大暑 [4] / [13]
"No," he sighed,
"You can stay until Cynthia gets back, then it's out of my hands.”
"I understand. I won't bother you further. Anyway, would you do me a favor?"
"What?"
"Will you buy me some food? I'm starving to death."
Of course you must hungry, Alexander thought sarcastically. No doctor, but food. But he shouldn't have any stereotypes about the way rape victims ought to behave. Everybody processes trauma differently.
"Will you?"
Violet asked again.
"Fine,”
he answered her with distaste.
He brought her to a pizza shop nearby. There weren't many people in the afternoon on that day of the week. He ordered a pepperoni pizza and milkshake for her and a cup of black coffee for himself. He ordered all these almost automatically, as these were what they often ordered before.
"You ordered a milkshake!"
Violet said happily.
Alexander said nothing. He regretted that he didn't buy another type of beverage.
"How do you feel?"
he asked while he saw her pick up a piece of pizza. Her face darkened.
"Not good, still. I still hear their voices from that day,"
and she added quickly as if she knew what he would say next.
"Doctor doesn't help. Where I was injured is heart, not body."
"Are you sure? Three men brutally molested you."
"There were no lasting injuries to me, but that was sheer luck."
"If you report the harm you experienced, we can offer you legal protection and help. And I'll do my best to find the rapists and prevent your video from being spread."
"You already said that."
"I did. And you were not willing to listen,"
she sipped her milkshake, and said, "Still awesome, this flavor."
He ignored her again.
"Don't you have any curiosity about why I still missed you even when I was dating Ed?"
"I thought you'd always missed others, even when you were with me,"
Alexander said coldly.
"That's not true."
Alexander raised his eyebrows. Violet lowered her eyes.
"You know what? The moments I was being raped were less dreadful than those moments with Ed."
He doubted what he heard, and asked,
"What do you mean?"