Chapter 5 - Sehwa

A few days passed by as Sehwa and Van continued a cycle of medical treatment.

It didn't take long for her to recover to a much healthier complexion and though she was still thin, she was bound to return to a better state with proper meals.

Those days felt like picturesque flashing scenes in Sehwa's eyes as she just rested and was taken care of by Van. Undoubtedly, the lack of linguistic skills for her side made some gaps in understanding Van's intentions but it was enough to know the warmth she received.

Most of the time, when she awoke, Van was present until her fatigue caught up to her and she slept her time away.

But there were times that he was gone. Nowhere to be seen for some time.

Sehwa was curious but she couldn't do anything about it. Furthermore, in her mind, trust had sprouted for that very person.

Knock! Knock!

"Hey… may I come in?" Van's voice interrupts Sehwa's thoughts.

She turned her eyes to the sound's source. There stood Van in the doorframe and was gently looking over her.

Sehwa, her lips fashioned a crescent shape at the sight of Van's arrival, could not answer as no words were able to form in her mind absent of any memory.

That's right. Van soon realized that not only was Sehwa covered in injuries that day, but also suffered a terrible memory loss. One where everything has been a clean slate and even knowledge of the common language was gone.

Knowing that she couldn't answer anyway, Van directly approached her bedside and sat in his usual spot.

"Hey peach." He called out intimately a nickname he's been using the past few days.

"I'm going to do something different today. I want you to know that once you're out there, you'll have a hard time doing things without knowing how to speak the language."

Van understood that fact immediately when he met her and has been planning to do something about it as soon as she recovers.

"I know that you are barely at your peak right now but it's important we start this early. Afterall, You have many things to learn."

Sehwa, oblivious to every word that Van was saying, seemed to understand his intentions. She watched him stand up and go to one of the cabinets in the corners of the room.

There he found some metal cases of different sizes stacked over one another. Looking for a specific item, he checked each by the labels written over it that Sehwa was unable to read.

"This implant module has been used for certain situations like this. Believe it or not, it happened quite frequently and some colleague of mine just blasted this solution in the association president's desk as she grew tired of his endless pestering about this idea he had."

Traces of nostalgia surfaced in Van's face as he let out a chuckle as he told the story.

"She's a hot-headed one, that's for sure but, there was no denying the things she worked on. So don't worry, though this may sting a lot, it will go away quickly." He comforted as he finally reached for one of the cases.

Then, he went to the desk by Sehwa's bed. With a hiss, the metal case, now placed on the desk, opened and Van immediately got to work with familiar movements.

"Due to health protocols, items with effects above a certain threshold must be kept in sealed cases like this to avoid any malfunctions and contamination. Anyway, enough about me babbling about rules and such."

Van made talk as he prepared things. Visible in Sehwa's sight was a glass tube, it was barely an inch long and seemed to contain some thick gray liquid. Together with it was a hand's length black hexagonal cylinder.

With both in Van's hand, he inserted the glass tube inside the black cylinder and pressed a few buttons on its side.

"This is an injection syringe. It's a tool that will help make this next step instant. It will hurt, however, so brace yourself peach." He reminded her with serious concern.

Sehwa was just watching him all this time. His serious countenance evident to her, she readied herself in response.

"Good. Here we go, okay?"

Van leaned to her face and held the syringe in his hand. He gently placed one of its ends against the skin below her ears.

His hand ready to inject, he placed the other in Sehwa's shoulder in case she reacted strongly to the pain.

With a push of the button, the cylinder punctured her skin with a thin needle as the liquid from the glass tube flowed into Sehwa.

In sync, Sehwa felt a pulse of pain as her face contorted in agony and she winced from the sudden sting in her skin.

Van, expecting this, could only watch Sehwa and wait for the pain to pass in a moment.

Contrary to his expectations, Sehwa's muffled moans soon turned into wails. Van felt his skin crawl the instant it happened and his eyes couldn't help but widen in surprise and confusion.

"Huh? What's happening!? This wasn't supposed to happen!" Van bellowed in shock.

Meanwhile, Sehwa is currently teary-eyed as her pupils couldn't stop trembling. The pain that was supposed to pass by in an instant was now overwhelming her consciousness.

Soon her winces turned into her whole figure trembling in pain. At that moment, Sehwa had the urge to rip her insides out as if that action could relieve her from this growing agony.

Van grew restless at such a sight and immediately scrambled around for some painkillers or any medication that could help the situation.

"Is there something… anything at all! This never happened before to begin with, why now!?"

But Sehwa was oblivious to his voice as moments later, like sinking in murky waters, every sound, from the clattering of metal tools, containers and items Van was rummaging through with his panicked voice, slowly drowned out of her ears.

