EXTERN

Chapter 19

 

“Who did this to you?”

 

I glanced at the tall man beside me. Cold sweat covered Per’s handsome face, and his body was trembling from blood loss. He was starting to go cold, and his blood pressure was probably dropping.

 

I supported him with one arm while using the other to shine the torch along the route I’d marked on the way into the forest. From here, I could finally see the lights of the camp.

 

“…I don’t know.”

 

“How can you not know?! You were stabbed from the front!”

 

I immediately started snapping at him. What, did they throw the bloody knife at you, Per? How could you not have seen who did it?

 

“They covered their face and disguised themselves.”

 

I stole another glance at his pale face and immediately stopped questioning him. He was starting to look exhausted. If we stood here arguing, he’d probably bleed out before we got anywhere. And I had no idea whether the blade had damaged any vital organs. I said nothing more and hurriedly helped him back towards camp.

 

The moment we arrived, everyone rushed over to help while we waited for the helicopter the park officials had contacted to evacuate the emergency patient.

 

“…”

 

My face was expressionless, and apparently the dark atmosphere radiating from me was enough to keep everyone away while I administered first aid.

 

I started an IV to prevent his blood pressure from dropping further and cleaned around the wound. A sharp object had clearly caused the wound on his abdomen. Judging by its length, I estimated the knife blade was about two centimetres long. 

 

As for the depth, I suspected the bastard had driven it all the way to the hilt because it had penetrated through the entire abdominal wall. Per needed emergency surgery.

 

While we waited, all I could do was hold my increasingly unresponsive patient’s hand and pray he would be all right.

 

“Mate… Natcha really wasn’t the one who did it.”

 

Whip!

I immediately turned towards Great and frowned. Looking around, I realised everyone else was standing well away from me. Nobody dared come close…Am I really that bloody terrifying?

 

“Why do you think that?”

 

I tilted my head, waiting for an explanation from the stocky young man whose features clearly showed his Chinese heritage.

 

“Because she knows who the attacker is.”

 

“!!!”

 

Whoosh!

I shot to my feet, swept my gaze around and marched straight towards my female friend. Natcha was standing beside May-I, her face giving absolutely nothing away, while May-I looked so worried she was almost in tears.

 

“Who?”

 

I forced myself to remain calm, counting from one to ten in my head before asking her.

 

“Hmph…”

 

Natcha merely snorted, folded her arms and turned her face away like someone sulking. I had absolutely no patience for this right now. But forcing or shouting at someone with a psychiatric illness wasn’t a good option either. It would only make everything worse.

 

“Natcha… I’m begging you.”

 

“…”

 

Everyone fell silent. I walked over until I was standing directly in front of her, meeting her eyes with a pleading look.

 

“Please…”

 

“Your little boy did it.”

 

I blinked. What little boy? Since when do I have a bloody little boy?! I’ve only got one poisonous snake!

 

“Boy?”

 

Thud!

 

“Nggh… P’Kan…”

 

A small, fragile figure, battered and bruised, with dried blood smeared over his hands and clothes, was shoved to the ground in front of me by Guide.

 

“When we went out looking for Per, I found Mayo tied to a tree.”

 

Guide explained in a flat voice, glancing at the fair-skinned kid in front of me with disgust.

 

“…”

 

I looked down at the boy who, even now, somehow still appeared harmless to me. 

 

Crying, he crawled towards me and wrapped his arms around my leg. His face was covered in red handprints, and blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. His hair was dishevelled and looked as though it had been yanked so violently that patches of his scalp were visible between the clumps.

 

“I saw this little bastard with my own eyes, walking out of the forest carrying a bloody knife. I demanded to know what the hell he’d done. Do you know what he told me?”

 

“…”

 

Natcha looked at me expectantly.

 

I slowly shook my head, barely able to process anything anymore. I had accused Natcha of hurting Per without a shred of evidence. In front of nearly a hundred juniors. I was the one who’d been wrong. I’d let my temper take over without thinking.

 

“He said he was going to get rid of the person who stole you away from him… and then he tried to hurt me to shut me up.”

 

Silence fell again. I looked down at the kid still clinging to my leg, sobbing into me until my trousers were soaked with his tears.

 

“So I fought with him a little. Then I realised the bloody knife he was holding might mean he’d already hurt someone. I tied him to the tree and went looking for your precious boy, but I couldn’t find anyone. So I rushed back to tell you, except you fucking lost your temper with me first.”

 

“…I’m sorry.”

 

I brought my palms together in a wai to apologise to my friend. I genuinely felt awful for acting without thinking anything through.

 

“Whatever. I’m the fucking psycho anyway, aren’t I? No wonder you immediately assumed it was me. Just deal with this lying little bitch.”

 

I sighed at her sarcastic remark and pulled the battered junior from another faculty member to his feet.

 

What else was I supposed to do to him? He barely looked like himself anymore. Natcha had already left handprints all over his face, and judging by his condition, his body probably wasn’t much different.

 

“Why did you do it?”

 

My voice was completely flat. His tears meant nothing to me anymore. Anyone capable of holding such a grudge that they would try to kill another person was far too cruel for tears to excuse it.

 

“…”

 

“ANSWER ME!”

