The piercing rays of sunlight reached Jack's eyes. A gentle breeze brushed past his face, and the sound of the wind rushing through the window and birds chirping reached his ears. He struggled to open his eyes, but after a bit of trying, he succeeded. Jack tried to move his right hand to cover his eyes from the sunlight but felt a sharp pain, first in his right hand, then all over his body. It was as if he had fought a life-or-death battle against another person. Suddenly, all of the memories started flooding into his head.
"Argh, that hurts."
He grabbed onto his head. "It all seems like a dream."
Jack then noticed the bandage covering his right hand. "Sadly, it's not one."
"Where even am I?" He glanced around the room while covering his eyes from the sunlight beaming from the nearby window on the right side of his bed. The walls were painted a light brown color. The ceiling was made of custom designed tiles, all of them bearing the Diamond Wreath design. A TV hung on the wall in front of him, across the room. A glass of water sat on top of the bedside table, which was located on the right side of his bed. Jack tried to reach for it, but his right hand did not have the power to grasp it. Afraid of spilling the water, he used his left hand instead. But the realization that drinking water while lying in bed is a fool's ordeal made him stop. As he lay there, looking at the ceiling, he wondered how fancy everything looked and how pricey it must be.
"Well, this seems familiar. I never thought I would be in a similar looking hospital again."
He also wondered who had brought him to the hospital, what had happened to the robber, and what had happened to the woman. After a few minutes, he heard footsteps arriving outside the door, then the turning of the doorknob. His gaze focused on the door as it opened. He saw beautiful orange hair and eyes sparkling like small droplets of water under the sun. She wore a red maxi dress with blue roses, minimalist and hand drawn. Jack's heart jumped a little at the sight of her. He tried to fix his posture by sitting straight up on the bed. As she approached him, his heart began to beat faster. A huge jolt of pain shot through him when he tried to support himself with his right hand, and he collapsed back onto the bed. With a pensive gaze, the woman said, "Are you okay? Let me help you." She assisted Jack in getting up.
"Thank you for the help, but I'm fine now."
She took a medical stool from nearby and placed it next to Jack's bedside. "No, I should be the one thanking you for saving me last night. Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Jesica." She extended her right hand toward Jack, and he did the same.
"My name is Jack. It's lovely to meet you." They both smiled lightly while shaking hands.
"I hope I was not gripping your hand too hard." Jesica looked somewhat anxious.
"Hey, no worries. It's not hurting that much now, and it definitely won't, especially when a beautiful lady such as yourself shakes my hand."
With a glint in her eyes and a subtle smile, she said, "Thank you for the compliment."
"But did you bring me here?"
"Well, not exactly. A police vehicle was luckily passing by, and I asked the cop for help. The person trying to rob me and the one who injured you got away, sadly."
"Well, that's good. The cop came at the right time. Well, maybe not at the right time, hahaha." Jack tried to use his left hand to reach the glass of water. He felt some tender pain in his left shoulder, but he persevered and got hold of the glass. Unexpectedly, his hand was trembling, and he realized the water would spill if he picked it up. With a sigh, he was about to let go.
"If you don't mind, let me help you with that."
"Well, thank you, but I don't want to trouble you." Jack let go of the glass.
Jessica stood up and strolled around the bed to the bedside table. Jack felt a little surprised at the look of dedication on her face.
"This is the least I can do." She gently picked up the glass of water and held it steady while he drank.
Jack's thirst was quenched, and he was appreciative. "I'm happy to help you," she said with a radiant smile.
She returned to where she was originally seated. "Umm, so how are you feeling now?" Jesica twirled her fingers.
Jack noticed her erratic behavior. "It's better than the previous night, hahaha." Jack's short burst of laughter stopped as soon as it began.
"Haha, that's good." Her legs were fidgeting, and her voice carried some quivering.
"I know you are worried about the fact that I got hurt because of you, but don't worry. I don't regret anything. It was only the right thing to do." Jack focused his fiery gaze directly toward her. Jesica wanted to look away, but his gaze was not oppressing. It was filled with unwavering passion.
"But thank you again. You are an amazing person." She stopped fidgeting her legs, her gaze meeting Jack's eyes directly.
Jack was a little taken aback, but her look and mannerisms at that moment seemed very familiar to him.
"Well, thank you again for the compliment, but there's another reason why I wanted to save you." Jack's gaze wavered. With both hands, he grabbed onto his blanket.
Her eyebrows raised in surprise, and her eyes widened with intrigue.
"The reason being that you look very similar to my wife, Luna."
Jesica leaned an inch forward, her eyebrows raised.
"Around nine years ago, during my days of training in the police academy, I used to go to a restaurant near the academy nearly every day. It was called Luna's Diner. I really liked the food there, mainly the Italian dish called Crostata di Frutta, or fruit tart in English. In that restaurant, there was a beautiful girl I had my eyes set on. She was also the chef there. I never had the courage to speak to her before, but I did know her name, which was Luna, because I asked one of the waiters about her. She was also the daughter of the owner of the restaurant. His name was Enrico. The restaurant was not usually filled with a lot of people because of its location. It was located in a part of the city where the crime rate was pretty high. Most people did not go there out of fear. Anyway, so one day I saw Luna at the police academy meeting a guy who looked like he was in his twenties. I got curious because I thought it was her boyfriend. Just to be sure, I asked him about it and came to realize it was her younger brother. His name was Edward. After talking to him for a bit, I told him about the crush I had on his sister. Edward said that many people had asked his sister out before, but none of them caught her attention because they only cared about how she looked and not about who she was as a person. He told me that if I was the type of person who wanted to ask her out purely based on her looks and had no interest or care about her as a person, then I would not succeed. Edward also told me that he would like to know more about me before he told me more about his sister. I told Edward about how I fell in love with Luna. So, basically, I was returning from the police academy and the sun was setting. On my way, I saw her giving food to some homeless people, but one of the people there took a knife out of his pocket and tried to rob all the food and her valuables. I was a few yards away and saw what was happening. I rushed toward Luna, but I stopped in my tracks when I saw her giving all the food and valuables. I did not stop because of what she did. It was the expression on her face. She had a gentle smile, her eyes devoid of fear, glimmering like jewels in the sunset. After listening to my story, Edward was convinced to tell me more about Luna."
