Chapter Text
Find what you love and let it kill you - Charles Bukowski
A woman walks out of a hospital and makes her way towards a bus stop. The woman wipes her tears away and checks her watch to see that it's already 11:35 PM on a Sunday. She sighs, she hates crying—let alone, being out late into night. She just wants to get home, to forget what she had just said and done inside of the hospital. Her sniffs are the only audible sounds that she can hear, but she lifts her head up occasionally to check if the bus has arrived.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
…
Twenty-five.
25 minutes had passed, and the bus was yet to arrive. The woman is just eager to get home and have at least a decent amount of sleep before she packs her bags the following day. Feeling impatient, the woman kicks the crumpled can of soda in front of her before she stands up to check if the bus is at least within her line of sight.
Jerking her head to look at the road, she hears the bushes rustle from behind. It's late already, and there are a few cars passing by the road and barely any people walking down the street, but the woman shrugs off what she had just heard, thinking that it must be a stray cat. She sits back down on the bench under the bus stop, and she hears the bushes rustle again. This catches her attention and she looks back from behind the plexi-glass under the dim lit bus stop.
Nothing.
The moment she turned her direction back to the road, the rustling sound became louder, causing the woman to immediately stand up and make a run for it. She ran as fast as she could, heading towards the direction of the hospital. Shivers run down her spine, but her adrenaline gives her the energy to sprint as fast as she could. Thankfully, the woman is aware of her surroundings and it works to her advantage as she's already meters away from the bus stop with the hospital back in her line of sight.
Until, she slipped on the unforgiving concrete.
Her head throbs in pain, she could smell the strong scent of iron, probably from her temple that's already bleeding. Her vision gets hazy, the wind violently blows in her direction—she tries to stand up but all she can do is crawl.
Crawl towards safety.
Crawl away from the bus stop.
Crawl for her dear life.
A whimper escapes from her mouth, she wants to yell, but the adrenaline from her body has already fizzled out. She hears the rustling of the bushes again, and with her remaining energy, turns around to see what emerged from the darkness. It was not a stray cat, but a person, cloaked in darkness with a mallet clenched on this person’s fist. The woman’s eyes shot open—fear consumed every nerve in her aching body, and she tried to scream again, but no sound came from her mouth.
Then, everything turned pitch black.
“Honey…”
“...”
“Honey.”
“...”
“Sana!”
“...!”
Sana woke up with sweat tinkering from her forehead and her chest feeling extremely heavy. She's heavily panting at each breath—hands firmly gripped on the duvet, and her eyes roamed around inside the bedroom until they landed on the person right next to her, none other than her fiancée who looked at her with a whopping amount of concern visible on her brown orbs.
“Mi-Mina… Mitang…” Sana buried her chest on Mina, letting out a few sobs while the latter coos her down. “I-I… A nightmare.”
“Shhh, it's just a dream, Satang. No one will hurt you.” Answers Mina who proceeded to plant kisses on her fiancée’s temple.
This helped calm down Sana, and although her eyes were all puffy and her breathing’s back to normal, she’s no longer in a state of distress. She felt relieved, being cupped by her fiancée’s arms and feeling the warmth of her body manifest onto hers. She's safe, no one will harm her—but why has she been getting nightmares as of late? Regardless, Sana shrugged it off, and the next thing she'll know in the morning is that she peacefully fell asleep on top of Mina who tucked her in with her soft and tender embrace.
(...)
Breakfast with Mina has always been exciting. Having lived under the same roof even prior to their engagement, Mina always cooks the best breakfast for her fiancée before she goes to work. Instead of sitting across or next to each other, Sana sits on Mina’s lap. The routine they have for breakfast consists of Sana taking a bite from her food or taking a sip from her coffee before peppering Mina with kisses, cuddles, and back to munching on her breakfast—repeat. She's thankful that not once in their lives of being together, Mina never complained.
Oddly enough, Sana barely remembered when they came up with this routine. It's true they had been engaged for two years, she vaguely remembers this whole breakfast/makeout session they do when the sun rises. All she knows is that she woke up one time, took the seat across Mina, and her fiancée pouted at her, finding it odd that she sits across the table instead of on her lap. From there onwards, she never sat across Mina from the table again every morning.
