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Katyusha was worried. It's been a while since Toris' last visit and she hadn't heard anything from him yet. Sure he might had been busy with his job, but it didn't erase the chance that someone already got him. Someone who knew that he didn't belong in their world. In her world.

Someone knocked on her door. But before Katyusha reached it, her guest already stumbling inside. It was Toris, and he was bleeding.

"Toris?" she called him, her voice hitched slightly. Her hands caught him before he fell on the floor. "Toris... Toris, can you hear me?" The Lithuanian was too heavy and she might make the wound worse by trying to drag him to the spare room. So she gently laid him down on the floor, a pillow placed under his head. He might catch a cold if Katyusha left him here, but she didn't want to take the risk.

She returned to the living room with her usual kit and a large bowl of hot water. After sterilizing the area around the wound, Katyusha began to stitch the gash. She wondered who had done it to him, why he became the target; was it a targeted crime or he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Some people were attacked because of that reason.

Once the wound was stitched, Katyusha draped blankets over him. She leaned on the wall, a cup of coffee in her hand. The woman was dead tired, but she had to stay awake in case Toris woke up and needed something. Plus, she needed to think about how to move him to the spare bedroom...

"Toris, really, what happened to you?" she muttered, eyes barely open. The coffee barely helped to ease her drowsiness. She started feeling guilty by letting him visited her so often. Commoners shouldn't have involved with her after all.

There were three women walking on the sidewalk, chatting and laughing cheerfully. One of them separated herself from her friends at the corner, bid them goodbye and got into a cab. Said vehicle headed to Aylesbury Estate. The woman had been invited to a co-worker's birthday party at a nearby bar, which explained why she returned later than usual. At least she had some fun, something she rarely got lately, either because of a late night shift at the hospital or more people came to her house.

She finally arrived at her home, fumbling her bag to take her keys. After five failed attempts of inserting the right key to the lock, she guessed that she might had drink too much. That, or she just really tired since she kept yawning. She casually threw her jacket once she's inside, paying no attention to where the clothing landed. A plan to take a quick shower and go to bed immediately was forming in her mind. Yes, that sounds good--

Wait.

Katyusha blinked several times before walking towards the door. She remember trying to unlock it, but she tried it using keys for her locker at the hospital. The door key itself was still in her bag, buried under her other belongings. Which means someone had opened her door earlier...

The nurse shook her head. It's hard to think clearly after all the alcohol she drank earlier. With a sigh, she made her way to the kitchen and took a large mug from the shelf. She was about to fill it with water when she noticed something odd with the tap. There was something red on it, and it looked new.

"Що!?" how did it got here? There wasn't anything unusual with the tap when she left for work this morning. Puzzled, the woman leaned closer. Her trained nose instantly detected a faint smell of iron. It was blood. She placed the mug in the sink and turned, intending to take a dishcloth. However, something caught her attention in her peripheral vision. A figure stood close by; their physical features almost completely hidden in the shadows. They also reeked the same iron smell.

It was a stray bird then. With that in mind, Katyusha turned the kitchen lights on, then faced her guest. What she saw had shocked her quite much; she was glad she wasn't holding her mug anymore since she might had dropped it off. The figure was a man, standing straight despite all the blood that covered him from head to toe. She wouldn't be that shocked if this man was anyone else, but he was her boss. He was Kasem.

Taking a deep breath, she approached him, eyes widened in concern. "W-what happened...?" she asked him. "What happened to you?" She moved her gaze from his face to his clothes. He must had been wounded so bad with this amount of blood...

"I need you to..." Katyusha paused, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You need to take your clothes off, please. So I'd be able to see your wounds." She took the mug from the sink, filled it with water despite the blood on the tap and drank the content. "Sorry about this," muttered her when she moved to take her surgery kit. She really shouldn't have drank anything at the party.

Dating was never an important part in her life, especially once she started treating stray criminals in her house. Keeping her side job a secret would be much harder if she was dating. Let alone a date, Katyusha rarely allowed her coworkers came to her house. They might suspect her for owning so many medical supplies; especially her surgery kit. That aside, the Ukrainian was always being careful not to get too close to anyone. She had been turning down dinner invitations for years and faking disinterest at potential dating partners. And that's the problem she was having now.

Katyusha stared at the intricately printed paper on the coffee table. It was an invitation for dinner, sent by a man named Jack Chan. She had no idea about this man's identity; she never heard his name prior receiving his invitation. The location he chose was The Jade Dragon, a luxurious Chinese restaurant. Looking from the chosen location and the formal letter, she could tell that Jack Chan is a wealthy man. But rather than just a dinner, apparently Mr. Chan wanted to talk to her. He stated in his letter that she might be useful for his company. She re-read the letter again. Mr. Chan didn't specify what company he owned or why he wanted to work with her. Considering that her legal job was a nurse, it would be unlikely she's needed in some legal company. Even if he did, he wouldn't bother asking her for dinner. An interview in his office was enough.

That left her with two possibilities: one, Mr. Chan wanted to have a date with her; or two, Mr. Chan knew about her slightly illegal side job. Of course so few people knew about the latter probability. Maybe he had seen her at the hospital or somewhere else and just interested to know more about her.

Well, going wouldn't hurt anyone. On the plus side, she'd get to eat in a fancy restaurant. If he wanted to have a dinner with her again, she could turn his offer down politely like what she usually did. So Katyusha changed to a knee-length blue dress with a matching open-toed shoes. She took her clutch and scarf, left her house and stopped a cab.

She arrived at The Jade Dragon about ten minutes earlier. After Katyusha showed the waiter her invitation, he immediately led her to an exclusive-looking table for two. The nurse sat there, patiently waiting for this mysterious Jack Chan, whoever he is.