I Belong to Her

Chapter 20

When I regain consciousness, I am feeling only a little bit better. My head appears to be stuffed with wool, and the nagging pain in my side remains, though it feels different now, less sharp and more like an ache. For a second, I think that I fell asleep feeling sick and dreamed the whole thing, but the smell convinces me otherwise. It's that unmistakable antiseptic odor that you only encounter in doctor's offices and hospitals.

That odor means I'm alive and off the island.

My heart starts racing at the thought.

"She's awake," an unfamiliar female voice says in accented English, apparently addressing someone else in the room.

I hear footsteps and feel someone sitting down on the side of my bed. Warm fingers reach out and stroke my cheek. "How are you feeling, baby?"

Opening my eyes with some effort, I gaze at Ryujin's beautiful features. "Like I've been cut open and sewn back together," I manage to croak out. My throat is so dry and sore that it actually hurts to talk, and I can feel a dull, throbbing ache in my right side.

"Here." Ryujinis holding out a cup with a bent straw in it. "You must be thirsty."

She brings it toward my face, and I obediently close my lips around the straw, sucking down a little water. My mind is still hazy, and for a moment, the wall between the good and the bad memories crumbles. I remember that first day on the island, when Ryujin had offered me a bottle of water, and an involuntary shiver runs down my spine. In that moment, Ryujin is not the woman I love; she is again my enemy, the one who stole me, the one who made me her against my will.

"Cold?" she asks, taking the cup away before leaning over to pull the blanket higher up, covering my shoulders.

"Um, yeah, a little." I'm off the island. Oh my God, I'm off the island. My mind is spinning. I feel torn like I'm two different people the terrified girl who insists this is her chance to escape and the woman who desperately craves Ryujin's touch.

"They took out your appendix," Ryujinsays, brushing back a strand of hair that had been tickling my forehead. "The operation went smoothly, and there shouldn't be any complications. Isn't that right, Angela?" He looks up to the left.

"Yes, Ms. Shin."

Shin? Is that Ryujin's last name? Recognizing the voice from before, I turn my head to see a petite young woman in white scrubs. Her smooth skin is a beautiful light brown color, and her hair and eyes are dark, nearly black. To me, not that I can pretend to be an expert on either nationality.

What I do know is that she's the first person I've seen in fifteen months who is neither Lia nor Ryujin.

I'm off the island. Oh my God, I'm off the island. For the first time since my abduction, there is a real possibility of escape.

"Where am I?" I ask, staring at the young nurse. I can't believe Ryujin is letting someone else see me, the girl she kidnapped.

"You're in a private clinic in the Philippines," Ryujin replies when the woman merely smiles at me. "Angela is the nursing assistant who will be looking after you."

At that moment, the door opens and Lia walks in. "Oh, look who's awake," she exclaims, coming up to my bedside. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay, I think," I tell her cautiously. Holy shit, I'm off the fucking island.

"They said Ryujin got you here just in time," Sorn tells me, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to my bed. "Your appendix was getting ready to go. They cut it out and sewed you right back up, so you should be right as rain."