Your Name (Age Is Just A Number)

Chapter 9

"June please, I beg you, I'll tell you whatever you wish to know but first, you have to get down from there -" Jeremy wasn't done talking when Detective June hanged up on him. "Shit! " He cursed. Then hurriedly went for the elevator. Aggressively pushing it's button before going up.

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"What a nerve." Detective June retorts as she swings her phone into the back pocket of her jean trouser. Turning to face Link who was now standing, aiming a gun at her.

Shocked and devastated, Detective June exhale softly. "You don't have to do this, Link." She said, her hands as steady as a rock in front of her.

"You shouldn't have come up here, it isn't your fight." Link spat as he glared at the detective. His eyes burned with determination as he gripped the trigger firmly in his right hand.

"Do you know the kind of state your mother is in right now? How deeply your actions has affected her? All for what? What do you think will happen to her after you pull the trigger?" Quizzed June as she took another subtle step forward

"Nice try, You're not getting in my head that easily. You're not going to talk me down." Link said. Nodding his head in disagreement.

"I'm not trying to talk you down, am only trying to get you down from there." Said the Detective as she paused, to take a deep breath "Look I'm sorry, what you're going through right now isn't fair, it's hard but, i can help you...if you let me."

Confusion filled Link's features when he saw the detective's wedding ring, but before he could utter a word, the elevator behind her opened and Jeremy appeared into sight. Breathing uncontrollably. Not caring about Link, he walked up to June and held her by the arm.

"What ever you're doing, stop it! Do you even know what is happening? Link has every right to make whatever decision he wants to make...you don't get to interfere!" Jeremy yells loudly.

"Hey! I'm just doing my job -"

"Then do it smartly! You can't just dive into situation as dangerous as this without a plan or back up!" He yells again. "What if something went wrong and you ended up hurting yourself...huh?" His voice begins to break.

Detective June narrows her eyes in confusion. Then freed herself from Jeremy's grip."Where are all these coming from? You think I'm not trained for this? kiddo, I see something like this everyday and besides, I'm trying to save this kid's life -"

"Link is not a kid and therefore doesn't need saving! No one dragged his butt up here, he came on his own. This is his father's building and if he chooses to jump down from it, it's his choice, not fucking yours," he shook his head in disagreement. "What if - what if you -?" He stopped when he got interrupted by a sudden cough that won't go away.

He begins to stagger, everything around him duplicating, spinning and the only thing his eyes focused on was the lady in front of him. He shook his head and blinked repeatedly as his vision became blurry.

Seeing his behavior, the detective quickly held him in place. "Hey kiddo, are you okay?" She asked. Her mind begin to whirl in panic, and when Jeremy started having bleeding nose, her eyes suddenly widened. "Jeremy?" She called out in fear.

Link stiffened from where he stood, a look of shock and guilt on his face. "Oh no," He huffed. He quickly tossed the gun aside and rushed to his best friend."Jeremy, take off your uniform." He orders but Jeremy hesitated.

But Link didn't take 'no' for an answer. He yanked Jeremy's button loose and forcefully ripped the suit off his body, revealing his blood stained sleeve.

Link raked his fingers over Jeremy's sleeve. "These stains -"

"It's the guy's blood, he practically bled everywhere -" Jeremy replied hastily, even though he knew it wasn't true. But abruptly started coughing endlessly.

Without giving much of a thought, detective June quickly unbutton Jeremy's sleeve. Jeremy knew he had bruises all over his body, but couldn't tell where and how bad it was.

Link was getting worried, so he motioned Jeremy to sit on the floor. When he did, Detective June lifted his tank top and probed around his torso. She touched near Jeremy's ribs and Jeremy yelped. Link had a hand on Jeremy's shoulder. Detective June shook her head.

"Broken rib? But how? Did you get into a fight?" Detective June asked curiously.

"Because he got hit! This is all my fault." Link panicked.

"I got hit?" Jeremy rhetorically asked. He tilted his brows and grunts uncomfortably.

"Hang on, you got hit and you didn't check yourself at the hospital?" Detective June asked concerned.

"He didn't because he didn't feel it -" Link explained in a panic state.

"What?" Detective June asked. She was trained for everything but understanding the situation wasn't part of her training. She was confused and needed a better explanation of what was going on with the dude.

Link continues, "Listen, I'm not sure? But we need to call the paramedic before he loses too much blood. Jeremy is having an internal bleeding. I've assessed his general injuries and noticed some very prominent internal bleeding, you can tell by the dark purple bruising on his stomach.

Link howled in pain as detective June palpated Jeremy's abdomen. "Don't do that! It hurts." Link said on behalf of Jeremy.

"No! I'm fine." Jeremy disagrees but then coughs a huge sum of blood, his own words betraying him, while detective June stares at him like he's dying in front of her.

"You're clearly not fine," Detective June shouted with an uncharacteristic look on her face. "I need to know what's going with you, right now! Somebody, start talking." She orders.

"Jeremy has CIPA, his condition is extremely dangerous. This kind of disorder is rare, people with CIPA are insensitive to pain, therefore he can't feel a thing. He got hit and he didn't even know, because he didn't feel it. And now he might die, and it's going to be because of me." Link said then exhale shakily. And detective stared in awe.

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