𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣 𝙏𝙤 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙎𝙞𝙣𝙨

◇21◇

My head was throbbing in pain when I started to regain my consciousness. I narrowed my eyebrows when I saw the sunlight shine through in my room, trying to adjust my eyes to the light. In the corner of my eye I could see a person sitting next to my bed. I turned my head to them, my vision getting a clear view of who it was. I felt relieved and gave a deep sigh, seeing that Dr. Shun was sitting beside me. He had a small notebook in his hand but he must have seen my movements since he turned his attention to me, giving me a gentle smile. I looked around my room and it was really clean. I mean, really, really clean.

"Hey sleepyhead, how do you feel?" He asked me with his head tilted. I stared up at my ceiling to think of an answer.

"I feel okay. Why?" I questioned with a bit of confusion. Wait...why was he even here? When I said that, his eyes trailed down my body and stopped mid-way. I sat up a bit and felt a painful sting in both of my hands. But I was frozen when I saw my hands wrapped with blood stained bandages. Then it hit me...I remembered what happened to me. I let myself fall back onto my bed and I turned my head away in shame.

"(Y/n)? What's wrong?" Shun asked and I felt the corners of my mouth quiver.

"I must have hurt Eri...she must have been so scared of me and seeing all that." My voice was shaky while answering my doctor's question. My body felt like I was being covered in guilt with my actions.

"Well, I could bring her in, so you have some chance to apologize to her, if you'd like." Offered Shun, which I quickly nodded to. I saw Shun leave the room for a moment and I waited, shaking my feet side to side with some anxiety building in my chest. In the distance, I could hear a collection of footsteps drawing near to my room and I slowly sat myself up back again. Eri and Shun stood at the entrance hand in hand but when I made eye contact with Eri, she immediately looked to the ground. Slowly guiding her to bed, Shun let go of Eri's hand when she was placed next to me. I positioned my body to face her, wincing at the pain in my torso. I could see that Eri was worried because she fidgeted with the end of her skirt with her fingers. I took a deep breath before I exhaled.

"Eri, could you please look at me?" I asked her nicely. She only looked away from me more, her expression saddening.

"You don't like my eyes..." She muttered to me. My heart crushed a bit when I heard her say such a thing. Not only guilt was consuming me, but now sadness was also making its course with me.

"Eri, I truly didn't mean that in my actions. When that...'moment' was happening, I was trying to prevent you from seeing how I was being because you shouldn't have to see me like that. Ever. I know I must have scared you or made you believe that I saw you in a negative way but please, Eri, I'm really sorry for making you feel that way," I sniffled a bit, "I would never mean to make you feel awful. Please, will you forgive me?" I apologized genuinely. There was a moment of silence and Eri still didn't look up at me. But then she started to slowly raise her head to me, looking fully at me.

"You have beautiful eyes, Eri." I complimented her to reassure her that I was telling the truth, seeing her lips wanting to raise into a smile. But I saw that her eyes watered up and she was trying her best not to cry in front of me. I expressed a light chuckle, and she looked up at me again.

"If you feel like crying, don't be afraid to, Eri, okay?" I assured her, smiling at her. Eri suddenly started to cry and she hugged my torso, letting her bottled up emotions go.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I should have helped you, but I couldn't." She apologized to me. She sounded broken and desperate for me to forgive her back and I could feel tears fall from my eyes as well.

"Of course, I'll forgive you. You did everything you could to help me, Eri, please remember that." I acknowledged her efforts, and I felt her nod. She just cried and cried against my stomach, and I carefully wrapped my arms around her. I turned my head to Shun and shrugged awkwardly. He lightly snickered at my gesture, but his playful expression faded to shock. I quickly became worried.