องค์หญิงบรรณาการผู้ถูกลืมเลือน

(Emily's POV)

The sun rays that peeked through the window collided on my face. I took a glance out the window as the sun beat down relentlessly, even with the air-conditioned cranked up, I could still feel the heat as I already feel the sweat trickle down my forehead. I grab my handkerchief in my pocket from my medical scrubs and wipes the sweat dripping down my neck.

"Emily, could you check on the patient in room 201?" I turned my head to Mrs. Greene, the head nurse at Nuova Hospital as she handed me the files of the patient.

"Sure thing," I answered as I accepted the file.

I tried to hide my yawn as I walked past all the people waiting to hear news of their beloved ones. There had been a horrible accident earlier that day. 65 people were injured and sadly there are 8 people were dead on arrival. The accident is just so sudden and unexpected.

As I arrived at room 201, I slowly opened the door. And headed straight to the bed laid a very injured man. I examined the file in my hand, it says he had been shot in the right shoulder. He was still unconscious.

"Alright." I sighed. I lightly touch his wrist to check his vitals and heart rate. Everything looked stable.

I heard the door open and turned around to see a dark-haired man in a leather jacket standing there. He didn't walk inside the room, just stood there at the doorway. He is staring at the patient emotionless.

"I'm sorry about your friend," I said in a low tone. He didn't even look at me.

I closed the file on my hand and strode my feet to the door. As I reached the door, he grab my arm making me flinch in surprise.

"How is he?" he asked with a heavy accent.

"I... uhm... he's in a stable state, he should be fine." He slowly let go of my arm and I quickly got out of there. I looked back at the man and saw him watching me sternly. Creep.

As I reached the station, I put the file back in the cabinet where a stack of documents was filed accordingly, and then went over to Lea.

"Hey girl, everything alright?" Lea asked while writing something down on the document in her hand.

"Yeah, I mean no. That guy over there was acting so strange." I pointed out to my left side hallway.

"Strange how?" she dropped the pen and glimpsed at me with her inquisitive eyes. Let me explain, Lea is the type of girl who loves hearing other people's dirty deeds and also likes to pass them along.

"I was checking on the patient, the one with the bullet wound and he just stood in the doorway and said nothing, just staring blankly. I don't even know if he was having a hard time seeing his friend unconscious or what. Then, when I was leaving, he grabbed my arm and wanted to know about the patient. It was all weird and very uncomfortable." I explained while crossing my arms and leaning against the white-painted wall.

"Yeah, that's kinda weird," she answered and started to take a glance at the man. He was still standing there while talking on his phone. Then he looked in our direction as Lea quickly looked down her head.

"You know Emily, I heard that patient got shot by the mafia." I looked at Lea with a clueless face.

"Then, what now?" I chuckled at her statement.

"You know, I was flirting with the police officer that was checking on him earlier and he said that this man is a very dangerous hit-man or something."

"Do we know his name?" I asked her full of curiosity.

"Yeah, the officer's name is Gerald," she said excitedly and grabbed her pen back to begin to write something on her notes.

"No, I mean the patient's name?" I said as I glance back at the man.

"No, we don't know that, but that guy staring at you is so damn hot though," she said while biting her pen, staring flirty at the man. Yeah, she likes hot men.

I gave her a slight smile before I went back to work. My shift ends in 3 hours and it's already 7:00 in the summer evening.

The leather jacket man had already left, so I checked again on the patient around 21:00. He was still unconscious and everything was stable. When I was about to leave, I heard something. I turned around and saw the patient. He was awake.

"Where am I?" he asked in a harsh yet subtle voice.

"Hospital." I said "My name is Emily, I'm a nurse. Let me call the doctor to check on you."

"No need." he said quickly "I'm fine." He started sitting up and tried to stand.

"Sir, I don't think it's a good idea to stand up yet. Please lay down." I hurried over to him and tried to make him lay back down. But he just pushed me away. I walked and cover the doorway.

"Sir, I have to let someone clear you before you can leave." I calmly said to him but he ignored my words.

He stood up and put on his shirt, which was still stained with dried blood. I didn't know what to tell him. He didn't want to see a doctor and Lea said he might be a hitman.

"Okay sir, then I'll just leave you alone." I turned around and bumped into a person. When I backed up I saw the leather jacket man. He didn't say anything, just stared at me.

I hurried yet again walk out of the room and headed to the station to inform the lady at the desk that the patient is leaving. The rest of my shift went to stitching up some wounds and bandaging burned skin.

It was 10:00 pm when I signed out from my shift and went straight home. I took the subway as usual and after 15 minutes, I was at my apartment. I opened the door and turned on the switch beside the door for the lights.

