Hush, My Sweet Darling

Chapter 42: Inevitably Flawed

Still flopped on the ground, Kiko looked up to see a teenage girl screaming at her. The girl donned a school uniform and had her hair up in a ponytail. Kiko immediately recognized her.

SMACK!

The girl slapped her on the cheek.

"I said, why are you here!?" the girl shouted. "It wasn't enough that you ruined my parents' marriage, and now that my mom is dying, you have to rub it in my face too!?"

"W-what...?" The open-handed smack from earlier still stung her face, but Kiko didn't care much for that. All she cared about was what the girl had just said. Still clutching her face, she got up, staggering. "O-Olivia, what did you say about your mom?"

"I said she's dying!" The girl screamed hysterically. "Are you happy now!? Of course, you are! Why wouldn't you be? After she dies, you'll get to be with Dad!"

Deafening silence whooshed through Kiko's ears. As though she were in a trance, she stared at the girl. Her complexion ashen, her expression blank. 

Kiko's lack of reaction seemed to have agitated the girl even more. She squeezed Kiko's shoulders, going in for a full-blown attack. She pulled out Kiko's hair in handfuls, slapped, hit, and scratched her. Again and again—all while screaming frantically.

"Bitch! I hate you! Dirty homewrecker! It's all your fault! You should be the one dying instead of my mom!"

Kiko stood rooted to the spot. Her face closed in a grimace from the pain, but she didn't move one bit. She took the girl's beating, again and again, until a strong hand pulled her away. Several nurses held the girl back as she howled in rage, hurling all kinds of curses at Kiko.

"Get her to calm down! She's hysterical," Ren barked at the nurses. There weren't many people in the hospital lobby at that time, but there were still enough onlookers. Some of them had even started to film the incident. He took Kiko away from the scene.

Once he got her in his office, he sat her down on the couch and squatted down in front of her. He examined her face. Her pale skin now marred with various shades of pink and red. A few cuts glared from her cheek and neck, a testament to the young girl's ferocity.

Ren sighed. "Look at this. What a mess."

Kiko only responded by lowering her head.

Ren let out another sigh before getting up to a medicine trolley next to his desk. He took out all the medical supplies he needed to care for her wounds. After making sure he had everything, he returned to the couch and carefully treated her injuries. That was when he saw her welled-up eyes and the tears that started to run down her cheeks.

He raised an eyebrow. A flash of irritation pricked at him. The young woman in front of him was such a sorry sight. She didn't only look like she'd been just physically attacked. She looked like she'd been battered out of her senses too—somehow, that fact irked him more than the visible scrapes on her skin.

Where was the fierce young woman who had passionately spoken up for her best friend the weekend before? Where was the same gutsy woman who had snatched his ID right under his nose the first time they met?

"Why cry now?"

"I-it hurts..." She grimaced. Her voice sounded like a distressed child.

"Of course it hurts. So, why cry now?" Annoyance occupied Ren's voice. "I didn't see you do anything to defend yourself when that girl assaulted you. And now you're crying. Are you dumb?"

Kiko didn't respond. She just sat there, sobbing with broken pauses.

"Look, I don't know the whole story, but even if you didn't want to hit her back, shouldn't you at least try to skedaddle yourself out of there?" Ren went on. "Why the hell did you just stand there like a statue and let yourself be thrashed?" he scorned. "Now stop crying, so I can treat those cuts!"