Chapter 27: Panic Attack II

Well-built men with cold faces were behind her, one of them lifting the poor helpless child.

"Quickly bring him home, tell my father!" the girl ordered. Karina helped Mai up.

"We're going home, Mai," she said.

"Going home? No..!" said the girl with brown hair and eyes.

"You must be responsible, we will not let you go," she said angrily and then pushed Mai's body.

Mai gasped, her body felt weak, she fell to the floor. Her eyes were blank, her trembling hands were still holding her chest, it felt tight, she was almost out of breath.

It's coming again... The attack is coming again... Help me.. Help me... Get me out of here... Get me out...! Her inner scream.

Thomas touched Mai's shoulder, tried to talk to her but the girl didn't hear it, she seemed to be in another world.

"Ron!" Thomas called out to Aaron who was standing still.

"I think she's having another panic attack," said Aaron.

Thomas tried to talk to Mai, reassuring them that everything would be fine but it seemed to be in vain. Mai's face was pale, her breath was panting and her body was shaking. Even though he had seen Mai in this condition several times, Thomas was still confused about what to do. His brain is blank, Ivani knows better what to do, Ivani usually calms Mai down.

"Ron!" Thomas shouted again.

"What should we do? Help me!" he said again.

It didn't work, Thomas felt hopeless, he didn't like seeing his best friend like this. Aaron, who was asked for help, didn't budge. Why is Aaron silent? He used to be the one who helped calm Mai, why was he like someone who had seen Mai have a panic attack for the first time, Thomas was confused.

"Aaron!" Rara patted her brother's shoulder.

"They need help," she said.

Aaron regained his senses, dropped all of his sister's groceries, and rushed over to Thomas and Mai.

"She must have had a sedative in her bag, hurry up!" Aaron ordered Thomas while he held Mai's shoulders, the girl's body trembled.

Thomas took Mai's bag and started rummaging through its contents, looking for the medicine Aaron was referring to.

"Mai... Look at me... Calm down... It's okay... Take a breath... Slowly... it's okay... It's okay," Aaron said to Mai.

The girl stared blankly at him, reminding Aaron of the little girl's eyes at the hospital. What he did was bad, look what happened to Mai now. This is the result of his actions, his petty lies, he made this girl suffer.

Tears started to fall down the girl's cheeks, she was crying and Aaron had already guessed what was going to happen next.

"Sorry... I'm sorry," Mai said quietly. That's right she apologized again, apologized for a mistake she didn't even do.

"Nothing... There's no medicine!" Said Thomas.

"Find the right one!" said Aaron.

"Seriously, Ron... Nothing!" said Thomas.

The two men looked at each other.

"Maybe we should take her to the hospital," Rara suggested.

The woman came closer and Mai reacted, she cowered in fear like a child. Aaron noticed.

Mai recognizes Aaron's sister even though the girl doesn't remember but she probably does.

"Sis... Stay away," he said to Rara.

"What?" said Rara.

"Back off!!" he half-shouted.

Rara was surprised by her brother's reaction.

"What's wrong with you? I just want to help," she protested, offended.

It was Aaron's turn to flinch, he didn't realize he was overreacting, Thomas even looked at him suspiciously.

"Sorry," he said quietly.

People started to gather around and stare at them gossiping, wanting to know what was going on. This is not good, Mai must be calmed down. If words don't work maybe...

Aaron grabbed the girl into his arms. Mai was still crying and kept saying that she was sorry, apologizing. Sometimes she would say,

"Don't die, please don't die." Mai said, and Aaron was desperately trying to stop himself from saying 'I'm not dead, I'm fine Mai.'

"No... Mai... It's not your fault. You didn't do anything wrong. You never did. It's gonna be okay now... It's okay." Aaron gently patted Mai's back.

"Everything will be fine from now on, I promise," said Aaron.

It seems that his efforts were successful, Mai began to look calm. Aaron focused on the girl so he didn't pay attention to Rara and Thomas' strange looks.

"I think you should let her go," said Rara to her brother after a while.

"You can make her boyfriend jealous," Rara said again.

"Mmm... She's not my girlfriend." Thomas corrected Rara's words.

"We're friends... But... I think you can let her go now." Thomas turned to Aaron.