"Wow, she seems to have been an amazing person." Jesica smiled with the glimmer of the morning sun on her face.
Jack looked mesmerized by her smile and her eyes shining in the morning sun like jewels. Jesica saw him staring at her face with his eyes widened and his mouth agape in amazement. He sat there looking dumbfounded.
"Hello, are you there?" Jesica waved her right hand in front of his face.
Jack snapped back to reality. "Oh, haha. Sorry, it's just that you looked very stunning in the morning sun."
"Thanks for the compliment, but can you get back to the story? I want to know what happened."
"Oh, yeah, definitely. Anyway, so where was I?"
"You were going to say what Edward told you about Luna."
"Oh, yeah. Okay, so after Edward was convinced, he told me more about Luna. I learned that she was just like her mother, Rhea, who also had a very kind heart but passed away from a disease when Luna was only six years old. Luna aspired to be like her mother ever since she was a child. She was also very fond of cooking. She got this skill from her father, who Edward told me a bit about. Luna's father was a harsh person on the outside, but he was also a man of his word and would give free food to the people who couldn't afford it. He was Italian and married to Luna's mother, who was British."
"Hey, wait. You didn't say what her father's name was."
"Oh, sorry. I must have forgotten. His name was Enrico. Wait a second, I did say his name at the beginning of the story."
"You did? My bad, haha. I must have forgotten." She laughed awkwardly.
Jack let a small giggle slip from his mouth.
"Ahem. So, after a few days of thinking about it and talking to Edward more, I gathered the courage to talk to her. I went to the restaurant, but as I nearly reached it, a person was getting pushed out of the door by the people who worked there. I heard the person shouting to Luna about how he loved her and would do anything for her. He also said this restaurant is going to pay the price for treating him like this. I went inside and saw, for the first time, the tears of Luna. She was being comforted by her brother and was sobbing. I asked Edward what had happened, and he told me about how this person is obsessed with Luna and is trying to get her to marry him even though she does not like him, nor does she know much about him. Edward also told me that this person is notorious in the area because of his crimes. He has gone to prison multiple times and runs a local gang. His name was Carter. I did not even dare to talk to Luna that day, but I was furious at the fact that Carter made her shed a tear, and I wanted to make him pay for it. I also wanted to catch Carter because he was a criminal who created problems for normal people. But I also knew that I was not a cop yet, so I could not do much. Edward also wanted to teach Carter a lesson for making his sister cry and causing trouble for her. After a week or so, I became a cop. But before becoming a cop, I made a promise to Edward. I promised him that I would arrest Carter before talking to his sister and make him pay for what he did. A week after I became a cop, I was patrolling the area near Luna's restaurant. While driving by, I noticed a commotion there. It was Carter and his gang beating the people who worked at the restaurant and breaking items and windows. I stopped my car and rushed toward Carter and his thugs. There were six people in Carter's gang, so I knew I couldn't fight them all. I called for backup and rushed toward one of the people trying to break a window with a bat. I kicked him from the back, and the other members of the gang noticed me and rushed toward me. I used my gun to fire at the leg of one of the gang members trying to stab me with a knife. The other members stopped in their tracks. I pointed my gun toward them and told them to put their weapons down and move to the corner. Carter was there, grabbing Luna's hand. I saw it and shot toward him, aiming at the wall near Carter. He let go of Luna's hand and moved to the corner of the room with his hands up. She was in tears and thanked me for saving the people who worked at the restaurant and the restaurant itself. A minute or so later, the cops came and arrested Carter and his gang. After this, Luna and I talked on a regular basis, and from there on, she fell in love with me. A few months later, we got married and stayed married for half a year. But Carter got released from prison. He heard of Luna's marriage to me and wanted revenge. He probably believed that if Luna could not be his, then she could not be anyone else's. So one night, when Luna and I were on our way back home in our car, Carter hit our car with his own and fired shots toward us. One of the bullets hit Luna in the back. I tried to rush to the nearest hospital as soon as I could, but it was somewhat far from where we were, and Carter was still shooting at us. But luckily, Edward was patrolling the area close to where Luna and I were. He heard the gunshots and rushed toward us. He realized it was our car getting shot at, and he drove his police vehicle toward the car shooting at us and fired at it. This led to Carter getting shot in the chest and his car crashing into the wall nearby. Both of us rushed Luna to the hospital, but it was too late. She died. Her last words to me were about how much she loved the life she lived with me and how great her brother and father were. She told me, her brother, and her father not to be too sad because she would always be alive in their memories. After her death, I left the job of being a cop because I thought I was not suited to be one. I left London and went back to my hometown. I drowned myself in alcohol and the guilt of not being able to protect the one person I loved the most. I got a job at a small company and kept on living with no purpose. But that night, when I saw you, I felt my heart beating again!"
The room was quiet. The breeze blew, and the rays of sunlight moved.
Chapter 2 End