Chapter 2

The bright red handmark quickly appeared on Sasha's face. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she clutched her smarting cheek. It took her several seconds before she could finally react.

"H-How dare you hit me!"

She raised her hand to strike back, but Nerissa moved faster and caught her wrist before giving her another slap.

Sasha's head snapped to the side. Her carefully styled curls fell messily across her cheek, and her eyes widened even further. She couldn't believe she'd been slapped twice.

Not a single person in the room spoke. All eyes were glued to the two women.

Samuel soon snapped out of his shock, but he remained rooted to the spot, his gaze tight. Had Nerissa regained her hearing?

His heart lurched at that thought, but his gaze inadvertently landed on the liquor cabinet across the room. The dark mirrored doors reflected the warm lighting in the room.

So, it was because of the mirrors…

He secretly let out a breath of relief. And before he could give any further thought to the faint feeling he had that something was off, Sasha was already screaming her head off.

"You bitch! I'm going to rip you apart!"

She lunged at Nerissa, her nails aimed at her face. Their hands met in midair, and Nerissa deftly grabbed a fistful of Sasha's hair, pulling hard enough to make her yelp in pain.

"That's enough!" Samuel roared as he strode forward.

He swiftly drove his arm between the two women, forcing them apart before grabbing onto Nerissa's wrists. "You two need to stop this—"

But Sasha seized the opportunity to swing her hand forward.

Tensing, Nerissa tried to break free of Samuel's grip, but it was too strong. She opened her mouth, wanting to tell him to let go, but only a hoarse croak came out.

The high fever she had suffered the day before had restored her hearing, but it also left her throat raw and inflamed. She couldn't talk at all. In spite of her panic, no words came out.

When Samuel saw her struggling to break free, he paused. And in that brief moment of hesitation, Sasha's hand came flying at Nerissa.

Nerissa instinctively dodged the slap, avoiding most of it, but Sasha's sharp nails still scraped across her cheek, leaving a burning trail across her face.

When Samuel saw the bloody scratches, he froze before giving Sasha a hard shove.

"Sasha! What the hell are you doing!"

Caught completely off guard, Sasha stumbled backward. Her shoulder slammed hard into the liquor cabinet behind her. The expensive bottles on display tilted and slid forward. Liquor sprayed through the air as the heavy bottles came crashing down.

"Watch out!"

Amid the cries of alarm, Samuel lunged toward Sasha and shielded her with his body. Dull thuds rang out as the bottles crashed against his back, and the glass shards flew everywhere.

Nerissa barely managed to raise her arms to protect her head before a bottle smashed directly into her shoulder blade. The pain coursed through every inch of her body as even more bottles rained down on her.

A muffled groan escaped her as the force made her collapse onto the floor. Tiny shards of glass and cold liquor covered her entire body. Blood spilled from her forehead, mixing with the alcohol as it trickled downward.

Curled up on the ground, Nerissa felt as though half her body had gone numb. The agonizing pain spread from her shoulder, back, and the back of her head. The ringing in her ears was interspersed with the sound of everyone else's screams.

"Sammy!" Sasha's tears rolled down her cheek. "My leg hurts…"

Samuel quickly pushed himself upright, ignoring the pain coming from his own back. "Where are you hurt? Let me see!"

"My ankle... It hurts so much..." Sasha sobbed pitifully.

A few glass shards had scratched her ankle, leaving several thin streaks of blood. It was barely even an injury, yet she cried as though she were in unbearable agony.

Meanwhile, Nerissa was bracing herself against the floor, her vision dimming. She tried moving her left arm, her trembling fingertips reached toward Samuel.

Her lips moved, but no sound came out.

Samuel had already lifted Sasha into his arms and was about to leave the room.

"Samuel! Nerissa looks hurt, too..." someone finally said, pointing at the curled-up figure on the floor.

Samuel paused to cast a glance at her, but Sasha pressed her tear-streaked face against the crook of his neck and whimpered, "I feel like I'm dying of pain, Sammy… Do you think I have a broken bone…"

Samuel looked away, his brows knitted as he said to his friend, "Help me check on Nerissa. If she's fine, just give her a ride home for me. I need to take Sasha to the hospital. She can't stand being in pain."

Stunned, the man looked like he had something to say, but in the end, he only said, "Alright."

Samuel wasted no time in rushing off with Sasha in his arms.

Meanwhile, the other guys exchanged uneasy glances. Seeing that Nerissa was still on the floor, one of them thought about approaching, but he was hesitant about it.

"Are you alright, Nerissa? Can you get up?"

"Are you dumb? She's deaf. She can't hear you. Do you know sign language?"

"Why the heck would I know that?"

Meanwhile, Nerissa's vision had already blurred. Everyone's voices sounded muffled, as if separated by a thick layer of ice. She could see mouths moving in front of her, but she couldn't make out what they were saying.

More and more blood flowed from her forehead. It slipped into her eyes, murking her vision even more.

She wanted to shake her head, but she didn't even have the strength for that. All she felt was a chilling coldness that seemed to seep out from the very depths of her bones.

The world around her began to spin and distort. Figures blurred together.

Suddenly, someone cried out, "Oh, shit! Her head's bleeding! Look at all that blood!"

To Nerissa, the voices seemed to drift in and out of her ears. Her vision continued to darken, as if clouded by pools of ink. Her eyelids grew heavy.

"Quick, call for an ambulance!"

"Damn it, Samuel! Why isn't he picking up his phone…"

…

The pain woke Nerissa up, and when she opened her eyes, all she saw was a stark white ceiling. The sharp smell of disinfectant filled her nose.

She tried to wriggle her fingers, the movement tugging at her shoulder, sending a dull ache through her.

Her forehead was wrapped in bandages, and her left arm was now in a cast. The back of her head throbbed painfully.

The hospital room was quiet. Only the steady beeping of medical equipment broke the silence.

Turning her head, Nerissa looked out the window. The gray, overcast sky made it hard for her to tell whether it was dawn or dusk.

Then, the door opened. A young man in a white doctor's coat walked in.

He was tall and lean, carrying himself with a somewhat detached demeanor. A pair of gold-rimmed glasses rested on the bridge of his nose.

"You're up." Coming over, he picked up the chart hanging at the foot of the bed and flipped through it before checking the monitor readings. "How are you feeling?"

Henry Langford?

Nerissa didn't expect to be brought to the hospital where Henry was. He was the primary physician in charge of her hearing-loss treatment for the past six months. It was thanks to him that she'd finally regained her hearing.

She opened her mouth to speak, but only managed a hoarse rasp.

Henry stopped her with a brush of his hand. "Don't try to speak. Your vocal cords aren't damaged, but you're suffering from acute laryngitis caused by the fever. A few days of rest, and you'll be fine."

He pulled a pen and a small notebook from his pocket and handed them to her.

Nerissa accepted them and lowered her head to write a message. "Thank you for helping me hear again, Dr. Langford."

After seeing the message, he smiled and passed the notebook back to her. In a somewhat meaningful tone, he replied, "You don't need to thank me. I'm merely fulfilling a task that had been entrusted to me. A certain someone won't let me return to Shorehaven if I fail to help you make a full recovery."