i like you but i cant say it

CHAPTER 4: the villain who needed saving (page 15)

Caleb looked up at Atsuko's suggestion.

Maybe he could. His parents might just assume he was asleep and he could sneak in before neither of them woke up.

Caleb knew it'd be risky, but it might just work. He'd do almost anything to escape his parents' nightly yells and insults, that was why he snuck out in the first place. Maybe he could finally get some decent sleep.

He slowly nodded, accepting the kind woman's offer. But then he turned his gaze and met Kenji's, and his heart started beating fast again.

Could he?

[...]

"Oh come on!" Atsuko exclaimed, "Are you really not willing to give up your bed!?"

"I never said that!" Kenji argued back, "I just said that maybe it'd be easier for him to treat his black eye cus ICE comes from a FRIDGE, and the FRIDGE, is DOWNSTAIRS!"

The two siblings continued argueing in Japanese while Caleb sat on the sofa awkwardly, holding a handkerchief that had ice wrapped in it to his blackeye.

"Should I really be here right now?" Caleb thought to himself.

After a few minutes things finally calmed down a bit.

"Hey sorry about that." Atsuko apologised. Caleb looked up at her, not knowing what to say but just nodded as a reply.

Kenji looked over, "Yeah sorry, you can use my room, I'll sleep on the couch."

Caleb almost wanted to push back and say no, but kept the urge in and went along with it instead, "Besides, it's just 1 night." he thought.

"If you're not hungry, you can get to sleep right now and heal faster." Atsuko suggested in a kind and considerate voice, looking over at the blonde boy while walking to the kitchen sink.

His legs still hurt and trembled whenever he walked, but now that he thought about it, he suddenly realized just how tired he really felt.

Caleb nodded and looked over to the stairs with one phrase crossing his mind, "Guess I'll just have to tough it out."

Getting up already felt bad, but when Caleb took only 2 steps up the stairs, the tremble in his leg gave it and he slipped with a grunt, but then a hand came and held him up by the arms.

Caleb was caught by surprise and almost jumped. He turned his head but Kenji's were fixed to the ground and their feet.

Caleb's heart almost skipped a beat, letting out a little blush.

"Come on, I'll help you up the stairs." Kenji said, snapping Caleb out of it. The air felt awkward but the two boys continued up the stairs anyway. Caleb's arm was wrapped around Kenji's shoulder, he almost felt like he shouldn't be this close to the black haired boy as he pressed his lips together and looked the other way.

Caleb tripped again, but Kenji was there to help him up.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

Caleb looked up at him and couldn't say anything. For once there was someone there to help him, someone there to ask him how he was. Why did he have to be such an angel.