Worth Every P̶e̶n̶n̶y̶ Suture!

– Three hours later –

"...Are you absolutely sure you want to get him discharged right away?"

The hospital receptionist frowned, shooting a strange look at the heavily bandaged-up young man sitting in a distant corner of the room, before turning her attention back to the bitterly smiling woman in front of her.

"Mr. Collins might need someone to tend to him in case any lingering aftereffects show up later. Plus, the doctors also recommended for him to stay under our supervision for at least three days, right?"

Hearing the receptionist's logical words, Julia awkwardly pursed her lips. 

Even though she already knew all of this, since Damien himself was adamant about leaving, what could she do? 

"...Yes. But he says he's fine, so..."

"...Really? You want to take him out just because he says he's fine...?"

The receptionist had an exasperated look on her face as she pulled up a few papers from under the desk, and handed them to the woman in front of her.

"...Whatever, here you go. Since it'll be an AMA discharge in his case, he will need to sign these papers here with you as a witness, and then you can take him home. Also, make sure he takes all his medicines in time, because we will not be held accountable for any future problems that might occur because of this."

"...I understand. Thank you."

Julia accepted the papers with a small nod, before quickly walking over to Damien to get his signature on them. 

The young man seemed to be spacing out at the moment, absentmindedly staring at an abstract piece of painting hung on the opposite side wall of the room. 

"Damien. Damien..."

It was like he couldn't hear her repeatedly calling his name. Both of his hands were unconsciously balled up into tight fists, clenching and unclenching around themselves in a steady rhythm. 

Standing to his side, Julia lightly tapped his shoulders, breaking him out of his reverie with a sudden jolt. His clenched fists immediately loosened as he turned around, showing an unassuming smile on his face when he saw her standing next to him.

"Uh... So, I guess it's done already?" 

"No, they still need your signatures here for the release."

"...Oh, thanks. Just give me a few seconds."

She then handed him the papers along with a pen she borrowed from the reception desk, prompting him to wordlessly start filling them out one by one.

'...He's really acting tough.'

As he was going through the release forms, Julia silently looked over him with a worried expression. 

After the in-depth conversation they had about an hour ago, she now had a much better understanding of this stubborn, nonchalant acting guy. 

...And with this new understanding, also came a bunch of heart-chilling worries.

After all, there were simply too many shocking things among what he had told her. An evil mega-corporation's plan to dominate the world from the shadows, his identity as an undercover government agent, a magical drug with mind-altering effects... 

...And a sick bastard's plan to stealthily use the latest experimental version of this detestable drug on her daughter to make her his obedient little puppet!

Even though the entire thing sounded quite unbelievable at first, her blood still ran cold after hearing such things. 

Just because some depraved guy at the mega-corp took a fancy to Sierra, She was almost about to unknowingly get swallowed up in such a massive whirlpool!

Now, she dreaded to even imagine what would've happened to her daughter if Damien either wasn't in love with her, or if he simply wasn't crazy enough to hatch that outrageously daring plan of his.

...A plan that she was now an accomplice in, with the main objective to deliberately make the government and this mega-corporation violently clash together, and eliminate the threat to her daughter during the chaos!

If she was merely impressed by his zeal before knowing all of these crazy details, now she was in complete and utter awe at his resolve to go to such lengths for the sake of his love. 

'I can only hope he doesn't collapse all of a sudden...'

...Still, in the end, he was only a lone young man without anyone to support him. It was hard not to worry about him, especially since he had been calling her 'mother-in-law' so persistently.

She suppressed a powerless sigh, before taking back the documents from his hands and signing them herself. Even if she was worried about him now, he wasn't going to listen to her anyway.

"Wait here for a minute, I'll get your release confirmed and then we can go home together."

Damien was about to nod his head to her words, when he suddenly stopped midway while shooting her a perplexed look. 

"...Wait, why are we going home together? And whose home are you talking—?"

Julia's expression quickly turned stern as she tightly grabbed Damien's shoulder, not letting him finish asking his question.

"You don't have anyone at your home, do you? I'll be taking you to our house, and you'll be staying there until you get better. Now don't try to wiggle your way out of this, young man, or I'll get angry. And you don't want to see me getting angry."

She had already known about his family, or rather the lack of one, from Sierra's mouth last night when the hospital employees asked for his details. And now, despite him trying his best to appear okay on the surface, the slight tremble on his hands as he signed the documents had inadvertently given away his current condition. 

Sure, he wasn't the ideal goody-two-shoes boy she could rest assured to marry off her daughter to, but he was still someone who unmistakably loved her dear child more than his life and wellbeing.

...And she just wasn't heartless enough to leave him alone in this grave condition.

Seeing her unmovable stance on this matter, Damien's jaws were left hung open for a moment, before a sunny smile gradually broke out on his face.

"...Okay, I got it. But I have to go and fetch some things from my house first, so I'll still have to take a cab for the back-and-forth journey."

"Huh? Why do you need a cab? I can just drive you there—"

But before she could finish, Damien cut her off with a shake of his head.

"No, Sia needs you to pick her up at the university. You would be late to get there if you had to drive me back and forth like that. Plus..."

He paused for a moment, a furious rage burning in his eyes.

"...that vile animal might just make his move earlier than he planned. He'll be at her university, and though he doesn't have the drug yet, he could still try something on her impulsively. We can't let anything like that happen, no matter what!"

Julia went silent for a few seconds, her mind engulfed by a bunch of terrible thoughts. Soon after, she also gritted her teeth in a smoldering anger.

"...You're right. I'll apply for her leave of absence tomorrow. No more attending classes until this problem sorts itself out first."

"Yeah, I think so too. Now, let's get this paperwork done already. I'm getting sick of this hospital smell all around me."

Damien also nodded, barely managing to hide his bubbling excitement under the furious facade he was putting up.

'Hehehe, this injury is really worth every suture!'

...All this time, Julia didn't suspect a single thing to be wrong. 

Her mind was already overloaded with too many concerns about her daughter and this new 'son-in-law' of hers to notice this small, momentary abnormality that he showed.