Knowing You.

The Monk's Meal

A.N. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE! Thank you for always showering me with constant support ♡ I hope this year will be kind to all of us :)

Disclaimer: strong language is used in this chapter.

BEN

Stubborn.

That woman is absolutely stubborn.

He didn't want her to leave food for him, but she did. She always does!

To hell with her! He would rather die than eat whatever she would offer.

He can tell that it’s been more than a day with her. He has seen the sun rise and set and rise again and still, no fucking sign that his comrades came here to search for him.

Absolute cowards. Ben was still livid over his current situation. And he hates how he's left powerless.

His stupid wound makes him immobile and he has no weapons aside from some punches or kicks from his good leg.

But…

He takes a careful peek at the woman who is busy going through her bag and whatever is inside it. It’s a miracle that her flashlight has not died out yet, and it has been useful for all these hours.

It gave him another opportunity to study the woman with him. His supposed ‘savior’ when he didn’t want to be saved at all.

He has spat out all kinds of things to rile her up and finally shoot a bullet through his head out of anger, but she has said nothing in retaliation. Instead, she would continue to clean his wound, give him food and water, and stay at the far end of the dugout as she minds her own business.

Not only is she stubborn but she's also strange. Peculiar.

This time, that woman left him another can half-filled with beans, beside it are some crackers lying on a piece of torn cloth.

He scoffs under his breath, eyeing the food beside him and he darts his eyes toward the entrance of the dugout. He can crawl out if he wanted to, but the problem is who will he find on the other side? Will it be his comrades or hers? It wouldn’t be a problem if it were hers and he had his weapons with him. He could shoot all of her comrades dead and leave her to survive the pain and agony of the aftermath. That would teach her a lesson about taking care of someone who doesn’t want to live with the enemy.

Suddenly, his stomach lets out a low grumble. It stops after a second, then another grumble occurs – this time louder. It even caused the woman to turn and look at him inquisitively.

“Fucking hell,” he swore tightly. “Now she’s really going to push me to eat.” Lo and behold, the woman doesn’t hesitate to head over to where he is.

“You need to eat,” she says grabbing the can of beans and bringing it before him.

He grunts in reply and swats her hand away. He finds it weak of himself to only resort to pushing her hand away as a form of retribution. He has the choice to punch her mercilessly, but, come on, he still had his manners to some degree.

Ben wanted to face the other direction and accidentally makes his right leg jerk upward. It causes a throbbing strain on his wound. He gasped out loud, feeling all the air escape from him due to the searing pain that spread from his leg to everywhere on his body.

“What did you do?!” The woman instantly berates him and sets the can of beans on the ground. She gets on her knees and forcefully holds him down so that he would stop moving, but Ben couldn’t help writhing in pain. It felt like it was being burned all over again.

“I told you for the past hours that you should not agitate your wound!” She continues. “I know you can understand me, so at least give me a listening ear, would ya? It’s still very fresh and my supplies are limited. I can’t heal it as fast as you want, okay?” She was breathing heavily after her outburst and frankly enough, Ben was surprised to hear and see that she could lose her temper too. The outburst also came at the right time because it distracted him from the pain.

When he did not say anything in return and only grunted at her, the woman took this as the chance to change the bandage on his wound. She reached over to grab the medical kit laying by the makeshift wall and made sure to cover the wound with some powder before closing it with a fresh bandage.

Ben didn’t want to fight back for now. He let her do it and, surprisingly, he stayed quiet throughout the procedure.

The woman purses her lips and drew back to sit on her heels. There is a shared silence between them and she huffs out another breath as she grabs the can of beans again and brings it to his face. “You need to eat. And that is an order.”

Ben narrowed his eyes at her and when his eyes gazed at the lump of beans covered in some kind of red sauce in the can, he instantly felt his stomach churn in disgust.

He doesn’t know what overcame him but the sight of those beans reminded him of those dead comrades around him – guts strewn everywhere because of a sudden explosion, brains scattered everywhere.

Fucking disgusting. He coughed heavily and raucously. He wanted to heave out all of his guts but there was nothing left in it. Maybe just bile. It rose through his throat and it burned its insides.

God, he can’t look at those beans. Not now. He’d rather eat them in the dark.

Suddenly, a jug is forced on his lips. “Drink this,” the woman murmurs. Ben feels water trickle from his lips down to his mouth and he swallows it down. Water seeps out of his mouth and he relishes feeling such a sensation on his skin and as it drips down inside his clothes. He never realized that he was famished this whole time. It felt invigorating to have something to drink again.

The woman pulls the jug of water away from his lips and Ben uses the back of his hand to wipe his mouth.

“...It’s the beans, isn’t it?” She carefully asks at length. “They remind you of…casualties you’ve witnessed.”

Ben keeps quiet. He has to give it to her though. She’s smart.

“I know what you feel. Sometimes I close my eyes when I have to eat the beans.” She sets her lips in a tight line and leaves the jug of water on the ground near him. She drags the cloth of crackers to him and takes the can of beans with her. “At least eat the crackers. Your stomach is begging for food. Do it a favor and listen to it.”

Then she heads back to the far end of the dugout. Ben continues to watch her warily. Then his gaze moves to the ground to see the crackers nearer to him.

And in the silence of the dugout, he begins to slowly eat them after having nothing to eat for more than 24 hours.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

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