Soul Watch

Chapter 19

The days after my first visit to Ceron passed by quickly. I would rush off to the hospital after my last lecture. I still wasn't keen on sharing him with the rest of my friends just yet, maybe it was selfish of me but I felt like I deserved the time I had with him—no disturbances, no chatter in the background, or sense of someone lingering behind my back.

It was just him and me.

I guess in a way, it was also for me to accept the unbelievable things that had happened. I was slowly taking it in everyday when I came back into the room, seeing him still there. On the second day, I had visited. I had almost dreaded opening the door, again, afraid that somehow, he wasn't real and had disappeared.

It was still so unbelievable to me that I had to take the time to reassure myself once I saw his sleeping form was still there.

Sometimes, the most incredible things happen, and you have to question yourself if it was real or not. The subconscious part of your mind will always caution you, to not be happy too soon, lest the thing would be taken away from you or something would just come by and kick it right back out of your life. It applied to me so much especially.

My visits were usually in complete silence. It was generally me saying a small hello or greeting and sitting down in the chair to look at his sleeping form. No thoughts would occur in my mind; I would just let the minutes pass by as I studied his face. I wanted to memorize every bump on his nose, like the gentle sloping on a hill, every line that was etched on his lips and even the long but fading scar that stretched across his jawline.

I would have loved to trace a finger against the skin on his face, across his closed eyelids and the small hollow beneath his bottom lip but it seemed very intrusive like I was taking advantage of a sleeping person. The closest I ever got to touching him was the first time I had visited.

A week passed by quicker than I had realized, even the scary looking nurse at the front desk started to greet me each time she saw me. It was only that particular day that Crysta had failed to inform me that Carwyn was going to be visiting Ceron as well. And he'd walked in on me leaning forward, balancing my head, on one hand, and just staring at his face again.

As soon as I heard him tentatively calling my name, I drew back so fast I almost toppled my chair over in my strain.

Red with obvious embarrassment, matching my recently dyed hair (Sunday to be exact), I craned my neck around to look at Carwyn, a bunch of pink roses in one hand and the other on the doorknob. He had a curious expression, one of the surprised but very obvious and shameless amusement. I could feel the heat almost burning the skin off my face.

"Hi, Carwyn..."

He came into the room and closed the door behind him. "I didn't know you were visiting today," he said as he took the blue vase from the bedside table and went into the conjoined toilet at the side of the room. From the way he spoke, he was trying to contain his laughter, and I knew he was cracking up quietly in the toilet.

I sighed and leaned back into the chair. "I've been coming here every day actually..."

I had heard the sound of running water and a few splashes before Carwyn emerged from the toilet with the pink roses now soaking in fresh water and his face suspiciously red.

He cleared his throat. "That's funny. Crysta didn't say anything."

I shrugged as he approached the bedside table and placed the vase upon it, rotating it until the way the flowers stood out satisfied him. He then turned to his brother. "Hey, Cer, how're you doing?" he spoke casually like he was talking to just any other person in the day, reminding me of the first time I had entered the room when he was wiping down Ceron and speaking to him.