The Yakuza's flower

Healing days part 1

Ume's POV

The hospital room was quiet, filled only with the soft hum of machines.

I had been awake for a while, staring at the ceiling, counting the cracks, pretending I didn't exist.

Then, a knock at the door.

Before I could answer, Rey stepped inside.

His face was unreadable—calm, controlled—but his eyes... his eyes burned like fire pressed under glass.

He closed the door behind him. Locked it.

My pulse quickened.

"You're awake," he said, voice rough and low.

I forced a smile, the kind you give when you're cornered. I shifted, subtly scooting back against the pillows, away from him. "Y-yeah. Kind of hard to sleep in places like this..."

He didn't sit. Didn't even blink.

Just stared.

"...Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.

I felt my breath catch.

I knew what he was asking.

I looked away. My fingers curled around the blanket in my lap. "Grandma told you."

He exhaled sharply, nostrils flaring. "She told me everything. And the other half... I heard elsewhere."

My stomach dropped. Elsewhere. Who else was talking about me?

"I—" I started, but the words wouldn't come.

"Just why... why didn't you tell me?" His voice cracked—not loud, not angry. Just broken. Hurt in a way that twisted something deep in my chest.

I shook my head, voice tight. "What would it have changed, Rey?"

His jaw clenched hard, the muscle twitching. His fists curled like he was trying to hold himself together. "It would have changed everything."

The room fell silent.

I stared at my lap, heart pounding in my ears.

Then his voice dropped lower. Rougher.

"Flor... Mateo told me it was the bus driver."

I froze.

My breath stopped. I turned my head, eyes wide. "What?"

He laughed—sharp, bitter. No humor in it. "He said he saved you. That some bastard on the bus tried to take you and he stopped it."

The air in the room turned to ice.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

My skin prickled with cold panic, and suddenly the room felt too small, the walls too close.

He lied.

He used him.

"I believed him," Rey whispered. "I fucking believed him. I looked you in the eyes and thought—maybe you were just being dramatic. Maybe it wasn't that bad."

I shook my head, tears stinging my eyes. "Rey..."

His voice cracked completely now. "And all that time, it was him. That bastard hurt you and I didn't even see it."

He turned away, ran a hand through his hair like he wanted to rip it out.

I sat frozen in the bed, shaking because i didn't know what he would do.

Rey's shoulders heaved once, twice—then he slammed his fist into the wall.

Not at me. Not near me.

But it still made me flinch hard.