Stabbed

Arthur didn't know what was going on, something seemed to go wrong. He didn't have time to dodge, without warning he was hit hard from behind and his arms hugged his little wife to protect. The high adrenaline rush made him unable to feel anything, except the excruciating pain of a sharp object stabbing his right side.

"A-A-Arthur ... n-no, no!" A familiar voice sounded.

The sharp thing was pulled out from his side carelessly, and he gritted his teeth.

"N-No. Arthur ... w-why? Why did you ...? Why did you protect her?!"

It was Gwen's voice.

"N-No, I didn't hurt you, but she did. She hurt you!"

Arthur closed his eyes trying to endure the pain. Catching his breath, he pulled Livy out of his arms, seeing her confused.

"You okay? You hurt somewhere?" He looked at Livy worriedly.

Livy shook her head in a daze. "What ...?"

She didn't continue, glanced at Sarah who seemed to be as dazed as she was, then tried to see something behind Arthur, but he quickly got in the way.

"It's fine. Go, find a safe place."

Without waiting for Livy's answer, he turned around. He felt blood oozing from the wound due to his movement but he paid it no heed. His gaze instantly became sharp as he approached Gwen and grabbed her hand. Realizing the fact that this place was deserted, Arthur was terrified. He would not have forgiven her if she had managed to injure Livy at that time.

"You!"

"Arthur, no, ah! It hurts. Let go of my hand. It hurts!" Gwen screamed in pain as her hand was grabbed and the knife in her hand clattered to the ground.

"You tried to hurt her. You dare to hurt her in front of my face!" Arthur's other hand choked her.

Gwen's eyes widened and struggled to speak. "A-Arth—no."

"Tell me why do you want to hurt her? Why do you want to hurt my wife? Who told you to! Say it! Say it now!" Arthur choked her even harder.

Because the stranglehold was so strong, Gwen's face turned blue and she couldn't make a sound other than wheezing badly.

"Gwen, you know I've never hurt a woman, but you … you're an exception."

Gwen was pushed until her back hit a bus stop post. Her face was getting blue, she was coughing and struggling many times.

Sarah came back to her senses and remembered what she witnessed just now. "H-He ..."

"We have to get help!" Livy cut her off quickly. "Sarah, we have to go back to the hospital and call for help!"

Sarah turned to Arthur, right in the side where he had just been stabbed. The fact that he was wearing a black coat made his blood invisible. She turned to Livy again, who also panicked and tried to take her away to get help.

Doesn't she know what happened?

"Sarah, come on! Quick!"

Sarah removed her hand. "Y-You wait here. Let me call for help."

"But—"

Livy wasn't done yet but Sarah was already running. Now she had to do something, seeing how Gwen was doing, Arthur must have strangled her really hard.

"No. I have to stop him." Livy muttered dan ran into Arthur to pull him away. "Arthur, stop it. Please. Arthur! You can kill her, stop it!"

Arthur's eyes darkened. He didn't even budge an inch.

"Why didn't you answer? Who told you to hurt her? Was it Matthew or my stepmother?" Arthur spat out a sharp sentence from between his teeth.

Livy was getting panicked because Gwen seemed to be out of breath. He took Arthur's hand.

"Please, Arthur. Look! She can't breathe! She can't answer you! You can kill her. Arthur, listen to me. Arthur!"

Her strength was incomparable to him, moreover he had no sign of letting go of Gwen. Really! What actually happened here? Was Gwen really trying to hurt her?

Just then her gaze fell on the bloodstained knife on the ground. Her heartbeat stopped for a moment. Who's hurt?

She saw that Gwen's hand was bleeding, did Gwen not succeed in wounding her and instead hurt herself?

Help still had not arrived, but she couldn't wait until Arthur had actually killed someone! With the last idea, she squeezed into the gap left between the two of them and hugged Arthur tightly.

"Arthur ... Arthur, listen to me. Let her go. Please. She didn't hurt me. Look. I wasn't hurt one bit. Let her go."

Livy's ears were right on Arthur's chest and listened to his frenzied heartbeat. This man was truly in a rage. And this was the first time Livy had seen him this angry.

"Arthur, please don't do this. You could kill her. How could I let you kill her and you end up in jail? Arthur, look at me, I'm fine. Please let her go."

Feeling the warmth against his body, Arthur's grip gradually loosened and he backed away. Gwen immediately fell like a stone to the floor, coughing violently for her life.

It was then that Sarah's help arrived, they held Gwen's hand and pulled her away.

Sarah approached Livy who was still hugging Arthur. "Are you guys okay? The paramedic will also come with a gurney."

Paramedic? Stretcher?

