Break My Promise (OHSHC/Kaoru Love Story)

Chapter 21

I looked at myself in the mirror, lightly touching the place where I had been slapped. It was red, but the swelling had gone down tremendously. The doctor told me it was going to be bruised for the next few days, but the swelling would be gone entirely by morning.

I sighed and placed the cold compact back to it before lying on my bed. I hadn't left the room since the incident a few hours ago. Kaoru and Tamaki were being unreasonable, and I, personally, wanted no part in it. Why were they being so overprotective? I could take care of myself! Sure, I may have gotten a mark, but they shouldn't have cared. In the end, we had saved those girls. Wasn't that what really mattered?

Someone knocked on my door. I sat up and called, "Come in!"

I was a little surprised to see Mori. He informed me, "Dinner's ready."

"Oh, thank you, but I'm not hungry. It's a little hard to eat right now, anyways," I said, pointing to my cheek.

He nodded in understanding, "Okay. You should check your cell phone." With that, he closed the door and left. I swore he was the one person I would never be able to figure out.

Still, his vague message must have been important considering he didn't talk much. I flipped open my phone. The twins have given Haruhi and I one so that we could stay in touch, but I didn't use mine much. I didn't have the time to talk. For safety reasons, I brought it with me everywhere I went anyways.

The screen was blinking. I had a new voicemail. I frowned as I saw it was from an unknown number. I decided to listen to it. Honey's voice came through, "Hey, Aza-chan! It's me, Honey. I figured you wouldn't be at dinner, so I decided to call you. We were all really worried about how reckless you were earlier. We're happy you want to stand up for your sister and protect her, but you aren't invincible. Please, don't be angry. I think you should apologize, especially to Kao-chan. He was really scared for you. 'Kay? Bye, Aza-chan!"

I was frozen as the voicemail person said, "If you'd like to replay this message, press one. If you'd like to call back this number, press two. If you'd like to delete this message, press three." I slowly looked at it and pressed three. "Message deleted. You have no new voicemails."

I touched my cheek once more. I had gotten hurt... Maybe we had been reckless. Haruhi could have drowned, and I could have been raped along with those other girls if it hadn't been for the guys. That time, I couldn't protect Haruhi, and I had been so upset about it. I had failed at my primary job.

I knew I wasn't weak, but I wasn't strong enough to take on those guys, either. There were other ways to help, and, even though I didn't want to believe it, I knew it wouldn't have taken that long to find help. We could have been back with the others before the girls got hurt. Kaoru was right. I went along with the stupidest plan.

I groaned as I laid back on the bed. I shouldn't have been so nasty towards Kaoru. It was my fault he was worried. Same for the rest. I needed to apologize.

I spent a few minutes thinking about what I was going to saw when there was another knock on the door. I sighed and called, "It's open." I sat up when I heard the door shut behind whoever had come in. My eyes widened. "Oh, Kaoru. I hadn't been expecting you."