Volume 1.2 Her Circumstances

*Panting!*

Jade picked up her phone as she sat on the bus waiting for a seat. When he saw the blood-forming in Ezekiel's abdomen, unwanted memories flashed through her mind. She was continuously gasping for air.

"Hello, Hannah."

"Hello, Jade. Do you know that I am currently on a…"

Hannah, who was on the other line of the call, paused on her words when she noticed the heavy breathing of Jade.

"Where are you right now?! Jade?!"

"To the bus stop, before the entrance of Rizal Park."

"I'll be there! Right away. Don't hang up the call!"

Jade brought her phone down the lap when she heard the scuffling sound at the other line. Her hands were visibly shaking.

"Ah. Damn it." She leaned her head on the wall. Her heart was palpitating fast. Since it was past 1 pm there were not many people in the bus stop right now. Which was much better since she didn't want to attract too much attention. She took a deep breath more to calm her nerves.

"Jade!" A Honda Odyssey car stopped in front of Jade. And a worried Hannah immediately went down to go for her.

She could see how pale Jade was right now. "Here, drink this." Hannah gave her a pill to calm her nerves which Jade immediately drank. Then Hannah handed the water next which Jade devoured right away.

The breathing of Jade started to return to normal.

"Can you walk?"

Jade simply nodded her head. With the support of Hannah, they immediately but carefully went to the car. She helped Jade in the passenger seat while she immediately went to the driver's seat to drive.

The medicine was taking its effect now, and Jade was starting to get drowsy until she fell asleep. Seeing this, Hannah immediately called Seth, Jade's supposed secretary, and the one who should ensured that she would be safe all the time. However, something like this happened and Jade was even alone.

"Hannah?"

"Seth! Where are you? What happened to Jade to become like this?" The enraged Hannah bombarded Seth's questions as soon as he answered the call.

"I'm sorry. We met our boss' classmate. I am in the hospital with him. I'll send you a short video for you to understand."

The video was sent right away to Hannah. Which Hannah opened right away. And he saw an injured man being treated by the doctors.

"He fell in front of the boss and his wounds reopened. Boss told me to send him to the hospital right away."

This enraged Hannah even more. "Are you nuts?! Did you forget that the sight of blood could trigger Jade's trauma! Why did you leave her alone?!"

"That!"

"Hah! And you call yourself her secretary that would make sure that nothing like this would happen to her!" Hannah ended the call without waiting for Seth's response.

Another caller took over after Seth's call. She immediately answered it. "Ms. Hannah, the meeting..."

"I'm sorry but a personal manner came up. Handle the rest for now." Hannah ended the call.

'Jade,' she looked at the front mirror to check Jade. The gaze on Jade's eyes was far-off and muddled. She increased the speed of the car even more.

***

Later that night, Jade was finally back at her office. After being nagged by Hannah Wang, she couldn't really do anything. Hannah drove her safely back to her house after a few more check ups in her clinic.

Hannah Wang has been her best friend since college and also her psychiatrist. Without her, Jade wouldn't know where she would be right now. 'Damn all of this. The only good thing that happened was the mayor's downfall.'

She held her head, as she glanced at her laptop. 'It's alright. It will be just another sleepless night for me.'

'Ezekiel Alejos'

["Jade, he is our new neighbor next door. And he is also going to the same school as yours."]

Jade drank two more of the pills as memories of a distant past rang through her head. She buried herself more in her work so that she would forget everything. But Ezekiel's face kept flashing to her mind.

'He looks horrible right now. But I have nothing to do with him. I hope that we won't see each other again. Everything from that past, I should forget them all and remember what matters more.'

Her thoughts were interrupted when her phone rang. Seeing the caller, she immediately answered it.

"Hello, Uncle Boy." The caller was her uncle on her father's side.

"Jade, I heard what happened from Hannah." He sounded so worried.

"I'm alright now, uncle." Jade reassured him.

"But seeing that you are still not asleep, it still seems to bother you."

"Uncle, it's not worse than earlier and I have drank medicine. I already got over it thanks to Hannah. Besides you know that I will never be alright anymore." A faint smile escaped Jade's lips.

"Jade..."

"The bastard on the news has a satisfying end. All I need to make sure is that he will rot in jail." Jade stood up as she walked towards a wall covered with a black curtain. She immediately hovered it to the left side. And it revealed a whiteboard containing images of people connected with red markers.

She picked up the permanent black marker on the side of the board and crossed the image of the mayor in the news earlier.

"Six of those trash had already got what they deserved. Four more people, uncle." Jade's eyes became extremely cold looking at the four remaining people without cross marks.

"Jade, what are you going to do next to the remaining people?"

"I will of course give them more appetizing meals. Something that they would not forget. I'll send you everything tomorrow."

"I will wait for it, Jade. If you can, please rest now."

"Yes, uncle. I will keep it in mind."

She looked at her next target. 'To think that you are running for a higher position of governor this time. This country's politicians are surely rotten to its core. Too bad you are now next on my list, just enjoy your remaining days of freedom.'

"None of you deserves an ounce of happiness." Jade punched the next person in her target list.

However, the next day…

"President," Seth Timon, her secretary, brought to her office the person she wished she would not see again.

"Hi!" And for some person that person was smiling with ear to ear for her.