37. Red Wine

As she recalls, she has only met Jason a few times so far.

First, during the meeting of the two big families about a month before the wedding. And secondly, on his wedding day, two days ago. The rest of the time she had only ever seen his picture in passing when looking up Josh on an internet search engine.

Therefore, even though they were now connected and became a family, she still couldn't immediately recognize the man in just one look. It may seem strange, but it's not. Indeed, Ashley was so unfamiliar with everything that was going on in her life right now. She didn't even know well the man she married—despite their story years ago—let alone his family whom she had only met and talked to once or twice.

The four months Ashley spent after finding out the purpose of her parents calling her back here were short and didn't give her enough clues.

The moment she realized that it was her brother-in-law calling her, the man immediately approached her with a surprised expression.

“You're covered in blood,” he instantly turned his head towards the middle-aged man who was already there, “You hit someone!” his eyes bulged.

“No, sir, no,” the man called Mr. Kwak immediately denied. "I didn't hit them. I'm sure I didn't."

"How can you say you didn't? Look at their condition!" Jason seemed to be getting angry.

“We didn't get hit,” Ashley chimed in. She tried to mediate the brief feud going on between those two men. "We just fell down. I'm alright. And I don't think it's blood."

Ashley touched the red splotches on her clothes and then rubbed her thumb with her other finger—intending to find out if it wasn't blood, because she didn't feel like smelling the carnal odor that would surely be strong with such a huge quantity of blood. Instead, what she smelled was more like dark fruity spiced berry as distinctive as that of red wine. Then it was all confirmed once she saw that the wine bottle that was originally in the plastic bag had broken and the entire contents were flowing everywhere around them.

“It's not blood,” Ashley assured again in a low voice that was still affected by her shock. Her hand, which also still felt weak, tried to lift it up to point at the plastic bag that had been messed up.

Jason followed Ashley's direction trying to tell her with a furrowed brow, then took turns looking at Ashley and an old woman lying in pain beside her. Whether the red liquid was blood or not, Jason felt he had to get this over with immediately—take care of Ashley and the old woman to get the medical help they needed, as well as put an end to the incident that was attracting more crowds and attention from others.

“You still need to be examined to know the overall condition,” he said and simply ignored Ashley's statement about the blood, "Mr. Kwak, take them to the hospital. Hurry up and get them into the car."

“No, not me,” Ashley, once again, refused. "I'm fine. It's this grandmother who needs to be taken to the hospital right away."

Jason sighed, “You, and that woman, I'll take all of you to the hospital,” his voice sounded firm.

"Sir, the ambulance will be here soon. We can't take them in an ordinary car. Especially the old woman, we can't carelessly lift and move her body. Let's wait a moment, the medical staff knows better what is the right thing to do."

“Ah—yes, that's right.”

So they could only wait for the ambulance for help. And what they did afterwards was to make sure that the old woman remained conscious until help arrived, and kept trying to ask which part of the body hurt the most in case there was a possibility of serious injuries.

After the ambulance arrived, the old woman was moved inside with Ashley, as well as Jason who insisted on getting into it too. Mr. Kwak, himself,  followed in his car.

The old woman and Ashley were handled by the team who immediately conducted a complete examination and provided the necessary treatment. After the doctor in charge finished checking all of their clinical conditions, and the laboratory and x-ray results came out, he explained the situation.

Jason asked again, “So there are no signs of a crash?”

"Yes. Everything is good. There is no damage to internal organs. Only abrasions from being scratched by the road surface. But especially for the old lady, her heart is beating faster than normal and her blood pressure is also high, most likely due to the shock effect. From her statement she didn't know if she had high blood pressure or not, so she should be monitored for the next few days. So far there is nothing to worry about. They can go home once the medicine I gave them in the IV runs out."

Ashley spoke up after the doctor left, "I told you earlier that we just fell down. We didn't get hit at all. And I'm fine. I shouldn't have to go through so many examinations."

"Crashed or not, but you are still wounded. So it's better to check everything than to regret it later. You have scratches everywhere," Jason pointed to the many wounds on Ashley's right hand and leg. “At least those wounds should be treated as well to prevent infection.”

Ashley only responded with a nod. 

She felt there was no need to contradict the man's words. After all, everything was done. She just had to wait for a while and then she could go home. So she could relieve herself of the awkwardness she had inexplicably felt while she was around that man. It doesn't need many reasons why she feels uncomfortable, because she left home to avoid the crazy man named Josh, only to meet up with his eldest brother whom she didn't know well and get involved in this grueling accident situation.

She glanced at the old woman on the bed next to her. Several nurses were still attending to her injuries and doing repeated checks every few moments.

“Wait.” Jason's voice made Ashley turn her head. The man narrowed his eyes to focus his vision more on Ashley’s face. Jason remembered that the girl had fallen to the right. With wounds that filled only the right side of her body. But on her left temple and cheekbone, there was another wound that he accidentally caught. "What is that wound? It doesn't look like a new wound," he pointed while asking lightly.