Espera | R. Grayson ✔

[13]

"Barbara?" He turned towards her, equally worried to see her clothes stained red as well.

"I can explain..." She bit her lower lip nervously.

She could definitely not explain why an injured man, more so why an injured Richard Grayson, was in her bedroom at the moment.

So she had to think of a convincing lie instead.

"What's going on?" Jim's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

She quickly covered up, "it's Helena. She got into an accident and our place was close so she came here."

"Miss Bartinelli? Shall we take her to the hospital?"

"No. She's okay now. I have bandaged her up and she's asleep. Besides, she hates hospitals."

That was a fact Jim was aware of too, Barbara's best friend was a rather unconventional case. Over time, Helena had sustained the most dangerous of injuries but still insisted on never stepping foot into a hospital.

"Fine," much to her relief he agreed, "I'll check up on you two at breakfast."

"Yeah, I was just about to clean this up."

He nodded, returning back to his room while Barbara let out a breath of relief.

She quickly cleaned up the floor, keeping her eyes on her bedroom door as she didn't want her father to get suspicious and step in there.

But Jim didn't return so after cleaning up, she stepped into the room at last, locking the door.

Her eyes flickered towards Richard who was sound asleep by then, his soft breathing resonating in the silence as the storm had ended by then.

A soft smile broke out on her face as she changed out of her clothes, putting those in the wash and got into bed beside him. She would have to wake him up and get him out of the house before breakfast but currently, she could only focus on his peaceful sleeping features.

She gently brushed his hair back from his forehead, not wanting to wake him up but his tired eyes fluttered open immediately. It was an aftereffect of living on his own and always being on his guard.

Even the smallest of movements could alert him.

But a smile crept on his face to see her and though he couldn't hold her close due to his injuries, he entwined his hand through hers.

"Good night," she leaned closer to kiss his cheek, "go to sleep, you're safe here."

"I know," he mumbled, "I only ever feel safe with you..."

Her fingers gently wove through his hair, calming him enough to go to sleep again. And thus the two drifted off to sleep very soon, raveling in the comfort of being close to one another.

***

Early next morning, Barbara woke him up way before her father's usual time to wake up so that she could get him out of the house without making Jim suspicious.

"Richard, get up, you'll have to leave."

His eyes opened at last and he stood up, stretching his sore limbs.

"How do you feel now?"

"Much better," he flashed her a bright smile, "all thanks to you."

"Now hurry, you've got to leave before Dad wakes up."

Though before she could open the door and check then let him out, he brought her close to him, arm wrapping round her waist as he brushed his lips over hers in a tender kiss.

Richard was always so different with her that it made her heart melt. With Barbara he was always sweet and gentle, very caring and loving.

Those were aspects of his personality that he never bared to anyone else. The world knew him as a daredevil, a rebel and a man with anger issues.

But for her, he was just Richard, the sweetest and most adoring man she had ever met.

Her palms cupped his cheek as she melted in the moment but realizing that they had very little time left, she reluctantly pulled apart.

He understood as well and let go of her, watching as she went out to check first then beckoned him to follow her quietly. In next to no time, he was standing outside, his white shirt buttoned up to hide the bandages.

"Take care," she whispered before closing the door.

A smile played upon his lips as he began walking away from the apartment before anyone could see him there and get suspicious. His hands were in his pockets, his icy blue eyes were warm with happiness despite the fact that he had nearly died last night.

He loved waking up next to her and though it happened very rare, each time he got the opportunity, he made the most out of it.

Even though the previous night had been rough on him, seeing her beautiful features first thing in the morning had made everything else fade into nonexistence.

To him, at the moment, only Barbara mattered. Only Barbara clouded his thoughts and memories.

He loved her despite the fact that they were worlds apart and could get endangered due to it. Yet falling in love with her seemed like one of the very few right decisions he had taken in his life.

However, he knew he would ultimately have to deal with the mysterious people who had ambushed him and tried to kill him. And right along with that was the mystery of Lavina Vikander waiting to be unfurled as well.

But he pushed those thoughts out of his head for the time being. He would deal with them but he would not rush himself into anything.

***