Healing Him | ✓

05.

His eyes widened.

There behind the tree stood his dear and only friend suppressing her horror, in a sob. She rushed over to him. He looked around frantically, "What are you doing?! Somebody will see you here! You'll get in trouble!" He grimaced as her hand touched the wound by his lips. Her touch was extremely gentle and feather light to him.

"Sorry." She shivered as her hands got stained by his blood. "Y-you're bleeding. Come to my home." She said fervently. He shook his head. "No. I can go to my house."

"But you're hurt, it's too far away for you to walk in this condition. Come to my house." She said as she inspected his wounds and he simply let her. Her hands stayed gentle to his, surprisingly soft skin. That's definitely gotta hurt, she thought as she saw the skin around his collarbones reddened.

"No, I can't. Your mother doesn't want me to." He whispered heartbroken. She froze.

"How do you know?" She asked sharply.

"M-mallika" he whimpered as her hands suddenly tightened around his wrist causing the pain to erupt in deeper intensity. "Annika m-my hand." She immediately released it in fear. "Oh no. I hurt you more. I'm so sorry." She whispered. "Annika? It's fine." But she was frantically looking over him examining the extent of injury.

"You know what is not fine? You! How can you just let them do this! And I can't believe my mom too!" She scoffed.

"Annika, listen to me carefully. They're your parents and trust me they want the very best for you. And it's not worth going against them." He said brushing away the falling strand that fell on her eyes.

"And that's pure—" she caught his stern glance when she was about to utter the word. She resigned. She took his hand in hers interwining them. She was happy to see that he was still wearing the bracelet. "Trust me. You're worth it." She said sincerely and Shivaay felt something which he had never felt before. He looked away. "And as for Mallika I swear the next time I see her. I'm going to strangle her." She said enraged.

"Are you hurt anywhere in your legs?" She asked. He bit his lips moving his left ankle slightly and to his relief the pain was the minimal. He shook his head. She gave him a reassuring smile. She helped him stand up, he tried slowly but yelped and collapsed on the ground when a sharp pain shot through his stomach area. She worriedly looked over him. "That's it. You— yes you. Mr. Stubborn bunny. You're coming with me." He blinked.

"Bunny?" He asked baffled. "What's wrong with it? I like them. They're so fluffy and cute." She huffed. "Is that your way of saying that I am cute?" He asked winking. She rolled her eyes. He submitted quietly pouting. "You're infuriating."

"You mean infuriating-ly cute?" She glared at him pinning him under his scrutiny and put his arms over her shoulders holding under his weight. He adjusted so lesser weight stays on her. "You can be the gentleman you are when you're okay now is simply not the time." He flushed and leaned.

She helped him to her home and was relieved to know that her parents had left for a friend's daughter's wedding and won't be back until tomorrow leaving her with her caretaker who was very apprehensive about a boy visiting the house without her parents' notice. She later gave up because of Annika's pleadings. But she didn't leave them alone.

She watched Annika rushing back and forth grabbing the bandaids and antiseptics doing the best first aid she could. "This will sting badly." She said, as she hesitantly dabbed the wounds. "I have been through worse. I can take it." His tone was nonchalant and she did not like it even a bit. She decided to let it slide for a while and silently treated his wounds.