chapter three
Sung Lam thought this was getting old. Waking up in hospital beds, his nose reeking with the smell of antiseptic, blinking in too-white lights, with absolutely no recollection of prior events.
He let out a huff of frustration, nearly dislodging the cannula placed on his upper lip.
“Hey, you, you’re finally awake.” A blond doctor with her hair pulled back in a corporate-approved bun peered at him speculatively through honey-brown eyes. Her lab coat was pristine, a few pens sticking out of her coat pocket, with the words “Dr. Caomhanach.”
Words that spelled out a name that jogged a memory. Family check-ups, cherry lollipops, and blond hair that smelled like vanilla when she hugged him. “It’s been a while, Doctor.”
“Well at least you don’t have memory loss,” she sniffed, as imperious as ever, flashing a pen light in his eyes. He winced, blinking away the bloom of light. “You’re lucky,” she continued, “that knife you were stabbed with was silver. You should have been dead.”
“But I’m not.”
“Astutely noted,” she quipped dryly, “you were lucky that girl found you in time.”
Pink hair and nutbrown skin and golden eyes, the shade of gemstones and flowers, flashed through his mind like an ephemeral slip of silk.
He sat up quickly, nearly ripping out the tubes connected to his arm. “Is she here?”
Dr. Caomhanach raised an eyebrow. “Someone’s excited.”
“Do you know her? Who is she?”
Dr. Caomhanach gave a long-suffering sigh. “Her name is Au Co. She works under me doing clinical research. She’s a student at Van Mieu University and I don’t care who your father was or how much money your grandfather is, if you make her sad I will lethally inject you.’
Sung Lam smirked. That was the Dr. Caomhanach he knew well.
“She saved my life.” He leaned back on the starchy, hospital-issued pillows.
“That she did,” Dr. Caomhanach sniffed. “You should probably get your PA or something to send her a thank-you gift. Or whatever expensive thing your grandfather endorses.” She waved her hand airily.
Sung Lam grimace. “Have you called him?”
She peered at him with those all-knowing eyes. He raised his chin, looking right back at her in the eyes refusing to back down. “No. Since you’re a legal adult we don’t have to disclose anything unless you want us to. And I had a feeling your grandfather would not be pleased to find that the heir apparent was wandering in the Crimson Lotus.” She looked at him rather crossly. “You’ve been back in the city for only a few months. Why the Crimson Lotus?”
Sung Lam met her eyes, silently challenging her to push on forward. Not surprisingly, she was undeterred. “Does it have to do something with your father?”
Sung Lam flinched.
Dr. Caomhanach's gaze softened. She raised a single manicured hand and ruffled his head, like she used to do when he was a kid. “If you need anything, let me know,” she said, not unkindly.
Sung Lam worked his jaw. After a moment, he said, “I’m looking for Thuy Tinh.”
Her eyebrows shot up into her hairline. She genuinely looked surprised. “That little brat? Whatever for? Last I heard he’s been blowing his money on girls and drugs and getting involved with gang stuff. Not very proper ‘heir-apparent’ behavior.”
“I think he has something to do with my family’s death.”
He let that sit in the room for a moment.
Dr. Caomhanach was the doctor on call when the accident happened. He remembered her hands pressing gauze over burns that ached all over his nine year old body, his screams ricocheting through the ascetic hospital hallways. He remembered her trying to save his mother, his father, and his brother, her lovely hands drenched in their noble blood, all for naught. He remembered her hugging him as he stood silently at their funeral next to their coffins, and the smell of her vanilla perfume.
“How,” she breathed. Her eyes roved over his face intently and she sat on the edge of his bed.
He took a breath. “Before I left the country manor, I found files. In the butler’s office. Files encrypted from my grandfather’s cloud storage. He had a file on Thuy Tinh… and CCTV footage of him next to our car. Before- before it happened.”
The case was closed about half a year after the accident. Sung Lam’s grandfather hired the best private investigators and pulled some strings until he had the entire LVPD on the case. Nothing. Forensics found no evidence of foul play and no one had a clear motive. No suspects, no evidence, nothing. Conclusively it was ruled an accident. Six months later, Sung Lam left Lac Viet City and didn’t look back until over a decade later.
She clasped her hands together. “This is serious. Do you think it will implicate his entire family?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know how far this goes at all, if it’s even a lead. Maybe he was caught at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Are you really going to do this all alone?”