“Honey,” Mina trails off, parting her lips from Sana’s as she takes a sip of her Americano. “Would you like to visit Dr. Im anytime this week?”
“Sure, darling. I’ll take care of the garden tomorrow.” Sana scrunched her nose, excited to see Mina’s friend and colleague, Dr. Im. Sana hasn't seen the doctor with cute bunny teeth in months, she believes.
“ Per-fect . I’ll personally drop you off at her clinic, honey.” Mina beams with a smile and peppers soft kisses on Sana’s nose. Mina always has a knack with the word perfect, or an obsession, Sana notices. Nevertheless, her life with Mina has always been perfect, and she’d dutifully make herself a perfect wife in the future to the perfect woman in the world.
“Darling, before we finish our breakfast,” Sana playfully wiggled her brows, smirking in front of Mina.
“Do you want to, you know.” Sana left her words hanging in the air and it left the Japanese doctor having to decide her fate.
“I’ll be late for work, honey.”
“But I’m really, really, in the mood, darling.”
Sana leaned forward to whisper, husky voice and all, making sure that Mina will get goosebumps from her tone alone. Mina has a look of defeat etched on her face, shaking her head as she cups Sana’s face.
“God, you’re so… perfect.” Mina looks at Sana with so much adoration, the way her eyes scan her fiancée’s face is enough to allow a blush to creep up on the latter’s face.
“I love you, darling.”
“I love you, honey.”
From there onwards, the sound of their utensils had been replaced with hot and languid moans of Sana, either calling out to God or calling out her lover’s name.
(...)
Minatozaki Sana used to work as a florist. She had a shop at Hongdae that's always been bustling with a sea of flowers and customers alike. It was also at that very same flower shop that she first met Dr. Myoui Mina. Meeting a fellow Japanese had always been a dream of Sana, but meeting a hot doctor in Seoul who's also attracted to women is a fever dream that comes to life. Winning Mina’s heart was easy, as all Sana had to do was speak to her in a bubbly manner and look at the doctor as if she was the most precious flower in the world.
But, Sana wanted to make it a challenge for Mina to win her attention—especially her heart. It had always been love at first sight between them, but Sana wanted to experience the whole courtship ala-Disney princess style, to which Mina made her truly experience, even up until this day.
The doctor traded her lunch breaks and free time to visit Sana's flower shop. Sometimes, she’d bring take out to eat with the florist and converse about flowers or medical jargons that Sana never truly understands but is keen to learn about from the doctor.
What she truly loves about Mina is her patience, and although Sana felt that her feelings took it up a notch when she and the doctor started getting to know each other even more, Mina never made her feel that she has to skip a certain step in their time of being together. She was accompanied by Mina as they climbed the ladder of courtship—a slow and steady pace for them not to trip and fall over.
Sana loves the beauty marks on Mina's face, comparing them to the stars they see at night. She remembers how she was mesmerized by Mina's blonde locks the first time they met at her shop, how Mina dyed her hair black after they've made it official, and how Mina opted for a wolf cut in the present, a distinct howl on Sana's throat urges her to smother herself all over Mina.
Sana spends the rest of her days now at Mina's mansion, tending to the garden they’ve built in the backyard while she recovers. Her flower shop had been closed for two years, but the flowers were all transferred to the garden.
She rarely goes out—just like Mina, she considers herself more of a homebody. Sana doesn't leave the premises either without her fiancée or with a nanny. Sometimes she thinks it's too much, but ultimately, she's thankful that Mina is willing to go to great lengths for her protection.
But occasionally, there are times wherein she wants to go out all by herself, and she feels as if she used to be the life of whatever party she’s invited at, that she would be the first one to pop open a bottle of Hennessy and have some random college student chug on the bottle for ten seconds.
Did I even study here in Korea?
Her memory is all over the place, as she had just woken up from a coma the previous year. Regardless, Mina’s there to patch up the pieces of memory she's trying to remember, the good, homey, comforting memories that bring life to her beautiful features—all the while trying to suppress the cause of her coma, the memory of the times wherein she visits SNU to pick up a gi-
Wait.
I don't know anyone from… SNU.
Mina came running outside of the mansion towards the garden the moment Sana dropped a flower vase she was holding. Thankfully, there were no cuts on her hands nor feet but she was caught in a daze—feeling lightheaded and limp all of a sudden. There was a subtle ringing sensation in her head, causing her to grip onto Mina tighter when the doctor carried her back towards their room.
