Third Floor, Room 347
2:18 PM
Ren stood outside Aoi's hospital room, his hand hovering over the door handle.
He had been there for three minutes. Maybe longer. Long enough that the decision should've made itself.
It didn't.
Through the small window in the door, he could see her lying in bed—pale, bandages wrapped around her head, her left arm suspended in a cast atop stacked pillows.
Beside her sat Hana, holding her sister's uninjured hand. Near the window stood an older woman—their mother, had to be—standing near the window, sunlight catching her tired face.
They looked like a family. Complete. And Ren was the reason they'd almost lost that.
"I can't do this. " He thought. "I can't face them. "
"What do I even say? "Sorry your daughter almost died because I made enemies with a biker gang? "
"No. No. " He turned to leave but the door opened.
He nearly collided with Aoi's mother as she stepped into the hallway.
