Heal the Heart

49.

My eyes slowly blinked awake, straining against the glue that seemed to keep them shut. At first, the soft bed and fluffy quilt shocked me, and I jolted upright. As my eyes steadily adjusted to the darkness, I realised where I was. A dull orange hue peeped from the bottom of the heavy curtains, highlighting the polished marble flooring in small semicircles of orange glow. It could've either been the sunrise or the sunset. I continued to stare at the faint light source and it was then that I came to the stark realization that my headache had disappeared.

Movement from a corner caught my eye and when I turned, I was surprised to see a lump on the floor beside the bed. Red hair peeked from the edge as a head popped out of the bundled comforter.

"You're up?" Beck raised himself to a sitting position, rubbing an eye. "How are you feeling?" His voice was husky and heavy with sleep. I couldn't see his expression, but if my memory served me right, then his eyes would be a bit swollen—they always were when he just woke up. Slight drool would've collected at the corner of his lips and I just knew the different directions his hair would stick up in.

"I'm–I'm..." I cleared my throat, a little stunned at how raspy I sounded. "Much better."

"The headache?" he asked.

"What headache?"

I could see his Chesire grin even in the dark. "Glad to hear that."

My head started to feel heavy as the rest of my body began to awake, but I didn't want to go back to sleep. I had a feeling I'd done a lot of that already.

I remembered leaning heavily on Beck as he steered me to a bed. I had immediately sunk into the cushiony mattress and, for a moment there, I'd felt like I was falling. My headache had levelled up to almost unbearable, and I had a faint recollection of begging Beck to just fucking cut it off. I can't take it anymore. He was caring and so soft when handling me. I remembered him tucking me into bed, and his rough fingers as they delicately combed my hair. I remembered whimpering against a warm body. When was the last time someone had touched me so lovingly just because they wanted to? I remembered begging for that warmth and tender touches to never leave. But they did, and he had said he'd return again when I asked for him properly once I was awake.

"Had me worried there for a second," Beck said, bringing me back to the present. I watched him air out the comforter before folding it, making sure the edges touched in perfect precision.

"You heard Brij." I scooted to the edge of the bed. My nose wrinkled as I got a whiff of a stench that sprouted when I flung off the quilt. "I always bounce back." I dropped my legs to the floor and pushed myself to stand up. A dizzy spell hit me and I fell back down. "Okay, sometimes, it takes a while, but I will bounce back."

I felt more than saw Beck's smirk, and then he was in front of me. He bent forward and wrapped an arm around my torso, heaving me up with familiar ease. With one arm firmly tucked around my middle, he supported me as we both walked ahead. My head fell to his shoulder the way it did for the past three days.

Beck had followed the doctor's instructions religiously, waking me up every few hours to ask me some questions, and had almost driven us back to the hospital when he'd asked for my name and I'd said, "My name? What the hell is your name?" It'd taken a lot of convincing to get him to let go of his keys. He had fed me at regular intervals, handed me pills and forced me to drink water whenever he could. He'd even held me close to him as he helped me walk a bit in between to stretch my legs. I had been half asleep in his sturdy yet delicate hold, and I could only hope that I hadn't mumbled anything untoward.

He held the bathroom door open for me and stayed out as I finished my business in there. Since my brain was still in reboot mode, it took me until now to realise the weird stench was coming from me. When did I last take a shower?