One of a kind

Chapter 05

Panic overcame TK, and for a moment he felt unable to breathe. Something horrible had happened to Carlos, and in a matter of two seconds, he had come to the worst conclusions possible. Carlos had died because of what he'd done to be in the bed at TK's side, TK had killed him... Carlos had died without TK being able to talk to him and tell him how he really felt.

He must have gone pale, as his father looked scared. Owen moved closer to the bed, sat on it, and smiled.

"Shit, that sounded worse than it was meant to."

"Where's Carlos? Something happened to him, right?"

"No." Owen squeezed his hands tightly and his smile grew a little.

Gwyn came over too and glared at Owen. "Your father doesn't have any tact with these things. Carlos is fine."

"No, no, he's not. He was in that bed and I saw doctors overnight, or the day, I don't know what time it was. But there were people around his bed and he was sick."

"TK."

He followed the direction of the voice and was met with Carlos, seated in a wheelchair, but with a much better appearance than that he'd had hours ago. He'd gotten colour back in his cheeks and he didn't seem to have a fever—at least, not one as high as the last time TK had seen him.

"You're...in a wheelchair."

"Oh, yeah, the doctors still aren't letting me walk to avoid me opening the wound again."

TK wanted to sit up in bed to see Carlos better, but his body didn't respond, and he moaned in despair.

"Hey, calm down, I'm fine," Carlos said. "When they brought you in, the doctors said that you needed a liver transplant and neither of your parents were close. It was something that had to happen urgently..."

"You gave me your liver."

"Yeah, um, apparently we're perfectly compatible." Carlos cleared his throat nervously and TK flushed red. "I mean, my body is compatible with yours...for a transplant, I mean."

"Yeah...sure."

"TK, son, we're so happy that you're awake and on the mend," said Andrea, walking into the room and breaking the awkward moment that had sprung up between them.

"Sorry for scaring you," Owen continued.

"If you boys want, we'll let you have a moment alone," Gabriel added. "They've discharged Carlos and we're taking him home with us so he can rest a couple more days while he's off work."

Both the Reyes and Owen and Gwyn left. TK wasn't sure if he wanted to be alone with Carlos; after all, the idea that something had happened to him had shaken him up, and it had been a long time since they'd talked while alone.

But maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to share five minutes with him. Who knew how long it would be before they saw each other again.

Carlos stood up from the wheelchair; it was still a huge effort and it hurt, but the doctor had said that he was okay to move around a little.

"Be careful," TK said nervously.

"The doctor said I should start to move around, just as long as I don't make any big efforts."

He walked towards the bed and sat next to TK. The silence grew uncomfortable, though, in this situation, everything was uncomfortable. Neither of them dared to look the other in the eyes, and neither could catch the other's gaze.

"I guess now we've both scared each other," said Carlos with a forced smile.

"You don't have to compare, bab...Carlos. I spent days in a coma, I know that the doctors weren't betting that I'd have a full recovery. I don't even know if it will happen, and on top of that, you had to give a piece of your liver to save my life. I only got scared for five seconds when I thought that something had happened to you. It's not the same."