Wildfire And Rain

Chapter Forty-Seven

Walking past the reception desk, the nurse gives him a little bow of acknowledgment. "Taehyun, did you hear?" he talks to the redhead, being on somewhat friendly grounds after having seen each other in the halls of the 5th floor for the past week. "Your boy is up." he smiles.

Taehyun feels a little bad walking past him without saying anything back but he hopes the nurse understands his rush; if the clothes are anything judged by. He only nods his head and takes a right for room number 304.

He pushes the door in slowly and it opens smoothly. Beomgyu is nowhere to be seen; to go by Taehyun's experience he's probably at 4th to get a coffee from one of the vending machines.

Taehyun looks at the bed in front of him. Kai is sat up against the wall and his knees are drawn to his chest, his head leans on them facing the side of the room.

His blanket is discarded on the floor so he sits on the bare bed with nothing but a hospital gown to cover him. Suddenly, Taehyun sees his head rise a little and he straightens up and his eyes are slowly trailing the side of the room until they set on Taehyun.

"... Hey." Taehyun gulps. He raises his arm and smiles. Seeing Kai awake makes him want to cry but he won't. "Can I sit?" he points to the bed nervously.

Kai's eyes glint with something unreadable; they move up and down, inspecting. "You are wet," he says.

"Right." Taehyun laughs briefly. "It's raining out."

Kai everts his eyes. "Don't you possess an umbrella?"

"I... Had an umbrella." Taehyun mutters as he realizes how dumb he is to have been on such a rush; he forgot to take his umbrella that was under his seat during class. "So, can I? Or... maybe, if you're worried I'll wet your sheets then- I-I can ask the nurse for a towel or-" he bites his lips.

"Sit." Kai permits. He looks down and hugs his legs close to his body.

The bed sinks down; Taehyun sits on the edge, serious about not wanting to ruin the sheets.

Kai's feet shift away from him, covered in white rolls of bandages as well as his right hand and two of the fingers on his left one. The hospital pants go down to his ankles, hiding the rest of the wraps.

"Does it hurt?"

"Of course it does," Kai huffs. "I'm not made of tin." his voice is hollow and cold. He everts his eyes from Taehyun, looking down.

Taehyun fiddles with the sheets; organizing his thoughts and words. He left class so fast that even on the way to the hospital he hadn't thought about what to say once he was there. He's not sure what to say to someone in a hospital bed.

He still has all his four grandparents and his family members were always healthy. This is a foreign territory.

Instead of saying empty words like I'm sorry or get better which does not convey what he is truly feeling. His hand reaches for Kai's dark hair, Taehyun notices a few pieces in the back that are shorter than the rest of the hair in the front.

He wonders if they burnt off in the fire.

He sinks his fingers in Kai's hair; playing with the silky locks. Kai looks up, his eyes are dazed. He tilts his head in Taehyun's direction and closes his eyes slowly, giving in to the soft touch.

Taehyun fixes a few stray hairs on Kai's forehead and their eyes lock. He gives him a sweet smile and his hand caresses his nape and trails down to his shoulder. Repeating the movement a few times. "Beomgyu-Hyung told me a-about your job." he says quietly.

Kai's head ticks up and his eyes twitch, he grabs Taehyun's hand from his wrist and pulls it away from his cheek from it rested. "What?" his mouth tightens.