“Darling, I think I’m seeing things. You think I have powers or something?” Sana tries to lighten the mood with her usual corny jokes, as she doesn't want her fiancée worrying about her almost every single time.
“Honey, the only power you have is your endurance in bed. I can't even keep up with you.” Mina sighs, and Sana was relieved that her sarcasm got through to the younger girl when she pouted.
“Lay down with me here.” Sana pats on the space next to her, but Mina crosses her arms, eyes squinting at what the dubious Sana has in mind.
“Darling, we’re not gonna have sex. Just lay here with me, pleaseee.” Sana’s aegyo works like a charm, and Mina flashed her gummy smile before settling right next to Sana.
No words were spoken for a good amount of time between the two—both of them stared into each other's eyes. Mina's finger travels on Sana's impeccably charming face, and the latter just lets her be, as she herself gets lost in Mina's brown eyes.
“You're so perfect, Satang.”
“Oh Mitang, you sweet charmer.”
Sana’s lips curve upwards in a smile, and her giggles are nothing short but music to Mina's ears. The smile didn't last long, however, quickly turning into a frown fueled by the worries and confusion deep within Sana.
“You're going to be alright, honey. You’ll stop having those weird dreams in no time, okay?” Mina spoons Sana closer, peppering her fiancée with kisses on her forehead.
“Thank you, Mitang. I don't know where I’d be without you.”
“Out of all the possible dimensions or universes out there, you’ll always be mine , Satang.”
“You're such a nerd.”
Out of nowhere, Sana feels hot, she was just teasing Mina's nerdy words of possessiveness assurance but sweat slowly travels down from her neck and she can feel her face getting flushed just by being this close to Mina.
“Da...rling. I’m…” Sana feels lightheaded, but the aroused kind. She didn't need to finish her sentence as Mina’s hand glides down from her cheek to an exposed area of her skin, and she whimpers at the mere touch of the doctor’s fingers.
“Do you want to?” Myoui Mina, ever so gentle—always asking for permission. That's why Sana loves her so much, that she trusts her with everything including her life, and she reiterates to herself that she'll be the perfect wife in the world for Mina.
Sana weakly nods, and Mina quickly obliges.
(...)
The couple arrived too early at Dr. Im’s clinic and were instructed by the shocked assistant of the doctor to wait for her as she's currently at a meeting with her fellow psychologists. Sana's eyes roamed around the clinic of Dr. Im, something that she’s been doing ever since she started her treatment. Her eyes look at the numerous plaques and awards, a portrait of the doctor with her dog that hung next to the Himalayan salt lamp, and a huge bunny plushie on the opposite chair to where they sit.
Sana's curious eyes landed on a new distinct plaque that's displayed atop a bookshelf. She tilts her head, squints her eyes as she fixes her gaze and silently reads the words that were etched on the plaque.
This plaque is hereby given to Dr. Im Nayeon for her outstanding contribution and practice to Hypnotherapy .
Dated December 12, 20xx
Signed by Dr. Myoui Mina
“Darling,” Sana tugs on Mina’s lab coat, her fiancée is busy viewing emails on her iPad. Mina hums, not prying her eyes away from the screen.
“How come you signed Dr. Im’s plaque?”
“Honey, you must've forgotten, I own this hospital. Dad passed it onto me when we got engaged, remember?”
Sana chuckles, scratching her head due to her memory forgetting one of Mina’s greatest achievements—that is being the heiress of Myoui General Hospital, one of, if not, the nation’s most advanced and prestigious hospitals that specializes in vast medical fields. Thankfully, Sana miraculously doesn’t forget that Mina’s also the hospital’s top surgeon, but she's unsure of what type of surgery she specializes in.
Mina placed a hand on top of Sana's before giving her a quick peck on the cheek. They haven't visited Dr. Im for a good amount of time, and Sana gets the jitters right before they've arrived at the clinic for her session. Thankfully, Mina's with her to make her calm. Always. The engaged couple’s attention was diverted onto the television inside, when the morning news just reported that the infamous night stalker is yet to be apprehended.
