My turn to chase you

The light coming from nowhere came to Ryuchen when he opened his eyes, his heart was pounding and was out of breathe.

He slowly sat up from lying down while looking around and realized he was inside an unfamiliar room. He groaned in pain and unconsciously grabbed his head, there were neither wounds nor blood there but he could still feel the pain from the accident all over his body.

Where am I?

Instead of the hospital, he found himself inside a hotel-like apartment base on the decoration he sees and was not sure what was happening. As he recalling the events that happened to him, he suddenly heard the door open.

Ryuchen frowned as he saw Lyka entered the room.

"You're awake!" she said happily when she saw him.

What is Lyka doing here?

He suddenly got dizzy again, causing him to grabbed his head.

"Ryuchen!" he heard Lyka shout worriedly.

Something was not right, a sense of inexplicable as if was off track. Because the last thing he remember was he had an accident, he even accepted his death to see his wife.

"What are you doing here?" Ryuchen asked her.

"Huh? This is my apartment." she raised her right eyebrow and put the tray she was holding on the side table. "Are you alright, Ryuchen?"

Ryuchen was unable to answer because of his confusion, he thought if the accident was just a dream. But that dream was too vivid that he can still feel the pain from the accident until now.

"Ryuchen..." Lyka grabbed his attention. "Are you alright, do you feel any pain? Do you want me to bring you to the hospital?"

He saw worry on her face as it seems something had happened to him, but other than the accident, he didn't remember anything.

"I'm fine, but... what's going on?"

"You fainted all of a sudden after you saved me from the kidnappers."

Lyka sat on the bed next to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

A sudden goosebumps rushed throughout his body when he felt her weight. He didn't like the way he felt when her body got close to him, so he quickly moved to the other side of the bed to get away from her.

"Kidnappers?" he asked indifferently after he put his feet on the floor.

"Chloe kidnapped me, remember."

He froze, then irritation immediately flowed through Ryuchen's blood when he realized what she said.

Chloe was dead but it seems Lyka still doesn't want her to rest in peace.

"Chloe is dea--."

"I almost got raped because of your damn wife, she even tortured me."

Ryuchen's heart stopped beating for a moment.

A sudden realization rushed through him as he remember what Jason said when they were in front of Chloe's grave, that she was tortured and almost got raped by the kidnappers if Jason didn't arrived to save her.

Back then, because he was worried about Lyka who suddenly fainted, he left Chloe in the place where he found them and bring Lyka to the hospital.

"I never did anything wrong to her." he heard her soft sob as she continue. "I thought... I thought I would never see you again, Ryuchen."

Ryuchen doesn't know why, but he suddenly no longer feels pity or concern for her, perhaps on the corner of his mind, he begins to doubt her because of what he heard from Jason.

He quickly stood up as he remembered Chloe.

"Where's Chloe?" worried suddenly flashed on his face when something suddenly entered his mind.

"I don't know--." she stood up and looks uncomfortable. "...Wait, what are you doing?"

"I'm leaving." he said while putting on his coat that he found on a chair.

Ryuchen rushed to go out of the room but he stopped to turn his head when he felt Lyka hugged him from behind.

"What are you doing, let go of me!" he said irritatingly while removing her arms that wrapped on his body.

"Where are you going?" she asked anxiously.

"I need to look for my wife."

"Why, why do you have to look for your damn wife?" tears welled up in her eyes. "Ryuchen, I almost got raped because of that fucking bitch, I was tortured by her, and you still want to look for her? That woman is a bitch, she was probably playing with the men she ordered to kidnap me by now!"

"Enough!"

Ryuchen was furious, how dare her say those words about Chloe.

Lyka deceived him that Chloe was the one who always making trouble, that she always bullied and humiliates her. He believed everything she said, little did he know that she was the one behind everything that happened to his wife.

-----

Every summer, Lyka goes to Chloe's house to take a vacation when they were kids. Because they were cousins and both have same age, they became close to each other like sisters. Ryuchen and Jason became friends with her after Chloe introduced her to them.

Until the kidnapping occurred.

When he woke up from his coma, Lyka was the first person he saw by his side. They also found out that due to fear and trauma he had experienced, he barely forgot what happened when he was kidnapped.

Ryuchen had to stay in the hospital for a few days so the doctor could assess his condition and ensure his recovery. But the whole time he was in the hospital, he didn't even see Chloe visit.

The day before he was about to discharge from the hospital, Lyka told him that she was the one who saved him from the kidnappers. But she wanted to keep it a secret so in return, he promised not to tell anyone about it. And since then, he has considered her as his savior, a benefactor who saves his life.

When he got discharged from the hospital, five days after he woke up from his coma, he found out the reason why Chloe didn't visited him in the hospital is because Chloe and her parents went to America and no one told him about it.

----

Ryuchen quickly returned to their villa after leaving Lyka's apartment.

He collected the puzzle pieces of his memory, then put them together in a way that can't be described as logical, that he has returned to the past. He knew it wasn't a dream, and he would only be sure if what was happening to him was real if he see Chloe.

"Where's my wife?" Ryuchen asked when he entered the villa where he and Chloe were living.

"Young madam hasn't come back yet since she left this morning, Young master." the butler replied.

"Damn!"

It was already past eight in the evening, how many hours has passed since he left Chloe with the kidnappers?

