Ballad of Flowers

Chapter 27

                As Alex awoke from his dreamlike trance, he saw her sitting asleep next to him. He practically lunged at her in a hug, tightly gripping at her as he finally returned to his love. Warm happiness radiates off him as Orchid jolted awake, quietly laughing. "Oh god, I thought I might die in there without you..." He whimpered softly, Orchid awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. "It was barely an hour..."

Hours felt like minutes to Alex as he cuddled against Orchid, breathing slow. Orchid thought this was adorable, gently hugging him back in a tired manner. It took plenty of energy out of her whenever she did something like that, and she wasn't sure if she could do it again for a while. With a quiet happy sigh from Alex, the grip loosened on her as he finally got his share of hugging for the day. She gave him a few pats on the head before stretching out and leaning back.

"You never really talk about Apple that much... What was he like when he was little?" Alex leaned in intently, head slightly tilting. She sighs quietly, leaning in as well. "Well, he was quiet. Resentful almost... I think he hates me, even to this day... I'm not sure why, but he does. Maybe it's because of our parents. They would always seem to like me more, give me more attention. Maybe it was to distract me from what the outside world was like. All I know is that he must hate me for it. This isn't the first time we've fought to the point of separation..." She had a sad look in her eyes. "It only got worse from there. He'd get physical sometimes, shoving me, slapping me... He scares me..." White, cyan and blue cloud her scales as she remembers what he'd do when he was especially mad about something. Deep down, she knew he was just sad. He never truly got love and appreciation from Tangerine or Ukele, always sticking to himself. Sometimes she'd catch him crying at night, talking quietly to himself. She felt bad for him in a way...

Orchid was rambling about the History of her species and her heritage, Alex barely listening as he just smiled and nodded. He learned this from his nursing classes, training to be a nurse of some sort at a hospital. A unit of this was psychology, and learning how patients would think, certain ways to deal with rude or unresponsive patients, and of course, "listening" to them. Alex wasn't the greatest listener, so learning how to deal with long stories was an important part of his class to him. He taught himself to skim over the details, but keep the important parts of stories, key points if you will. It's smart to do if you get easily overwhelmed, but he's not exactly a professional.

Hours pass, dinner flies by, and soon enough they're in bed, keeping eachother warm. An aura of happiness fills the air around them, the two fitting together like long lost puzzle pieces as they snuggle. As they dreamt together, not a single trouble dared pass by them, knowing they wouldn't give much attention to it...