Devon went inside the bathroom and opened the first aid kit cabinet. She took a couple of cotton balls and the Betadine bottle. She also took a few pieces of Band-aid. She left the bathroom and walked towards the master bedroom of their two-bedroom apartment.
This was all James and Devon could afford right now, a two-bedroom apartment in the heart of Cebu City. Devon is currently a professor in the city’s premiere university, while James works for an advertising company. James has just started his career in this advertising company after severing ties with his family-owned company, where he was a senior executive.
The apartment was big enough for the starting couple. The furniture are modern in design and makes the house appear spacious. Most of their kitchen appliances were given to them as wedding gifts. It has been a month after their wedding and their apartment has become homelier.
Devon opened the bedroom door and sat at the end of the bed. It was already six in the evening, James was just on his way home. Devon looked nervously on the bedroom door, wishing that she has enough time before James would see her wounds.
Devon has numerous scratches and deep cuts on her elbows and knees. She had an accident in the university earlier. She was talking to a student, asking her about their project. They were walking slowly down an inclined platform. Suddenly, she felt that she could no longer raise her leg for that next step. For a briefest moment, she felt no control. She fell down the inclined platform, knees first. She managed to raise her elbow to break her fall. But there were nasty cuts and scratches, after all, she fell on hard concrete.
Devon was busy cleaning the wounds with alcohol, flinching when the cotton balls touched her wound. She was unaware that James was already inside the house.
“Baby,” James called out and went inside the bedroom. He saw Devon sitting on the edge of the bed with the first aid kit near her. James squinted and saw that she was dabbing some cotton on her knees.
“What happened,” James said in a panicked voice. He approached her and looked at the bruises. “Did…”
Devon cut him off in the middle of his sentence. “It was an accident.”
“Are you sure,” James asked worriedly and took the cotton out of her hands. He sat beside her and lifted her leg, putting it on his lap. He started to apply Betadine on the scratches. “Cause, if this is foul play…”
“It’s not,” Devon defended. Sometimes, James becomes too protective, always thinking that somebody was out there, hating her, and wishing her dead. Well, that is partially true, Devon mused. “I just fell, while talking to a student.”
James patted her knees and put them down. He took her elbows and started to clean them, too. “You are such a klutz. You are falling down too much.”
“No, I am not,” Devon reacted.
James looked at her and shook his head. “How about last week when you almost fell while getting off the jeep?”
“My legs were dead from sitting for a long time,” Devon answered.
“What about the time when I found you sitting on the floor,” James countered again
“I was wiping the floor and I slipped,” Devon answered back, giving James the other elbow to treat.
“Okay, how about two weeks before the wedding, when we were walking in the mall and then you suddenly flopped down on the nearest chair, without any warning,” James asked.
I was tired,” Devon answered again.
“Honestly, baby,” James said as he put a Band-aid on a deep cut on her elbow. “You have been falling too much, I was really worried you would not be able to walk down the aisle without tripping yourself.”
