"Lisa, I've missed you"
"How nice. I can't say I missed you too" she retorted, turning her head back to him.
Su-hyeok looked genuinely hurt when she said that, but she had to tell herself that he was the one that left her, not the other way round.
He opened his mouth to speak, but then paused as if he'd just realized something. "Have you been crying?"
Lisa looked away, avoiding eye contact. "What does that have to do with you? Your girlfriend should be waiting for you, you need to see her"
"You've gotten prettier" He avoided her last comment with a compliment.
"And what's it to you?"
"Can we just talk without you pushing me away? We need to work things out"
"And why's that? I don't see why"
"We'll keep seeing each other every day since you work here now"
"I'll just quit"
Su-hyeok observed the girl in front of him. The way her breath came out forced. The hot breath fanned his face as he bent slightly to meet hers. He noticed the hot fury in her eyes, realising this was the first time he'd seen her mad.
"Do I still have an effect on you?"
"Excuse me? What makes you think I do?"
"Then why do you want to quit your job just because of me?"
That shut Lisa up. Of course she felt really bad about him and she wouldn't want to see him anymore, but that did not mean he had an effect on her. Does it?
She noticed Su-hyeok getting closer again and placed her palms on his chest, trying to push him away. He was much stronger than she was, though, and just took both her hands in one of his, pinning them over her head.
"Let go of me!"
"Shhh" he shushed her rudely.
"I'll yell if y-"
He cut her off by placing his warm lips over hers in a furious kiss. Lisa struggled to push him away as tears streamed down her face. Why was he deliberately trying to hurt her? He knew she still loved him, so he was using that to his advantage.
"Stop, please... I'm begging you" she cried against his lips, feeling very weak against him. She could feel his body pressed against hers and something poking at her belly. She froze. Was he going to rape her?
She gathered energy within her body and forcefully pushed him away, hurrying towards the door. She yelled as she did so, trying to attract attention. Su-hyeok held her by her midriff and pulled her back towards himself.
Lisa burst into full-blown tears when she realized she couldn't get away. She flailed and thrashed and kicked in all directions, somehow managing to hit him in the face. That did little to him, however, because she was small compared to him.
"You know you're both being really noisy about this"
Both Lisa and Su-hyeok stopped moving when they heard a voice from inside the storage unit. Apparently, they were not alone. Su-hyeok let go of Lisa, who immediately ran in the direction of the voice, bumping into someone. She couldn't clearly see his face in the dark room, but she knew it was a man, and she ran behind him to put a barrier between herself and Su-hyeok.
"Alex? What are you doing here? And why didn't you turn on the lights?"
"I was looking for an old patient file. And the lights are dead, so I used my phone instead. Since I've answered your questions, it's your turn. What are you doing here?"
Su-hyeok laughed, albeit nervously. "I was just having fun"
Alex snorted at Su-hyeok's use of euphemism. He looked behind him at the girl holding onto him like he was her saviour. He had only made his presence known because she was being loud, and he really didn't care what was going on. It wasn't the first time he'd witnessed a rape happen in front of him.
But seeing the frightened look in her eyes made him change his mind.
"Stop crying, will you?" He said in a tone of annoyance, making Lisa cover her mouth to muffle the sound of her crying.
"Now, you" Alex turned to Su-hyeok, staring at him with disdain. "You're full of shit, honestly. You're so pitiful. You can't get a girl so you stoop so low to take one by force. I have half a mind to beat the crap out of you. Now get out before I change my mind and destroy your face"
Lisa had never seen Su-hyeok leave a room so fast. It was obvious Su-hyeok was scared of this Alex. The man turned around to look at her, turning on the flashlight of his phone to observe her face. It was then she realised who it was. It was the doctor she had met earlier in the day.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
His eyes dropped as he noticed the bleeding bite mark on her lip. He moved the flashlight over her body as he checked for any other injuries. Aside from her dress being torn in multiple places, she was okay.
He looked back up at her to find her staring intently at him. "You seem mostly okay, you can leave now"
"I can't"
Sighing, Alex straightened up. "Su-hyeok won't bother you anymore. He's a chicken, and his fear of me is much more than his desire for you"
Lisa believed him, but she couldn't leave. Alex was not going to be around her, and she wasn't sure she trusted Su-hyeok to keep his distance.
"I'm scared"
Alex stared at her impassively. He'd already helped her, did she expect him to be her bodyguard too?
He left her and walked to the table where he was sitting when they both came into the room. Lisa followed him with her eyes then followed after him. She knew he wanted to be alone, but she was too scared to respect his feelings. Also, she couldn't leave in such state. Her dress was ripped in the worst places possible and she didn't know how she was going to change.
"Thank you, Dr. Alex"
Alex glanced at her and noticed the way she stared at him. "Don't look at me like I'm some kind of hero. I only went there because you were both distracting me"
"You're being modest. I wish I could pay you back, but I don't know how" she shifted her gaze to her palms in her laps. Alex scoffed at her demure appearance. Was she trying to flirt with him? He wasn't into underage girls, though.
"Do you think it's that easy to have sex with me?"
Lisa's eyes widened at his words. Why were his words so unfiltered? And what did he mean by that?
Alex concluded from her genuinely flustered expression that sex wasn't what she had in mind. He gave her a once-over, trying to figure out what to do with her, but his mind was blank. He honestly didn't care what she did and didn't want to have her around him.
"That's...not what I meant. This is an uncomfortable topic for me, can we talk about something else?"
There was an uncomfortable silence after that, as Alex went back to what he had been doing, checking his leather watch for the time.
Lisa sat in the corner shivering slightly because of the open window at the other side of the room. She would have been warmer if her clothes hadn't been ripped apart in the struggle. They were already in November, and it was not a surprise that temperatures had dropped rapidly. Christmas was around the corner, one of the best holidays for Lisa. Eun-hyeok usually gave her a gift then, and she bought gifts for him whenever she could too.
Lisa noticed some movement from the corner of her eye and saw Alex getting up to put the folder he'd gotten away. She watched him closely with keen eyes. Maybe he's getting ready to leave she thought, getting up after him.
"Where are you going?"
She looked up at him with raised brows. Did he have to ask her?
"I'm going with you" she replied slowly.
"You can't leave with me looking like that. If someone sees us, they'll think we just had sex"
Lisa's face turned bright red from her cheeks to her ears. She found herself thanking the heavens that it was dark in there, if not, he would have noticed her discomfort.
"I...I don't know what else to wear" she murmured, looking herself over.
Sighing, Alex shrugged off his white coat and draped it over her shoulders. He adjusted the clothes over her so it covered her entirely. The white material reached down to her feet, although it barely reached his knees when he wore it himself. He noticed her hair was under the coat and helped her take it out, the silky texture of the hair gently tickling his fingers.
All the while, Lisa watched him closely as he helped her dress up, observing the way he paid attention to all the details, even straightening out her hair. He said he wasn't a good person, but Lisa had her doubts. Even if he wasn't particularly good, he wasn't exclusively bad either.