Her consciousness was waning and Van could only witness Sehwa's eyes roll back that led to wild spasms unlike her earlier resistance.

"Damn it!" Van cursed as he rushed to Sehwa and held his hand against her chest.

Immediately, he felt her sporadic heartbeats that seemed to phase in and out of existence. He, then, reached for the glass tube he found and inserted it to the syringe he used earlier. With the needle used, Van swiftly and carefully replaced it.

Promptly, Van struck Sehwa in her neck with the syringe as she held her down to properly insert the needle.

It didn't take much for the medication to take effect as Van felt her spasms died down.

With a breath of relief, feeling like he almost lost his soul, he distanced himself from Sehwa and fell onto a chair. Van didn't directly rest however, but perused her current state while making sure that nothing happens again.

Sehwa was presently unconscious after experiencing that event and from time to time, her expression would undulate from calm to hurt.

Fortunately, there weren't any issues that ensued.

• • • ° ° °

"Sehwa!"

A feminine voice calls…

It was a voice that flooded her heart with warmth she only felt when Van took care of her. It was also her only memory… that was why it was so unfamiliar.

Yet familiar…

Sehwa found everything dark. She knew her eyes were shut tight and she couldn't open them yet.

The fleeting voice would disappear once she did. She just somehow knew it would, so she didn't dare to.

"Sehwa…"

The calls turned to whispers…

And the tickling of the breath that gently called her name was spurring a wet feeling in her eyes. Deeply, she wanted to see such a person.

Because she was aware at this moment that it was her name being called out. That she wanted to know what a person who would call out to her like that would look like.

"Remember…''

"Pleas-"

"Re-"

The soft mumbles became muffled before Sehwa could hear anything.

Her consciousness was hazy to begin with. It didn't take long for everything in her dream to become fuzzy and she felt once more the murky waters that drowned everything around her.

Silence ensued. It slowly creeped in and she felt like falling into a bottomless well.

She fell deeper. And deeper. Until her back slowly touched the surface.

"Sehwa!"

Repeated Sehwa as she suddenly jerked her body forward and sat herself onto the bed.

Suddenly sitting upright, she couldn't help but wince in pain from the soreness still lingering in her body. She also realized that sweat covered herself as the patient's gown was practically sticking to her skin.

"Are you okay?"

Van, awoken by Sehwa's sudden burst, hurriedly asked. It was clear he didn't leave as soon as she fell unconscious as he looked fatigued more than usual.

"Y-yes." Sehwa answered with some difficulty.

"You understand me? Did it work?"

Surprised, he jumped from his seat and approached Sehwa.

"A li-, um… a little. Some a-are ha-hard."

"Don't push yourself. The implant I just did was for a linguistics-type module. It helps with basic understanding of the concepts and uses of the common language, Strera. As the information is directly inserted into the physical body, it's quite taxing and carries certain risks if not properly executed-"

Realizing that he was babbling too much and that it must be stressful for Sehwa, he simplified.

"Basically, what I'm trying to say is that you can now understand the language called Strera. It's considered the 'Universal Tongue'. Still, since it's only an implant, I'll teach you how to speak, read, and write properly. I'll also teach you some common knowledge while I'm at it."

As Van started listing off things, he started wiping off the sweat he noticed on Sehwa. He was quite regretful that he fell asleep after an hour of watching over her, letting her be showered wet right now.

"Change for now. You're going to catch a cold when you keep wearing that wet thing."

With a new gown in hand, he placed it on her lap covered with a bedsheet.

"Can you do it by yourself?" He asked.

Sehwa only nodded in reply and Van turned his back on her to give her some privacy. Though she moved herself slowly, the gown was easy to put on so it only took a few minutes for her to be dressed again.

"It was a dangerous situation just now and you need to recover for today. But…

I am glad it worked, peach." With clear emotions, he turned around while talking.

At this moment, he felt very fortunate that Sehwa was now awake and Van's tensed expression was visibly reduced as he smiled wryly at her.

"Sehwa…"

"What?" Van replied in confusion to Sehwa's words.

"I, uh, t-think… it's m-me."

"Sehwa… huh? It sounds beautiful. I think it suits you." He praised while reminding her again.

"Rest for now, Sehwa. It's late already and I'll see you tomorrow."

It wasn't any pretense to comfort her, but he genuinely felt that her name suited her.

Van was sure that it was an unusual one but people won't mind that enough as the world's too wide to know everyone. People come from different places and that's fine.

Sehwa, vaguely understanding enough of his words, felt a little shy and the warm feeling she had earlier came back for a moment as she smiled and went back to bed.

Meanwhile, Van was looking at her, seemingly in thought, before he also left and said goodbye to her.