His golden eyes glowed dangerously amid the darkness as he stared at Isabella like a predator. She shivered from his gaze as her heart started beating wildly once the man's features came into her view.
She took notice of his tan skin, which glowed even in the dark alley, along with his sharp jaw. His forehead was covered by his pitch-black hair, which also covered his thick eyebrows.
However, despite how perfectly handsome this man was, the gaze in his eyes made Isabella freeze. Those were the eyes of a killer, and that terrified her given their current situation.
His wild, golden eyes were looking at Isabella with alertness, like they were going to swallow her whole.
Isabella swallowed hard as she looked straight into his eyes. The man's eyes were intimidating her and seemed to be trying to pull her into a dark abyss. She tried to look away, but she was unable to do it.
No matter how frighteningly this man was looking at her, there was something in his eyes that was stopping her from looking away.
But the more seconds she looked into his eyes, the more she felt hazy and like she was falling into the abyss. Isabella forced herself to look away, and when she finally took her gaze off of his eyes, she noticed his uneven breathing. Her mind slowly got clear.
She felt some wetness on her wrist, and she slowly looked at the place where he was holding her hand. Isabella's eyes widened, and her breath got caught in her throat as she saw blood on both of their hands.
Her body froze, and her mind went blank. It was this man's blood. He was wounded. He was bleeding.
As this fact slowly sank into Isabella's mind, panic settled inside her, and she hurriedly scanned his body to find blood gushing out from his abdomen. The amount of blood that was flowing out of the wound made Isabella realize that it was a big wound.
Sweat slid down from his forehead as the pain in his abdomen was increasing, and the strength was slowly leaving his body. Even though the blood loss was forcing him to lose consciousness, he forced himself to stay awake because of the unknown woman's presence.
He looked at her in alertness, thinking she might be one of the people who attacked him. He tightened his grip on her wrist and rasped dangerously,
"Who are you? What do you want?"
Goosebumps spread through Isabella's body as his deep voice echoed in the alley. She peeled her eyes away from the wound and looked at him. Isabella's heart trembled in fear as she met his cold gaze. But she didn't let fear settle inside her since she had some more pressing matters on her hands.
The man was indeed alive, but he wouldn't be for long if she didn't take any action. She needed to save him. She needed help. And the first thing that came to her mind was the hospital.
"Ambulance. I need to call an ambulance," Isabella muttered under her breath, completely ignoring his questions.
She started to panic more and hurriedly tried to reach her pocket for her phone to call an ambulance, but before she could do that, he yanked her toward him, annoyed by the fact that he had been ignored.
"I asked, who the fuck are you?" he asked again impatiently; his tone was ice-cold.
Isabella got frightened of him but also frowned at his terrible attitude. She wanted to retort to him for his attitude but stopped when her eyes fell on his wound again. She released a breath as she decided to forget his attitude, seeing his condition.
"Does it matter who I am? Let go of my hand. I need to call an ambulance, or you will die." Isabella uttered.
He frowned at her words. What was she talking about? And why was she acting like that? Didn't she come to kill him? Then why would she care if he died? Maybe she was not one of them. Or was it some kind of trick to get him? His gaze hardened again, and he asked coldly,
"Who sent you?"
Isabella frowned as she got confused by his words. Then it slowly sunk into her that maybe he was thinking of her as one of the people who attacked him. That made her understand his behavior.
"You have misunderstood me. No one sent me. I'm not going to hurt you, but I will save you. Please leave my hand so that I can call an ambulance," she said softly, trying to break free from his grip while making sure she was not hurting him.
He groaned as the wound was getting worse and more blood was flowing out of it. He left Isabella's hand and grabbed his wound. Isabella's eyes trailed to his wound, where blood was flowing out without any will to stop. If the bleeding didn't stop, he would die even before the ambulance came.
She had to stop the bleeding, but how? She was trying to find a way to stop the bleeding when her eyes fell into her scarf. Isabella hurriedly took the scarf from her neck and pressed it on the wound, making the man hiss in pain. Isabella jolted and muttered,
"I apologize. But I have to stop your bleeding."
