Danger Zone

Daime slowly regains the control to open his eyes. He takes a grasp in his brain and quietly opens his eyes.

The first thing he sees is a blurry figure of a light that blinded him. He closes his eyes and looks away as he ward off away from the blinding light. 

"Mr… Ar… k…?"

He tries opening his eyes again when he hears a muffled voice. He blinks his eyes until he can see where he is. 

His initial idea is he is inside of a ward, filled with other patients while the old lady beside him is his grasping his arm lightly. As if it is to make sure that Daime is okay and he will live.

It is a nice gesture but the blinding light is still there. Out of nowhere, he can hear something like the sound of a flat line that an ECG monitor creates right inside his ear. 

He opens his mouth to speak, in hope to make the blinding light go away from his view. He doesn't even know where it comes from but it is irritating his eyes. 

He tries to speak but only groans comes out of his mouth. His voice is hoarse and can't formulate words. 

"L-L-L...ht."

The doctor can't comprehend any gibberish words but the nurse can. She asks him to remove the light away from his eyes as she checks his pulse.

Finally, the light is gone and now Daime can try to regain his sense of sight. Slowly and carefully, he opens his eyes again and he can see tiny details of what seems like a small room.

He squints his eyes before opening them again. The first person he sees is a beautiful nurse. She has green eyes and a blonde hair. 

Daime tries to clear his throat his lips are parched and his throat is swollen. He grabs the doctor's coat and tries to pronounce the word "water". The doctor responses with a nod and orders the other nurses on stand-by to get some water for him.

The old lady looks at Daime with a worried face and tries to speak to him. But the language she is speaking is not one of the language that Daime studies back in Switzerland. 

Daime can only have a glimpse of the words she is trying to say and decides to shake his head slowly. He crunches his forehead, sending signals to the other doctors that are present inside the room. 

He can't understand what the lady is saying. 

One of the nurses comes back with a bottle of water. The female nurse from earlier grabs it immediately and opens it with her little force before asking for a plastic straw. 

She offers it to Daime and the latter immediately drinks the water from the straw. His parched lips suddenly came back to life while his throat has been moisturized by the water.

"Mr. Novinchi, are you okay?"

Novinchi? Who the heck is that?

Daime looks at the doctor as if he is joking when he remembers Primo's old surname before he becomes a Santoro. 

Oh, they are talking about Primo. Do I really look like him? I guess I still can't escape the resemblance even though I am here, huh.

Daime continues to only stare at the doctor, contemplating whether to answer or stay silence. He sighs in his head and decides to just shake his head. 

He still can't understand the old lady but he caresses her wrinkled hands in an attempt to tell her that he is okay.

The old lady looks at him with worry on his face but eventually smiles when she sees the softened expression of her nephew.

"Welcome back, Aster."

Daime continues to stare at her as he contemplates whether to tell her the whole truth or pretend as Primo for the mean time while he thinks on how to go to Moscow for his original plan. 

The nurse looks at him with a blush on her face, making Daime conclude that he is not going anywhere at this condition.

Looks like I just need to pretend. But how? I can't speak their language. I don't even know that it exist. 

Forming a proper plan in mind, Daime tries to speak but the noises inside the room is preventing him from doing so. 

He sighs, looking around the room before putting his hand underneath the hospital bed and pushes himself upward, so he can be in a sitting position and observes the other people coming in and out of the room.

The female nurse notices what he is trying to do and helps him in the process. She talks to him in their language, making him clicks his tongue and stares at the nurse.

"Speak English, please. I can't understand you."

Even if his throat feels a little hoarse, Daime manages to speak the thing that he has been wanting to say earlier. The female nurse looks at her and blinks her eyes, as if thinking what could be the reason as to why this patient can't understand her.

Daime observes her quietly, but his face looks more like he is judging her. In the end, she calls out one of the doctors outside to explain what is happening to Daime.

[He can't speak Korsian, you say?]

[Yes, Doctor. I was just speaking to him earlier when he asked me to speak English. What could be the cause of this condition, Sir?]

The doctor stares at Daime, thinking whether his condition comes from the impact that he got from the plane crash or he really can't speak the language. 

The old lady is right beside them, never leaving Daime's side. She is waiting for the doctor's verdict to Daime's condition. But the look on Daime's face is making him give the verdict. 

In the end, the doctor asks the nurse to escort the old lady outside for the mean time as he examines the patient even more. Both of the ladies nod at the doctor and the old lady kisses Daime on the cheeks. 

Daime moves away from the sudden gesture but immediately says sorry. The old lady smiles at him and ruffles his hair before walking out of the room.

The doctor gets a chair from the other side of the room and sits beside Daime with a blank expression.

[Who are you?]

Hearing the question, Daime recognizes the language. It is the language that Primo speaks to him before. When he first steps foot at the Santoro mansion. 

He is searching his mind what the language is called. When the doctor pats his leg quietly, making Daime looks at him with a smile on his face.

"I asked for your name, young man."

Daime almost kicks him when he speaks English. His dead panned expression made the doctor laughing his ass off. 

Daime sighs loudly at him as he waits for the doctor to stop from laughing. Wiping his tears away, the doctor goes back to his serious expression. 

"Where did you come from?"

Daime leans back to his position from earlier, thinking whether to tell him where he came from since he is not sure whether he is asking in which country he came before going to Russia or what country he is born.

"It's an easy question, young man. You don't have to think hard."

Daime looks at the man, contemplating whether to bite back at him or do nothing. But if he is pretending to be Primo, he needs to bite back. 

Sighing in his mind, Daime rolls his eyes and bites back.

"If you specified what location you are asking then probably I already told you where I came from."

The doctor is amazed at his answer, nodding along the lines that Daime throws at him. He chuckles lightly before shaking his head and scoffs away.

"You really do have a sharp tongue just like what your aunt told us to."

Aunt? Primo has a living aunt?

Daime just stares at him as he nods his head with a conclusion in mind. Whatever that conclusion is, his verdict will change Daime's life. 

Bringing the old lady inside again with worry plastered on her face, the doctor asks her to sit down before giving his verdict.

"It turns out that your grandson forgets to speak the language for staying in a foreign country for too long. The plane crash lends a greater impact to that."

The old lady looks at Daime with worry but she is relieved that her nephew is back.

[I don't care. As long as he is finally home.]

The doctor just nods but did not translate what she said to Daime, making the young man pissed at him even more.

"Learn the language again, young man."

He winks at him and goes away. Daime can only sigh as he curses him in Dutch inside his mind. The old lady makes her way to Daime and caresses his shoulder as she smiles.

"I am not fluent in English but I understand it. And I am happy that you are home, child."

Daime can feel his heart hurting about what she said. Creating an illusion that Primo is indeed back will fire back at him big time but he doesn't want seeing her cry. 

[Thank you for being here with me.]