Meteor

Sixteen

The father ran at a lightning speed towards the stairs, followed by a determined intern hot on his heels. Weaving their way through the massive, bustling crowd in the hospital corridor, they kept setting forth, leaving behind the bewildered and hazed onlookers trying to decipher what was happening.

"AAAA!" Yu Jin collided with another doctor, falling onto the ground. "I'm really sorry," he quickly apologised, scrambling his feet to continue with the pursuit.

Seizing the opportunity, the father sprinted even harder and reached the emergency stairs before Yu Jin. But Yu Jin was not a slow runner either, he also accelerated and gradually narrowed the gap between them two until when he was only a few steps behind the father. Summoning all the courage he had, Yu Jin launched himself at the man, propelling both of them off balance. They hit the wall and tumbled onto the landing tread. The man went on to stand up, attempting to open the stairs door and get out. However, Yu Jin did not let him achieve his goal that easily.

"You f*cking coward!" He grabbed the man's collar.

"Let go of me, you stupid jerk!" The father panted and hit Yu Jin's face with his elbow, making him crash onto the ground, heaving out painful groans.

The father, thus, successfully emerged out of the emergency staircase. But unlucky for him, there were security officers outside who were alerted to the incident and it took them not too much time to capture him. Within moments, the police officers also arrived to interrogate the man about his unacceptable actions.

"What? Do you have any proof? I didn't do anything," he defensively raised his voice and rolled his eyes at the police.

"We'll discuss that at the police station," one of the police officers firmly said.

"Hey jackass," he sneered and glanced at Yu Jin who was wiping away the blood coming out from his mouth.

"What?" Yu Jin gave him an icy stare.

"You have any proof that I abused my child? Come on, spill it out!"

"The doctors here have their reasons to believe that you have been abusing your daughter for a while. So follow us to the police station and explain anything you want there!" One of the officers scowled at the father.

"Are they gods or something? They saw my daughter for a few minutes and they knew for sure that I've been beating my child? What kind of doctors is that?" He snorted and sniggered in desperation.

"No we're not gods. Perhaps gods will forgive you, but we won't!" Dr. Jeon walked over to the place where the father was sitting, with Dr. Lee and Dr. Park, a doctor from the paediatrics department, accompanying him. 

"We took a look at your daughter's bruises, and it's apparent that they are not caused by a car accident. Some of the bruises are way more recent than some other ones. In addition, how can your child be injured so severely while you still seem to be virtually unharmed?" Dr. Lee scowled at the father.

"And we've just got her X-ray which indicates she has broken right ribs and a broken right arm. I don't think that matches with you reporting your car accident. And we're also able to determine that her lowest right rib has just healed from a previous fracture. You probably have a history of child abuse, right?" Dr. Park backed her colleague up.