The Knight

Jane's distressed expression and her pale complexion caused Vernon to realize that something was definitely wrong. And although he knew that her stuttering might get in the way of her giving him a proper answer to his future question, the guy still decided to try.

"Hey, what's wrong? Are you sick?"

Jane, still covering her eyes with both hands, lightly shook her head and opened her mouth but the words refused to come out as her tongue seemed to be pushing them back into her throat.

She took a deep breath, attempting to calm her uncontrollable body, and finally replied, almost incomprehensibly.

"M-my head... hurts..."

And the moment she finished that abrupt sentence, the girl leaned over her knees and let out a loud cough, releasing the contents of her stomach right onto the floor.

"For fuck's sake!"

Vernon nearly jumped to his feet and started frantically searching his backpack for a pack of tissues or wet towelettes, but his search was fruitless.

Once Jane stopped throwing up, he groaned like an animal, took off his bomber jacket, then crouched in front of her, and began to wipe her dirty face with the jacket's sleeve.

"What the hell, seriously! Why did you come here if you were sick?!"

The throbbing headache persisted, tormenting Jane from within, while dizziness and fatigue caused her entire body to tremble.

She felt so embarrassed and upset that she could not stop crying. She hated it. She hated it so much. 

Eventually, despite her determined mental resistance, she succumbed to the irresistible force of gravity, expecting to collide with the chilly stone floor of the classroom. However, instead, she found solace in the embrace of Vernon's sturdy and somewhat comforting arms.

"Jane? Hey, come on, Your Highness, are you really going to faint on me like this?"

Vernon could not believe what was happening to him. It was annoying enough to be around someone like Jane Devold, even for the money, and now she was causing him even more discomfort by laying her health problems on him. She was unbelievable.

At first, he wanted to try and wake her up himself, but no matter what he did, Jane's lifeless body did not want to comply; therefore, he took his cell phone out of the pocket of his jeans and called for an ambulance.

"It's better to take you to the hospital at least––"

"No... No n-need."

At last, the girl seemed to have regained her consciousness which meant one less burden off Vernon's shoulders for that day.

"So? What shall we do with you? Can you get home by yourself?"

Jane shifted her half-closed eyes to her backpack and let out a long exhale.

"Charles. T-take my phone and c-call him. Please."

Without hesitation, Vernon reached into the girl's backpack with his large hand and quickly retrieved her phone.

'No passcode. Of course.'

He found it irritating but had no time to dwell on that thought. He wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. Therefore, he swiftly located the name of Jane's boyfriend and pressed the call button right beside it.

One dial tone after the other, the person on the other end of the line was not picking up, and after several more attempts, Vernon finally gave up and threw the girl's phone back into her backpack with a rather irritated gesture.

"He's not picking up. I'll call you a cab, alright?.. Hey, do you hear me?"

Jane was now leaning over the cold surface of the wooden desk, breathing loudly and irregularly as if the air in the room was not enough for her.

Disgruntled and angry with himself, Vernon let out a loud groan, then tapped something on his phone, collected the rest of the girl's things into his own backpack, draped his bomber around her shoulders, picked her weirdly light body up, and carried her outside, attracting the attention of the curious gawking eyes of the students who were still wandering around the otherwise empty campus.

***

The orange car stopped in front of the gates leading to the Devold residence and was greeted by a hoarse male voice that was almost screaming at it from within the intercom.

"Please move along. This is a private property, you cannot park your car here."

Vernon gestured for the cab driver to stay quiet, then rolled down the car window and answered as loudly as he could without resorting to shouting.

"My name is Vernon Lin, Miss Jane Devold fainted during class so I brought her home."

The intercom fell silent. Instead, the tall, heavy automatic metal gate opened with a quiet screeching noise, inviting the car to move inside, and before Vernon could even get a chance to roll the window back up, he noticed a short middle-aged Asian woman running toward the car with the mixture of worry and confusion on her tanned, slightly withered face.

"Oh my Gosh, what happened?!"

She watched the guy help Jane get out of the car, clasping her hands together in a prayer position, not knowing whether to help him get her inside the house, or address the cab driver's annoyed expression.

"Can you please pay the driver? I'll take her inside the house first."

Vernon helped the lady reach a reasonable decision, and when she gave herself a slight slap on the forehead, finally realizing what she had to do, the guy stepped inside the house and, as if already familiar with its interior, headed straight for the living room, still carrying Jane in his arms.

'Who would have thought that I would come here again so soon? Jane Devold, I guess ruining people's plans runs in your family.'

He almost dropped the girl's body on the soft white couch and heard her displeased groan as her back hit its surface. She was not used to such ruthless treatment, especially when she was in a distressed state.

"Miss Jane, are you alright?"

The middle-aged lady rushed toward the girl and fell down on her knees right beside her, sliding her hand over her forehead and cheeks, assessing her condition.

Jane let out another suppressed groan and finally opened her eyes again.

"Mrs. K-Kim, the d-doctor... I need my p-pills."

"Ah, yes, of course, right away, Miss!"

The woman took her phone out of the pocket of her pink-striped apron and started scrolling through the phone book, searching for the right number to call, and when she finally located it, she made a rather urgent request to whoever answered her call, then stood up, and rushed in the direction of the kitchen.

Vernon, whose presence had been entirely forgotten, glanced quickly at Jane, who had her left hand covering her eyes. He then removed her belongings from his backpack and carefully arranged them on the glass coffee table next to the couch. And just as he was about to leave, he felt a gentle pull on the fabric of his jeans.

"Thank you. I'm... s-sorry."

For some unknown reason, her quiet trembling words left the guy speechless.

It was true that she inconvenienced him and caused him to lose his tutoring payment, but the amount of pain and guilt that was seeping through her words was still too overwhelming to ignore.

'Funny. Unlike His Majesty the King, Her Highness Princess Jane knows how to apologize.'