Yeo Ri had fainted.
"Miss?!"
"A-are you okay?!"
The woman in the lab coat hurriedly pulled out her phone, ready to call for help.
Tae Yang held out a hand to stop her as he cradled Yeo Ri securely against himself. "I'll handle this. It's okay," he assured the woman.
He considered his actions. He could lay her down on the waiting area's couch and wait for her to rouse, or perhaps take her to the hospital. He could also take her home. But... he wasn't sure how stable she would be after waking up.
Tae Yang pursed his lips, shutting his eyes tightly as he tried to think of what he could do.
This situation was out of his expectations. He didn't know the confirmation would hit her this hard, to even cause her to faint. It was his mistake to not have taken into account her mental state. No, it was his mistake, period.
Tae Yang's gaze lingered on the young girl's tear-stained face. The girl was so fragile, yet it felt as if the entire world was trying to crush her.
He sighed.
He picked up his precious little miss. He turned to the woman who seemed genuinely worried for the collapsed little girl, "I'll have to trouble you to help me gather the papers for me."
"Oh—" The woman snapped into action immediately, bending down to gather the papers and stuff them back into the envelopes. She arranged them neatly and appeared to look conflicted as she tried to figure out a way to hand the documents back to the man when both his hands were clearly occupied. "Uh, should I—"
"Can you follow me to the car? I don't think I can, you know..." he gestured his head vaguely to the side.
"Oh! Oh, yes, of course...! I'd, I'd be happy to help," the woman replied in a fluster. She followed him out of the building distractedly. It was the first time she had dealt with such a situation. Usually, the documents would just be left to the receptionist and the clients would either come to collect them at the reception, or have it posted to them. As the person who was in charge of handling the testing, she had been forced out of the lab by her boss to deal with the VVIP clients out of courtesy. Who knew something like this was going to happen on the one day she decided to be social...
They arrived at the parking lot, and without prompting, the woman immediately reached for the passenger door as soon as the car was unlocked. She pulled the door open to its full capacity so the man could easily seat the girl.
Tae Yang proceeded to carefully tuck Yeo Ri into the seat, securing her with the seatbelt and reclining the seat slightly for her comfort.
"Thank you," the man bowed his head politely.
"No, it was my pleasure. About the girl..." The woman glanced at the unconscious girl worriedly.
"She will be fine," Tae Yang replied after sighing.
"There's a hospital nearby. If you see the signboard at the junction, turn left and go straight until you see the pink building. The ER entrance is right next to the pink building."
"I see," Tae Yang thanked her for the directions, though he hasn't made up his mind to take her to the hospital yet.
"Oh, and this...!" The woman hastily handed him the documents.
He took the documents from her. "Then, if you'll excuse us," the man bowed once again, this time in farewell.
"Please, take care," the woman offered him a polite smile as she watched him enter the car.
Tae Yang closed the door with a grim look. Before he turned on the engine, he opened the storage compartment in front of the passenger's seat, putting the documents into the compartment.
"...!"
Tae Yang was startled to see that the unconscious girl had opened her eyes. Her half-lidded eyes stared emptily at her legs. Her head lolled to the side, falling on the door with a thud.
"Miss Yeo Ri!" he exclaimed in surprise, "Just wait a bit, I'll take you to the hospital, okay?"
"...No," the girl softly replied. Her voice was barely audible, but in the silence, he was able to catch it.
"Then," his brows furrowed, the complicated look on his face ruining the professional persona he had always taken to adopt during work hours, "should I take you home?"
The emotionally-drained girl replied with an inaudible 'no', her head shaking slightly.
"The safehouse?"
'No', again.
'Then, where do you want to go?' he wanted to ask out of frustration. But, he couldn't—he didn't dare to—force an answer out of her.
Yeo Ri's eyelashes fluttered as she closed her eyes.
She had fallen asleep.
Tae Yang stared at her visage with a pained look. He rubbed his face roughly, his eyes red. His throat bobbed as he swallowed back his bitterness with difficulty.
He inhaled and exhaled deeply, recollecting himself.
He prepared himself to drive off, starting the engine and pulling out of the parking lot.
In the rear window, the lab technician's figure stood still, seeing off the two strangers who had caused a disruption in her otherwise mundane day.