Kalpalata Lotus - Kavetham

Chapter 10

The first thing Kaveh noticed when he woke up was the pounding headache his hangover was giving him. The second thing was how bright the room was. The sun was shining right into his eyes. Plants were decorated around the room. In the top corner of a ceiling, he saw a hanging pot that let vines hang down from it. On it, blue Kalpalata Lotus's bloomed.

The last thing he noticed was the small girl sitting next to the bed he was laying on. The girl has curious green eyes that stared at him. Her white hair was tied into a side ponytail and had forest green streaks in it. She gave him a smile that could brighten up anyone's day. "You're awake."

Kaveh groaned and turned to her. He felt like shit. His vision was still a bit blurry, and his head was spinning. With help from the girl, he sat up on the bed. "Where... am I?"

"You're in my house," the girl told him. "My brother and his girlfriend found you very drunk last night. Are you feeling okay?"

He nodded. He then shook his head. "I feel... awful. Hangover... hangovers suck."

The girl nodded in agreement. She then turned to the door. Another girl opened it and entered. She had bright red hair and sky blue eyes. She was holding a tray that contained a plate of bacon, eggs, sausage, fruit, and some orange juice. Her eyes lit up when she saw Kaveh. "Ah, Kaveh! I got some food for you when you were asleep."

"Thanks... Nilou," Kaveh mumbled. A bit of frustration rose when he saw her. He brushed off the feeling and took the plate when she handed it to him. He began slowly eating the breakfast she made for him. After a few bites, he stopped and looked at her. "So... where's Alhaitham?"

Nilou pressed her lips together and looked away. For a moment, she looked like she didn't want to talk about him. Kaveh could hear the silent sigh that she was trying to hide. "He's in his room. Just... reading as usual."

"Of course he is," Kaveh grumbled. One of Alhaitham's favorite things to do was read. He said it was to 'gain more knowledge', but Kaveh suspected the real reason was to avoid people. "Is... Is he the one who carried me here?"

"Mhm. I can take you to big brother if you want," the girl by the bed told him. "He did tell me to let him know when you woke up. He wants to talk to you."

"Well, uh, tell him that I don't want to talk to him back!"

The girl giggled. "He said you might say that. You two are really interesting."

He rolled his eyes to that. Kaveh was a college kid who was in a lot of debt. His hangover was making him look worse. How could anyone find him interesting? The most he's got going is his job at the flower shop.

The girl continued. "Are you feeling better?"

Kaveh shook his head. "Not really... I have a massive headache and still feel a bit sick."

"Here," Nilou handed him a bottle of pills. "These will help with the headaches, and so should the food and water. Come on, Nahida, we should leave him to rest."

The little girl nodded and stood up from the chair. Nahida and Nilou went to head out. Before she left, Nahida turned back to Kaveh. "I'll be back soon. Get some rest."

With that, the two girls left the room.

***

The room was darker when Kaveh woke up again. Candles illuminated the dark room, giving it a sort of warm feeling. All the plants around the room had changed to roses. Kaveh looked at the side of the bed and saw a speaker on the end table. It was playing some soft jazz quietly. The mood in the room changed immensely.

"This is... weird," Kaveh mumbled to himself.

"Kaveh?"

Kaveh jumped and looked around the room to see where the voice came from. He eventually looked beside him in the bed where he saw a sleeping Alhaitham who had started to wake up.

"Al- Alhaitham?!"

"That's my name," he chuckled. "It's nice to hear you say it."

"Uh, what?" Kaveh asked with a weird look on his face. Alhaitham turned his body under the blankets to face Kaveh. He propped an elbow up on the pillow to hold his head. Kaveh's eyes wandered from his head, down to his neck, down to his chest, and saw the blankets covering up the rest of him. His eyes widened. "Why- why are you uh, why are you shirtless?"

Alhaitham smirked at him. He made no attempt to hide checking out Kaveh. "What? Did you forget about last night?"

"What?!" Kaveh jumped back. He immediately sat up and scooted away. Realizing he was also bare, he pulled up the blankets to hide himself. "What are you talking about?!"

Alhaitham chuckled and also sat up. He scooted closer to Kaveh. "Come on dear, don't run. You know I like that."

"Uhhhhh," he stammered. He just kept scooting back. "Get- get back."

"Make me," he said in a deep voice. He reached his hand over and stroked Kaveh's cheek. Kaveh could feel himself heating up. "Oh, Kaveh~ Kaveh..."

His heart started to beat faster.

"Kaveh~"

His breath became quicker.

"Kaveh?"

He jolted awake in the bed. Everything was back to normal. The many varieties of plants had returned. The room was still illuminated by the sun. Kaveh let out a breath of relief.

"Having a nightmare?" Nahida asked.

Kaveh looked up at her. She was crouching beside him. He looked around and realized he was lying on the floor. "Uh, you could- you could say that."

Kaveh groaned as he got up off the floor. He stretched his arms and looked down at Nahida. He didn't realize how short she was until now.

"You look a lot better," she commented. "Come on, Alhaitham wants to see you."