The chilling sound of the man's vicious laughs echoed through her ears making her flesh creep. Looking amused at what's in front of him, he leans towards the bloodied girl who's sitting on an iron chair.
Her back was pinned against the spike of the iron chair, they screwed her wrist, a few of her fingers were missing and they crushed both her feet. Blood oozes from every part of her body. The sight of her was extremely gruesome, yet the diabolical man in front of her seemed very amuse.
His lips that were curled upward resembling of a smile, he spoke. "My Sera... dear, don't dare forget this.. hmm? Never forget me again, yes?" His bone-chilling voice with no trace of humanity drifted through her ear.
His voice, his laugh, his touch, his presence was all imprinted on her mind. It filled her heart with hatred; nothing but utter hatred.
Feeling a cold metallic pressed on her forehead, Seraphina slightly raised her head, revealing her mangled surface. Though she could not clearly see his face, she used every ounce of her remaining life force and smirked mockingly at the man.
'Yes, I will not forget you.. even in my next lifetime, I'll definitely make you pay a 1000 times!'
BANG!
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Tuuut, tuuut, tuuuut
The digital sound of a heartbeat resounded across the four corners of the brightly lit white room. A girl lying on the bed with a monitoring arterial blood pressure, ECG and also mechanically ventilated, slowly opened her eyes.
'Too bright!' She subconsciously thought.
Aside from different high-tech monitoring machines beside her bed, even a speck of dust coudn't be seen inside the room. As the pitch of her heartbeat increases, the variables present at the monitors changed in an abnormal pace.
Her eye behind her lids flickered as an alarm reverberated across her room. Slowly, she attempted to open her eyes but ended up shutting them once again.
A series of footsteps rushed to her. She could vaguely hear them uttering terms she couldn't understand. Thus, she instinctively attempted to open her eyes, again. She blinked constantly and weakly until her blurry sight adjusts to the light.
"She.. she's a- awake!" A stuttering voice made the busy crowd paused. They subconsciously shifted their gazes on the girl's blinking eyes. Then, the abnormality of the variables in the monitor gradually reached normal limits and her heart rate stabilized.
Stunned for a second, a man that appeared to be in his mid 20s wearing a white lab coat approaches her.
"Hello, Ms. Yue, I'm Dr. Jin. Can you hear me?" The man's monotone voice inquired as he leaned closer to her. He added, "Please blink twice if you can hear me." Instinctively, she slowly blinks twice as instructed.
'What the heck? Did I survive hell?' Inside her still muddled mind, traumatic experience flashed across her mind, yet the fact of being still alive triumphed all emotions. "Huh. that scum... he should have killed me! I'll make him regret letting me live!'
Losing herself in her own thoughts and murder schemes, a light pinch on her hand brought her back to reality. Startled, she flinched her hand. The man called Doctor Jin nodded in satisfaction.
A series of test proceeded for who knows how long, before she once again heard Dr. Jin's voice.
Hearing him uttering some familiar medical terms, she pondered, 'Did I become Aurora(1) again? Just how long have I've been unconscious this time?'
"Inform Chairman Yue that Miss Yue is awake. She — " before Dr. Jin could end his sentence, an inaudible noise made him stop midway. His attention turn to the white-haired man standing outside the transparent glass window — behind him are few doctors attempting to calm the old man.
"Continue to monitor Ms. Yue..." after saying a few notes with the other female doctor, Doctor Jin glances at the patient for about two seconds before leaving the room quietly.
Just as Dr. Liam Jin stepped outside, Chairman Yu inquired with a rather annoyed tone.
"Doctor Jin, what happened to my granddaughter?" He asked. Despite of his white hair and visible wrinkles on his face, the way he caused a ruckus contradicted his appearance.
"I apolog—" before the other doctor behind Chairman Yue can fully explain the situation, Chairman Yue interrupted once again him.
"I don't need your goddamn apology! I want my granddaughter's life! I will burn this place if—" as he vented his anger to everyone's present, doctor Jin abruptly interrupted Chairman Yue.
"She's awake." Without a change in his expression, Doctor Jin stared at Chairman Yue who seemed to be shocked by the news. He repeated, "Chairman Yue, your granddaughter regained her consciousness."
Chairman Yue assumed that something bad happened to her beloved granddaughter, enough reason for him to go crazy mad. He was ready to burn this place with everyone who let his granddaughter die in it. But the two words that he's been waiting for the last one and a half year — he thought he heard wrong.
Following Doctor Jin's gaze, the female doctor that had been monitoring the girl inside and unintentionally blocked their view, moved aside revealing the girl who was lying on the bed. His granddaughter's eyes kept on blinking, making the old man's eyes well up.
"Sera.." Chairman Yue softly called out her name with a rather gentle tone. His hand slowly touched the transparent glass window.
"Seraphina's vitals are now stable. Chairman Yue, your granddaughter's chances of recovering are high. She can still live like a normal lady, however, we still have to keep monitoring her condition if any other brain stems are damaged." Doctor Jin's voice drifted through Chairman Yue's ear, yet nothing seemed to matter to him.
"I want to see her." Without leaving his eyes on her, Old Man Yue demanded.
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After Doctor Jin left, Seraphina tried to move her body but to no avail. She could only lift her finger. Her body felt sore and numb at the same time. Since her bed was slightly inclined, all she could do was to observe her surrounding by moving her eyes.
The room has no decorations. It only has white walls, white ceiling, even the floor was white. She also noticed a few transparent windows and door via her peripheral vision. Seraphina observed the female doctor monitoring her.
The female doctor seemed to do her job diligently. She sometimes writes or checks on her. Though receiving no response from Seraphina, the female doctor still occasionally talked to her.
"Your vitals are stable now and finally you're awake. Your grandfather is too worried about you." The female doctor reassured.
'Grandfather is too worried about you..' hearing a familiar sentence, Seraphina inwardly finished the rest of the sentence the same time the female doctor spat that last remark.
There and then, Seraphina felt something was off. Seraphina peered at the female doctor. She's writing something but the moment her pen stopped, the doctor looked at her and offered a warm smile. The female doctor then slightly bowed her head before preparing to leave. Alas, before she reached the glass door, the female doctor tripped.
'Eh!? Deja vu?'