Chapter 14: Are you in love with her?

Hayden's best friend, Graham, looked at his friend as though he was looking at an alien. 

"Hey, who exactly is she?" Graham looked at Hayden and asked with seriousness. 

"My student. " Hayden answered, his gaze never leaving the operating room.

Just that? Because Graham knew his friend better. Was he sure she was just his student?

"Sigh. Speaking of which, just what kind of life has she been through? Her body is full of mutilation, wounds, and scars. What exactly happened?" Graham frowned and looked at Hayden. The moment Hayden heard about her condition, his eyes glinted with a cold light. 

"But her condition is stable for now, I've treated her body." Graham assured Hayden before he continued, " However, I have some questions for you. " Graham's expression turned very serious, which made Hayden narrow his eyes.

"What questions?" Hayden looked at him and asked. 

"Are you sure you are not in love with her?" 

Hayden paused for a moment before he scoffed.

"Of course not!" He directly refuted him. 

"Then tell me, every time you see her, what do you feel?" Graham asked again. He wanted to be sure about something. 

Hayden thought first before he began talking;

"Everytine I see her, she's always in some kind of bad state, and I always have the impulse of lending a helping hand. A few days ago, I saw a guy draping his arm on her shoulder, I felt like chopping it off. It was making me uncomfortable. " Hayden frowned and explained.

"Bro, you love her. And I'd advise you to take this opportunity to make things clear to her. Don't regret it later. Who knows if that guy would confess first?" Graham advised his friend.

"He wouldn't dare. " Hayden growled. With him around, he would never allow it.

"Then hurry up before it's too late." Graham patted Hayden on his shoulder as an encouragement.

Was that what love was? Hayden wondered.

"Alright, you can go and see her now." Graham looked at his friend who was in a daze and said. He knew his friend well. If someone didn't enlighten him, he would be in the dark just like he was earlier. Only he knew him better. 

Hayden now understood why he would always feel uneasy and uncomfortable whenever he saw her looking sick or bullied. He decided to make it open to her. Since that was the case, he had to follow his heart. However, his professional ethics almost made him have a change of heart. But he wasn't the kind to cower when he sets his eyes on something. Screw the consequences. He had to win her heart no matter what it took. 

He stood up and composed himself before he pushed the door open .There he saw her, wrapped in gauges and her exposed parts covered in ointment. He looked at her arms and felt a pang in his heart. He would pay back everything. Every inch of her skin that was scarred and marred by the bullies, he would pay back double. 

"Hi." Hayden spoke after observing her for a while.

"Hi." Ayla said hoarsely . She didn't want to look him in the face, considering how she had lied to him earlier. She wasn't so good at lying, but she didn't want anyone to know about her suffering. 

"How are you feeling now?" Hayden asked gently. His tone was very gentle that it startled Ayla. After all, she only knew him for his cold personality. 

"I'm feeling better now." Ayla looked at her arms and said with bitterness in her eyes. 

"Who did this to you?" Hayden looked at her wounded body and asked , his eyes spewing anger.

Ayla just bit her lips. She just wanted to stay out of trouble, and she didn't want to implicate him.

"And, why don't you ever fight back? Why do you let them trample all over you ?" Hayden furrowed his brows and asked her once again. 

After a short while , She spoke;

"I don't have what it takes." It came out as a whisper. But bitterness could be detected in her voice.

"And what is that?" He was curious. He wanted to know what she lacked. What she needed to have to fight back

"Money and status. I don't have those. So I don't have the right to fight back." Ayla choked on her voice as she said this. 

"Come here." Hayden stretched out his hands and gently embraced her, trying his best not to press on her wounds. 

As he hugged her and watched as she cried, he swore to the heavens to get revenge for her. Anyone who bullied her was going to pay the price tenfold!