Livy had not had time to digest Sarah's words when suddenly she slid down because Arthur had fallen to the ground.

"Arthur?"

She felt something was wrong seeing Arthur's face dripping with sweat, his breathing shallow and rapid, also his lips pale.

"A-Arthur, are you—" As she raised her hand to touch his cheek, she noticed that her left sleeve was full of red. She gasped. Blood. "T-This ... Arthur, y-you ... you hurt?"

Without waiting for a response, she pulled open Arthur's coat, and heard a weak groan from him before finally seeing the source of the blood at his side. Her eyes widened. The light blue shirt he was wearing was drenched in blood, and fresh blood was still pulsing from the wound.

When was he injured?

Then Livy remembered the bloodstained knife and she freaked out.

"Y-You're hurt ... when?" Livy cried, but she soon held back another of her tears. "No. It's okay. It's probably not that bad. You'll be fine. You'll be fine, ok."

Livy shakingly took off her sweater and pressed it against the wound in his side, he whimpered in pain.

"Let go of me, you bastard! She's the one you should catch! That woman is crazier than me! She took Arthur from me! She's the one who hurt him! She's the villain here!" Gwen screamed while she was still in the grip of the guard.

Livy tried to ignore her. The hand that was pressing against his wound wouldn't stop shaking and she noticed that he was getting paler and paler.

"Arthur, talk to me. Please. I-I'm here. You'll be fine." Livy's voice trembled and could not stop her tears anymore.

"S'rry." Arthur touched Livy's cheek weakly. "I made you ... cry again ..."

Livy shook her head. "N-No, you didn't."

"Really?" Arthur breathed, closing his heavy eyes.

"That was your doing! You hurt him! You hurt my Arthur! Not me! Not me!" Gwen rebelled on the other side. "If anything happens to him, I will chase you. If he dies, I will fvcking kill you!"

Arthur will die?

No. Arthur will not die. Livy will not allow it!

"Arthur, please open your eyes. Look at me! You will be fine. I'm not mad at you. I'm not crying because of you. So open your eyes now. You can't die. You wont die."

Arthur could barely keep his eyes open any more. Everything around him seemed to turn hazy.

"I have …" He whispered, "nothing to do ... with her ..."

Tears clouded Livy's vision and she took Arthur's hand to rest on her cheek. His hand was so cold. "I believe in you, so please, don't leave me."

Sarah drew near. "We'd better lay him down."

The two of them laid him down on his back, the movement creating painful friction against his side, Arthur moaned and his eyes fluttered beneath his eyelids. After getting into a good position, Livy put pressure on the wound again.

"It's better not to move him again until the paramedics come," said Sarah.

"Arthur," Livy called and brushed his hair away from his forehead, "You hear me? Come on, open your beautiful eyes for me."

Arthur moaned once more and opened his eyes slowly. He looked blearily at Livy before closing briefly once more, when he opened them again they were still blurry.

"Are you ... really? My eyes … are flawed … not pretty …" He murmured.

"You promised we'd go to get you surgery right? Let's do it tomorrow. Let's go abroad. You will get a new eye donor for you."

Arthur's eyes stared into his little wife's concerned eyes. He focused on keeping his eyes open and breathed as deeply as he could through the pain coming form the wound in his stomach. "I'm fine ..."

"Yes, you are. Don't close your eyes, focus on me ok?"

Her hand trembled as she pressed against the wound again and felt the warm liquid begin to seep into her fingers.

No. It doesn't stop!

"Arthur?" Livy called.

After a few moments Arthur didn't answer, his eyes tightly closed.

"Arthur? No, Arthur, answer me! Arthur! don't do this to me, Arthur!"

Sarah saw the paramedics finally arrive on a stretcher and she cleared a space by his side to make it easier for them.

"What's the status?"

"He was stabbed." Sarah answered, trying to pull Livy away so the paramedics would have an easier time. "Livy, Arthur will be taken care of by them. You need to let him go."

"No," Livy refused.

"Livy, it's ok. They will hep him. I'm promise." Sarah tried to pull her again

After several attempts at refusal from Livy, the paramedics managed to get Arthur onto a stretcher and put him on an oxygen mask. Seeing that it was dewy with his breath, Sarah felt relieved.

"Wait. Where are you two taking him? Don't take him away! Don't take my husband! He will be fine with me. Let him be with me!" Livy suddenly rebelled.

"Livy, calm down, nothing will happen to him. They will help him. You calm down ok?" Sarah was holding Livy as hard as she could.

Livy shook her. "Sarah, tell me he'll be fine. He's so pale. He's not going to leave me, right? He's not going to die, is he?"

"He'll be fine, trust me. Now, come on."

