My eyes opened, and the first thing I saw was… nose hairs.
"You are awake." The doctor with the nose hair smiled at me. One of his teeth, the third from his central incisor, was missing. "I'm Doctor Chen Ming Xu. You had surgery."
"Have I had surgery?" I asked, still lightheaded from the anesthetic.
"Were you trying to kill yourself?" Dr. Chen asked like an annoyed grandfather. He was in his fifties. "You had an old wound. It got infected because you didn't take care of it. The accident was a blessing in disguise. You could have died."
"I don't think he cares about his life," Fei muttered from a corner.
For the first time, I noticed him, leaning against the wall, arms crossed, glaring as if I'd personally offended the universe.
"I almost died… and you are still angry at me?" I feigned shock.
Fei turned his face away, but the tension radiating from him made it obvious he was pissed.
I looked back at Dr. Chen.
"Thank you… for saving me."
"Oh, I wasn't the one who performed your surgery," he winced, holding his jaw. His teeth still hurt. "Dr. Sang is handling the patient who knocked out my teeth."
"Is that recent?" I asked. "The person who did that to you is still here?"
Dr. Chen nodded. "Don't worry. You are safe. No one is going to hurt you."
I smiled.
Clank! Clank! Clank!!!
"Fei, what was that?" I lifted my head from the bed.
Fei stretched his neck.
"A man is waving a knife and throwing things around in the emergency ward." He spoke nonchalantly, though he was already leaning away from the wall. "I will check it out."
"I will come too."
Fei spun to glare at me. "You will lie down!"
My smile faded. "You seem to have forgotten who I am. Do you give orders… or do I?"
Fei hesitated.
I gave him my most disarming smile. "Help me up. We can take the drip with us."
"You shouldn't move. This is a normal day. That man does this occasionally." Dr. Chen waved frantically. "If your wound opens up again, Dr. Sang won't go easy on me."
I put a hand on the good doctor's shoulder and gently pushed him aside. Leaning on Fei, I rose from the bed. Pain stabbed my side with each step. My fingers gripped the drip stand tightly as we moved forward.
A crowd had gathered. Hospital security kept their distance. The man was drunk, waving a knife in one hand, screaming hysterically, his face red from anger… and alcohol.
"Leave me! I am going to die. Why are you trying to save me?!" he yelled.
"Hey, stop waving that knife; someone could get hurt," I said calmly, stepping closer.
"Let me handle it," Fei muttered under his breath.
"No," I replied quietly, nodding toward a bleeding patient on the floor. "You go to the other side. There's someone who needs help."
Fei nodded and moved swiftly.
I staggered slightly but caught my footing. Taking another careful step forward.
"You don't really want to hurt anyone, do you?"
For the first time, he notices me. His eyes burned with disgust. "What do you know? People like you... who have everything. How can you understand… what people like us face?"
He took a step closer.
I smiled, eyes on his legs. Just one more step. Come on… you're almost there.
"You are handsome, rich, and healthy. How dare you tell me what to do?!" He waved the knife at me but didn't move closer.
"What the hell? I'm in a hospital, and you're calling me healthy?" My eyes flashed with anger. "Also, how can you know I am rich or poor?"
"You… You!" The drunken eyes flashed with disbelief.
"I am handsome, that is the only part you got right," I said, letting out a short cocky laugh, "but you are wrong about the rest."
Then he rushed at me.
I sidestepped, back-kicked him, then swept his leg out from under him.
He slammed into a trolley of medical supplies. Metal clattering as instruments flew before his head cracked against the floor. I almost smiled.
Then pain shot through my wound.
Damn it.
He groaned and started getting back up.
The room tilted. The aftereffects of the surgery hadn't fully worn off. Across the room, Fei carried the bleeding woman to safety.
The drunk staggered to his feet, now waving both a knife and a scalpel he had just picked up.
He just waved them at anyone who came near.
Shit.
I shook my head and took a step closer to him again–
"Are you cursed with playing a hero, or do you think you're the only one who can save the world?"
A voice cut through the room.
I turned and saw a woman striding toward us.
She wore a white coat, a surgical mask covering her face, her hair pulled into a tight bun. With each step, she radiated authority.
She stopped in front of me and pulled off her mask. "Who exactly do you think you are?" she asked coolly. "A hero?"
"Huh?" I blinked. I was speechless.
"I spent hours saving your life," she continued coldly. "And you're already on your feet? This is what you do the moment you wake up?"
A switch flipped in my head.
"Playing?" I let out a short laugh, staring at her in disbelief. "You think I am playing a hero?" I scoffed in disbelief. "Me?"
"Who else?" She crossed her arms.
"I was trying to save everyone."
"You were tearing open my stitches!" She pointed at my abdomen.
I glanced down. The red spot soaked my shirt. I was bleeding.
"And no one needed you to step in," she continued. "The security knew what they were doing. They could have handled it."
"It didn't look that way to me." I shot back.
"I'm still here!" the drunk man screamed, furious at being ignored.
She turned sharply.
"Yeah, how could I forget you?"
Her leg snapped up, kicking the knife clean out of his hand. He slashed wildly with the scalpel.
"You bitch--"
Before he finished, she caught his wrist mid-swing and drove the heel of her palm into his throat.
He choked and dropped to his knees. She pried the scalpel from his fingers.
She held it up to her eyes.
"This is used to save life," she hissed. "How dare you harm people with it?"
She knocked his head. The drunk man collapsed.
"That is what you get for disturbing my sleep," she continued.
Security rushed in and dragged him away.
She walked back to me and stopped just inches away.
"See? She said coolly. "You weren't needed."
I grinned like an idiot.
"That was hot!" I said, grinning from ear to ear.
Her brow lifted.
"You were incredibly hot," I added, dumbfounded.
She stared at me as if I had finally lost my mind.
I hadn't lost my mind—just my consciousness.
And then I collapsed at her feet. Fainting again.