The Cutting Edge

031

When Ares awoke the next morning, he found a girl snoozing by his bedside, head gently resting upon her own folded arms and drool trickling down her chin. It wasn't really the most glamorous of sights to wake up to, but it brought a smile to his face anyway.

Looking around, he sighed when he realised where he was. The hospital.

He stretched out his hand to reach for the jug of water that was sitting on the bedside table, though the only thing he achieved by doing that was to shake the mattress and wake the sleeping girl.

Hyejin jerked abruptly, sitting upright in a daze. She looked around with her eyelids half open, trying to orientate herself and figure out where she was. This didn't look like her room. When her eyes met Ares's, all the memories from last night came flooding back to her, along with a throbbing headache because she had barely gotten two hours of sleep all night. Gina was far more efficient than she had expected and the hospital transfer happened within an hour after Ares was wheeled out of the A&E—she clearly didn't give a crap about what the doctor had said about only transferring him after he had awoken from the anaesthesia. Later on, the manager had declared that she was going to head back to Ares's apartment to pick up some clothes for him (so that he wouldn't need to leave the hospital in his pyjamas), so she once again left Ares in Hyejin's care.

"Oh hey, you're awake," she murmured, rubbing her sleepy eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"Could I get some water please?" Ares said in a hoarse voice. His throat felt terribly scratchy, like someone had made him swallow sandpaper.

Hyejin fumbled for the water jug, pouring him a glass of water. She watched him finish the entire glass in less than two seconds, then she poured him another. "The doctor says that you can be discharged once your blood test results are out and they've confirmed that they've flushed everything out of your system," she said. "Gina said she'd be back with your clothes in about an hour, and that was half a hour ago." Yawning, she walked over to the window and drew the curtains—it was only daybreak, with the sun just beginning to rise in the distance.

When she turned around, she realised that Ares was staring at her with a sort of half-smile on his face. "What?" she asked.

He pointed at her face, and then at his own chin.

Hyejin quickly made her way over to the mirror that was hanging on the wall, realising to her horror that the drool stains were still clearly visible from the right corner of her mouth. She frantically wiped it off with her own sleeve, cursing silently in embarrassment for having been caught in such a disgraceful state.

Wait a minute, she thought to herself. Why am I embarrassed? I saved the guy's life! He should be thanking me for rescuing him instead of laughing at me for the state that he put me in!

She whirled around and glared indignantly at Ares, sticking her hands on her hips. "Is it funny?" she demanded. "If not for you, I wouldn't be spending the night sitting in this hard chair instead of being at home in my own bed! I'm being paid to clean the house, not to be a nurse!"

The smile immediately vanished from Ares's face. "I'm sorry, Hyejin," he mumbled, tilting his eyes downwards. "I didn't mean to cause you any unnecessary trouble. It's just, I was—"

"It's alright, I'm not blaming you for anything," Hyejin interjected. Looking at his sullen expression, she suddenly felt guilty for having raised her voice at him when he was in this condition. She walked back over and sat down on the chair, saying, "I'm just glad that you're awake and that you're feeling better. You almost scared me out of my wits when I found you collapsed in your apartment."

"Sorry, I really don't know how that happened. I mean, it's not the first time I've taken that many sleeping pills. I think the dosage that the doctor prescribed doesn't work anymore. I really wasn't trying to do anything stupid."