Livy's lips still shaking from crying and fear, she followed Sarah's guidance back to the hospital and saw a stretcher being led to the same destination. Her gaze did not leave Arthur's face as pale as paper. She had seen him pale before, but never had she seen him this pale. It was as if his life could just go away like a gust of wind. She was so scared.

When Arthur finally entered the operating room, Livy's remaining strength had completely disappeared. And she lost consciousness.

***

A few minutes after Livy regained consciousness she immediately shouted Arthur's name, she had the same dream as last time; Arthur who lay lifeless in front of her.

She was so frightened that she jumped straight out of the bed she was lying on. Sarah almost managed to hold her back before she was finally allowed to see Arthur.

But unfortunately, she couldn't really see Arthur directly, except through the window outside the room.

"You haven't eaten anything. I'm going out to find some food," Sarah said.

They were both in the waiting chair, right in front of the ICU room. Since visiting hours were over, they could only wait outside.

"I'm not hungry," replied Livy.

Sarah sighed, stroking Livy's shoulder to strengthen her. "Don't torture yourself like this. Remember about your baby. I'm sure he'll be fine."

Hearing this sentence, Livy cried again. "This is my fault."

"No. It's not your fault."

"If I don't—"

"Shhh. Don't continue," Sarah interrupted, stroking her hair again. "You heard what the doctor said, didn't you? His injuries weren't serious, and he was treated on time."

Upon arriving at the hospital, Arthur was immediately taken to the emergency room. After the doctor examined him, the doctor said that they were lucky to act on him in time before he completely lost blood. The knife that Gwen used was also only a small knife, the wound was not deep. It's just that his consciousness is weak and his condition is very critical, but that is caused by another problem.

Has he relapsed?

Livy didn't know how many tears she had shed, now she was crying with dry eyes. Even though Sarah said it wasn't her fault, she still played an important role in this matter. If Arthur's illness did relapse, blaming her would be reasonable.

"Yesterday was supposed to be the day of his departure abroad for surgery," Livy answered while sobbing.

Sarah fell silent

"No matter how you look at it, this is all my fault. I was the one who made him postpone his surgery and I let him tire out looking for me back then. I ..."

"Yeah, I know. Don't beat yourself up again, ok? I know. I know."

Those words didn't calm her down at all.

While they were calming their minds, Dave suddenly appeared and pulled Livy up.

"How did this happen?! How could he be hurt?" shouted Dave angrily, "Look what you've done! Isn't it your fault? You can be mad at him! But you have to know the situation, you bitch!"

Behind them, Evander had barely caught up.

Livy, who was too surprised because Dave shouted at her, could only cry silently. She had always thought that Dave was a friendly, relaxed and funny person, being scolded like that took her by surprise.

"Dave." Evander warned.

"Argh! If anything happens to Boss! Don't expect me to let you go even if you're his wife!" Dave sighed in frustration, then barged into the ICU door. Evander looked at Livy flatly, then followed Dave inside.

Outside, only the dazed and confused Livy remained. Somehow she felt so useless right now.

"You shouldn't be angry at her. This isn't entirely her fault," Evander said as soon as they entered the ICU.

Before Dave could answer, someone admonished them, "Hey you guys, visiting hours are over. Get out."

Dave glanced at the approaching nurse. "You take care of her first. We'll talk about something else later."

After saying that, Dave washed his hands with a flash and put on a scrub on him.

Evander approached the nurse. "Excuse me, Miss, I want to ask you something. Let's talk."

When he was sure that Evander had managed to expel the nurse, Dave immediately took out his equipment and examined Arthur's entire body. The constant sound of engines in the room, kept him to his senses. If conditions weren't critical, he really wanted to beat up Matthew who turned out to be the main culprit in this series of incidents and also Gwen.

While checking on Arthur, Dave noticed his boss' pale face. The oxygen mask is on Arthur's nose now, but his breathing is so weak, his pulse is also weak. This is not a good condition.

Dave signaled Evander when he was done. The two go out together.

"Now what?" he asked.

Dave didn't answer right away because they both came face to face with Livy as soon as they were outside. Dave glanced at her who just looked down and looked very wronged, he felt a little guilty.

"I've scheduled surgery for him again, and they agreed. But the time is tomorrow."

"Then I'll book the fastest plane tonight." Evander took out his phone.

"I'm not coming," Dave said quietly.

"Why?"

Evander accidentally caught sight of Dave's clenched fists and piercing gaze, before hearing him say, "I ... might as well kick the ass of the one responsible for this. Don't wait for me."

Evander seemed to know what Dave was going to do, and that was reinforced by seeing him grin.

... to be continued ...