Page 58 of Damian & Jun, Episodes 9-12
The paramedics arrived. They looked Betti over. Mark asked them about riding along in the van.
“Off the record,” the technician said, “I will deny this if you ask, but she’s likely fine. Needs stitches. All we’ll be doing is giving you a ride and dropping you off. It’s a shallow cut. We just got called for an accident. They got people bleeding out.”
Jun made eye contact with Mark. They both had emergency medicine experience, and the hospital was not far. “We’ll take her,” Jun said.
The hotel asked them to leave as soon as the arrest was done. Jun volunteered to go with Betti to the hospital. Damian called Hypatia to meet them at the emergency room, but she was in surgery at her job. “Betti and I can go alone. We’ll take Mark,” Jun assured Damian. Kimbo and Rue were clinging to Damian, and Armada had her arms full of a screaming Habibi. They still needed to pack up and leave the hotel.
In the emergency room, Mark stayed on alert. Jun continued to hold Betti in his lap. She wouldn’t leave him when she was called back. He carried her into the examination room and held her while the doctor tended to her head. Mark saw to the hospital documenting the injury. They wanted to do a scan. Jun held her hand to the very last minute and was there as soon as they let him back in. She cried through the entire ordeal.
A nurse noticed the fading bruises on Jun, including the large ugly one across his ribs when Betti inadvertently pulled up his shirt when moving on his lap. He wrote a note on his phone and held it out for Jun to see out of Betti’s line of sight.
Jun’s face flushed. He shook his head and answered out loud. “I did, a few weeks ago. Thanks, but I’m safe now.”
For now. Who knew how long it would last? There was still a potential murder case coming against him and the shadowy figures behind the now dead chief of police in Seoul. Who knew who might come for a pound of his flesh?
Betti sobbed when the hospital staff asked to speak to her alone, but Jun insisted she did. “It’s for your safety,” he said, squeezing her hand.
Someone spoke to him as well, out in the hall, asking how she got injured. He gave them what they needed. A few moments after, the staff reunited them. Betti crawled back into his lap. He carried her out of the examination room and through the hospital to the exit. Mark opened the SUV and stood watch while Jun got Betti settled.
“Where are we going?” Betti whispered.
“I’m not sure.” Jun squeezed her hand and leaned forward. “Mark, do you know?”
“We have a new hotel,” Mark answered. “We’ll be there in about fifteen minutes. The detectives want to take both of your statements down at the station.”
Jun swallowed, cold fear flooding his veins. “When?”
“Now or tomorrow.”
“Has everyone else done theirs?”
“Yes.”
“Can we just get it over, please?” Betti whispered.
Jun gritted his teeth. He did not want to walk into a police station, not without Damian. Just seeing the uniforms left him cold and clammy. But Betti wanted it over with. He was the adult; she was the child. “Let’s get it over with.”
Mark turned the car around.
The station was cold. Betti sat next to a female detective at a table across an office space, speaking softly, her head nodding or shaking by turns as the woman asked her questions. Jun forced himself to breathe through his nose. The shaking in his core wouldn’t stop. The feeling of being dragged away from Yohei and Damian only weeks before played on repeat through his limbs and behind his eyes. It wasn’t just thoughts; it was everywhere, imprinted in every sensation. His fingers dug into the skin on his arms, leaving deep marks. As long as Betti had been right beside him, he’d grounded himself on her and her needs, but this was going on too long. He was spinning away, losing the difference between present and the past. He turned away from the room and shoved the mound of his hand just below his thumb into his mouth and bit down hard. Pain flooded his nervous system, bringing back a flash of heat. He ground his teeth down further, trying to stay in the moment.
A warm body, wider and taller than his, bracketed him from behind. The scent of spices and baked goods filled his nose.
“Bright one.”
Émeric. Jun turned, blinking back tears that were threatening to fall. Émeric put his arm up on the wall, creating a small, private space away from the noise of the bullpen. “Jun.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.”
Jun shuddered. His hand fisted against Émeric’s chest against his own volition.
“I have you,” Émeric said. He didn’t touch, just crowded in, blocking out the station.
“I’m fine.” Jun sniffed. “Betti is the one who was abducted.”
“I got you.” Émeric slowly slid a hand behind Jun’s back.
