Mental Asylum || PURINZ

006

The next morning, when I woke up, I had a severe headache. Although I managed to vomit all the medications I had consumed the night before, I realized that some remnants of it had to remain inside my body.

I looked out my room's window and noticed it was still drizzling. The clock was nine in the morning, so I had about an hour before my shift started.

I had to do a twelve-hour shift today because Hanni had begged me the other day since they were short of staff.

Most of the nurses preferred getting away from Yunjin, and I couldn't blame them.

Due to my unusual shift schedules, I was never at home. Therefore, Beom and I rarely had time together as a family.

The scribbled notes, text messages, and phone calls were our only communication for a few days. I attributed it to my transfer to the Mental Health section.

I got out of bed reluctantly and went straight to the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later, I was dressed in my usual nurse's uniform. I sat at the small dining room table, devouring bread and Nutella.

I filled the thermos with steaming coffee, picked up the keys to my car, and went down the stairs.

"Good morning, Mrs. Kazuha," I greeted Mrs. Kazuha, the Japanese lady who lives downstairs.

She looked at her left wrist. "It's lunch time."

"Good afternoon, then," I said. I usually ignored her intelligent comments.

She was usually grumpy but invited me to have tea during her good days and made delicious banana bread.

The woman had more than a dozen cats in her house resting on every flat surface. The cats were super fat and cute, but they hated my guts for some reason.

When I approached the parking lot, I remembered leaving my car in the hospital parking lot. Consequently, I stood beside the road with an open umbrella, trying to hail a taxi.

That day, I didn't feel like visiting Yunjin's room.

I knew it was my job, but it was also different from other patients I had dealt with.

Yunjin was a high-functioning psychopath; she was also manipulative and intelligent.

She looked like an average person for a minute, and you never know when the wheels would turn in her head and she would be plotting something that would threaten your life.

That part of her scared me.

It was a fact that I couldn't even read her mind.

Throughout the day, I avoided going to her room and decided to take care of other patients.

I instructed another nurse to serve Yunjin's breakfast and lunch, cautioning her about Yunjin's manipulative and flirtatious behavior and providing her with earplugs.

The afternoon arrived, and I sat in the hospital cafeteria with my friend and co-worker.

Sakura alias Kkura. She was talking about a fight with a nursing partner and complained more about how she would break up with her boyfriend because he wasn't giving her enough time.

I continued nodding during the conversation, pushing the salad on my plate.

"You're not paying attention to what I'm saying!" Kkura pointed out.

"What?"

"How are things going with Yunjin? You don't seem very happy with the new job."

"Not really. Kkura, I've been good at handling people like Yunjin in the past, but somehow, it's not working this time. It's too difficult to understand."