the man cleared his throat when Kino slammed her fist on the table, "I mean, let us start, shall we?"
"Let me see if you're already well prepared." Kino snorted, lowering her smoking piece onto the ashtray, and grabbing the remote to turn off the TV in the room before they started their conference.
"When did I ever fail you?" The masculine voice vibrated with over-confidence as an attempt to annoy the Asakura matriarch further.
However, he was met with silence through the phone.
"Kino?"
"A-are you seeing this?" The old lady simply inquired. She sounded very much in disbelief.
"What? Seeing what exactly?"
"Watch the breaking news on TV. Channel four."
The man was clearly confused with the sudden shift in mood. "I don't see how the news is relevant to our agenda right—"
"Now!" Kino waited for the man to get back to her while she heard scrambling noises from the other side of the call.
The equal silence from both lines confirmed to her that the other party is now also seeing what she is seeing on TV: a familiar woman in her late twenties, blonde, petite, was being held captive with a pair of scissors pointed at her throat by a man who appeared to be in his forties.
Both the hostage and the assailant were standing dangerously near the edge of Shimane Medical Foundation's rooftop.
The winds caused by the helicopter hovering above them was thrashing the victim's hair wildly as the live broadcasting cameras zoomed on her face. Despite the dire situation, her demeanour remained fierce, her hands grabbing her attacker's arm that was wrapped around her shoulders.
Within a few meters away from them, there was another man who seemed to be negotiating with the aggressor and he was identified as Dr. Asakura Yoh by the news team.
"Please don't tell me that that girl is who I think she is."
Kino only asked the question because she wanted the person from the other line to tell her that she was wrong, that her assumptions were incorrect. But she cannot mistake the woman for anyone else. How could she when she practically watched the girl grow up.
The woman who is currently being held hostage atop their famed hospital was definitely Kyouyama Anna.
No immediate reply came, but Kino really didn't expect an explanation anyway. The person she was talking to was already caught red-handed due to the mere fact that Anna was present within Izumo, let alone, within the territory of the Asakuras.
The realisation made Kino's blood boil. "What have you done?" she inquired in horror.
The woman could only hold her breath when the call was cut without another word from her caller.
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Resistance stage. He could feel his body struggling to normalise his breathing and stabilise his pulse, yet he kept bouncing back to the stage one of his stress response. And oh, boy, was he ready to fight.
Why not? Witnessing Anna being held precariously by an unknown maniac on the loose, a sharp weapon threatened to pierce her throat anytime, surely it was more than enough to make everything in him get all worked up.
"Oh look, your boyfriend came for you, doctor."
"Shut up. He's my ex." Anna muttered mundanely towards her attacker who was still conveniently grabbing her from behind. The blonde was busy checking out their distance away from the sides. She should at least make sure they wouldn't just fall off the building after all the drama, right?
"Really, Anna? I'm here trying to save you and the first thing you do is deny me?" Yoh acted impishly butthurt, but despite being deadass worried about his so-called 'ex', his eyes shone in a different light, and Anna didn't fail to see it.
She easily caught up with his plan.
"What? It's not like I'm lying." Anna snorted. "We're done, Yoh. And there's nothing else we could do to go back to what we used to."
Yoh produced an indignant gasp. "But that's not what I felt that night."
"Don't make me laugh. You know it was just the heat of the moment." Anna spat venomously, almost forgetting she had someone else threatening to hurt her.
By this time, the hostage-taker was getting baffled with the bizarre exchange of words between the two. There was also a chopper that started hovering above them, and they knew that it's from the media, based on the logo that was printed on the flying vehicle.
Yoh opened his mouth to retort against Anna but was interrupted by the attacker.
"AHH! STOP IT! SHUT THE FUCK UP, BOTH OF YOU!" The guy grunted loudly and yanked his hostage violently. Anna hissed as the tip of the weapon slightly dug onto her skin which was enough to make a spot just below her jaw bleed. "If I hear any more theatrical words from you two, I swear I'm gonna puke!"
Yoh tried to take a step forward when he saw Anna hurt, but the other man quickly backed off.
