The Sanctuary

New Beginning (3)

***

"Aou, wait!" Pond, one of Aou's colleagues called him as he was about to leave the therapy room.

"Oh. . . Dude, I'm in a hurry. What is it?" He said as he was walking backward going out.

"What's the rush? You don't have a patient anymore. Khun Boom was the last one you have for today, right?"

"Yeah. . ." Still not stopping to walk backward. "You're not on duty now, right? Tell me what you want to say while walking, please? I need to go back to Boom right now."

"Okay." Pond sighed but smiled. "So that's the rush, huh? You just left him in a few minutes and can't wait to be with him now."

Aou just smiled, "I left him at the rooftop garden. He's alone, I need to be back as soon as possible." He explained as he stopped in front of the elevator. "What do you want? Is there any problem?"

"I just want to ask a favor. I need to go somewhere the day after tomorrow and cannot reschedule my patient in the morning to another time. Will you be available then?" He asked as they entered the lift.

"Monday?" He asked and Pond hummed in reply. "If it's earlier than nine, I'm fine. Boom's therapy is at ten."

"Yes! Thank you so much, Dude."  

"No worries! Just send me everything I need to know about the patient." He said and they both went out of the lift. They chatted until they reached the entrance of the rooftop. 

Aou was suddenly alarmed when he saw a man leaning towards Boom's wheelchair. He was holding both arms of the chair. As he looked at Boom's face, he knew the man was not good.  Boom looked so scared.

"Dude, call the security now. Hurry!" He said without even looking at his friend.

Pond looked at where Aou was looking and he immediately said okay and ran to the nearest nurse station to call for some help.

Aou, on the other hand, hurriedly walked to Boom. As he got nearer, he could hear what the man was saying to Boom.

"Do you really think you can hide from me?" The man said. "Looks like you're getting better. You don't have bruises anymore." He reached to touch his face. Boom dodged his hand by looking away. He held Boom's face firmly. "I think you need more of those."

"No! Please don't hurt me!" Boom begged. He was already crying and closing his eyes.

He was about to hit Boom when someone from the side pushed him so hard. He got out of balance and immediately fell with his face on the floor. 

"Teerak!" Aou held Boom's face, "It's me. Open your eyes. . . Teerak! I'm here now. . ."

Boom slowly opened his eyes after he heard Aou's voice saying it was him. Tears kept falling from his eyes. "Teerak." He said in an almost inaudible voice then wrapped his arms around Aou's neck.

"I'm here, Teerak. I'm here." Aou said caressing Boom's back. 

"Teerak?" The man on the floor said. "Didn't you confess to me? You said you were in love with me, and now you have a boyfriend?" He added angrily. 

That made Aou even angrier. He pulled back from hugging Boom and looked at the man who was struggling to get up from the floor. 

"It's him?" He asked Boom who just nodded in response. He stood up but Boom held his hand.