Aaron let go of his arms without saying anything. Thomas helped Mai stand up, the girl still looked dazed. The girl lowered her head, snuggled up behind Thomas again. She seemed not to dare to meet face to face with Rara.

"Is she all right?" Aaron asked Thomas.

"Is it okay if we go first? I still have class and my sister seems to have other things to do as well." Aaron said, Rara looked at him confusedly, Aaron ignored her.

"It's okay. I can take care of her," said Thomas while Mai was still silent behind him.

Aaron doesn't want to leave them but he is worried that Mai will relapse if Rara continues to be there. He suspected that the trigger for the panic attack was Rara. He wondered what Rara had done to Mai before that scared her.

-----

"What exactly is that girl?" Rara opened the conversation after a few minutes they were silent.

They were in Aaron's car, on the way home. Back to the office for Rara and back to campus for Aaron. Rara forced him to have lunch together. For the umpteenth time, his beautiful but fierce sister persuaded him to go home. For the umpteenth time, Aaron refused. The man felt more comfortable living apart from his father. They don't get along.

"Panic Attack. She had trauma as a child," said Aaron.

"Oh no... What happened?" Rara sounded sympathetic.

"She can't remember but it looks like someone irresponsible has made it like that." Aaron referred to himself. He was again gripped by guilt, he was the one who caused Mai to be like that.

"Too bad... I hope she gets better soon," said Rara.

"..."

"You seem to care for her," Rara commented again.

"Is there... something?" She asked suspiciously.

"What do you mean?" Aaron glanced over at his sister.

"You know what I mean. You know, it's okay if you start liking someone again. It's good for you. Then let it go." Rara refers to Mai and also to Cynthia.

Rara must have thought that Aaron was attracted to Mai because he hugged her earlier. Well, he was interested in her in other ways. He did wrong to the girl, he has a debt to pay. Rara doesn't need to know about it.

"It's not like that," said Aaron.

"Really?" Rara raised an eyebrow, not believing her brother's answer.

"I don't want to think about that right now," Aaron explained.

Aaron has never been interested in love since his separation from Cynthia. He didn't have time for that while he had bigger problems facing him right now.

"I'm just trying to help okay... That's what a doctor should do," Aaron said. That reason is quite plausible.

"Okay..." said Rara.

"I just want my brother to be happy. If you are interested in her I can find out about her. We have to know her family background. Is she from a good family, is she a good girl? Does she deserve you? She's not pretty but she's pretty cute even though she seems very young. Are you sure she's a college student?" Rara continued to talk at length as to if she didn't hear Aaron's explanation at all.

Aaron shook his head in reaction to Rara's ridiculous attitude.

"But she's sick, too bad. Was the trauma that bad? I think you should find another girl." Rara gave advice referring to Mai's 'sickness' aka her trauma.

"I'm not into her!" Aaron was getting annoyed.

Not because Rara didn't know about this, but because Rara's words just now reminded him of how badly traumatized Mai was. How big of a problem has it caused?

"Thank God," Rara said gratefully.

"She doesn't suit you," said Rara.

Aaron looked away. What was his sister thinking? Since he broke up with Cynthia, Rara tries hard to introduce him to the girls she thinks are suitable for Aaron but of course, Aaron doesn't serve her.

His relationship with Cynthia ended in compulsion, it wasn't what he wanted though it might be for the best. He can't just forget Cynthia, it hurts, he still loves her but he knows he can't be with her. He had to forget it though it wasn't easy and it made Aaron close his heart tightly. He doesn't want to think about love even though Riven says love might heal a broken heart.

Aaron prefers to be immersed in his busy life, college, The Whale Gray, business, karate whatever it is. Love is no longer important in his life.

Then now comes the ice cream girl, this girl will keep him busy. There is something more important than love affairs, namely correcting the mistakes he has made. Somehow he doesn't know yet but he will take responsibility, he won't run. Not after he saw the results of what he had done to the girl.

CREATORS' THOUGHTS
awisantoni

Here's today's chapter guys. Hope you guys enjoyed it. If you haven't don't a review yet please consider leaving one. It really does help motivate me. It also lets me know where i can improve or things that need to be changed. Anyways thanks for reading and have a wonderful day :)

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