(Uhhhh I didn't name this so you can 😼 weeeeeeee 🍭 there's no grammatical errors in Ba Sing Se ❤️)
-
I woke up in the white, clean room. It smelt of chemicals and fresh sheets, small hints of iron and something else I couldn't exactly pinpoint. I was not in the apartment, my limbs stiff as a statue, and my vision was blurred due to not having my glasses with me, that much I knew. I sat up in my delirium and immediately felt the effects of it, my mind and body screaming at me for my choices. I tried to croak out an irritated groan, but all that came out was a hoarse, guttural sound.
Head throbbing, millions of tiny specs pricked at my eyes when I realized there were tubes going into my arms. Machines were hooked up all around me, but something told me I wasn't in a hospital.
Through the sterile environment, I caught a familiar and warm floral scent I knew too well. I always thought if summer was a person, it would be him.
He was a blur of stressed fiery hair and concern. A soft touch supported my back upright and I felt like I would dissolve under him.
"Be careful, you shouldn't try sitting up so soon." somewhere in between his sentence he slowly put on my glasses, and his face came clearly into view. The irritated redness on his face told me he'd been picking at his skin.
I made an attempt at speaking, but my throat was sandpaper. Arlo handed me a glass of water that looked like it'd been sitting on the bedside table for a minute. After almost inhaling the glass, I felt significantly better. "What happened?" the cool water slid down my throat, and I reached to set it down. Arlo took it for me.
It seemed as if he chewed his fingernails into nubs. His gaze darted anywhere but toward me. "Well, I went to go meet Daiya like she asked, then when I came back..." his voice was tired and delayed, almost as much as mine. Slowly, my hands found his, running my fingers over his knuckles in a gentle coaxing toward his sapphire ring, smoothly gliding my finger pads over the engraved petals and grooves. The slow beeping of the machines offered a quiet ambiance to fill the silence.
His Adam's Apple bobbed with a hard swallow. "You were lying on the floor unconscious, your nose was bleeding," I felt him shudder, eyes glossy and crystallized into a thousand shards of hidden emotions. My brows drew together, searching for the memory that was being described, but nothing came of it. Come to think of it, I didn't remember anything that happened after Arlo left for the base. Everything was a hazy blur.
He glanced up at me, tension and anticipation filled his face, as if he was worried to go on. Most of the time, his way of protecting me was omitting the truth if he thought that somehow it would hurt me. I could appreciate the effort of breaking away from that habit.
Millions of questions flooded my mind, but I let him continue.
"When Dredua tried to take you away, you were exposed to a chemical mostly used in Vel Mere; the only reason we found out is because Sera told us Gia was once poisoned like you were when we were still living there..." he twiddled with the ends of his hair like he always does. "Luckily there was a way to extract it. It's good at hiding its presence but the effects are very obvious."
"So, does that mean I'm not sick anymore?" I asked, sandwiching his face between my hands, and he gave a slow nod. Suddenly the only way he looked was into my gaze. His small smile was somber, tiny crows feet at the corners of his eyes, dark bags around them. I curled forward, forehead nestled in between his neck and shoulder, the same aroma lingering from his collar. Stray red hairs lightly tickled my face, and it didn't feel like I was in a strange new bed with wires poking into me. "Good, cause' I'm tired."
He attempted a lighthearted suppressed laugh. It vibrated throughout my body. "You were asleep for two days if that helps," his fingers raked through my now spiky hair the same way they did several years ago. I sat up now, wide awake. "Two days?"
