Music Rec: Breaking Down by Ailee

In the car, Ethan had torn the facemask into shreds as Enoch drove the car at top speed. Ruthlyn was supposed to drive but when Ethan snapped at her twice for crawling across the road, Enoch had hijacked the wheels and was now driving like his life depended on it.

They arrived at the Villa in twenty minutes and Ethan flew out of the car before it could even stop, taking large strides towards the front door. Ruthlyn followed closely behind him while Enoch tried to park the car perfectly in the parking lot.

Stopping momentarily in front of the door to calm himself down, Ethan swung the barrier open in the very next second and stepped in. He took a few steps forward and stepped into the living room, his eyes sweeping around to stop on the couch.

’Kera...’

He closed his eyes and shook his head vigorously, trying to clear whatever headache was bringing this illusion. But when he opened his eyes the next time, his white couch was still smeared red at one spot near...

"Shikera!"

Ruthlyn acted faster than Ethan and rushed to Shikera’s side, where she was leaning on the couch. She felt her pulse and placed her ears on her chest at the same time before slowly lifting her head up to look at Ethan, her eyes passing the message her mouth could not bear to.

Enoch rushed in just at that moment, and with just one glance around the room, he understood what was going on. He wasn’t prepared for Ethan’s next action though, and neither was Ruth.

The two simply watched with slacked jaws as Ethan went to pick her up from the ground, her pink shirt whose upper part had turned red, sticking to her chest. He carried her in bridal style and walked out of the villa, his lips set in a thin line.

He opened the front passenger’s seat of one of the cars he used on private outings and placed her in it, fastening her seatbelt like someone who was sitting upright, before going to take the driver’s seat. By this time, Ruthlyn and Enoch had recovered from their shock and had rushed outside, each having different things to say.

"You don’t have your facemask on you, Ethan!" Enoch pointed out, uncertain whether Ethan could even hear him or not. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Mr...Ethan, she is not breath—" Ruthlyn started to say when Ethan turned to shoot her a cold glare.

"Complete that sentence and I will manifest it in your life," he threatened, and Ruth clamped her mouth shut.

"Get another car and follow me closely," he ordered, turning the key in the car’s ignition.

The car arrived at the Lucian Rays group of hospitals within twenty minutes, a journey which would normally take an hour. Ethan alighted from the car and walked around to the other side, before opening the door and unclasping Shikera’s seat belt.

As he carried her up, his skin subtly felt her own which was not colder than earlier, but he ignored it. They still had five years, right? She couldn’t just die now! And for no reason, at that.

A stretcher was brought to him at the door but he ignored it, ordering the nurse who brought it to get Doctor Alexander. The nurse stood still, transfixed by this ethereally handsome face staring straight into her eyes now. She hadn’t believed it when her physic friend had told her that morning that her life was going to change. Who knew she was going to meet her soulmate today?!

"Seems like you are transfixed at the sight of the grim reaper," Ethan growled lowly, and the nurse finally realized that this handsome man had been talking to her.

"You need my number?"

"Will you fucking get out of my way, Idiot?!" Ethan cursed out loud, attracting the attention of all the ER authors closer to the hospital’s large revolving doors. If he was not carrying Shikera, he was sure this nurse would be lying on the ground right now.

"I contacted Doctor Alexander and she’s on her way down."

Ethan heard Ruthlyn’s voice from behind, but didn’t bother to turn as he continued walking forward.

"When is Raymond arriving?" he asked instead.

"In five minutes," came the reply from Enoch.

Ethan stepped into the large hospital lobby and three doctors rushed up to him, one of them pushing a stretcher. He looked around and seeing Krystal approaching in the distance, he bypassed the doctors and walked instead towards her.

"What happened?!"

"I met her like this," Ethan replied like a sensible person, for the first time in thirty minutes.

Krystal also seemed to sense the gloomy aura surrounding him, as she didn’t bother asking any more questions.

"Come with me," she said, turning to lead him to one of the private wards on the ground floor. On the way, she met a nurse and ordered him,

"Get Doctor Leonard to Ward 01 asap!"

As they got to a door with 01 carved into it, Krystal stopped and pushed the door open for Ethan to carry Shikera inside.

He placed her on the bed and stepped away, giving Krystal access to examine her.

"She seems dead," the doctor commented, and the frown on her face deepened. She walked around the room, picking up different things as she did, and talking to Ethan at the same time.

"Did she eat anything she was not supposed to?"

"None that I know of," Ethan replied automatedly.

"Then this is not supposed to hap—!"

The door was pushed open from outside and Leonard rushed in, still trying to wear his lab coat.

"What happened?" he asked.

"She looks dead so..."

★★★

Her clothes were now changed into the normal blue patient uniform, only that hers seemed tailor made for her as the fabric was thicker and a more expensive material than the usual one. Her room had also been changed to the one on the very first floor of the hospital, the exclusive room she had been using from when she was fifteen years of age.

Her wavy brown hair cascaded on the brown pillow, and her closed eyes made her look like a sleeping angel to Ethan. He squeezed her soft hand within his, before looking up at Krystal.

"You wanted to say something?" he asked.

Krystal could notice that his anger still hadn’t subsided, but was simply hiding in a corner because of Shikera’s presence so she did not talk as angrily as she had wanted to.

"All this is partly your fault," she started.