Xuyan's POV
The bed is empty.Again.
I stand there longer than necessary, staring at the neatly arranged sheets like they might suddenly make sense if I look hard enough. No discharge papers. No warning. Just… gone.
I exhale sharply and turn away.
I shouldn't care.
Patients leave all the time.
Patients disappear.So why does this feel different?
The night shift crawls by. Another trauma case comes in. Then another. I move on instinct—hands steady, voice sharp, mind focused. That's how I survive this place.
Still, every time the automatic doors slide open, my head lifts up
Not him.
By midnight, rain starts tapping against the windows. The lights outside flicker, casting long shadows across the corridor. A nurse beside me shivers.
"Something feels off tonight," she mutters.
I don't answer.
Because she's right.
A sudden siren wails in the distance
too far, then closer. Police this time,More than one car.
I pause mid-step, a strange tightness forming in my chest.
Another call comes through the radio at the nurse's station.
Assault.
Multiple suspects injured.
One victim rescued.
My jaw clenches.
Patterns matter in my line of work. And this city has been bleeding in the same places, the same way, night after night.
Just like him.
I shake the thought away and keep working until my hands ache and my eyes burn. By the time dawn approaches, exhaustion weighs heavy on my bones.
I pass the empty room once more before my shift ends.
For a second, I imagine him there—leaning against the bed, pretending not to be in pain, eyes sharp and unreadable. I almost hear his voice.
Almost.
I scoff at myself and turn to leave.
Outside, the rain has stopped. The air smells clean, too clean for a city like this. As I walk home, I notice something dark on the pavement near the alley across the street.
Blood.
Fresh.
My steps are slow.I tell myself it's none of my business. I tell myself I'm tired, imagining things. Still, my eyes linger on the trail leading deeper into the shadows.
Somewhere far above, the moon fades with the coming sun.
And I don't know why, but I'm certain of one thing—
Whoever he really is…
the man who vanishes by morning is never far from the darkness at night.