At The Hospital

"Make a sound and you're dead."

'What the hell!? Just because you have a gun doesn't mean you can threaten me like this!'

She exclaimed in her mind. However, on the outside, she didn't show any emotion.

This wasn't the first time someone had pointed a gun at her, so she wasn't as anxious as normal people might be. Instead, most of her nervousness came from her instincts. She could tell that the man behind her was strong and it would be hard for her to do anything even if she wasn't at a disadvantage.

"Aren't you afraid that I'll kill this boy? You guys value him, don't you? Put the gun down and let's talk. Hmm?"

Even though she said that in an amiable voice, it couldn't hide the iciness contained within it.

The man with the gun was a bit surprised, but quickly regained his composure and observed Jessica to see if she was bluffing or not.

The girl in front of him seemed to be a college student, but he could tell that she was no ordinary person. Even her appearance wasn't ordinary. She was taller than the average man and more muscular too. The fierce aura she had around her was the kind one couldn't have unless they had been through a lot of battles.

The man could tell that it would be difficult for him to guarantee the safety of the boy if he acted now.

"What do you want?"

He asked without putting down his gun.

'This wily old fox. He doesn't even want to negotiate.'

She could tell that the man was only looking for an opportunity to take the boy she was pretending to hold hostage because he didn't lower his weapon even a little bit. He was waiting for her to show an opening he could exploit.

"Put your gun down. If you don't, hmph. I don't have to explain."

She said in a murderous voice. Even though she was able to speak in such a voice, inwardly, she was nervous. She started to think about plan B in case her bluff failed. After all, there was no way she would ever kill an innocent person.

Fortunately, the man was fooled and he put his gun down.

"Take ten steps back. If you try to do anything funny, this kid is dead."

The man complied and started to step back.

Jessica kept her eyes on him as she picked up the gun the man had dropped and pointed it to the boy's head. She dragged the boy with her out of the bushes and away from the crowd. She was careful enough to not be seen by others.

When she reached the road, she put the boy over her shoulder and hailed a taxi.

The taxi driver gave her a weird look when he saw that she was carrying an unconscious boy on her shoulder as if she was carrying a sack. He thought that calling an ambulance for an unconscious person would've been better, but he didn't say anything. Maybe the kid wasn't unconscious but was actually asleep?

"Take me to the nearest hospital."

The driver almost choked on his own breath when he heard that.

"Missy. Don't you think calling an ambulance would've been better?"

Jessica knew that too, but she knew that boarding one of the ambulances here would just be announcing that their target was here.

"We're in a hurry."

"…"

'Aren't ambulances for when you're in a hurry in such situations?' the driver thought.

But he didn't waste any more time since there was a sick person onboard. He quickly started his taxi and went in the direction of the nearest hospital.

'They won't target a taxi in broad daylight, right?'

She had been careful not to be seen when she left, but she couldn't guarantee that no one had spotted her. That crazy group or whatever had caused a train derailment in broad daylight, she knew they would definitely not hesitate to target one little taxi.

"Tsk."

She clicked her tongue.

The driver was surprised and thought that she was annoyed about the speed at which he was driving. He sped up his taxi.

"You're nearing the speed limit."

Jessica said in a warning tone. She didn't want the taxi to get pulled over and waste time talking to a police officer.

The driver, on the other hand, was speechless.

'Do you want me to go fast or not?'

He couldn't understand what she wanted.

Jessica suddenly remembered something and said,

"Go to the second nearest hospital instead."

The driver wanted to curse out loud.

'Does she even care about the boy or not? Now I feel sorry for the boy for having such an older sister…'

He couldn't see the boy's face because of the mask the latter was wearing and assumed that Jessica and the boy were siblings.

While the driver was making some ridiculous conjectures in his mind, Jessica was feeling quite proud of herself. With a slight smile on her face, she nodded to herself.

'Those villains would probably look for him in the closest hospital, wouldn't they? Good thing that I'm quick witted or we would be in trouble.'

But then her smile changed into a frown.

