Warming a Frozen Heart

Activation

CHAPTER 22
Activation

-Kyousuke-

I felt Erin nudge me and show me the sight at the far end of the field. The hand clutching the bread gently tightened, and for some reasons I couldn't understand, I involuntarily clenched my hands into fists and gritted my teeth fiercely. "That son of a--"

"Kyousuke. Calm down."

"I'm gonna kill that bastard when he returns here," I growled. My self-control got burned away by anger, and I actually displaced the picnic cloth because I kept tugging at it to prevent myself from bursting. I was afraid of what was happening to me and was undoubtedly angry all at the same time. Erin tapped my shoulder softly, stifling my rising desire to stand up. "Don't worry, I'm here for you."

The moment those words left her mouth, I could almost swear that JC tilted her head to allow Luke to kiss her deeper. I'm confident with my eyes, and I can see anything within a fifty-meter radius. Since they were just about twenty-five meters away, I could see everything sharply. "What?" I asked, my voice deep. Inside me, I was trying my best to cope with the situation, but outside, I wanted to give Luke a hard blow.

She gave me a smile. "I said, I'm here for you. I knew from the start that those two have a secret bond and all that shit." She scoffed and crossed her arms confidently. "Luke was the reason why JC recovered, after all."

That did it. I loosened my grip on the poor cloth and gave her an incredulous look. Her head rested on my shoulder in reply, and that extinguished the flaming anger in my head. "Erin, what are you doing?"

"I may be his girlfriend, but who said I was interested?"

I had to keep my gasp inside my throat. "Um... the both of them, I guess?"

"I'm glad that you're not angry anymore." She leaned closer to my ear and whispered, "If JC's cheating on you like that, won't you turn to me?"
***

-JC-

"Luke. Luke!" I hissed under my breath. He was the one getting the upper hand now, and his kisses were getting overboard. They were becoming too passionate to be considered acting. All that time I was commanding him to do things that will make everything look like I didn't pull on his tie and initiate everything like 'hands on my hair' or 'closer', but he began defying them when he realized that his 'girlfriend' and Kyousuke were exchanging looks that were too suspicious. "Luke!" I cried. I opened my eyes to look at him, and I realized he was trembling. I glanced to the side, only to see Erin resting her head on the dog's shoulder. "Wait, Luke, are you crying?"

He broke away and rested his forehead on mine, refusing to open his eyes. If he did, I'm sure the waterworks would go, and that's something his male pride wouldn't allow. "Why, JC? Why... why does it have to be Kyousuke?" he groaned. "Tell me!"

For the first time, I was moved by his words. I felt like I wanted to share his grief, something I have never felt before. My perception simply shrunk back when I urged it to function, so I didn't give a reply. "JC. Tell me. Please."

Finally my head began to work quickly. None of Erin's choices made sense, but she was clearly trying to direct the bullets at me, not at Luke. But he was the one who took them for me. He was obviously hurt, and I wasn't even scathed. I actually heard their conversation in the middle of our act, and that, too, further proved my reasoning. But I can't understand why Luke's the one recieving the pain. "She wants to hurt me. She's... clearly envious of the bond we share," I replied, recalling their conversation. "She just wants the same attention you give me, but she can't have it. So she wants to hurt me by using Kyousuke. It's just... complicated, Luke. I can't understand why you're the one getting all the..." I trailed off when he finally opened his eyes to show me two bluish-silver orbs blurred with water. He tried hard not to let them fall, and succeeded. "It's because she's your girlfriend..." I said, realizing that it was the reason. "A-anyway, that dog has incredible eyesight, and he will see you crying if you don't man up right now. Fix yourself, Luke."

He sighed, straightened up and smiled at me. "You won the argument. You don't have to delete your profile in the game."

"When did I ever lose to you?"

"Never," he said with a pout. "I never win against you."

I gave him a faint smile. "Good thing yo--" I was cut off when I saw Kyousuke swing at him with full force. Luke isn't a fighter, and he was caught off guard with his sudden movement. This caused him to falter and almost fall back. I was shocked enough to hang my jaw open. No words came out when Luke got another blow. He clearly wasn't fighting back, or even evading. He just recieved them all. "That's enough!" I shouted. That didn't stop Kyousuke, though. I said it three more times, to no effect. In my fury, I stood in front of Kyousuke and caught his fist in one swift motion. The anger in his eyes disappeared and was replaced with shock. Maybe because he doesn't know how better I am than Luke when it comes to fights. I buried my fingers in the gaps of his knuckles, causing him to whimper in pain. "I said stop it, Kyousuke." I was able to discover that pressing the gaps of the knuckles hard can cause a person's fingers to become stiff and pained through doing it to myself. Sinking my fingers deeper, I said, "Didn't you hear me?" I let go when he begged for me to, and gave him a growl. "One more swing and I'll break your hand so bad that you won't be able to curl it into a fist."

He nodded and took a step back. I caught Erin smirking through the whole ordeal, and that wasn't a very 'friendly' thing to do. I sauntered over to Luke and assisted him up. I caught Erin wrap her arms around Kyousuke to pull him away at the corner of my eye, but I didn't tell Luke. His cheek was grazed and bleeding, and half of his face was swollen. "Good thing you didn't get hit in the eyes."

We walked away from the other two and headed to his room in the dorms. He fell back on the bed groaning in pain. "Sit up. I'll treat it."

He just chuckled and rolled over like a child. "Mom will kill me."

A smile crept up my face. "Why?"

"She doesn't want me getting into fights."

"Then tell her some thug did that to you and took all your money. Tell her you were buying food for the picnic."

He was laughing hard. "JC, you know, you're one of the best liars I've met." Luke messed my hair. "A good example is you lying about being such a bad liar. Everyone thinks you're bad when it comes to that when in reality you're just lying because you're such a good one. Confusing, but you're unbelievable.

"I'm proud of that." I forced him up and headed for his kitchen to get some cotton, a band aid and alchohol. When I returned to the room carrying one, he scurried away. "Coward," I scoffed. "It's just alcohol."

"Y-you know how much it hurts when you apply that to a wound!" he cried.

"One more step away and I'll pour this all over your wound, got that?" He gulped nervously and sat on the bed in defeat. Each time I dabbed the cotton on his cheek, he winced. "Ow."

"I'm sorry," I muttered, looking down. "It was my idea to kiss you, and that dog probably got angry at how deep we were getting."

He patted my head. "It's fine. At least I realized that I'm the one who's gonna cry and avoid Erin tomorrow."

I brushed his hand away and studied his face. "The cut isn't too deep, we won't need stitching."

He froze. "S-s-stitching?!" he asked.

With a deadpan look in my eyes, I held the cotton on his wound. "I said we don't need it."

"Ow, ow... ow! It burns, JC!"

I pulled the cotton away and put a band-aid on it. I then cleaned up and returned from the kitchen, only to find him spacing out. "Luke."

"Hmm?"

"I'll talk to..." I trailed off, considering my words. "Never mind."