Ambivalent

30. You're Here

Akara

I would never think that I would be happy to be injured, but I was as it made Rune come to my flat. At first, I thought I was hallucinating, but after blinking a few times, he was still at the door, looking at my body with horrified eyes.

I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but I saw Rune swaying, so I swallowed the words and rushed to him. I asked him if he had lunch as I helped him on the bed and he gave me a hollow look.

"Lie down, doesn't it hurt?"

I had no words to express the shock I felt. Rune... he asked me if it didn't hurt... I mumbled something like it was okay and Rune surprised me one more time by asking about lunch. I admitted that I hadn't had it yet, which made Rune rise to his feet. Panicking, I asked him where he was going and he said he would buy me lunch. BUY ME LUNCH!

After the initial shock, I offered to buy for us, but he refused as I couldn't hold a painful hiss in, so I urged him to buy lunch also for himself and heard him mumbling "whatever." Still, when he came back, there were two servings of congee in his hand, which satisfied me extremely.

Oh God, how much I missed Rune to be around. Well, I was with him after the chicken incident, but that time Rune was either trying to send me away or fighting with nightmares. However, this time he was with me on his own volition and was eating his congee silently.

As I was afraid he would forget his promise to apply the medicine for me and leave immediately after lunch, I ate it as slowly as possible. With my heavily beating heart, I watched Rune discarding the empty cups, but then I saw he got the medicine bag and heaved a sigh of relief.

He made me lie down and removed the bloodied bandages. "So karma got you, ha? You set me up, but got hurt for Panit for real," he said coldly, contrasting his warm touch.

I straightened up swiftly and sat face to face with him. "That time, I really didn't want you to hurt, later seeing your back, I hated myself," I said with one hundred percent honesty.

"I know... though it doesn't change the fact you set me up," he said and pushed me on my stomach again.

"I am so sorry," I mumbled as if it would make a difference. I felt silent tears welled into my eyes, so I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep while Rune applied medicine on my back.

As my eyes were close, I was startled when I felt Rune's gentle hand on my hair. I remained motionless, letting him do whatever he wanted. Only when he attempted to retract his hand did I take action.

Grabbing his hand, I pulled him towards my chest and caged him in between my arms, "I am so sorry, Rune... don't leave... sorry..." I mumbled and no matter how much Rune wiggled, I kept holding him.

Before long, he became still and tilting my head I saw he was sleeping peacefully. After covering him with the blanket, I circled my arm again around his tiny waist and followed him to the dreamland with a bitter-sweet heart.

When I opened my eyes again, it was already morning. Hastily, I checked on Rune and was delighted to see him still in my arms. Although I didn't want to move an inch from the bed, it was eight already. Gently, I saved my arm underneath Rune's head and after refreshing, I started to cook breakfast for us with whatever was left in the fridge. Poor Rune, he must have been exhausted as no matter how much noise I made, he didn't even stir.

When the breakfast was on the coffee table, I woke Rune with no little difficulty. Drowsily, he looked around to figure out where he was and I barely managed to hold myself from kissing those puffy eyes.

"Why am I here?" he asked with confusion.

"Because you slept here?" I said with a smile and pulled him into a sitting position, "come, the breakfast is ready."

He looked like he would argue, so I feigned as if I had pain and he swallowed his words. After refreshing, he sat beside me and we had breakfast like in the old days. Well, the tension was in the air, but still...

To my surprise, after breakfast, Rune applied medicine to my back again and using the excuse that we would be late for work, I convinced him to come with me by car.

The ride was silent as expected, but I was content anyway.

As soon as I parked, Rune jumped out of the car without saying a word. Watching his almost running figure in the parking lot, I mumbled "I will convince you to trust me again."