Under the Veil of Night

Kanae sat down on her bed while bearing with the pain from her back. The wounds from the flying glass shards after the chandelier fell were not that deep, but it caused her back to hurt so much. However, she was also struck by a metal piece from the frame of the chandelier, which gave her a more serious injury. Using one of her hands, she was trying her best to stop the bleeding. The position of that wound made it hard for her to reach it.

It didn't even take more than three minutes before the front door was knocked on rapidly. Laura was startled. She quickly wiped her tears and approached the door.

"Who is it?"

"This is Doctor Shiro, let me check Kanae's wound."

Laura looked at her sister. Seeing Kanae nod her head, she opened the door. In front of her, Shiro was standing while carrying a bag of medical supplies as sweat drenched his entire body. He immediately sprinted towards this place when he heard Laura's call. Flashing a forced polite smile, he strode into the room.

"I'm over here, Brother Shiro."

Shiro quickly entered Kanae's room. Seeing the blood-soaked cloth that Kanae pressed onto her back, his face turned grim. He quickly moved to Kanae and checked the wound on her back.

"It's not too deep, but the treatment is going to hurt." Luckily, the wound didn't reach any of her internal organs, or it would be hard for him to treat her wounds in this place.

"I'll be fine," Kanae smiled wryly.

"Alright, hang on."

Feeling the searing pain from her back as Shiro peeled away the blood-soaked clothing, Kanae gritted her teeth harder. Her hand clenched the blanket tighter as the pain permeated deep into her flesh. It was painful, yet she didn't utter any words as Shiro treated her wounds.

On the other hand, Shiro felt rather grateful that Kanae's wounds were not as heavy as he thought. From the way Laura said it, it was as if Kanae were at death's door, ready to die at any moment. Thankfully, the wounds were not that serious, and the deeper wound was only on her left shoulder and did not hurt her internal organs.

Laura didn't dare to watch as Shiro treated her sister's back. Just one glance and she could see how horrible the view of her sister's back was. There were numerous scars, making the white back look terrifying. If one didn't know better, no one would guess that this was the back of a young 16-year-old girl.

Her face turned pale as she shifted her gaze. They were old scars, so she knew that they were not caused by the incident today.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Yes?" Laura forced her feet to move towards the door once again. Her knees felt weak, and she felt rather helpless at the moment.

"Is Kanae alright?" Standing before her was Jason. He was also drenched in sweat since he ran towards this room as fast as he could after he parked his car. At this point in time, he didn't care about anything else as he had to make sure that Kanae was alright.

Laura was startled to see this handsome young man. She believed that she had already seen his face somewhere before, but this was not the time to ask about that.

"Someone called Shiro is treating her inside the room."

"Let me in."

"Who are you?" Laura's eyes narrowed. Even though her sister was hurt and needed help, she could not allow any stranger to come in.

"I'm one of your sister's friends that you called just now," Jason explained.

Laura scrutinized the man's appearance carefully. She backed away a bit, allowing the man to come inside.

Jason strode inside and stopped when he was near the door of the room. He paused right at the doorway It was fine for Shiro because he was a doctor, but if he went in while Kanae being treated, he would be purchasing a ticket to hell.

At the very least, three people will pursue him to death.

"Kanae, are you alright?"

"Don't worry. I'm fine, Brother Jason," Kanae said with difficulty. She wasn't about to let another man see her back.

"It's not life-threatening," Shiro added.

"Thank goodness," Jason sighed in relief. He moved back from the door and saw Laura still standing motionlessly. From the little girl's expression, it was clear that she had cried just now.

Laura looked at the man before her. "Who are you really?"

"We're your sister's friends, that's all you need to know," Jason answered. Well, they were more like her close friends, but it would be better to just leave it at that. It wouldn't do them any good if Laura knew too much about their lives in the underworld. This pure girl should just be left out and kept a safe distance away.

"Why?"

Jason smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. We don't mean any harm to your sister."

Laura still looked rather unconvinced. She had never seen the two of them before, yet their attitudes showed that they cared for her sister very much. Who in the world were they?

Pushing her thoughts to the back of her head, Laura shifted her gaze back to the room. "Will my sister be alright?"

"You don't have to worry. Kanae is tougher than that."

Laura nodded her head listlessly. Tears fell from her eyes again. "It's my fault… I shouldn't have been so useless."

Facing a crying girl, Jason felt rather awkward. He admitted that he was not experienced with women, so he didn't know what he should do in this situation. Just letting her cry didn't seem to be the right option, yet he feared that if he touched her, Kanae wouldn't forgive him.

However, he knew one thing for sure. Kanae would never put the blame on Laura. She cared for the little girl so much that it was almost impossible for Kanae to be angry at Laura for anything. Of course, that excluded situations in which Laura was truly the one at fault.

"She will never blame you. It's not your fault," Jason tried to soothe the girl.

Laura bit her lower lip. How could it not be her fault? If not because Kanae tried to protect her from that falling chandelier, Kanae wouldn't be in this condition. She felt extremely useless. Why did she not move at that time? If only she moved just a bit, her sister wouldn't be hurt so badly.

Jason could clearly see that he didn't manage to convince the girl in front of him. He scratched his head in confusion. Could someone help him console this girl? He didn't have any experience in trying to help a girl cheer up.

Most of the women who approached him were business partners or experienced women. They just wanted to make good use of him, so he treated them politely and kept his distance. If they tried to cause any trouble, he would just kick them out.

It was as simple as that.

"I'm not sure what happened, but I believe it's not your fault. No matter what happened back then, I'm sure no one could have prevented it from happening," Jason tried to soften his voice.

Hearing this, Laura raised her head slightly. She knew. Even if she did move from that place, Kanae would still shield her from the pieces that shattered when the chandelier fell down. Ever since they were young, her sister always tried to protect her from everything that happened in their surroundings.

Never even once did Kanae tell her that or blame her for anything that happened.

"I… I guess so."

Jason sighed when he heard her nearly inaudible voice. His impression of Laura was the complete opposite of Kanae. This girl was far more hot-headed, yet at the same time, very fragile. He wondered why these two could be so different from each other.

While he contemplated this issue, his phone rang. He quickly answered it.

"Jason! Where in the world are you? It's time for the meeting."

He quickly glanced down at his watch and nearly cursed out loud. He forgot that he had another meeting right after the party ended. Because of Laura's call informing him about Kanae, he drove right here immediately without caring about anything else.

"I'll be right there in a moment," Jason answered and hung up. He turned towards Laura. "I need to go. Are you alright, now?"

"I think so," Laura wiped her tears.

"That's good."

Jason walked out of the apartment and saw Tommy standing not far from the door. His brow creased. "Why don't you come in?"

"I better not. She already knows me from school, so I don't want to scare her into thinking that I'm her sister's best friend," Tommy smiled wryly. Since they knew each other at school, seeing him here might give Laura weird ideas. "I just want to know Kanae's condition."

"Shiro says that he still can handle it, so I believe it's not that bad."

"I see. That's good," Tommy nodded his head. His eyes locked on the door before he walked away. Even if he went inside, he couldn't be of help to them, so it would do no good if he barged inside.

The two men silently walked out of the building. Inside his car, Jason quickly took care of the camera that managed to capture the three of them. It would be for the best if no one knew about them appearing here.

Finishing his task, he sighed silently.. 'Kanae, you better be alright.'