Facade

"What?!" Gab showed worry. Alreign let out a faint sigh as he tapped Gab's shoulder. 

"I went to him to heal him. But I realized my power has limitations. I could only heal the living; I couldn't bring back the dead's life."

Gab nodded at Alreign's remark. "I understand. What about the security guard who shot him?"

"No idea. But I saw him with the policemen earlier," Alreign replied. 

Gab fell silent for a short moment, then he stood up to fix himself. "Your recommendation."

"Wait. No need to rush. You have to rest first."

Gab's left brow raised as he looked in Alreign's direction. "Your doctor's instincts are kicking in, huh? Did you forget? You healed me. I'm fine."

"I guess you're the one who needs rest," Gab continued.

Alreign nodded and sighed. "Yeah. I'm a bit tired."

Alreign followed Gab outside and stretched his arms while walking. "I didn't see—"

Alreign froze. 

He slowly followed the stretcher bed with his gaze, as the little girl lying there was quite familiar to him.

"What's wrong?" Gab asked, noticing his surprised reaction. But Alreign didn't hear him. He was just staring in the direction where the nurses had brought the stretcher.

"Mama, it hurts."

Alreign became light-headed—voices started to echo in his ears, and a series of blurry memories flashed through his mind.

"Mama, I don't want to die."

"You won't, baby. You won't. The doctors are here. You see? You'll be fine."

"Promise?"

"Yes, promise. Now be a good girl, okay?"

"Hey, Alreign," Gab said, tapping Alreign's shoulder, which brought him back to his senses.

"Hah?" Alreign looked at him with questioning eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Are you okay? You look really tired. You should rest," Gab said, but Alreign just shook his head in response.

"I'm fine. It's just that I saw someone who appeared in my dream last night. I'm so anxious about the operation that I completely forgot about it." Alreign looked again in the direction where the little girl's stretcher headed.

"Was it a patient here again?" Gab asked, to which Alreign answered with a nod.

"It's a little girl. I guess she was about 7-8 years old," Alreign replied.

Gab stared at Alreign, noticing how worried he was. Gab let out a faint sigh and once again tapped his shoulder. "I'll assign her to you; don't worry. I'll make sure she's monitored until then. For now, you have to rest."

Alreign felt a sense of relief after Gab gave him assurance. "Thank you," he smiled.

They both walked away and were about to go to the office, but they were stopped by the woman.

Her hair was disheveled, and her mascara was smudged all over her cheeks, as if she had just cried. 

Gab's brows furrowed, trying to remember where he saw this pitiful woman. "Who—"

"I'm sorry!" The woman kneeled down and kissed Gab's shoes while shedding tears.

Gab instantly stepped back, surprised by the woman's action. He then kneeled to comfort the woman. "What are you doing? Don't do that!"

"I caused you harm. Because of me, you were hurt." The woman sobbed. In that sentence, Gab remembered the woman.

He looked at Alreign and signaled him to assist him.

"You can talk inside, ma'am," Alreign politely said to the woman as they gently assisted her to stand up. 

Alreign led them back to Gab's room and offered a glass of water to the woman as she sat and calmed down.

"So, you're that man's wife?" Gab asked. The woman nodded and wiped her cheeks.

"I have nowhere to go. This is the nearest place I think I would be safe. I never expected it to happen. I'm sorry." The woman started to cry, which Gab immediately hushed.

"It's an accident. It's not your fault," Gab reassured, but the woman was still crying. Alreign noticed something was off. He couldn't point out whether it was just his gut feeling or whether the woman was actually acting strange.