When Yoh tried to negotiate and beseeched him to let Anna go, the aggressor swung his arm to point the weapon against Yoh while keeping a stronghold on Anna. He asked the male doctor to state his business, but he seemed to have recognised the doctor.
"Ohh! I know you! You're that surgeon who's also the famous heir of the Asakuras!" He smiled manically upon realising something.
The man glanced quickly at Anna, who was biting her lip in discomfort, then back again at Yoh, who still displayed an insane amount of coolness despite the scenario. If only he could read what was going on in the brunette's head.
"So I'm right, aren't I?" He grabbed Anna's jaw top force her to look at him and the woman just groaned in reply. "You really are this man's lover."
"I just told you, he's my ex. Are you stupid?" Anna rolled her eyes despite clearly being assaulted.
"Anna!"
"Hep, hep, hep! Don't you dare think about it!" The attacker warned, slashing his pointed weapon in the air, and taking a step backwards near the edge of the skyline. "If you want little miss blondie to get out here alive, you're gonna have to follow every word that I say."
One wrong move, and both Anna and her patient's-stepfather-slash-now-her-hostage-taker would potentially have their brains scattered around Izumo CBD once they hit the bottom of that seven-storey hospital.
"Okay, okay, calm down. Tell me what you want." Yoh asserted with both hands in mid-air.
"I propose a swap between you two. I figured your life is more valuable that this bitch's."
"I beg to differ. I'd prioritise her life over mine anytime." He said every word whilst gazing directly at Anna. She may be acting all sassy and witty right now, but he knew, there was a hint of fear somewhere in those beautiful amber orbs. Yoh shifted his glare towards the other man, "But okay, sure!"
Anna reacted violently with a mad blush on her cheeks. "What? No!"
Yoh threw her a meaningful look. The kind which implored her to trust him. To have faith in him.
In that moment, Anna knew Yoh had already formulated a plan in his head, and all he needed was her cooperation. She tried her best to calm herself down even though her body was starting to get numb.
"So, how are we doing this?" The brunette flashed a smirk despite his pulse literally racing with every move.
"You!" The man pertained to Yoh. "You better start walking towards me. And when I give you the signal, you need to put yourself on the ground, hands on the back of your head, and that's the time I'll let go of miss beautiful, deal?" He grabbed Anna's hair to tilt her face upwards and took a whiff on the valley of her neck like a pervert who was aggravated with drugs, before whispering to Anna's ear on how pitiful it was that he couldn't spend more time playing with her.
Of course, Anna worked her acid tongue and bade him to hell to pay for all his sins.
"Or maybe," The surgeon struck a bargain as he partially looked away so as not to witness how Anna was being physically assailed in front of him. It made him feel worthless to his core, yet he tried his best not to make any false move that will ruin his plans. Just a little bit more until… "you could let her go now, while I walk towards you. How does that sound?" Yoh tried to plaster a confident smirk.
"What? How do I know you won't trick me?"
"Okay, first, may I know your name, sir?" Sir? Sir? He has never encountered someone who threatened to hurt people in such a respectful manner. The hostage-taker contemplated whether to disclose that information to his negotiator due to his suspicious attitude.
"C-call me Tanaka."
Yoh nodded gently and smiled. "Okay, Tanaka-san… I won't trick you. I promise."
"You're gonna have to give me a more concrete reason than that, young man! How do I know both of you won't run away together? Why should I believe you?"
A snicker came from his lady hostage. He saw her roll her eyes. "'Cause he's an idiot."
The attacker grimaced with much trepidation, but clearly, he was more confused than anything. Why on earth would he give out his trust just based on empty words? However, no matter how he thought about it, the boy with brown hair sounded too honest. Too pure, that it made him want to believe him then and there.
Is this the power of doctors?
Yoh started to stride slowly towards the two. And without any signs of objection from the assailant, he carried on, all eyes on Anna, while his hands remained raised next to his head.
