WILDLIFE

Chapter 14

"What should I do?" I mumbled, lying on my bed with my casted ankle propped up on a pillow.

 "My aunt is really going to kill me this time." The ceiling fan hummed above me, doing little to drown out the sound of my own restless thoughts. The room smelled faintly of the antiseptic ointment I'd used earlier, mixing unpleasantly with the scent of the cold coffee sitting on the clinic's nightstand.

"Why don't you try explaining this to your aunt?" sakura said while he was staring at his phone texting to someone.

I turned to him with an expression that screamed, are you serious? and flopped back onto my pillow. "Easier said than done," I muttered, staring at the ceiling. The longer I looked, the more the familiar feeling crept up, like a quiet ache pressing against my chest.

I closed my eyes and sighed deeply. "I miss them," I whispered, the words barely escaping my lips.

Sakura looked up from his phone, his brow furrowing. "Who?"

I chuckled softly, masking the sting in my chest with a weak laugh. "It's nothing," I said quickly, but even to my own ears, it sounded like a lie.

He didn't press, but I could feel his gaze linger. The room fell silent except for the low hum of the fan and the distant barking of a dog outside. 

For a moment, I wished time could just rewind to the day before the accident happened, to when everything still made sense. When dad was still here, instead of being just another ghost in my memory.

Sakura broke the silence with a sigh. "You're terrible at hiding things, you know."

I glanced at him, forcing a smirk. "And you're terrible at minding your own business." we both chuckled before falling silent again. 

"Hey Sakura." I called him "how did you end up in this old place?" His eyes widen for a second "Well? I was finding a place to grow stronger and stumbled upon boufurin where the strongest gathered around." He smirked 

"Strongest, huh?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "So you just walked into a den full of monsters because you felt like it?"

Sakura laughed, as he leaned back in the chair. "Pretty much. Guess I've always had a thing for danger." He tossed his phone onto the table and folded his arms behind his head. "Didn't expect to stay, though. But once I met those guys... I couldn't just leave. Not until I proved I could stand beside them."

There was a flicker in his eyes something like I had before, Pride was it? but with a trace of loneliness.

"So it's strength you're after," I said quietly. "Or... something else?"

He didn't answer right away. The fan hummed between us, spinning the stale air like a clock ticking too slow. Finally, he spoke, voice lower now. "When you lose enough, strength feels like the only thing that keeps you from breaking apart."

My chest tightened. I looked at my bandaged ankle "Yeah," I murmured. "I get that."

Sakura turned to me, his expression softening for the first time since he walked in. "You lost someone too, didn't you?"

I hesitated, then nodded. "Dad and my brother." The word came out small, like I'd said it a hundred times but still couldn't get used to how empty it sounded.

For a long moment, neither of us said anything. The quiet wasn't awkward, it was heavy, but somehow comforting. Two broken pieces recognizing each other in the stillness.

Sakura stood and stretched, his tone lighter again. "Then maybe we're not so different after all." He gave me a half-smile. "You'll walk again, you know. And when you do, maybe try not to pick bridges to jump off next time."