Local authorities have reported that the night stalker cases are all but considered cold cases, as the last reported activity regarding this case was two years ago. Based on previous reports, this person is notorious for mugging women and taking their belongings, especially cash or money related items. The police believe that the culprit must be hiding or must've died. Surveillance around neighborhoods had decreased. But then again, the police urges the public to avoid staying out late at night for their safety. This is Yoo Jeongyeon, reporting for VTN news.
Sana took a deep breath, prying her eyes away from the television. Hostile memories that she wishes to forget attempt to invade her mind, but Mina's presence alone is enough to stop her from breaking down.
“You think she's still out there, darling? Hurting women?” Sana looks at Mina with worried puppy-like eyes, looking worried at the mere thought that the person who nearly took her life is still out there.
“Don't worry, honey. I’ll be here to protect you. Besides, that person will never lay a single finger on you ever again.” Mina's words are just as reassuring as her actions—Sana leaned forward to hug her fiancée, absorbing every bit of warmth she could get. Just then, the bell at the door inside of the clinic chimes, and in walks the confident and obnoxious Dr. Im.
Her face, however, is far from being confident and obnoxious the moment she sees her superior, Mina, and her fiancée, Sana.
“Good mornin’ ya’ll! The doctor is i-”
Sana turns around and sees the mortified surprised look on Dr. Im’s face.
Sana thought that maybe it's due to their unannounced arrival, that her fiancée’s colleague has her eyes shot open and mouth gaping. Their eye contact had grown increasingly uncomfortable, and thankfully, Mina approached her colleague who stood by the entrance of her clinic.
“Nayeonnie, I know Sana's beautiful, but she's already engaged to me.” Mina hugs Nayeon who slowly averted her gaze towards her superior.
“O-Of course, Min- Dr. Myoui. But w-what brings you here?” Nayeon asks, stealing a quick glance at Sana who watched their interaction.
“Sorry we didn't come with an appointment, but I asked your assistant if you have any booked sessions this morning but told me your schedule is free until 1 PM.” The Japanese doctor smiles, and Sana soon joins her by her side, arms linking with one another.
“Good morning, Dr. Im. I-I’ve been having those dreams again that's why Mitang and I decided to visit.” Sana says shyly with a shaky breath, and the surprised expression of the Korean doctor turns into evident confusion.
“Are those about the…” Nayeon slurs, but Mina was quick to finish her sentence on behalf of the older doctor.
“Night stalker. The incident from two years ago. I’d truly appreciate it if you can accommodate Satang as soon as possible, Dr. Im.” Mina sounded irritated—her calm demeanor was set aside to which the creases on her forehead ended up being visible along with a pair of raised brows, giving Nayeon a questioning look.
“I s-see. Give me five mi-minutes to prepare, Dr. Myoui.”
With that, Nayeon bolted towards the session room and slammed the door shut.
Mina was the one who urged Sana to take hypnotherapy as a way to slowly eliminate the painful memories that Sana had experienced after being attacked by the night stalker. Although the incident occurred two years ago, Sana gets vivid dreams that, according to her, feel real and brings her back to the said incident. Dr. Im Nayeon is without a doubt the best person suited for the job, her credentials do not provide her expertise enough justice.
Although the Doctor herself desperately highly suggests that Sana be handed over to a psychiatrist so she can be prescribed with proper medication, Mina is completely against it from the get-go, saying that natural hypnosis would be more suitable for her fiancée’s treatment. Sana, on the other hand, wouldn’t dare question Mina’s decision as she claims that everything will go perfectly according to plan.
Whatever that plan is, Sana has barely any clue, but she trusts Mina.
“Sana-ssi, have you experienced any headaches as of late?” Nayeon looks tense, trying her best to hide her nervousness but the crack in her voice doesn’t go unnoticed by Sana.
“Yes, Dr. Im. Sometimes I get migraines too, but they soon disappear after a few minutes.” Sana answers, she sits comfortably on the sofa-set inside of the session room of Nayeon’s clinic.
“I-I see. Is there a specific time wherein you remember these memories? And how frequently do you get them?”
“I always remember them during random instances, Dr. Im. Oh and this past month, I’ve… I’ve lost count of how many times I remember them.”
