dandelion by the road. | A BrightWin AU

2.

W

I wasn't sure if today counts as a curse, or a blessing. I almost slipped on my bicycle twice and managed to save myself both times somehow, but was not as fortunate on the third time. The rainy weather was to blame as it made the roads wet and slippery, and I fell onto the gravel road as I was leaving an apartment building.

"Ouch..."

The palms of my hands were scratched up and bleeding. It was a bad day to be wearing ripped jeans as my knees also suffered from the impact of the fall. I was lucky that I hadn't accepted any new deliveries before coming here, or any food in my bag would have been utterly destroyed. Needless to say, I was soaked from head to toe, and I looked like a wet dog.

"Are you okay?"

I looked up to see the man from earlier again, standing above me with an umbrella shielding both of us from the rain. He had his hand extended to me, wanting to help me up. I grabbed it and got up, picking my bike up afterwards.

"I'm fine." I forced a smile, the sting of my fresh wounds finally hitting me and making my eyes water. I was hoping the rainwater on my face would make it impossible for him to see the tears streaming down my cheeks.

"You're clearly not, you're all scratched up." He frowned. "Let me help you, you can't ride your bike in this state."

I didn't know what to say, because I knew he was right.

"I'm the guy from upstairs earlier, in case you didn't recognise me." He gestured towards the building, pointing up at one of the floors. "I'll just help to clean your wounds for you if that's alright."

I held on to his arm for support as we made our way back upstairs to his apartment. He motioned for me to sit on the couch as he grabbed more supplies. I moved to sit on the floor instead as I realised my clothes were drenched.

"Why are you sitting on the floor? Go up onto the couch."

"I'm a total mess right now, I don't want to dirty your couch."

"I can always clean it up afterwards, it's not a big deal." He said as he pulled me gently to sit on the couch beside him. "I'll have to clean your wounds first, it is going to sting."

"It's okay." I muttered as he soaked a piece of gauze in a disinfecting solution and gently dabbed it on my wounds. I bit the insides of my cheeks to keep myself from shrieking as the pain traveled through every nerve ending in my body. I could tell he was trying his hardest to be gentle as his hands had a slight tremble as he gripped the tweezers in his hand.

I found myself staring at him as he carefully placed bandages over my wounds. For a brief moment, I felt myself gushing at how cute he looked, but instantly swatted it away when I realised how weird that thought was.

"There, all done." He said as he checked again to make sure that the bandages were put on properly. Unfortunately, they were put on rather messily, but did the job nonetheless. It's the effort that counts, anyway.

It was then, that the biggest wave of familiarity hit me all of a sudden.

"Have we met before?" I blurted out.