The Incident (IV)

04:44 A.M.

San Miguel's Hospital

June 10th, the year 2018. Sunday.

"You have been sleeping for four days, did you know that?" Margo asked Xian while staring at his eyes. He shook his head and didn't even remember what happened. Xian glimpse when he realized that the black hoodie person is the one who is responsible for all of this.

"What happened? Why did you crash into a tree?" Margo asked the questions he would be dreadful to answer. Xian inhaled and exhaled it in a large huff.

Margo licked her lips and murmured, "I thought..."

Xian looked at her and saw the tears pouring down her eyes. He shushed him and held her face. Margo sobbed as she leaned her face towards Xian's soft hands.

"I got into an accident, alright? I am alive," Xian said while wiping the tears coming out of Margo's eyes. Margo inched her face closer towards Xian while he was still holding her face. When their lips were just centimeters away, Xian closed the gap. They kissed passionately.

Xian felt the tears coming out of his eyes as he kissed Margo again. He realized how much pain he would feel if it was Margo laying down on the bed, with casts on the right arm and leg. He knew he loved Margo more than anything.

They broke the kiss when they felt they were out of breath. They both smiled as the door burst opened and Xian averted his eyes towards there. He's surprised to see someone standing there with a handful of paper bags in his arms. He bowed his head down towards Margo. Xian flailed down his hand, along with the shock at seeing Xyrelle on the door. He greeted Margo as if they knew each other for years.

"Xyrelle! You are so early to be here," Margo grinned, standing up from a small chair. She received the grocery bags Xyrelle bought for Xian and her. He sighed and put his left arm behind his back. He approached the left side of the hospital bed. 

He's wearing a yellow collar shirt, tight pants, and simple rubber shoes. Not to mention his tousled hair. Xian knew he worked for an hour before coming to the hospital to visit him or Margo.

"It's okay, Margo. It's good to see Xian awake," Xyrelle beamed. He had been waiting for Xian's eyes to open, and took a seat in a small chair.

"What are you doing here, Xyrelle?" Xian queried. He stared immensely at him. Xyrelle scoffed, and Margo butted in.

"Xian. Xyrelle is the one who brought you here," Margo whispered, holding his left hand. Xian averted his eyes towards Margo. He can't believe that Xyrelle was the one who brought him back from the accident that he thought he would be dead. He couldn't form the words of gratitude he badly wanted to say. 

"Xyrelle... it's...," Xian stammered in his hoarse voice. Margo smiled at Xyrelle and nodded.

"Save it. You don't owe your life to me, Xian." Xyrelle raised his hand. Xian grinned after a moment. 

"If it's not you, I would be dead by now," Xian pointed out. She grinned and leaned her face again on his hand while holding it. Xian entwined his hands with Margo after a while. 

"By the way, may I ask you something?" Xian inquired. Xyrelle bit his lip and motioned for him to continue. 

"Why are you there? When I got into an accident?" Xian quavered. They couldn't hear any hesitation in his words. After all, Xyrelle was the last person he ran through. 

"I plan on visiting my grandfather right outside of the outskirts of Manila." Xyrelle faltered while raising his eyebrows. Not even the slight defense crossing his face. Xian's puzzled face urged Xyrelle to begin the story. 

"That explains why I brought some meals to Kelly's Diner before going there. If you wanted to ask how I could drive, well, I am driving my car now in the meantime using my left hand," Xyrelle explained. 

"Did you... did you notice something about a person wearing a black hoodie at Kelly's Diner?" Xian prodded, glimpsing at the crease of the blanket at the foot of the bed. 

"No. I didn't notice anyone. It might be that perhaps I am inside the Diner so I don't take notice of someone wearing a black hoodie or something?" Xyrelle answered. 

Xian nodded slowly. He's indulging the information on why it was so coincidental to see Xyrelle in front of the diner. Also, why was he the one who brought him to the hospital at the same time he passed out.

"How did you find out that it was me?" Xian spoke up. Xyrelle noticed Xian being inquisitive about him. He, too, didn't know what happened. 

Xyrelle sighed and responded, "I am driving towards the exit of the capital of Manila to go to my grandfather. And on my way, I saw a car crash into a tree."

Xian finally darted his eyes towards Xyrelle and waited for him to speak further.

"There are people who surround your car. The police were there a minute ago before me. So when I saw the glimpse of a jet black, Audi car, I knew it was you," Xyrelle remarked, looking straight at his eyes. Margo listened at the corner for a while. 

"I climb down my car, and my instincts say that it was you, Xian, who got into an accident. 