Nayeon hesitantly nods, taking another quick glance at Sana before she returns to check Sana’s MRI scan. The doctor removes her glasses to rub her eyes, and aside from the air conditioner inside, Nayeon’s breathing can be heard loudly which ends up bothering Sana. Noticing the ongoing dead air between them and loss of composure of the doctor who seems to be completely out of it, she says,
“The areas of your brain that shouldn’t be active during hypnosis end up being active, Sana-ssi.” Nayeon says with a defeated look—lips pursed while she tucked the MRI scan back inside the envelope.
“Is that bad, Dr. Im?” Sana tilts her head, confused and curious all at the same time.
“Yes. It simply means that your brain is either negating or the hypnosis is no longer working… at all.” The doctor answers with a shaky breath. Nervous, even.
She takes out another envelope, taking out pieces of papers with different dates and images of wave-like patterns. Nayeon hands over one paper dated two months after the incident, seven months after the incident, ten months after the incident, and the last session they had dated a year and a half after the incident. Sana notices the difference of the waves, or frequencies of the brain as written under the images.
“Those are not the only pieces of paper with those frequencies, Sana-ssi. Have you noticed anything? Any differences?” Nayeon asks, fingers lightly tapping on her desk as she waits in anticipation. Sana takes her time trying to notice the obvious differences on each frequency shown on each paper. Shortly after, the realization Dr. Im wanted to show her kicks in.
“They all look… different, Dr. Im.”
“Exactly.”
Nayeon places one index finger on the paper containing the Sana’s brain frequency from their last session, while the other index finger lays on top of the paper that had the data during their session ten months after the mugging incident.
“As you can see, your brain frequencies differ from our first and last session. Your brain is susceptible to hypnosis when it is either under the alpha or theta state. The alpha state is basically the brain under relaxed alertness and can be worked around with light hypnosis. The theta state allows one to daydream, makes you feel drowsy, and puts both the body and brain under a light state of sleep, rendering it completely workable for deep hypnosis, which is what we’ve been doing for the past year and a half.” Sana nods after hearing Nayeon’s comments, thinking that she really is suited for this job.
“But the thing is, the sessions leading to the one year period after you were attacked showed that your brain is under the beta state, or simply the state of your brain wherein you’re a hundred percent alert of your surroundings, actively thinking, and concentrated. It’s most evident during the last session we had the previous year.”
After explaining the difference of Sana’s brain frequencies, Nayeon brings out even more pieces of paper from the envelope, arranging them in ascending order. Sana was startled, as she stared at each paper and saw how frequencies of the waves spiked upwards from 4 Hz under theta state to the maximum 35 Hz under beta state.
“I-I don’t understand, Dr. Im.” Sana mutters under her breath. She has a lot of information to sink in and they’ve yet to formally begin their hypnotherapy session.
“To make it simpler, your brain is forcing itself to wake up when you’re under the state of hypnosis, Sana-ssi.” Nayeon looks at her with an unreadable expression on her face.
Sadness?
Concern?
Regret?
Sana sinks back into her seat, surely there must be a reason why her brain tries to make itself conscious when she’s under hypnosis—but what for? The reason why Mina had her undergo hypnotherapy is for her to gradually forget about the memory of her being attacked.
Sana feared for her life and was beyond hysterical when she recovered from the coma she endured when she was spiked with a mallet straight to the skull. It’s a miracle that she survived, but the memories haunt her almost everyday, which is why she willingly agreed forced to undergo hypnotherapy. Without any warning, she feels a ringing sensation in her head, she winces from the pain, her hand runs through her temple and she feels the scar that Mina had to patch up from the surgery.
Nayeon stood up from her seat and helped Sana sit-up straight, and as she mentioned earlier, the pain gradually lessened, until it fully vanished.
“Sana-ssi, do you trust me?” The doctor’s tone is pressing, but her face says otherwise. The look Nayeon had on her face is fretful, but the way her words pierced through Sana’s ears is enough to make her fully commit her trust to Nayeon. After all, it was Mina who took her to her colleague for treatment, so why shouldn’t she trust her hypnotherapist?
“Yes, Dr. Im. I t-trust you.” Sana is still reeling from the sudden pain but she feels Nayeon hold her hand and grip onto them tight. She looks at their linked hands—curious, but it’s comforting, just like Mina’s.
“Good. Let’s start the session for today.”
(...)
“Darling, where are we going again?” Sana asks for the nth time, fidgeting on her seat while Mina has one hand on the steering wheel, and the other on Sana’s thigh. How daring—Sana thinks.