He let out a breath. “I can’t trust anyone. Not even my grandfather. I can’t let anyone find out what I suspect.”
“Well, I’m glad you trust me.” She stood up and wiped some invisible dust off her immaculate lab coat. “I’ve heard your grandfather is throwing a gala to celebrate your return. Maybe you can find something there. But in the meantime, your vitals are stable and bless your Dragon physiology. You’re good to go. You’ll find your clothes in that bathroom over there. Try to not get stabbed anymore, okay? It’s largely inconvenient for my sleep schedule.”
And with that, the busty blonde doctor took her leave.
xxx
Sung Lam winced as he pulled his blood-crusted shirt over his head. He twisted himself in the mirror, watching his Dragon marks and his burn scars ripple smoothly over his lightly built figure. It was hard to permanently maim or disfigure any Mystic, much less a Dragon, but that silver knife would leave a scar, no doubt.
Good, he thought to himself as he shoved himself into his jeans, another one to add to his collection.
He swung open the bathroom door with probably more force than needed, the cold metal biting into his palm. His shoulders rounded, he padded his way through the room and out into the waiting room of the ER.
The girl was still there, peacefully leaning against a wall as she slept. She was tall, almost as tall as him, well built and just as lithe as him. She tucked herself into her leather jacket, looking rather cozy as she drooled all over her chin.
He cleared his throat uncomfortably, hands shoved in his pockets.
With a start, she awoke. Startlingly bright amber eyes contrasted with her dark, nut-brown tanned skin, her well-sculpted lips forming an ‘o.’
“Oh, good.” Her voice was raspy from sleep. “You’re not dead.”
“Why are you still here? We don’t know each other.” He felt like it was a perfectly normal thing to be suspicious of such a stranger. Or maybe he had forgotten how to even interact with other people besides his household staff.
She scoffed, leaning forward and crossing her arms indignantly. She gave him the stink-eye. “Jesus, you’re welcome, asshole. You’re a Dragon, right? No way would I go home and sleep after discovering one of the most important people in the city half-dead and bleeding out. If you died, I’d be fucked.”
“Are you always this crass?” Irritation flared in his chest. This woman was so… forward. Uninhibited.
“Are you always this stuck up?” She shot back, not missing a beat. “Well, whatever.” She rubbed the drool off her chin and stood up, shaking out her short pink locks. “I’m going home. Nice meeting you, try not to bleed over my backpack next time.”
“Wait.”
In a few strides, he covered the width of the room. He grabbed her wrist, some part of him marveling at their proximity. This close, he could make out the mole under her left eye and the flecks of green in her eyes. “What’s your name.” He said it not even as a question, but a command. “I must repay you.”
“Yeah, wire me 50 million dong and buy me a pet bison and we’ll call it even,” she snarked. For a moment her countenance faltered, shifting into something near concern. The corners of her well-sculpted mouth turned downwards, her brow furrowing and creasing. “You don’t owe me anything.”
“No, but I want to. And I have to thank you for your secrecy. No one can know this happened.”
“So what?” She snatched her arm out of his grip with surprising strength. “You’re trying to buy me off?”
Sung Lam lifted his eyes to the heavens and counted the dots on the ceiling. Dear dragons this woman was difficult. He took a deep breath. Then another. “No, call it repayment of your good will. I owe you my life. The least I can do is give you something in return. And it’s not fair you know who I am but I don’t know who you are.”
She paused at the threshold of the door, “It’s Au Co. Lai Au Co. I live on 54 and ½ on Nguyen Du street in the Fragrant Peony district.”
Sung Lam canted his head in her direction, a final goodbye, as she disappeared into the night.
xxx
Au Co’s head hurt on the walk back to her apartment. Whether it was from sleeping shittily in that hospital waiting room or the sheer stress, she didn’t know. Crossing an empty street, she tapped the holocom screen on her wrist. Her list of contacts appeared before her, and she lazily scrolled down the screen before her eyes snagged on ‘My Nuong.’
The other girl’s happy countenance was set as her profile picture for her contact profile in Au Co’s directory, My Nuong looking positively ecstatic as she hugged a baby elephant. A flicker of a fond smile ghosted over Au Co’s face. She dialed her friend's number.
On the fourth ring, My Nuong picked up. “Hey, yeah, what’s up? Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, just walking home still. Listen, do you have time after class tomorrow? I have the weirdest story to tell you.”