Cha Young didn't feel the bullet going through her shoulder at first, due to the adrenaline, but soon there was a searing pain, a burning sensation on her skin, an unbearable pain that the lawyer had never felt before.
Vincenzo felt his eardrums vibrating with the sound of the gun being fired, he hadn't seen the gun pointed in his direction, much less Cha Young getting in front of him, he didn't have time to react and pull her away.
Desperately, Vincenzo moved her hair to look for the wound, which was right there, on her shoulder, with blood flowing quickly and staining her entire coat in a matter of seconds.
Vincenzo held her by the shoulders to check if there was an exit wound, there wasn't, the bullet was still lodged in her shoulder, and she needed to get to the hospital quickly.
Paolo was still in the same place holding the gun in the same position, his look revealed a mixture of shock and anger, that woman had ruined his plan, but at the same time he was completely shocked by her courage in putting herself in front of his brother, without thinking twice, none of his men would do it to save his or his brother's life.
Cha Young was shaken by a sudden dizziness, her legs completely losing strength, Vincenzo was holding her, but not strong enough to keep her standing. And then her legs gave way, her body fell against his, but the Italian was faster and soon caught her, preventing her from falling to the ground.
He held her against his chest, with one hand on her neck and the other on the small of her back.
"You'll be fine, I promise."
Cha Young just nodded, or at least she thinks she did, her body was no longer obeying.
When Vincenzo looked away from her for a few seconds and towards Paolo he was no longer there. He looked around, but his brother was nowhere to be seen, Vincenzo hadn't even seen him leave, he couldn't go that far in a matter of a few minutes, Vincenzo needed to go after him, but he couldn't leave the lawyer in that state.
Vincenzo quickly pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed the emergency number, as he went through all the information his eyes were focused on Cha Young making sure she kept hers open.
"It's okay, help is coming, you just need to hold on a little longer." He said, putting his cell phone away again and pulling her even more against his chest so she could rest her head. "What are you feeling? Are you cold?" he questioned, wiping the beads of sweat from her forehead with his shirt sleeve.
Cold? Cha Young didn't even know she was sweating, it didn't seem real, it was like her soul was floating outside her body.
Somehow, she managed to muster some strength to formulate a word.
"Pain." She responded with difficulty feeling her throat extremely dry.
"I know, but it will pass, you just need to hold on for a while." He said stroking her hair.
Cha Young tried to nod her head again, blinking slowly, feeling her eyelids getting heavier and heavier, she thought it wouldn't hurt to close her eyes for a few minutes, she promised herself it would only be a few minutes, after all she was feeling extremely tired and exhausted.
"Don't close your eyes, you need to stay awake until the ambulance arrives." Vincenzo said but got no response from her. "Cha Young?" he called, running his hand over her face. "Cha Young please wake up." He lightly patted her face to try to wake her up, but she still didn't respond, she didn't even move.
(...)
Vincenzo thought the longest and most agonizing wait of his life had been waiting for the ambulance with Cha Young passed out in his arms, unable to do anything, but he was wrong, now sitting in the hospital waiting room while she was in surgery, Vincenzo realized that time was not passing, the hands of the clock were not moving no matter how much he looked at them.
He didn't knew how many hours had already passed, to him it seemed like an eternity. Vincenzo didn't hear anything else from Luca, he was probably still on the plane, but he needed to get in touch with his friend as quickly as possible, he needed someone to find Paolo.
Vincenzo spent the entire time thinking of all the possible ways to torture Paolo, he deserved the worst of all punishments.
"Hong Cha Young's family?" Vincenzo was taken out of his thoughts when he heard the nurse's voice.
"Yes? It is me." He got up quickly.
"The surgery is over, Miss Hong is being transferred to the room right now, would you like to see her?"
"Yes please."
Vincenzo followed the nurse to Cha Young's private room, which he himself had insisted on paying for, it was the least he could do for her.
Upon entering the room, he found Cha Young asleep in that hospital bed, with several wires attached to her, her shoulder was bandaged, and her arm was motionless on her chest.
Vincenzo felt his stomach turn at that sight, it wasn't her who should be there, but him.
Vincenzo pulled the chair close to the bed and sat there holding the lawyer's hand until she woke up.
"What happened?" Cha Young questioned as soon as she opened her eyes, feeling completely sleepy and confused.
"You underwent surgery to remove the bullet." He responded by stroking the back of her hand.
"Hmmm." Cha Young muttered looking at his bandaged arm.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, at least now I know what it feels like to be shot." She smiled in an attempt to break the tension that was in the air, but it was not reciprocated by Vincenzo, his face was still worried. "I'm fine, I promise." She assured, squeezing his hand back.
Vincenzo looked away from her, focusing on some point on the floor and Cha Young knew exactly what was going through his head, he was feeling guilty.
"Hey, look at me." She asked and he did. "I'm really fine, stop blaming yourself."
Vincenzo gave a small smile and his eyes shone with tears.
"I'm sorry, I never should have dragged you into this in the first place." He replied.
"Please don't say that, I knew what I was getting into and I don't regret it, I would do it all again." Vincenzo felt even more like crying at her words, he got up from the hospital chair and kissed her forehead which made her smile from ear to ear.
He returned to her seat and with his other hand he stroked her hair lightly, while holding her hand. Cha Young felt her eyelids get heavy, she was still feeling quite sleepy and Vincenzo playing with her hair was still making her feel sleepier.
"Get some sleep, I'm not going anywhere."
YOU ARE READING
Butterfly Effect
Romance[English Version, COMPLETED] "The flapping of a simple butterfly's wings can influence the natural course of things and trigger a hurricane on the other side of the world." Cha Young's life had begun long before the flapping of a butterfly's wings...
