"You look familiar… do I know you?"
Yeri didn't respond. She simply lowered her gaze and pretended not to hear him, hoping he would lose interest and go away.
Unfortunately, the sleazy man was undeterred. He stepped even closer, invading her personal space, his shadow falling over her.
Yeri rose to leave, but his hand shot out, fingers closing around her arm. A wave of disgust swept through her, and she quickly swung her IV stand between them like a barrier.
"Mister, this is a hospital, not a place for you to play hooligan," she scolded sharply.
The man's lips curled into a lewd grin as his eyes shamelessly raked over her from head to toe.
"You're a bit thinner than my usual taste," he drawled, "but that face…so gorgeous."
Yeri: "…"
She was starting to wonder if there was some kind of contagious brain-rotting virus going around, one that turned people into deranged nuisances. Linda and Venice were prime examples. Then there was Tiffany and Marco Fabian, that bizarre livestreamer woman… and now this creep.
Deciding not to waste another second on him, Yeri was about to leave when his expression suddenly lit up in recognition.
"I remember now!" he exclaimed, eyes gleaming. "You… you're that Yeri Zhi, right? That sickly little girl who looked like a pale white ghost." He chuckled to himself, then gave her a look of appraising satisfaction. "Not bad. You've changed. You used to be so scrawny and pitiful-looking."
Yeri frowned slightly. She hadn't expected him to actually know her.
"What? Don't remember me?"
Yeri gave him a slow, deliberate once-over, her disgust plain. "Appearance...disappointing. Personality...also disappointing. Are you here to get those treated?"
His smile faltered, the offense clear on his face.
"Yeri Zhi, you've really changed. You used to be so timid I almost thought you were mute." Then, recovering his earlier enthusiasm, he added, "Well, I don't mind. Once we're married, you'll have to attend social gatherings with me, entertain my friends and family. I don't need a timid, sickly woman who couldn't even satisfy me in bed."
Yeri's brows twitched.
"By the way," he continued without shame, "you're still a student, right? No need for that, just quit. Once our engagement is settled, I want you ready whenever I need you. If you want to be worthy of my family's name, there's a lot you'll need to learn like rules to follow. This attitude of yours won't do. You'll have to be obedient and sensible."
Yeri didn't bother replying. She simply stepped back, partly to get away from him, the sour reek of his breath was enough to make flowers wilt.
Mistaking her silence for submission, the man puffed up smugly.
"By the way, do you still get sick often? I'll need to see your full medical record. I don't like dirty women. And if you're infertile, don't worry, I'll still marry you. But you'll have to understand if I take another woman to bear my child, okay? You can raise the child yourself and I'll make sure the child will only recognized you as his mother."
Yeri decided there was no point engaging. She wasn't angry, just unlucky to have crossed paths with another lunatic.
She turned to go, but he grabbed her IV stand to stop her.
"Mister, there's plenty of security here," Yeri warned coolly. "I wouldn't even have to scream."
He just laughed. "Go ahead. But you're my fiancée, this is a personal matter."
"Fiancée? Are you dreaming?" Yeri sneered. "Why would I choose an ugly, scrawny man who could kill someone just by breathing on them?" She yanked her IV stand free and started walking.
His face darkened. He stepped in front of her again. "You… you really don't remember me?"
Her calm, unbothered expression only seemed to make him angrier.
"Yeri Zhi, you used to follow me around like a dog, desperate for my attention. I just left abroad for a few years, and now you act like you don't know me?"
Yeri: ???
He stared at her as if her confusion was a personal insult.
"You're just angry I left without saying goodbye, but our engagement still stands" he said with a sigh, as if comforting a child. "Fine. To make it up to you, I'll take you out tonight to meet my friends, you'll see."
Yeri rolled her eyes and stepped to the side. "I have no interest in meeting your asylum buddies. If you forgot to take your medication, go ask your doctor. And maybe ask them to double your dosage, it's clearly not working."
That triggered him and he tightly seized her arm. "Enough. Yeri, who said you can insult my friends? I don't believe you don't remember me, Leo Nafplion!"
The name made her pause, but only for a second. She tried to pull free, but his hold was iron. She was just about to kick him when another hand clamped down on his wrist, prying him away.
