Tom took a deep breath, exchanged a look with Duke, then sprayed the medicine he brought on Leena's hand. Leena screeched in pain. Tom knew she would, but he figured he had to treat her anyway.

  "Ouch! It hurts, Tom! You lied to me! You said I wouldn't feel a thing." The sudden pain pulled not only a scream out of her, but her head from Duke's arms. She struggled to get her hand free, but it was grasped firmly by Duke. She had no choice but to look at Tom pitifully. Her tears were the silent allegation of Tom's lie. She felt something! A big something. It hurt so much. Throwing the fact that she was surrounded by many people to the wind, she began to cry sadly. At the same time, her eyes drifted around the crowd. The sight of Kevin somehow made her feel quite reassured.

  "But if I didn't lie to you, you wouldn't let me apply the medicine. What else could I do?" Then Tom took out a small bottle of white powder and sprinkled it onto Leena's injured hand. He did it so carefully, maybe because he didn't want to hurt Leena, or maybe because he was feeling reluctant to use the expensive powder. Anyway, with the medicine applied, Leena's pain went away.

  Kevin was almost heartbroken to see Leena cry. So now he also looked at Tom worriedly, afraid he would use other painful medicines. Luckily, Tom packed up his medical kit after sprinkling the powder. That meant that Leena didn't need to go through anymore pain from the treatment.

  "Take a look at her foot too." That was the first time Kevin said something since they all came in. And his words were quite explosive as now all their attention shifted to Leena's foot. All of them waited, holding their breath, not knowing what other injuries they were going to see.

  "It's not necessary. I'm alright." Leena dreaded pain. She didn't want more done with her foot. She was tired of feeling pain —— she'd been through enough.

  "Your foot got scalded too?" Duke cared about Leena so much that he held her foot up right away after hearing about any more injuries. When he saw her bruise, his eyes grew even colder.

  "No." Leena murmured. She knew that Duke was already quite angry about her scald. Another bruise would only add insult to injury. She didn't want to see Duke fly into a rage and make a big deal out of her injuries. She was already in pain —— she didn't need to deal with him too.

  "You must have been hit by something. But lucky you, it's not serious. I'll write up a prescription for you. You'll be fine." Tom

  ho she was. In fact, she cared about Leena a lot. It was just that she showed her concern differently than other people.

  "No way. Belinda, you are still holding a grudge over me drugging you? So now you make sarcastic remarks when I'm hurt, too weak to fight back." Leena knew that Belinda didn't mean to make fun of her. But still she quipped back as revenge for Belinda not persuading Duke to go back home.

  "Cut the crap. You should spend more time taking care of yourself and not getting hurt again. Duke, aren't you going back with me?" Belinda frowned and looked at Duke. 'Duke really loves his sister. You could see the worry in his wrinkled forehead after seeing Leena's injuries. He could have handled it better, though. He has brought the group's mood down by blaming Kevin, ' Belinda complained to herself.

  "Don't worry, Leena. It'll only take a few days. We see this stuff in the army all the time. So just take it easy, and be careful not to get your wounds wet." Daisy curled her lips into a smile. In the army, you weren't really hurt unless your broke a limb. Bruises and scalds were common on base. You just had to grit your teeth through every ache and pain. There were no wusses in the military —— every injury was a badge of courage.

  "Okay, Daisy, I'll get some rest." Leena was already a big fan of Daisy. Now she admired her even more.

  Then, all of them walked out of the house, totally oblivious to Kevin, just like when they first came in. Only Tom stopped to talk to him, but just to tell him how to use the medication. Because he knew Leena wouldn't follow his directions, so he had better find another person to remind her.