Chapter 13: See His Face

The third point of view:

"This is crazy," Arianna muttered to herself, clearly in a dilemma. She could leave this place and let Ruth deal with this mess, however, the man on the table made her rethink her decision. She couldn't let him die. God, she hated this!

"Fine!" Arianna gave in, speaking through gritted teeth, "But trust me, this should be the last time that you call me in here,"

"I can't make any promises," Ruth said, infuriating her.

"Ruth!"

"Don't you prefer to hear the truth than a sugar-coated lie," She asked, head tilted to the side in a questioning manner.

Another annoying feature about Ruth, she was blunt to a fault. Sometimes it's a good thing and other times, let's just say you want to sew up that mouth of hers - just like now.

"Aren't you going to start the surgery or are you planning on bleeding out your VIP patient," She changed the topic and as well, reminded the woman of the reason she was here in the first place.

"Fine," Ruth went over to the table, assembling her medical equipment.

"What do you want me to do?" Arianna asked, glancing down at the man still groaning in pain, "How is he even able to endure all this?" Arianna wondered, his wounds should hurt like hell.

She explained, "There was a little amount of morphine that I could find. It didn't do much but it was something,"

She went ahead to instruct her, "And now I need you to hold him still because trust me, this would hurt like a bitch,"

Oh boy, here we go, Arianna prepared herself mentally for whatever she would encounter during this surgery.

The man had a mask on his face and she wasn't surprised by that. It was a step taken by Ruth to ensure the secrecy of the patient. Any of their customers who had such a mask on only means they are a hundred times more important and dangerous than their regular customers.

Even Ruth sometimes doesn't know their identity because some of the customers always return and since they're used to the system, wear their mask beforehand. She told Arianna that her not knowing was for her own good and the only way she could protect her.

Thanks to all these factors, it had given Arianna enough reason to leave this kind of life behind. She loved her life and wanted to be safe. Unfortunately, the darkness could only swallow one, not save.

"Hey," Arianna spoke to the man and he fixed his intense gaze on her and she gulped. He had the most beautiful electric blue eyes she had ever seen and its beauty tugged at her heart. How she'd kill to have such eyes.

"W-water," He cried out hoarsely.

"I know it hurts like hell but trust me, that's the last thing you need right now," She tried to assure him.

"Look," Arianna took his hand in hers, "We're about to perform surgery on you and we don't have any anesthesia to help you combat the pain, so it's going to be uncomfortable," She added immediately, "But don't worry, I'm here. You just have to grab onto my hand if it gets really bad and always remember, I'm here with you," She assured him.

The man nodded his head to tell her he understood her words and Arianna gestured to Ruth that it was time to begin.

"Alright, brace yourself, people," Ruth informed them just as she poured a Saline solution over the open wound on his shoulder and the man groaned in pain, gripping Arianna's hand so tight that she almost thought he would break her bones. That was surely going to leave a bruise tomorrow and Mimi wouldn't let her off.

Her best friend was the only person who knows what she does with Ruth and she tried to keep her in the dark as much as possible. She wouldn't want her to get hurt just because she was associated with her. That would haunt her forever if such a thing happens.

He was really strong, Arianna had to admit. Even when Ruth made an incision in his skin with the scalpel, all he did was groan softly and that was it. He had really good endurance, Arianna thought. Well, they were criminals with strong vigor, what was she expecting?

Arianna broke away from her thoughts and looked down only to get startled. The man was staring at her with deep fascination and it made her uncomfortable even though her heart skipped a beat.

She never bothered having a boyfriend for once because it would demand her time and emotion and that she could never give to some guy who could end up breaking her heart. She couldn't afford to be mentally down, not when she had to deal with her devilish aunt and her daughter.

Looking closer, the man was quite handsome even though he wore a mask. He has a strong jawline and his small pink pouty lips made Arianna blush - she wondered what it would feel like if she kissed it.

God! she had to get her emotions under check before she ended up jumping an innocent man. She never cared about sex until now. What in the world was wrong with her?

Thankfully the surgery ended successfully and Arianna could finally flex her arm. Just as she feared there were bruises around her hand and at a point he had dug his nails into her arm probably during the stitching.

She had not felt the pain until now because her emotions were high as well. Arianna sighed, Mimi would definitely ask about the bruises and she would have to lie about it.

"Could you please keep him company, I need to get food, I'm famished," Ruth told her and she just sighed once more. She had helped out in the surgery, taking care of him was nothing compared.

The woman took her silence as a cue and left, leaving the both of them alone. Arianna stared at the man that had now been transferred to a bed with interest. He had passed out from exhaustion and pain.

He was sleeping soundly, his chest rising and falling rhythmically and a sudden thought hit Arianna. She could look at his face, you know.

Oh no, what the hell was she thinking? She kicked the thought away. However, like poison, the thought slowly eroded her head and all she could think about was seeing his face.

She gulped, well, there was no one to see her. The man was deep asleep and Ruth had gone to buy stuff and wouldn't even know what she did. Moreover, it was just a peep, nothing else; she just wanted to satisfy her curiosity.

So Arianna made up her mind and stretched her hand towards his face, nervous as hell yet determined. However, just as her hand touched the tip of the mask and was about to pull it away, a hand grabbed her.