 

Even I was struggling to contain the emotions surging through me now. He’d intended to kill both Per and Natcha. This had gone far beyond anything I could tolerate.

 

“BECAUSE I LIKE YOU!!”

 

“!!!???”

 

My brows pulled together.

 

Without realising it, my hand tightened painfully around his small wrist. The expression in the boy’s eyes changed. They became dark and clouded. There wasn’t even the slightest trace of remorse in them. The corner of his bloodied mouth curled into such an ugly smile that I almost recoiled and released him.

 

“I know you don’t remember me. Because I was just some neighbourhood kid who secretly watched you every day. I followed you around the park. I’ve secretly liked you all this time! But eventually, just watching you wasn’t enough anymore. I had to make up a story about being raped so you would treat me. At least then you would see me.

 

“At least you would talk to me…”

 

“…”

 

What the fuck?! What the hell had happened to my life? Why would anyone go this far?

 

“…Once I managed to get into the same university as you, I kept digging into your life, following you, getting rid of anyone, and getting close to you. I planned everything so you’d break up with that slut from the club. But in the end, the man you decided to date wasn’t me!

 

“It was that bastard!!”

 

“!!!”

 

Everything- this kid has been behind everything? Even what happened with Namfah, my ex-girlfriend? This had gone way too far.

 

“Heh, your boyfriend was ridiculously easy to fool, P’Kan. All I had to do was tell him you wanted to talk to him, then add that maybe you wanted to make up with him.

 

“The idiot ran straight into the trap.”

 

SLAP!

Before I even realised what I was doing, my palm struck his pale face, snapping his head sideways. Silence engulfed the entire area.

 

“Even if it weren’t me, nobody would ever want to love someone like you.”

 

Thud!

I released him and gave him a small shove. He collapsed onto the ground. I left the rest to the authorities. I wasn’t going to do anything else to that kid. Right now, I didn’t even want to touch him. The only person I cared about was the man who had already lost consciousness by the time the helicopter arrived.

 

I wanted him to wake up so I could apologise again. I wanted to apologise for having brought something this terrible into his life. I wanted to apologise for making him misunderstand how I felt.

 

SLAP!

A sharp pain exploded across one side of my face, courtesy of the furious woman standing in front of me.

 

“Mae Lek! That’s enough!”

 

Night rushed over and pulled Per’s mother away from me. Mai hurried over to comfort me as well.

 

We’d been standing outside the operating theatre for almost two hours. The moment Per’s mother heard what had happened, she’d rushed straight here. As for me, I couldn’t find a single word to say.

 

“I told you to stay away from my son, didn’t I?!”

 

“…”

 

I lowered my head. It was difficult enough trying to have a relationship with her son when his mother opposed us this strongly. And this incident certainly wasn’t helping. From her perspective, I was the reason her son had been injured.

 

“Do I have to get down on my knees and beg you before you’ll finally get out of my son’s life?”

 

“Or does Per have to die first?!”

 

Drip.

A clear tear struck the floor. I was startled by it. At this point, I barely had enough strength left to remain standing.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

That was all I could say. And I knew such a simple apology could never make the woman standing in front of me feel any better.

 

“You need to stay away from my son.”

 

I drew in a deep breath. Per and I had already come this far together. We were the ones who had chosen to walk this path together. So why did everyone else insist on interfering in our relationship? I genuinely didn’t understand.

 

“I won’t deny that what happened was partly because of me. But if you could calm down and think about this for a moment, you’d realise that I wasn’t the person who hurt your son. In fact, I was the one who gave him emergency treatment before he was transferred here.

 

“And no matter how much you blame me or try to keep Per and me apart, you cannot change how Per and I feel about each other.”

 

“You!”

 

She looked ready to charge at me again, but Night caught her before she could.

 

“I have parents too. So why do you think I should stand here and let you insult me and physically attack me? Your son and I are mature enough to decide for ourselves where our relationship should go and how we should maintain it.

 

“I’m afraid this is simply a matter between the two of us. There’s no need for you to involve yourself in worrying about our relationship.”

 

“You!”

 

I gave the furious woman my biggest smile before dipping my head slightly, signalling the end of this melodramatic conversation.

 

“Night, take your mother somewhere to rest. Staying here won’t mean she gets to see Per anyway. After surgery, he’ll have to be transferred to the ICU for monitoring. I’ll wait and speak to my professor myself.

 

“Besides, outsiders who aren’t medical personnel can’t go in there anyway.”

 

I gave her another smirk. At this point, I could safely guarantee that the amount of hatred this woman had for me had increased considerably.

 

“Night! Let go of me!”

 

“Mae Lek, please go and rest. This is the doctors’ responsibility now.”

 

I watched the tall junior from another faculty practically drag the struggling, protesting woman away until they disappeared.

 

“You’ve got your work cut out for you, P’Kan.”

 

Mai, the beautiful young man beside me, looked up and gave me an encouraging smile. For the record, I wasn’t actually trying to prevent a mother from seeing her son. I’d told her the truth. She wouldn’t be allowed to visit him immediately after surgery anyway. And with the way she was causing such a scene, someone would inevitably have asked her to leave regardless.

 

“I’m not scared.

 

“I’ve already chosen.”

 

I gave my junior from the same faculty a small smile. I had chosen. I’d chosen to stand beside the man I loved.