Chapter 32

Elyana's Point of View "Look at your skin!" he yelled, but what was he saying? I was just taking a bath. What was I supposed to look at aside from being naked when he shamefully came in and pulled me out of the water? I glared at him, and his expression pushed me to do what he said. I bowed my head, expecting to see my nakedness; however, horror struck me when I noticed the redness all over my body. Slowly, I felt the soreness and the hot water in the tub, where I remained standing. I jumped out of the tub, and Felicity put the robe on me effortlessly right after I came closer to him. There was awkwardness, but my mind was in the middle of great confusion. I looked around for an answer; there was a thick mist on the glass wall between the bathtub and shower area. "I'll take you to the hospital," Felicity uttered, and for the next few minutes, I was just following whatever he told me to do like I was unaware of anything happening then. On our way, I kept asking myself how it happened, why I didn't even feel anything when I was already getting boiled in the tub, and how long I had been there. From the tub, I found myself sitting in a wheelchair, being pushed by somebody I didn't know, and the next thing I knew, I was already inside a room with two female nurses and a doctor. Felicity became my guardian because my parents weren't there. He was the one talking to the doctor. I couldn't hear their conversation, and the entire time, there was so much worry on Felicity's face while he kept nodding as the doctor discussed things. "Can I just sit?" I asked the nurse who was applying a cream to my arm when I could no longer bear the soreness on my buttocks. "Yes, ma'am, you can," one of them answered, and I tried to sit on the bed. The soreness transferred to my buttocks. "Ah—" I almost screamed in pain, but that was not because of the burn on my b***. It was because one of the nurses held my arm when she tried to help me, and the part she touched gave me so much soreness that it penetrated inside. "I-It's okay; I can manage," I told her, and she immediately put her hands away, leaving a tingling pain on the skin. That was painful. All I did was bite my lower lip, but deep inside, I was crying. After cleaning my burns little by little with betadine, they continued putting cream and bandages on areas that had wounds. The pain from the parts they applied cream slowly disappeared, but they still had much to do. I kept biting my lower lip every time their fingers touched my skin. I wanted to stop them, but I knew they were just doing their jobs, and no matter how gently they applied the cream, it still hurt. The doctor left after talking to Felicity for a few minutes. He walked near the bed, and for a moment, he only stood there and stared. "What?" I asked when his glances had become uncomfortable already. He looked me in the eyes and raised his eyebrow at its peak like I said something offending. "What, what?" he asked coldly. "Are you insane? You've got a first-degree burn all over your body. Don't what, what me! What if I didn't see you boiling your a** in the tub a while ago? You might end up worse than that!" he yelled. His voice was shaking in anger. I thought my mother was the scariest person I've seen when mad, but Felicity made me feel like hiding under the bed just by how he stared. I bowed my head when my chest suddenly tightened. Felicity could make me fold that easily, and even though I wanted to fight back, I no longer had the strength to do so. My mind was in the state of just letting things be. Whatever happens, happens. The door got slammed open, and a man rushed in. "What happened to her?" It was Quintin. I felt a slight relief when I saw him. "What the heck, Elyana? What happened to you? What did you do to yourself?" he asked worriedly after looking closer at what the nurses were doing. I didn't answer, so he walked to Felicity and flooded him with questions instead of me. He came wearing only sweatpants, a T-shirt, and slippers; his hair was uncombed. It was far from its typical clothes every time we met, and I found it strange to see him that simple. I heard the nurses giggling. When I looked at them, they were blushing too. I couldn't blame them. Seeing women act like that became normal when I was with Quintin. He always bragged about his attractiveness, but his charm wouldn't work for me. "I don't know! I think she wanted to soak herself completely in the tub earlier. Just look at her skin—nearly melting." I heard Felicity say. It was loud and mocking, and he constantly massaged his temple, making me think I was giving him too many headaches. I bowed my head out of shame and guilt. I was trying hard to live far from my parents to be more independent at my age; however, by accident, I became somebody else's headache. A few seconds after I bowed my head, Felicity and Quintin suddenly became quiet. At the time I raised my head to check why, Felicity looked away and turned to face Quintin. I saw a different emotion in his eyes that was hard to figure out. "I'll buy coffee. Can you stay here for a while?" Felicity asked Quintin. "No, problem!" Quintin replied. He went out without looking back after taking his handbag off the sofa. Quintin took the initiative to come closer and ask me questions when he was gone. Quintin's voice was full of concern and calm, far from how that gay talked to me. Even his eyes were filled with sympathy, while Felicity was always mad like all I do would harm people. I couldn't help but sigh and fake a smile. "I feel better now. The ointment the nurses applied helps," I replied. "I'm glad to hear that," Quintin muttered. "We need to apply some on your buttocks, ma'am," one of the nurses told me, and I suddenly saw a grin on Quintin's face when he heard it. "Can I help with that?" he shamefully asked the nurse. "Can I borrow an injection, miss?" I asked the other nurse, and Quintin's grin instantly vanished. "I'm just kidding! I will be just outside, but if help is needed, I'll be one call away," he uttered as he rushed towards the door. "Naughty," I whispered while looking at him. "You two look cute together, Ma'am. It's like watching a live romantic comedy movie," one of the nurses commented. "We're only friends. There's no romantic thing involved between us, but I assured the comedy because he's always naughty," I corrected, and they vocally showed their dismay. They continued with their job without asking more personal questions after that, and once done, they left right away. I stayed standing to let the medicine they had just applied penetrate first because sitting or lying down would only wipe those off before giving the effect. Quintin came in. He strangely stared at me from head to toe. "You look like an undercooked lechon." He chuckled. "How dare you?" I couldn't believe he would make fun of me in that situation by looking at the human-size mirror attached to the wall, and he made me agree. I did look like an undercooked roasted pig, and I laughed at the thought of it, even if it hurt to believe it.