'But what if they anticipated that I anticipated that they would search the closest hospital and chose to look for him in the second closest one instead?'

"Let's go to the closest…"

She was about to say that they should go to the closest one after all when something flashed in her mind.

'What if they anticipated that I would anticipate that and decided to search in the closest hospital after all?'

"The second closest…"

'But what if they anticipated that I anticipated that they would anticipate…'

Jessica's mind was in a spin. After a few moments of thinking confusedly,

"Aha!"

She came to a realization.

"Let's head to the third closest one!"

"Miss, the kid is unconscious. Are you sure that this isn't an emergency?"

The driver was truly worried if his customer was sane or not. What sane person would delay sending a sick person to the hospital like this?

Jessica coughed awkwardly. She knew it could be dangerous if the boy's treatment were delayed, but she also knew that he could be in even more danger if he was found by those criminals.

That never ending loop of closest and second closest hospitals played in her mind for a few moments. She gritted her teeth and said,

"The closest one…"

'So long as I'm there, I should be able to protect him,' she thought.

The driver heaved a sigh of relief. Perhaps the passenger wasn't totally insane.

Soon, they reached the hospital. Jessica thanked the taxi driver as she paid the fare. Before leaving, she apologized to him as well. The driver didn't know what she was apologizing for and just drove the taxi away. He would rather stay as far away as he could from crazy people.

Jessica, who had just been labeled crazy, was feeling a bit guilty. The taxi driver didn't know, but she knew full well that her boarding the taxi had put the driver in danger.

But it was something that couldn't be helped so she quickly suppressed that feeling of guilt and carried the kid to the ER. She also gave the injection to the staff, telling them the details of what had happened.

"We'll have to let the police know of this incident."

Jessica nodded to the nurse that explained this to her and said that she would cooperate as a witness.

She then went to the waiting room while the boy was being treated.

'What a way to start my university life…'

She thought as she looked outside. That was when she saw a figure's reflection on the window.

She was startled but immediately threw a punch at the middle-aged man that had arrived behind her. That man seemed to have expected her attack and blocked the attack by gripping her wrist.

Jessica moved her leg to land a kick on him, but the man blocked it.

"Stop."

That man's voice was calm as he said that.

But Jessica didn't want to stop.

'This wily old man is here. Damn it! I knew they'd search this hospital first…'

She was thinking of how to break free from the damned man she had fooled back at the site of the train accident when the man's next words stunned her.

"Thank you."

'...Thank you? He's actually thanking me?'

Jessica was confused, but then she said angrily,

"How about you let go of my wrist first?"

"But I'm afraid that you might attack again."

The man replied calmly.

'What is this wily old man playing at now?'

Jessica had been stunned when the man had thanked her, but she regained her vigilance quickly and waited for the man's next words.

"For saving the young master's life, you have my sincerest thanks."

The man let go of her wrist, stepped back and solemnly bowed. After that, he left the waiting room without giving her a second glance.

Although the man sounded genuine, Jessica had to fight her urge to sneer at him.

'What sincerest thanks? He wasn't sincere at all!'

She was suspicious if that man actually was on the boy's side or not. He was rather skilled, even more than her, which meant that there was no way that man was an ordinary bodyguard.

'There's no way someone as skilled as that wily old man would be the boy's bodyguard, unless the boy has an extraordinary identity…'

It suddenly occurred to her that the train accident most probably had something to do with the boy or more precisely, someone who wanted to target the boy.

'Damn. Who the hell is that kid anyway?'

She cursed inwardly.

Since she was still suspicious of the middle aged man, she immediately went in the direction he had left. She found him in the lobby and beckoned him outside.

The man followed her and looked at her impatiently.

"How do I know that you're not going to harm him?"

Jessica went straight to the point. She wasn't going to leave the person she had painstakingly saved in potential danger. Doing something in a half-assed manner wasn't her style. Once she decided to do something, she would do it properly. Currently, she was still suspicious of this man.

"How do I know that you're not one of them?"

The man retorted.

