It had been a month since Keira returned from her short travel break, and stepping back into the white, sterile halls of St. Marina Hospital felt both strange and familiar. Her hands instinctively reached for her ID badge, clipped securely onto her uniform, and the rhythmic beep of heart monitors and overhead pages welcomed her like an old friend.
“Allen! You’re back!”  Mika who just came back from a month long overseas work assisting her patient who was transfered to Central City Medical Center almost spilled her coffee as she rushed to hug Keira in the break room.
“Finally,” Angie who's with Mika working overseas added with a relieved sigh. “We were drowning without you. You’re the only one who doesn’t frown when someone begs you to cover a shift.”
Keira laughed lightly, brushing a stray hair from her cheek. “Well, you all have families. I don’t, remember? Emergencies don’t usually apply to people like me.”
There was an awkward pause, but she offered them her usual smile—the one that masked more than it showed. Her colleagues knew better than to dig further. Keira was always dependable, the type who never said no, who could be called at  2 a.m. and would show up without complaint. But few knew how lonely that kind of dependability really was.
Still, it felt good to be needed and be helpful to others
One quiet afternoon between rounds, Keira arranged for three bottles of wine to be sent to Jessie—her way of saying thank you, for everything. Not just the warm welcome back, but the comfort she offered when Keira didn’t even realize she needed it.
Jessie called the moment the delivery arrived.
“You didn’t have to, Keira! But God, I needed this wine today,” Jessie said through the phone, laughter dancing in her voice.
“You’re welcome,” Keira smiled. “Just don’t drink them all at once.”
But that joy, like most things in her life, didn’t last long.
Carl was back.
The first time she saw him near the hospital’s back gate, she thought it was a coincidence. But then he showed up again. And again. Once, she caught him following her all the way to her house. Another time, he loitered outside her floor, pretending to be waiting for someone.
She had called the police that time. They didn’t arrest him, just warned him. Carl always managed to stay just within the boundaries of the law—never overtly threatening, but never harmless either.
Tonight, it was past midnight when Keira clocked out. The emergency ward was quieter than usual, and the only light came from the streetlamps casting long, lonely shadows on the sidewalk.
She exited through the front since the back gate was locked after midnight, reserved only for medical staff with internal passes.
A car suddenly pulled up beside her.
Her stomach dropped.
“Carl,” she muttered under her breath.
The window rolled down, and there he was—eyes a bit too glassy, speech a bit too slow.
“I’ve been waiting, Keira.”
Her hand clenched around her bag strap. “Carl, I told you—we’re over.”
He stepped out of the car, swaying slightly. The scent of alcohol hit her immediately.
“I can’t just let you go, Keira. You know I loved you.”
“You’re drunk. Go home and don’t come back here again… please. Or I’ll call the police.”
Carl moved closer, voice rough. “I’m not scared of them. I just want us back. Like before.”
Her heart pounded harder. “The moment you cheated, we were over. I don’t trust easily, Carl. But I trusted you—and you destroyed it.”
“She meant nothing. She was just a—”
“Don’t,” Keira snapped, stepping back.
Then he lunged forward and grabbed her wrist.
“Carl—stop it! You’re hurting me!”
But he wouldn’t let go. His grip tightened as he tried to pull her toward his car, her shoes scraping on the pavement.
“I said let me go!”
“No. We can fix this. We can—”
CRACK!
A fist collided with Carl’s face. The force of the blow sent him stumbling to the ground, lip bloodied, stunned.
Keira froze.
“Get inside my car. Now.”
She recognized that voice. Deep, firm, cold as steel—yet familiar.
JC.
He was standing over Carl, eyes blazing. He didn’t wait for her response. He shoved a set of car keys into her hand and gently pushed her toward a parked black sedan nearby.
“Now,” he repeated, calmer but no less commanding.
Keira staggered toward the vehicle, heart thudding. She looked over her shoulder—JC was crouched, making sure Carl didn’t get up again. His body was tense, his jaw clenched so tight it could’ve cracked stone.
The hospital lights flickered overhead.
As Keira slid into the passenger seat and locked the doors, she finally exhaled the breath she didn’t know she was holding.
Few minutes later a police car arrived and they have taken Carl for custody JC didn't want to file a complaint he just wanter him to be detained sincebhe was drunk
Moments later, JC got in beside her. His knuckles were scraped. His breathing heavy. But his eyes—when they turned to meet hers—were filled not just with anger, but something else.
Worry. And something dangerously close to care.
Neither of them said anything.
But in the silence, Keira felt something shift.
Carl wasn’t her biggest problem anymore.
Because JC was back.
And with him, came everything she’d tried so hard to bury.