Demon's Protégé

Damages

“Ouch.”

I muttered with a hiss when I felt the ice bag touching the bruise below my eye and the sensation stung me with a lingering coldness. I instinctively pulled away but Nari just aggressively put more weight on her hand as she held the bag firmer against my face. She was so close, and all of a sudden, I was immediately surrounded by her scent. And momentarily forgetting the entire situation, I tried to basked into the scent of hers that instantly reminded me of cinnamon bread and that one particular day ten years ago…

“You find this funny, huh?”

My eyes blinked back to present upon hearing Nari’s question thrown at me and I frowned at her for a second. “What?”

“You’re smiling,” she said to me, her eyes not leaving the area on my cheek. She was looking at me with a placid stare and I coughed uncomfortably, fixing that silly grin on my face. I did not even realize it was even there. I winced again when she brushed a sore part and I heard her sighing heavily.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s pretty late to say that now,” she told me grimly and I could even feel the tension seeping out of her when she roamed her eyes all over my face. “You don’t fight so well for yourself. He had you really bad, you know.”

I know. I can even feel everything. It was really stupid to start that fight. I did not even expect I was just going to embarrass myself by lying flat on the ground. I seemed to have only degraded myself more by my own idiocy again.

“I always end up looking like a clown to you, ain’t I?”

My comment surprisingly had Nari laughing at my expense but I did not even feel offended by it. In fact, the sound of her laughter had my heart welling up as I smiled at her expression and felt endearingly captivated by her face. For some reason, every pain I could feel in my entire body had vanished as I basked into the comfort of her touch and gentleness. This is bad though… I am actually falling so hard and I don’t how to save myself from this no more. I was sucked down to infatuation towards her and it was getting me so whipped.

“This is a first,” I suddenly remarked and Nari paused as she gave me a look.

“What is?”

“You laughing like that,” I casually admitted, my lips twitching into a smile, “You’ve always and only scowled at me but it feels like being beaten up like this was actually the only way to see that rare expression from you directed towards me.”

For a moment, Nari just stared right back at me, her hand raised mid-air towards my face with the ice pack. I was not sure how to describe the way she looked at me at that second. I was just deeply hypnotized by those green orbs that seemed to look past my nonchalant façade. We did not say anything for a few minutes, but our stare seemed like we were having a conversation that neither one wanted to interrupt. I just kept meeting her reserved look unable to move from where I sat by their couch with her side softly pressed against my shoulder.

“Taiyo, I got you something to change to.”

Maria’s interruption from the near distance eventually broke the moment between me and Nari and I turned towards where she was now standing by the hallway. She had appeared with a shirt in her hands. Her eyes darted between Nari and I and she seemed to have realized that she had caught us in an awkward moment. Yet Nari just silently pulled away from me as if nothing had happened and she shifted further towards the opposite side of the couch that I suddenly regretted losing her warmth near me.

“Thank you, Maria,” I said with a small smile as I struggled to get up from sitting and started walking my way towards her. She held the shirt out to me and I immediately caught her wincing at the sight of my face.

“That bad, huh?” I said, bitterly smirking at the reaction she just made.

“You might need some bandages,” she told me and before she could even turn to walk back to their room down the hallway, Nari suddenly walked up behind me.

“I’ll get it,” she said and she quickly disappeared away. Maria and I looked at where she had just walked out to and we both smiled sheepishly.

“I’m sorry about what just happened,” I decided to take that moment to apologize right away. Maria just looked back at me and gently tapped me on the shoulder.

“It’s okay,” she said to me, her warm smile not even subsiding. “For the record, I also didn’t like the guy.”

“Huh.” I uttered back, smirking again then winced when it triggered a sting on my face. “Who was he to Nari, anyway?”

“He’s…”

“Alright,” Nari came back so quick before Maria could even answer my question as she approached me with a medical kit in her hands. I suddenly wanted to make her turn back and leave so that Maria can finally tell me what her relationship with that Ren guy really was. But then, I also did not want to ruin whatever moment we were sharing now just by bringing that guy up again.

“Let’s fix you up.” Nari said this to me, stopping on her tracks when she reached my side.

We went back to the couch and I let her tend to my bruises as I watched her silently. Bandaging my face took quite a while and Nari had a hard time trying to cover up every injury shown on my face. I don’t really want to ask how much it damaged my entire look and I tried my best not to react on every pain I get whenever she hit a sore spot. I remained composed as I waited and when she finally finished, I exhaled loudly not even realizing that I had been trying not to breathe too much the entire time.