What if something happened to her?

Ryuchen was anxious, he had no idea where and what happened to Chloe. The guilt in his heart getting heavier as time passed by, and wants to tear his hair out because of his situation.

His hand was trembled as he took his phone to call Chloe, but no one answered.

He had been calling her phone for almost an hour but no one answering, then Jason suddenly came up in his mind and went to his contact to call him. He remember him saying that he saved Chloe the day she was almost got raped by the kidnappers, so his wife's probably with him at that moment.

"...Hello."

Ryuchen didn't know whether to laugh or cry, somehow he was relieved when Jason picked up his call.

"Jason, where's Chloe?" he asked. "Is she with you right now? Tell me where you are, I will go there."

No one talks on the other line for a few seconds so he looked at his phone screen, his call on Jason's phone was still connected but why he's not talking on the other line?

"Jason?"

"...Chloe is resting." he said wryly. "How did you know that Chloe is--."

"Doesn't matter." he said as he left his room. "Tell me where you are, I will go there."

After Jason said where they are, he rushed to his car and drove as fast as he could when he found out Chloe was in the hospital.

Ryuchen reached the hospital in just a few minutes and saw Chloe was lying on the hospital bed. Her cheeks are red and slightly swollen like someone slapped her several times, and there were several wounds and bruises all over her face and arm.

He covered his face with his hands and took a deep breath to calm down, but still couldn't calm himself. He still feels his blood boiled in anger as he looks at Chloe's condition.

In his previous life, because he was worried about Lyka's condition, he didn't waste his time to find out what happened to Chloe after the kidnapping. He did not even returned to their villa for a week just to take care of Lyka, and didn't think what Chloe would end up like.

He couldn't help but blame and be angry with himself, he regrets why he didn't save her or at least get her away from that place back then. Why did he believe those kidnappers when they said that Chloe was the one who planned and ordered them to kidnap Lyka.

"Thank you for saving my wife, Jason."

Jason was startled by what Ryuchen said, he just stared at his back while sitting on the side of Chloe's bed. Ryuchen holding Chloe's hand and kissing it as if her condition was on the verge of death.

He was slightly confused of what was happening to him.

During the two years of his two childhood friend's marriage, he had never seen Ryuchen care about Chloe nor be thankful to him every time he helps or saves Chloe from Lyka's schemes. He never expecting him to thank him either, because he was doing those things for Chloe because she was his childhood friend as well.

He never thought he would receive a thank you from his friend Ryuchen for saving Chloe's life.

But instead of being happy because of his gratitude, he felt disgusted. Even though he has warned him several times that Lyka was the one behind everything that happened to Chloe, he didn't listen to him and still protects her like a blind man.

"Chloe needs some rest." he said. "It's better if you leave--."

"No." Jason was stunned once again. "Thank you Jason but you can leave now, I will take care of my wife."

Jason got irritated of what he heard from him, as if he doesn't know that he was the reason why such things are happening to Chloe. There seems to be a sincerity in Ryuchen's voice, but it wasn't that easy for Jason to believe him.

"Is it now your duty to take care of Chloe?"

"She's my wife, of course it's my responsibility--."

He burst out laughing of how ridiculous his friend's words were to him, he even had the nerve to tell him that when he knew everything about what was going on in Chloe's life. She suffered a lot, but Ryuchen never even cared for her.

"But you failed to take care of Chloe since long time ago."

"W-what?"

"You have no right to take care of Chloe now." he smirked to mocked him. "Why don't you just take care of your innocent and beloved Lyka."

"The fuck are you saying Jason!"

Ryuchen was angry but Jason didn't care, he wants to let him know how stupid he was and let him become miserable. He wants him to suffer just as much as Chloe suffered, but he knows that Chloe has plan so he just have to wait for her to get better.

"Lyka is your girlfriend, right?"

Ryuchen averted his gaze, realizing the mistake he had made back then.

"I... I'm Chloe's husband and she's my wife so--."

"Did you ever consider Chloe as your wife?"

Ryuchen was stunned, he knew he never considered Chloe as his wife and even said to Jason back then that she didn't deserve to be his wife in front of her own grave.

He made Chloe's life miserable for bullying and harming Lyka, he never believed her nor listen to her. For him all she say was just an excuses, little did he knows that she was telling the truth.

But because he was now given the opportunity to be with Chloe for the second time, he will make everything right and do all the things he wished before he died.

"Leave!" he suddenly heard Jason said.

Ryuchen become anxious, restless, he doesn't know what to do, because she feels that he will never see his wife again once he leave that room.

He immediately bowed his head in front of Jason, he realized that he doesn't need his pride and will also kneel if that is what he needs to do. Because at that moment, all he needs is Chloe.

"What are you doing?" he asked in disbelief.

"Jason, please... let me watch and take care of Chloe." Ryuchen begged him.

He heard Jason sighed.

Ryuchen knew that he knows about Chloe's miserable life because he had told him everything when they talked in front of his wife's grave, he might thought that he was just pretending but his feeling is genuine when he said that he wants to take care of Chloe.

"...You can take care of her tonight." Jason said, rubbing his forehead.

Ryuchen face immediately brightened.

"Thank you--."

"Don't." Jason said indifferently. "I will just let you take care of her tonight, but once Chloe wake up, she will decide if she will let you take care of her."