Thud
"Hic... Why is all this happening to ?!"
A tray placed nearby on the table was thrown toward the wall, crashing against it with a loud clang.
The sound of Arvia’s anguished voice tore through the room, intense enough to make the green veins on her neck bulge. Her pink eyes were bloodshot, her hair wildly disheveled—she looked like she was monts away from losing her sanity.
Her body was aching, sustained only by painkillers. The bandages wrapped around her head and body revealed the depth of her injuries.
Yet she sat there, gasping, crying. The pain inside her—born of heartbreak—was too intense to bear.
She just wanted to do sothing, anything, to soothe the rage twisting within her.
That rage was directed at herself—for being too weak to handle a simple allergy. That allergic reaction happened right as she fell down the stairs, causing a chain of events that brought her here, dismantling her entire world.
Her father was dead. Her childhood friend—the last person left in her small world—was gone too. The grief made her dizzy.
Her head spun as she struggled to stay conscious, the weight of it all pressing her down. She just wanted the pain to stop.
Even though part of her wanted to die, she wasn’t strong enough to harm herself. As she stared at the window in the room, she considered jumping out—ending it all. And maybe she would’ve. But she was too weak.
Her heart wasn’t strong enough to handle the pain of dying.
Still, her fingers trembled.
She stared at the window for a long mont before slowly sliding forward out of the bed, the sheets dragging behind her.
Her feet touched the floor. She stumbled. Steadying herself on the edge of the bed and the nearby drawer, she reached out for the IV pole with the hanging glucose bottle and used it as support. Slowly, she moved forward.
"Haa... Haah... D-Dad... Satteus..."
Tears blurred her vision, but the light shining through the window felt like the only brightness in her dark world. Her breath was heavy, her mind unbearably loud. She had reached a decision—to end the pain, no matter the cost. It had numbed her so deeply that even her fear of death had vanished.
She used to scoff at news of students committing suicide, saying, "How can soone end their life over just a few marks?" But now, she realized—the weight that breaks a person isn’t academic failure. It’s emotional collapse. The kind that eclipses even the fear of death.
"I’m coming..." she whispered.
She was just two steps away from the window now. Her hand stretched out toward the light—toward the only escape she could imagine. The physical pain had been dulled by painkillers, but the emotional tornt scread inside her.
Living with the regret—the belief that she was the cause of her world’s collapse—was too much to bear. She leaned forward and slid the windowpane open. Standing at the edge, her breath was steady but her tears choked her throat. She was ready to jump.
Then, she looked down.
She was on the ground floor.
"Huh?"
Arvia blinked, looking out at the parking lot where people passed by, now stopping one by one to look at the weeping woman leaning out the window.
She blinked again. Her lips twitched. She lowered her head and slowly closed the window. Then she collapsed to her knees, clasping her face.
Even death didn’t want her.
"Wh-why..." she whispered.
She was confused. The pain was still intensifying, suffocating her. Yet here she was—in the ergency ward. The kind of room equipped with 24/7 life support, more expensive than most others. Normally, patients brought in after an accident wouldn’t be given such a high-end room—especially on the ground floor.
Who would think of reserving the ground floor during an ergency?
It was as if soone had deliberately placed her here—as if they knew she might try to do sothing reckless.
"...Was it you?" Arvia whispered.
Her fists clenched, jaw tightening. She glared at the ceiling—no, beyond it, at the sky. At fate. And scread, "How could you do this to , God?! You took everything from m—!"
But before she could even utter another word, the voice echoed from the wall-mounted television, which suddenly lit up, the volu maxed out as if soone had intentionally turned it on and wanted Arvia to see.
Not like she could guess that much in her emotionally drowned state, so her ears just heard the things.
> "—and in other news, a minor collision on Highway 11 this morning resulted in two injuries, with both drivers reported to be stable. anwhile, near the old market junction, a two-wheeler skidded off due to oil leakage on the road. Authorities are investigating the cause."
The anchor’s tone shifted slightly as the footage on-screen changed.
> "However, the most serious of today’s incidents occurred earlier this morning on NH7. CCTV footage captured the exact mont a private vehicle lost control and flipped multiple tis before bursting into flas."
On the screen, grainy footage began to play—
A car spinning across the asphalt, slamming into a divider, and catching fire.
> "Eyewitnesses report seeing a woman thrown out of the vehicle during the crash. Miraculously, the cara also shows a man—badly injured—crawling from the wreckage and pulling another individual to safety before the fire spread."
The anchor’s voice paused as the slow-motion replay showed the purple-haired man in the bloodied state dragging soone.
> "All three individuals were rushed to a nearby hospital. Their identities have not been officially confird, but early reports suggest that...."
’!’
The voice snapped Arvia’s attention to the screen.
Her teary eyes widened even before the anchor could confirm the na of the victim. The woman being flung like a ragdoll was her.
And then—she saw him.
A purple-haired man, drenched in blood, was dragging soone away from the burning vehicle.
"S-Satteus...?"
Her parted lips instinctively whispered the na. Her heart thundered in her chest. The unbearable pain that had numbed her mind suddenly gave way to a different kind of shock—hope.
Her gaze moved to the man Satteus was dragging, then back to the screen. Her breathing quickened, her chest heaving.
"N-No... No, they’re alive! Th-thank God! I—"
She instantly pushed herself up, grabbing the IV pole again. Her movents strained her wounded body. The bandages darkened as blood seeped through from reopened wounds. But even through the pain, she moved.
Because if pain could drive her to the brink of death—
Then hope could push her beyond her limits.
"S-Satteus...!"
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