“We’re picking up Ray-chan from the vet, honey.” The Japanese doctor flashes a quick smile before returning her eyes to the road. The car slows down due to a traffic-jam along the main road, allowing Mina to ask how the session was with Dr. Im three days ago. Mina had been occupied with her duty as the heiress of the hospital and being in an endless amount of discourse regarding her expertise in surgery.
As a way to make amends for being practically M.I.A for two days straight, Mina skips work and decides to take her fiancée out on a date, and pick up their Dachshund named Ray. What field or type of surgery Mina excels at, Sana still has no concrete idea. Not that it matters to her anyway, she believes.
“How was your session with Nayeonnie? Mina lifts her hand off of Sana’s thigh as she tucks a few strands of the latter’s dark brown hair.
“What’s that called again, regulation hypnotherapy?” Sana pouts—trying to remember what type of treatment the hypnotherapist conducts to her. Mina chuckles, squishing Sana’s cheek before putting the handbrake down as the cars in front of them start to accelerate slowly.
“It’s Regression. Regression hypnotherapy, honey. You’ve been meeting up with her for the past year and you still come up with random names for your treatment.”
“I don’t belong in the medical world, darling.”
Sana leans forward to kiss Mina on the cheek—an obvious blush appears on the doctor’s face, before she returns to the comfort of the passenger seat with a huge grin on her face. Sana surely loves teasing Mina whenever she gets the chance to do so.
“It was the usual with Nayeon-unnie trying to go ala-Professor X on me.” Sana titters, eyes turning towards the view outside. It was a sunny afternoon, and people of different ages and backgrounds flock outside to spend the weekend with their families or friends. This puts a smile on Sana’s face. But, the smile on her delicate lips shrank back into nothingness.
“Darling,” the older Japanese girl pauses, and Mina hums as she continues to drive slowly on the asphalt. “I’ve been undergoing treatment to slowly get rid of my trauma, right?”
“Yes, honey. Why? You just said it’s the usual between you and Nayeon.”
“Well, she told me it’s more important for me to remember the events before I was mugged and after I’ve woken up. Shouldn’t the session focus on the incident itself, darling?”
Sana is by no means a medical expert, but it seems like what she has just revealed to Mina is nothing short of a groundbreaking discovery with how the Japanese doctor has a flabbergasted look on her face. Mina slowly turns to face Sana fully, while her brows meet in the middle, leaving her mouth partially gaping open. The car stopped accelerating once more as the sea of cars continued stacking up on the main road.
“Is that what happened during your session, Sana?” The lively aura inside of the car that matched the weather went plum, and Sana couldn’t help but shiver just a tiny bit with the loss of endearments as Mina locked eyes with her. Things always gets serious when her fiancée calls her by her given name instead of the cute endearments they came up with.
“Y-Yes, darling. I wasn’t able to tell you because you were busy.” Sana fidgets with her fingers, her gaze lowering down out of fear guilt that she should’ve told Mina sooner. After all, it concerns her treatment, and when it comes to her, Mina always makes time. It should’ve been a no-brainer that she told the Japanese doctor firsthand.
“I-I’m sorry, darling.” Sana swallows the lump in her throat, her lips remain pursed and she tries her best not to look at Mina who remains her gaze towards her. Sana doesn’t know the look the doctor has on her face, nor does she bother knowing.
When Mina’s serious, Mina can get scary.
Instead of heading towards the vet to pick up Ray, Mina decided to bring Sana back home at the mansion, calling the nanny to pick the dog up instead, while the doctor heads to the hospital after dropping her off. It’s been three hours since she got back to the mansion, and as much as she wanted to see Ray-chan and object to Mina's decision of taking her home, Sana opted not to.
She sits idly by the living room, drinking a cold glass of grapefruit ade that she freshly squeezed. The sweetness of the grapefruit ade revitalizes her taste buds, along with every single neuron in her petite body—getting rid of her nervousness when she eventually talks to her fiancée later.
Sana stirs the glass in her hand, her lips take the shape of another smile when she remembers the first time she learned how to make the beverage. She even made a whole batch in a pitcher, planning to offer the drink to Mina as a peace offering. It's her first time squeezing grapefruit, and she has the garden to thank for having all of the fresh resources they both need,
But why does it feel like she's been a master of making the fresh beverage?
