“Hey,”
I could distinguish that voice if we were in a crowded room; I loved his voice. I tore my eyes from the candlelight that I have been staring at for minutes and looked up to meet his gaze.
“Hi,” I nodded. I looked at the mess on his head; when will he ever fix his hair? I was about to comment on how windswept it looked when I noticed that the side of his head appeared to be bleeding. “Holy shit, what happened to you?”
His eyebrows furrowed for a moment, as if trying to decipher what I was talking about. “Oh, right. Uh, I may have kind of bumped my head on the windowsill.”
I bit back a laugh and stood up from my seat on the couch, signaling him to take it. “Stay here, I’ll get a Band-Aid.”
I maneuvered through the dark house with the help of my phone’s flashlight and took the first-aid kit from the bathroom of my bedroom. When I came back in the living room, he was still at the same spot where I had left him. He was watching the candlelight before him, a hand pressed on the bleeding area on his head.
I sat down on the coffee table in front of the couch, across him, the candle beside me.
“Let’s play doctor, shall we?” I said, putting on a small smile. He chuckled lightly and nodded, peeling his hand off his head. I poured a small amount of alcohol on a cotton ball and quickly dabbed it on his wound.
“Fuck,” he hissed, wincing.
“Hey!” I scowled, locking eyes with him. “No cursing.”
“You just said ‘holy shit’ like, three minutes ago.” He pouted.
I rolled my eyes and slapped his shoulder in defeat of his point. I continued to clean the wound, ignoring his flinches. Despite his grimaces, he had a tiny smile on his lips. I then got the box of Band-Aids from the first-aid kit and pulled out a random set of colored Band-Aids.
“Pick a color.” I displayed to him the nine Band-Aids that I had pulled out; two of them pink, two yellow, three blue, one orange, and one green.
“Hm,” he tilted his head in thought. He shut his eyes close and pointed at one of the Band-Aids on my hand. Orange. He smiled when he opened his eyes to see what he had unknowingly chosen. “Your favorite color.”
“That’s right.” I chuckled. I placed the rest of the unselected Band-Aids back in the container and proceeded on sticking the orange Band-Aid on his forehead.
When I was contented with how it looked, after tidying up the coffee table and setting aside the first-aid kit, I sat back down beside him with a sigh, feeling his arm wrap around my shoulder.
“Thanks,” he whispered. I could feel his breath on my head.
I nodded. “Sure,”
“So what were you doing out here at two in the morning?” He asked. “I know this is your house and all, but not everyone I know hangs out at their living room until the break of dawn.”
I shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep. Exactly what happened to your head?”
“Well, your guest room isn’t exactly the safest place on Earth.” I could imagine him smirking from his tone of voice. I shifted my position to look at him—he was smirking.
“Maybe you’re just clumsy.” I retorted with a pout.
He rolled his eyes with a light chuckle and carried on, “well, because the power’s out, I was going to unplug my laptop charger, and when I did, I accidentally bumped my head on the windowsill while standing up.” He explained, one hand dangling around my shoulders, the other carelessly moving as he talked.
“You’re so prone to accidents. “ I snickered. “It’s a good thing I’m awake.”
“Thanks for fixing me up, doctor.”
I nodded and jokingly saluted at him with a grin. “Anytime.”
I was just about to stand up, ready to get a good night’s rest, when he leaned in. I froze.
His forehead touched mine, and our eyes locked immediately. There was no way out. His hand slowly crept to my cheek and I could feel his breath tickle my lips. I could smell a mix of toothpaste and soap when he slowly breathed out. Everything was so silent and still, like the entire world stopped just for us to experience this moment.
He stirred a little nearer, and soon enough, there was no more space left for us to move closer to one another except for the tiny one between our lips. Just when his lips were about to touch mine, when I could already imagine their taste, when I could already feel his nose on my cheekbone, the lights went on, and the two of us immediately broke apart, slightly jumping off of the couch from the sudden glaring light of the living room.