With each step, the only thing in his mind was Anna's safety, and nothing else. He would willingly jeopardize his own welfare in exchange for hers no matter what, and that's one of the thing he promised himself for the past six years if ever he was given a chance to fix things with her again.
Just a few steps left.
The brunette saw the other guy almost released Anna, but to their worst luck, the situation was certainly not alleviated by the arrival of the security personnels.
Two, three, seven guys came in through the rooftop door, guns held up towards their suspect. They shouted commands that asked the man to lower his weapon, or they will shoot.
Yoh stood rooted to the ground. He begged the security members not to fire their guns. He couldn't afford things to end up in a shootout. Definitely not with Anna's life in line. He knows these guys don't play around, especially when eliminating any threat to safety.
However, in the quickest turn of events, Anna took the opportunity of her attacker's divided attention when she suddenly pushed both of them backwards, causing the man to lose his balance. This caused him to disengage his grip lock which enabled Anna to cut loose and effectively perform an over the shoulder throw, slamming him down.
What everyone did not anticipate was when the middle-aged man got back on his feet too quickly, recovered the sharp weapon off the ground, and motioned to strike Anna.
The blonde woman was too stunned to move and there was no way she could've avoided the attack if it wasn't for a pair of strong arms that pulled her backwards and shielded her body as they both fell on the ground.
Gun shots were fired, and the next thing Anna noticed was the familiar acrid smell of blood, a loud thud against the concrete floor, and a comforting warmth the kept enveloping her all throughout the ordeal.
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After finally getting away from the police who were just going in circles with their questions, and the pesky members of the media, who treated him like a piece of meat just to gain full scoop of the incident, Yoh was finally able to cut through the crowd.
The rooftop was saturated with the staff, investigators, and reporters alike, and he gave one last look behind him before gaining access downstairs.
He felt his phone vibrate once again in his pocket as if it didn't keep on buzzing for the past fifteen minutes while he was attending the interrogations. It will be a messy and noisy night for his family for sure, and he didn't have to take a peek at his device to know who was desperately trying to contact him.
He wasn't gonna lie, but he did try to take detours within the hospital while on his way out. Thinking of the most possible spots Anna might be visiting before heading home, the brunette secretly hoped his ex-fiancée still decided to linger. But he finally gave up, seeing no signs of her anywhere.
Defeated, Yoh took a rendezvous to his office to grab his laptop and other possible things he might need to construct his anticipated report for an important conference with the board of executives. His responsibility as an Asakura.
Sigh. Was he the only one dreading about it?
Yoh mustered a sad smile to himself as he suddenly remembered his twin.
If Hao was in his shoes, he would probably get the work done in about an hour, as mopping about corporate stuff was never in his vocabulary. He was the more suited candidate for these boss-related things. Not him.
He only ever wanted a simple life.
But Hao was not there. And he wasn't, for a long time now, so all Yoh could do was to suck it up and wing it. After all, that's what he has been doing for the past six years.
"Move forward, Yoh. Move forward." Great. He was now talking to himself.
"Are you okay?" It was the only thing he could mutter while sitting unusually close to her right side on the cold hard ground.
It took a while before she answered. Heck, he only felt a nod from her head.
He sighed. His vision shifted to the security guys, now together with some police officers, who were escorting a handcuffed hostage-taker out from where they were. The paramedics that arrived shortly before that insisted that they stabilised the gunshot wound on his arm first, which the attacker received from the guards during the incident. More and more people seemed to be arriving at the scene.
He looked at Anna once again. She was still silent as a rock and he considered that she was still in shock from all the commotion, despite not showing any obvious emotions.
"Hey, Anna."
"Hmm?" She sounded annoyed.
"Do you want to count shoulders?"
The blonde glared at him for whatever nonsense he was trying to concoct, but Yoh just chuckled and proceeded anyway.
"No, wait, look! One…" His right hand tapped his left shoulder, "two…" his right shoulder next, "three…" he then carefully grazed Anna's left shoulder, "and four!" Yoh's arm reached over in a swift motion to touch Anna's right shoulder and to draw her into a hug.
The poor woman was disarmed. She had no chance against this sudden move.