Most specifically, did someone else teach her how?
Sana drops her glass on the carpeted floor, and thankfully, no glass shards were scattered, just the spilled grapefruit ade seeping into the beige carpet in the living room. It feels like an invasive memory, crawling onto the four lobes of her brain and Sana winces in so much pain that her cries for help echoes inside of the mansion’s massive living room.
A vision? A distant memory she couldn't remember? A memory that doesn't belong to her?
What her eyes have seen are a pair of hands that are surely not her fiancée’s, helping her squeeze the fruit on a juicer. The environment looked like a rest house in a village, and it was scenic, serene, and calm. However, even prior to Sana being attacked, she’s been a city girl all her life, and not once did she step foot at a village nor a traditional looking rest house somewhere in the province.
The ringing sensation in her head returns, causing her to stumble and clench her head that's been throbbing in agony, like it was being pierced by a very long and sharp needle. “Mi-Mitang!” She yells, but to no avail, as her fiancée is yet to come home.
Sana tries to grab her phone with her shaky left hand, while the other remains grasping onto her scalp, but even before she was able to dial Emergency nor her fiancée, Sana’s instantly reeled in to a different place, a place that doesn't provide the comfort of Mina's mansion, a place without a minimalist interior and squeaky clean white walls, a place she never ever wishes to go back to.
The bus stop.
“Wha-what the fu-!” The moment Sana realizes where she is, the throbbing sensation in her head comes to an end. Her temple no longer feels like it's being pierced, but her heart starts beating wildly.
“This i-isn't... r-real!” She cries, her eyes roaming around her surroundings. She truly is back at the dim-lit bus stop—back on the very same night she nearly lost her life. To fully test her claims, she kicks the crumpled can of soda in front of her.
Clack.
“I-I’m just hallucinating!” Sana stands up from the bench, positioning herself to run as fast as she can away from this place—back to safety, and back to Mina. But, as if her brain is playing a sick and twisted game, she sees the person who attacked her across the street, brisk walking with a bloody mallet in hand.
Sana covers her mouth in shock, and her tendons lose their strength, making her joints feel like jelly at the mere sight of the person who nearly killed her. Then, it dawned on her, she's seeing things from a third-person perspective right after she was mugged. What for?
The alleged night stalker stopped in its tracks, and Sana can see the trembling hands holding onto the weapon. She takes another closer look, at whoever this person could be, and as if aware of Sana’s presence, the figure shrouded with black clothing slowly but menacingly turns to her direction.
Sana froze in her spot—eyes growing wider, unsure whether she's within the realm of reality or ambiguity. Yet, she finds herself staring directly at the person who attacked her two years ago in the very same area. She felt every strand of her hair rise, her body becoming chilly which sent cold shivers down her spine along with trinkets of sweat from her forehead. Sana wants to yell, to cry for help—even to vomit, but her lips keep trembling, rendering her speechless and beyond afraid.
She couldn't break eye contact with this evil stranger, and she isn't even aware that her tears are spilling from her eyes like a broken dam. Sana felt as if she stepped on a pool of quicksand, making her immobile as she sinks deep into the ground—deep into her fears. All she could ever make out of the person who stood across the street is fringes of black hair, a fair complexion—and what caught her attention the most is the equally terrified eyes of this night stalker.
Their eye contact briefly came to an end when a car drove past them, and the person shrouded in black across the street disappeared. Sana doesn't know if she's relieved or not, as she's technically still stuck in her memories. She bites her lips, slaps her face, pinches her arms, and even punches the plexiglass behind her. Anything to wake her up, as she is desperate to get out of this place.
“God p-please! I need to get out of here!”
Still, nothing. Sana tries to yell this time, calling out Mina’s name before the words that rolled off her tongue become a vast amount of curse words. Sana checks her surroundings again, and the area is too eerily calm. The gushing sound of the wind didn't help in calming her panicked state down, and with no other option left as she refuses to stay at the bus stop, Sana turns to the direction of the hospital, as that is the only area she can go to.
The moment she fixes her eyes ahead of her,
“Oh my Go-!”
The culprit stood in front of her—still holding the bloody mallet, still having the same terrified look on its eyes, and still about to swing at Sana with full force.
Once again, everything turned to pitch-black darkness.