The Other Man, Pt. 2
SUMMERINE WAS ALREADYin the hospital when she woke, and seated next to her bed was her husband.
"You're awake."
Ryu almost sounded like he was worried about her. And he probably was, since hewasrather nice, for a criminal.
"H-How..."
Everything started coming back the moment she started to talk, and her voice faltered as memory after terrifying memory razed her mind.
Oh God.
She wasn't even aware of whispering the words out loud, wasn't even aware that she had already started crying until she felt the bed dip under her husband's weight, and he was wiping her tears away.
"It's alright. You're safe now. He's never going to hurt you again."
"W-Who is he?"
"You don't have to know—-"
"Iwantto know." Because otherwise, her mind would only imagine the worst.
"It's your school doctor," her husband revealed with visible reluctance.
"Doctor Burns?"
She had barely exchanged more than ten words with the older man, and he didn't even look capable of hurting a fly. Why would Doctor Burns want to cause trouble in her marriage?
She turned to Ryu in bewilderment, and her husband read the questions in her mind perfectly.
"The bastard fancied himself in love with you. Decided to cause trouble without getting involved. His plan probably involved offering you comfort in the guise of counseling."
It could've worked,Summerine thought uneasily,except for the part where the doctor had assumed she'd fall in love with him.
"We've been trying to track him since he sent that text. Burns had a stint as an army doctor, and unfortunately enough, it allowed him to pick up a couple of useful tricks for hiding himself online. He knew the exact moment we were on to him, and he baited us into raiding his apartment in hopes of having an easier time entering our home—-"
"Only to realize he hasnothingto worry about since I was already outside it," Summerine concluded miserably.
"Your wedding ring comes with a tracker. It's how I found you in time—-"
Oh, thank God.
"And realized that my wife was planning to run away from me."
"I...I..."
"If this is about me accusing you of cheating on me," her husband said tautly, "I'm...sorry. I'm afraid the thought of you being with another man made me extremely...unreasonable."
If she was still the old Summerine, she would have let the lie stick.
But because the minutes she had spent running away from Burns were eternally imprinted on her mind, and she had made promises to God that she intended to keep for the rest of her life—-