On the other hand, Yoh was expecting a hit against his chest as a sign of resistance, or worse, a stinging slap on his face. But none of those came, and the only force that he felt from Anna was the deep breath she exhaled against his neck as she quietly leaned her head on his shoulder.
Knowing Anna, he immediately knew that this was a sign that she needed comforting.
"Were you scared?"
"No."
"Are you really okay?"
"Yes."
A minute or two passed and they enjoyed the silence and warmth between them.
"Yoh?"
"Hm?
"You can let go now." Anna's voice was muffled due to his tight embrace.
"What if I don't want to?"
No answer.
If he waited a few more moments, he would have heard her murmurs of complaint but all he did was laugh at her cuteness.
"I'm sorry, was just trying to lighten the mood." He proceeded to loosen his grip. "By the way, when did you learn how to do that? That was so cool!"
Anna knew he was pertaining to the over-shoulder throw she did against her attacker, but she only managed a chaste smile before changing the subject.
"You look tired."
Yoh could only raise a brow before shrugging his shoulders. "'Exhaustion stage', maybe?" He went to stretch his upper limbs with a light chuckle. "Whew! That sure drained all of my stored adrenaline!"
He noticed that Anna was just looking at him in a very familiar way. She turned her eyes away when he noticed that she was staring.
Yoh took a deep breath.
"It's—there's this big presentation for the board which I've been dreading for weeks." He glanced at her and her eyes egged him to continue. "It's driving me nuts."
"Is it about the children's foundation?"
His face went dumbfounded with her query. "How did you know?"
A faint smile reappeared on her lips. "Seriously? Don't you remember us discussing about that dream of yours in the past over and over again for months—no, years?"
Yoh laughed. She was right. It was always a subject that never failed to emerge everytime he and Anna talked about their hopes and dreams when they were younger.
When they were together.
A wave of sadness suddenly washed over Yoh and there was silence between them once again.
"Did you really mean what you said earlier about us?" He didn't know where that came form but that's what invaded his thoughts just now.
Anna didn't need to second guess to know what he was pertaining to. She exhaled heavily.
"Yoh, we can't go back to how we used to be."
"And why not?"
"We…" Another sigh came out. "We just can't, okay?"
It was such a delicate topic to them, and he knows they almost vowed not to talk about the past anymore in order to remain as friends, but he couldn't take it anymore. He needed to ask.
"But we're doctors… we mend things." It was all he could rationalise now that his brain is already taking the toll from the recent events.
"Doctor Kyouyama?" A random voice broke their moment. The ex-couple looked up to see a police officer standing in front of them. "Would you care to answer a few questions? For our report?"
This prompted Anna to stand, leaving Yoh the only one on the ground. She turned to him before completely walking away.
"Not everything can be fixed, Yoh. Not even by doctors."
He didn't even bother to turn the light on as he unlocked his office, but something immediately caught his attention upon moving the door ajar. It was a white object that laid on the floor—a piece of sealed envelope with scribbles on it—easily seen amidst the dark room.
Using his instincts, he picked it up and he noted that the words were written in a penmanship that was apparently quite familiar to him.
'I cannot grant you other things, but at least I can help you with this.
Good luck with your presentation and thank you for saving my life today, doc.'
Something tugged at his heartstrings and the swirl of emotions went through the roof. Yoh only saw the header of the letter contained in the envelop and at one glance, he knew that it was the 'Expression of Interest' he was hoping to receive from Anna ever since he learned about the apprentice program. A smile inevitably escaped his mouth, and he didn't notice that he was already biting his lip like a young schoolboy who received a reply from his ultimate crush.
Feeling something hard from inside the envelope, he tilted it slightly and he retrieved a small piece of plastic which he made out to be a small USB drive labelled as 'Youth Foundation'.
Something dawned on him fast and his instincts told him find Anna, stat!
He didn't care if she just flat out rejected him tonight. He promised himself and he was even convinced by his best friend, Manta, earlier in the day to chase after Anna, whatever it takes.