She again pressed it on the wound and put pressure on it. The man looked at her, bewildered by her behavior. Many thoughts were running through his head as he watched her work on his wound. Was she really not one of them? Did he misunderstand her?
Isabella, from time to time, glanced at him to check if he was still conscious or not. The man let down his guard a little bit as he saw pure innocence and worry in her blue eyes. His eyes fell on her student ID card, which was scattered outside of her bag.
He sighed as he realized that he really misunderstood her. Maybe she was one of the passersby. A total stranger who decided to help another stranger. But he still had his guard up.
"Thank God, the bleeding stopped." Isabella let out, pulling him out of his thoughts.
The bleeding had temporarily stopped, but if she didn't hurry, it would start to flow again.
"Now, I need to call an ambulance," she said while taking out her phone.
She was about to dial the number but stopped when he again grabbed her wrist. Isabella looked at him, confused, and he breathed out,
"No, don't call an ambulance."
Isabella frowned at his words and asked,
"Why?"
"I can't go to the hospital. Don't call an ambulance. Leave. I can take care of myself," he uttered, making Isabella's frown deepen.
"Why can't you go to the hospital? And what do you mean by leave? I can't leave you like that. You need to go to the hospital, or else you will die." she let out and was about to press the call but again got stopped by him.
"I said don't call the fucking ambulance. Is it that hard to understand? Mind your own business. Leave me alone. I don't need your fucking help." he said rudely, making Isabella shocked.
His rudeness made her look at him with distrust. She trembled at his cold gaze, but also in anger, as the rage was slowly settling inside her.
How could someone be so rude? She understood that she was a stranger to him, and given their situation, he might be wary of her. But after what she did for him, he would have understood that she meant no harm. Forgot about being grateful. Would it hurt him to be at least polite?
"LEAVE," he growled, making her jolt.
Isabella's anger increased, and now she was wondering why she even bothered with this man. She shouldn't have cared. She should have minded her own business, like he said, and gone to her home.
"You know what? A rude person like you should die here. I shouldn't have helped you." Isabella spat angrily.
She grabbed her bag and walked away from there without giving him a glance. As she was walking toward the entrance of the alley, the image of his wound kept flashing before her eyes, making her stop in her tracks and groan.
What if he dies? So what? She shouldn't care about such a rude person. But she couldn't help but care about him. No matter how rude he was, she couldn't just leave a man dying. God knows why he didn't want to go to the hospital.
Should she take him to her apartment? How could she bring a stranger to her home? On top of a man who she met in such a dangerous alley. He was a mysterious man. Maybe she should just leave him.
Isabella again took a step forward, but the image of the man bleeding his life out and dying hunted her, making her scream mentally. She wants to hit herself for caring for a rude stranger.
She cursed her good self under her breath and turned back to go to the man. As she got closer to him, she saw him in his previous state, eyes closed and head down, making her heart stop.
'Did he die for sure now?' Isabella thought while running to him.
She stopped in front of him, and hearing the footsteps, he looked at her. Isabella sighed in relief at seeing him alive. He frowned and asked while breathing heavily,
"Why are you still here? I told you I wasn't going to the hospital. Leave."
Isabella sighed in annoyance and stated,
"I got it. I'm not taking you to the hospital."
She crouched down and placed his hand around her shoulder, earning a confused glance from him.
"What are you doing?"
"Taking you to my apartment to treat you. You don't want to go to the hospital, and this is the only option I have. I can't leave you here dying." Isabella muttered.
"No need. I can take care of—Ahhhhh."
His words were replaced with a scream of pain as she stood up with him. Ignoring his words, Isabella slowly made her way to her apartment with him. He wanted to retort, but he didn't have the strength in his body to even talk. In the end, he reluctantly gave in to her.
As Isabella was taking steps toward her home with him, she prayed not to regret her decision to bring a mysterious man into her home.