Vengeful Desires

35-

Hours passed, and Amirah sat alone, eyes red and puffy from crying as she stared blankly at the hospital wall across from her. She gnawed absently at her thumb nail, lost in emotions threatening to drown her.

"We...we really couldn't tell you," Tae-sik's voice cut through the heavy silence, causing Amirah to flinch. She didn't turn to face him, keeping her gaze fixed straight ahead.

"I'm not mad," she replied in a soft, hollow tone that barely resembled her usual self. "But I still don't want to talk to any of you right now."

There was a weighted pause before Tae-sik responded, his voice tinged with understanding. "Fair enough."

Amirah heard him shift, footsteps drawing nearer. "He's in surgery right now. Maybe you should try and get some rest?"

At the mention of Hyun-woo, Amirah felt her throat constrict painfully. Swallowing hard, she rasped out, "How bad is it?"

"Kidney laceration," Tae-sik said, his words careful and measured. "But I'm sure he'll be okay. The doctors are doing everything they can."

Amirah gave a jerky nod, her fingers twisting in the fabric of her gown – now stained with Hyun-woo's blood. She couldn't bring herself to look at Tae-sik, couldn't bear to see the pity or concern in his eyes.

Instead, she retreated further into herself, retreading the haunting images of Hyun-woo's reappearance and the violent aftermath that had nearly torn him from her grasp once more.

Anger simmered beneath the surface of her shock, a slow burn that would inevitably erupt into an inferno of retribution.

Soo-jin.

The minutes bled into hours marked only by the muted shuffling of nurses and orderlies beyond the door's threshold. Tae-sik eventually excused himself to attend to other matters, recognizing the futility of trying to coax Amirah from her self-imposed isolation while the shock still held her in its merciless grip.

By the time the first pale rays of dawn began lancing through the window's slats, Amirah remained a solitary vigil in the dimness - lost to the whirlpools of memory and the profusion of emotions battering her from all sides.

It was only the soft creak of the door inching open that finally roused Amirah from her trance-like reverie. She tensed instinctively, muscles coiling beneath her skin like a cornered animal prepared to lash out.

But it was only Seul-hee, her imposing frame silhouetted in the harsh glare of the corridor beyond.

The lawyer's expression was unreadable as she surveyed the scene before her - Amirah's haggard appearance, the detritus of her anguish scattered around the tiny room like shrapnel.

"Go home and get some sleep," Seul-hee said at last, each word calibrated to impart gentle insistence without rebuke. "You're no good to anyone in this state, especially Hyun-woo."

Amirah felt her treacherous eyes well with a fresh bloom of tears at the sound of her husband's name.

Blinking rapidly, she managed a jerky nod of acquiescence before slowly levering herself to her feet.

When the car arrived, Yun was waiting on the front steps, her expression taut with the same simmering intensity that had kindled in Amirah's soul. As her friend emerged into the vehicle, she fixed the driver with a piercing stare.