I went straight to the bathroom to take a shower. The warm water cascades over my body and light brown hair. I hastily wash my hair and scrub my body before I rinse out one last time. I wrap a towel around my body as well as my hair. I got out and dried myself.

A loud creek seems like a door was opening slowly making me stop in trance. That's from the living room. I felt the hair on my arms ascending as my heart beats faster than usual. No one is supposed to be in here. I slowly made my way out of the bathroom and into the living room.

"Hello?" I tried to compose my voice.

No one answered.

"Is someone there?" I let out a deep breath.

Still no response.

I looked over at the front door and saw it was half open. I swear I closed it when I got home. I went to the front door to double-lock it. As I scanned the whole living room for an unusual thing but seems like nothing is suspicious.

I sighed and my body calmed down a bit before I head straight to my bed. Maybe I am just tired.

***

I woke up to a strange sound. As I turned on the light of the lamp on my bedside table and was startled by a man standing over my bed. I jumped to my feet.

"Who are you?!" I quickly asked. He didn't say a word.

Wait...I know him.

"You... you're that guy, at the hospital!" leather jacket man.

"Bravo," he smirk as he stared at me intently.

"W-what do you want?" I asked in a shaky voice.

"I need to know what he said to you." his deep voice makes my whole body shiver in fear.

"W-who?" I asked without thinking who is he talking about.

"That man at the hospital, with the gunshot wound. Before I got there, did he say anything to you?" he walked over to the couch and sit as he crossed his leg while gaping at me.

"No, only that he didn't want to see a doctor," I said as I am avoiding his dangerous gaze. He is quiet for a second and out of curiosity, I took a glance at him.

"Anything else?" When our eyes meet, he stood up and took a step forward, closer to my bed.

"N-no more," I said as my brows drew together when he crawled onto my bed.

I curled my legs as my back touches the headboard, my breathing is getting heavier as my whole body shakes and sweat at the same time. Until he cornered me as his face is an inch apart from my face. I looked to my right side with my eyes closed. I felt his arms on the left side of my head, putting his hand on the headboard.

"Are you a nurse?" he said in a firm voice as he breathe and touches my neck.

Oh my god! He is so close! What does he want?

"Y-yes." I gulped before I answered as my heart skipped a beat for a second.

"That's all, have a good night." he walked out of the room and I couldn't move as my eyes were still closed. I waited for a minute before I fully opened my eyes. He's gone.

I brushed my palm to my hair as I let out a deep breath. How the hell did he get in? Damn! I remember what Lea said, they are a mafia or what. I am thankful that he didn't hurt me.

I couldn't sleep at all after that. I got out of bed at 8:00 and slowly made my way to the living room. Making sure he wasn't still there. This was ridiculous. He didn't take anything, only asked me questions.

I made myself breakfast and tried reading a book but it was hopeless. I was paranoid. An unknown man was just trespassing at my apartment last night. How can I be calm with that?

Suddenly my phone rang. I checked the number and saw Lea's name on the screen. I pressed the answer button before I put the phone on my ear.

"Hi," I said a bit too high.

"Hey Emily, I have these gallery art tickets thingy tonight. I was wondering if you're interested in hanging out with me?" she said excitedly which makes me smile.

"Yes totally! I need to get out of this apartment in n instant." I state while getting up from the couch.

"Great! I'll meet you there let's say at 6 o'clock?" she yelps excitedly.

"Sounds great," I said before hanging up the phone call. As Lea called, I felt a bit calmer now.

After getting ready, I walked out of my apartment as I am ready to forget all about last night and that crazy guy. It was at least 15 minutes walk to the Gallery, so I started walking. It was calm weather and not that cold. I had put on a black coat, maybe it was too much for a Gallery exhibit... well it's too late to change now.

I took a shortcut through the park to save a few minutes. It was dark but I saw a few people on an evening walk, so I wasn't scared or anything.

When I was almost out of the park, I heard a crunching sound. Like something broke. I turned around quickly but saw nothing and nobody behind me on this dark pathway. I decided to ignore that weird sound before I kept walking forward.

But a gunshot echoed on the narrow street which makes me stop in a trance. My heart beat so fast that I almost lost control of my breathing. I walked to the wall and leaned trying to calm myself.

As I raised my head, a man standing on the other side of the pathway, pointing his gun at a man laying on the cement floor as he was unconscious, not moving a bit. After a second, another gunshot echoed and this time, I saw the man killed another man on the floor.

My heart feels heavy as my whole body shakes in fear. I don't know what to do but all I know is to escape from this narrow street and call for some help.

I run faster than I could while grabbing my phone and dialing the emergency police hotline. Suddenly, I felt something grab me severely as a cloth being put over my mouth and nose. I breathed in a weird scent and felt my body goes numb slowly. My feet gave in, someone picked me up and carry me in a bridal style before everything went dark.