He pulled his phone out to call her but was welcomed with several missed calls from his grandmother and Tamao, and some messages from his friends. They all must've seen the news.
In all honesty, he couldn't bother with those at this point because all he wanted to do was to chase his ex and invite her to talk things out for a bit for longer. Maybe then, he might convince her into changing her perspective about him—about them.
With all the crazy things that happened between him and Anna recently, he didn't think she would grant him his third wish, which was to work under his tutelage in the Pediatrics Department, and with a bonus— a report that would totally solve all his problems regarding his presentation with the board of directors!
Nimbly moving through the huge halls, and even taking the fire exit stairs to go down a few floors, Yoh was now catching his breath but still had his full resolve.
Damn his grandpa. Why did he have to build such a humongous hospital?
But forget about that. If he didn't catch Anna anywhere, he would then drive to her place and beg her to talk until she gives up and lets him in.
It wasn't such a solid plan, but what's a man to do in dire situations like this?
She wasn't answering his calls either, so she wasn't really leaving him much of a choice. He was used to making spontaneous and thoughtless decisions like this, anyway, so why back out on that now?
Finally seeing the end of the hall that reached to the hospital's reception, he raised his phone over his ear once more to ring Anna in hopes for a miracle she might just answer in time while he frantically searched for her.
One ring.
Two rings.
Alas!
She didn't answer his call, but rather, he saw her familiar figure standing by the lobby, possibly about to walk to the parking lot to retrieve her car. The only thing that separated them were the vast glass doors that served as their workplace's entrance, making it look more like a five-star hotel than a hospital.
But something made Yoh cease his movements. And it came with a roar of a motorcycle's engine.
A red Ducati V4S pulled over right in front of the lobby's driveway, and its driver, who wore a full-on head to toe dark outfit with a black leather jacket, hurriedly went down from his bike as he skilfully parked it.
The world played in slow motion for Yoh when the newcomer took off his helmet and revealed a man with waist long brown hair tied in a high ponytail, tall and muscular physique, and a face that mirrored his own.
Asakura Hao.
His brother, whom he hasn't seen in six years.
His twin, who just carelessly lunged for Anna to pull the woman into a hug.
If there was anything else that Yoh observed while his world swirled into chaos, it was probably how the people around them, employees and visitors alike, also stopped to witness the scene, some of which, were already gushing about the arrival of the older Asakura; but above anything, it was how Anna seemed to reciprocate Hao's gestures with ease.
Hao was whispering something in her ear, but Yoh couldn't make up what it was due to the distance between them.
A series of past events played within Yoh's mind while watching the disabling scene before him.
One thing, he wanted to convince Anna to get back together, and the next thing, he was watching her and his older brother hold each other lovingly, and out in the public, too!
Apart from love, confusion, and the hundreds of questions that formed in Yoh's mind, all the feelings of loneliness and hatred came crashing down on him again as well as a particular painful memory that flashed between his eyes.
"She took the money and left, Yoh," he heard his grandfather tell him, but it really didn't make any sense. He didn't want it to make sense. "I'm sorry, grandson. But at least now you know what kind of woman she is."
. . . . . . . . . . .
A/N: And the real HaoxAnnaxYoh pairing has just officially begun.;) Show me some love!
Medical Terminologies/ Abbreviations:
Dementia - a term used to describe a group of symptoms affecting memory, thinking and social abilities. In people who have dementia, the symptoms interfere with their daily lives. Dementia isn't one specific disease, and several diseases can cause dementia.
Fight or flight response - also known as the acute 'stress response', refers to the physiological reaction that occurs when in the presence of something mentally or physically terrifying. This response is triggered by the release of hormones that prepare your body to either stay and deal with a threat or to run away to safety.
It has three stages:
The alarm stage: the central nervous system is ramped up, preparing the body to fight or flee.
The resistance stage: This is the stage in which the body attempts to normalize and recover from the initial elevated fight-or-flight response.
The exhaustion stage: If the first two stages occur repeatedly over time, such as when under chronic stress, this can cause the body to feel exhausted and begin to break down.