"I found my way in. I opened the driver's seat before the police even took action on carrying me away out of the accident site. Your face covered with blood, and you lay hopelessly, passed out. I carried you on my back, saying to the police to call the ambulance first. You might die any moment if we took a second before doing the first aid," Xyrelle explained everything. Xian stared at him longingly. She squeezed her hand through his hand for a moment. 

"Your car has with five bullet holes. It also has crimson, blood-like letters painted on the right side. I don't even understand all of it." Xyrelle wrapping up the incident on one blow. Margo put her hand towards her mouth. She can't believe that someone was trying to kill Xian.

"The person... that person was responsible for this," Xian hesitated to say. Margo and Xyrelle needed to know what really happened before he smashed. The baffled looks of the two made Xian sighed and said all of it.

"My suspicion that the one I am chasing before the accident is the one who painted those bloody letters on my car." Xian confessed. Margo tilted her head, thinking about their stories. Xyrelle shook his head, bit his lips as if thinking about the situation. He didn't even understand what Xian unraveled. 

"Did you take notice of what his physique is?" Margo asked him. Xian shook his head and realized that he didn't catch his face because he was wearing a mask. 

"I'm not even sure if he was covering his face with some cloth. One thing was for sure, he was carrying a pistol." Xian told the two while looking at his cast and remembering what happened four days ago. The three of them sat in silence as nothing came into their minds about who that person was.

The door burst open, and the three of them jumped at their places. An orthopedic surgeon and a nurse came in holding a clipboard and a tray filled with syringes. Xian sat up as the doctor approached and greeted them. 

"Good morning. I see, the patient has already woken up. Ms. Nari, check his vital signs," the surgeon commanded the nurse and put the tray first on the coffee table. She approached Xian's intravenous line. It was a thin, soft tube, a catheter, as they called it, inserting through the skin and into a vein. Xian knew it's used to give medicines and fluids to him. 

"We need at least 6 weeks before you get discharged because you sustained a broken leg from the accident. It squeezed your shinbone or the tibia into the driver's seat as this man said," the surgeon explained. The doctor looked at Xyrelle. The doctor nodded at him. Xian got bewildered by that. 

"Fractures in the thigh bone are severe and you need to be careful next time. There are some damaged nerves and blood vessels that have been damaged. Since they have brought you here as early as possible, we took action on operating your leg. As for your arm, it is not so critical, so in a week, we can remove the cast," the surgeon explained. He whispered something undecipherable to the nurse. 

Margo looked at Xian and sighed. He saw the tears coming into her eyes, and he knew that this was another debacle he had to face. 

"Sir Xian, the doctors will check on you every two hours. And the therapy for your leg will start after we remove the cast in a 6-week time," the nurse elaborated. After that, she bowed down her head and left with the surgeon out of the hospital room. Xian looked at the door as it closed and averted his eyes towards Xyrelle. 

Xyrelle stared down at his cast. He glimpsed at Xian's eyes so suddenly. They both sighed and closed their eyes. 

"Who will... who will have the intention to do this to you, Xian?" Margo asked her boyfriend. Xian shook his head and didn't even know what to think anymore. 

"Six weeks is a long time. My arm experienced two months of isolation from the world," Xyrelle mewled. He lifted it slowly, and back again, close to his chest. 

As the silence ensued, the door burst open again. The three of them shifted their eyes at the two guys standing upright. They bowed their heads down. The two men showed their identification cards that were slung over their necks. 

"Good morning, sir Xian. I am Detective Yanong. From the Vehicular Crimes Division of Manila National Police Station. We have to take a statement from you about what happened." One detective that was wearing a blue long-sleeved polo addressed. 

Xian nodded as Margo stood up from her seat and lent her chair to the detective. The two of them prepared their notes, and Xian told them the entire story of what happened. 

Margo and Xyrelle both sat down on the long couch, inches away from one another, listening to Xian's words. Margo gasped and didn't know what to think about it. 

"We identified five bullets in your car. It looks like the bullets came from a Beretta Px4 storm that the police or law enforcement use. Do you know any person who is carrying pistols like this?" the detective questioned. He's shocked to hear that the bullets came from a pistol that the police only use. He furrowed his eyebrows as he thought of one person. 

"Well, we say, sir Xian, we carry that kind of pistol now. Every police officer in the Manila National Police Station does." The detective added as he ruffled an envelope from his hand, opened it, and got out a piece of paper. He placed it in front of the blanket that covers Xian's half-body. Xian looked at it and saw the painted letters. 

"We decoded the painted letters in your car, and it turns out that it is Latin," the other detective spoke up. 

Xian observed it, pushed by asking, "What does it say?" 

"It said: I will kill you all," the detective wearing a plain white shirt muttered. Xian shifted his eyes to Margo and Xyrelle, gasping. Xian's eyes widened, dumbfounded. Who wants them dead?