"What do you think you're doing? Harassing a patient in broad daylight?"
Yeri froze, then looked up at the tall figure now standing protectively in front of her.
Tristan Felan? What was he doing here? Could Shin Keir be there too?
Leo's face shifted when he recognized the man, he's taller, fitter, and infuriatingly handsome.
"If it isn't young master Felan," he muttered with a strained smile. "This is a personal matter between me and my fiancée."
"Fiancée?" Tristan's frown deepened. He turned to Yeri, who quickly shook her head in denial.
Tristan had been looking for Shin but hadn't found him, not even in Zahn's office. Thinking of passing Yeri's ward, he'd spotted her cornered by this creep.
"I don't know him," Yeri said in a low voice, though Leo still heard. "He's been talking nonsense. I think he's a mental patient."
"You! What nonsense? Our families, the Nafplion's and Zhi's arranged this engagement when we were kids!" Leo protested indignantly.
"Nafplion? Which one?" Tristan asked coldly.
The Nafplion's are notorious for having good for nothing children and the current patriarch has a long list of illegitimate children like he was building his own nation.
"Leo Nafplion," the man declared with misplaced pride.
Tristan's eyes narrowed. Within the elite circle, Leo's reputation was infamous, a spoiled, useless heir who spent his days on booze, women, and drugs.
Saeki Jie had once gossiped that he'd been sent abroad for rehab. Judging by his current state, either that was a lie or rehab had failed spectacularly.
"Young master Felan, you should know marriage alliances aren't a joke. She's taken, don't waste your time here," Leo said with smug confidence.
Tristan's mouth twitched. Perhaps Leo Nafplion thought he has ulterior motive for meddling.
Whatever he was infamous for, did this addict actually think he was the better man?
"Well, she says she doesn't know you, so she doesn't." Tristan replied evenly. He turned to Yeri. "Let's go. I'll help you with the IV stand."
"It's fine. It's easy to wheel," Yeri murmured, following his lead.
Leo seethed but didn't dare confront Tristan directly.
Instead, he pointed a finger at Yeri. "Yeri Zhi, have some self-respect! Stop whoring yourself when you already have a fiancé! Who else would want a sickly, useless—"
Before he could finish, Tristan's foot slammed into his stomach, sending him sprawling.
"No wonder the words coming out of your mouth stinks," Tristan said with a look of disgust. "Didn't anyone teach you about hygiene? Even beggars use toothbrushes if they have them."
Yeri almost laughed out loud. She knew Tristan meant it literally, Leo's breath was a weapon.
The skinny man rolled on the floor like a ball. Humiliated, he scrambled up, ready to attack, but his legs buckled and he crashed face-first into the marble.
"Leo Nafplion, know what is good for you and don't bother her anymore."
If Shin Keir heard someone's claiming his girlfriend as his fiancée, with his current state of mind, Leo wouldn't just disappear, his whole family would.
Tristan didn't spare him another glance. "That moron's no good. Stay away from him," he said as he guided Yeri down the hall.
Yeri nodded. She knew her father wouldn't seriously entertain marrying her off to such a disgusting man.
Still, a vague memory surfaced when she was young, her parents sometimes brought her to private events or some close gatherings where a boy around Jj's age would constantly insult her, telling her that he would never recognised her as his fiancée and she should stop dreaming about it.
He'd called her a zombie, a white ghost, a pitiful soul, scowling even when she said nothing and stayed far away.
So… that self-obsessed, narcissistic boy had grown up into this lunatic?
"Yeri?" Tristan's voice broke into her thoughts.
She blinked and quickly changed the topic. "Are you here to visit someone?"
"Thought Shin might be here," Tristan admitted.
They chatted briefly about the night market incident as they approached her ward.
"By the way," Tristan added with a faint smile, "if Shin comes to see you… and he's acting strange, just think of it as him worrying."
There was something in his tone Yeri couldn't quite place, but before she could dwell on it, they stepped into her room and found Venice sitting on her bed, crying to Jj.
Yeri nearly cursed aloud. Was she not done yet?
Venice looked up at her and then froze, her eyes locking on the man walking in behind Yeri.