Jessica was at a loss for words. She really couldn't prove that she wasn't one of those crazy bastards that had derailed a train all to kidnap one person. Saying that she was a university student didn't mean that she might not be related to them. It was hard to come up with proof of one's innocence.

She frowned. Since she couldn't come up with an answer to his question, she changed the topic.

"You call him 'young master.' Considering how skilled you are with a gun, you must be his bodyguard. Show me your ID card."

The man reached for the inner pocket of his coat and took out a card.

Jessica took the card and quickly looked through it while keeping an eye on the man.

The man's name was Jacob Graham and,

"You're his housekeeper."

She said while suppressing her urge to frown.

"Yes," Mr Graham replied without the slightest change in his expression.

'Sure enough, this guy is suspicious.'

What kind of housekeeper would be so strong that she would sense more danger from him than any of the criminals she had fought until now? She wanted to sneer.

'Tsk. This guy obviously became the kid's housekeeper so that he could help in his own employer's kidnapping…'

"I started working as his housekeeper ten years ago."

Mr Graham said with a slight smile. He added,

"By the way, I'm not just his housekeeper, I'm also his bodyguard."

"Your card doesn't say so."

Jessica raised an eyebrow as she said that.

Mr Graham still had a slight smile on his face and didn't say anything. Instead, he went back inside. Jessica kept an eye on him as he went to talk to the hospital staff about the boy's hospitalization. It seemed that this man was qualified to act as the boy's guardian.

'Maybe I thought too much. This man might've been there to save the boy.'

Jessica started to rethink what had happened. It had been chaotic back at the site of the accident. She had saved the boy and hid near the bushes along with him, so it was understandable if someone mistook her for a kidnapper. It was easy to explain Mr Graham's actions when one thought of him as an ally. But there were still some suspicious things, so she still decided to be wary of the man.

She kept some distance from Mr Graham, took out her phone and checked the news. There were a lot of news articles on the train accident. Fortunately, there had been no casualties, although there were a lot of people that had been injured. The derailment had happened because of broken rails.

Jessica found it strange. She knew for a fact that the railways were strictly maintained because she had worked for the railway management for a short amount of time. Unless the maintenance team had suddenly turned incompetant, there was no doubt that someone had deliberately damaged the part of the rails where the derailment had occurred. She watched a live news broadcast and could see the damaged part of the rails being observed by experts.

The news reporter didn't mention anything about what might have damaged the rails, and started reporting about the other technical aspects of the accident: the force of collision, how many people had gotten injured and the like.

Jessica stopped looking at the broadcast from her phone and followed Mr Graham to the private ward the boy she had saved had been moved into. She was about to enter when Mr Graham 'politely' asked her to stay outside.

"A patient's privacy."

This was all that he said with a smile and closed the door before she could enter.

"Tsk."

Jessica knew that she should respect others' privacy, so she didn't say anything and just stood beside the door.

"The chemical in the injection was an anesthetic. He should regain consciousness soon."

That was the doctor.

'I can hear them? Geez, so much for privacy.'

Jessica thought sarcastically. Then she wondered if she should leave. If possible, eavesdropping was something she didn't want to do.

"That's not all, is it?"

"Hmm. I'm afraid the complications of his disease will be aggravated after this."

Then there was silence in the room.

Jessica thought that now might not be a good time to enter the room and was about to leave but the door suddenly opened.

It was Mr Graham. He smiled and said,"It's not good to eavesdrop like that. It's important to respect a patient's privacy."

"Tsk."

She clicked her tongue and didn't argue. It wasn't like she wanted to eavesdrop. She was only doing it to ensure the safety of the person she had saved. She had already put in so much effort. It would be a real pity if the person she saved so painstakingly got kidnapped the moment she left.

Jessica then looked at the doctor and asked,

"When will he wake up?"

"In a few hours. I have to attend other patients, so please excuse me."

The doctor left.

Jessica stared at Mr Graham and threatened,

"I'm watching you. Don't try anything funny."

Then she went to sit on a chair in a corner of the room.

"You're Miss Jessica Brown, correct?"

The man suddenly said.