Soraru x Mafumafu

When I First Saw You - Chapter 2

Did he actually consider hugging that Omega? He must be too tired to think things straight right now. Soraru shook his head, his fingers raking through his hair. He took off his remaining clothing and went to take a quick shower.

After a while, Soraru got out, changed into a normal T-shirt and a pair of baggy sweatpants, ready to go to bed. But as if he was just remembering something, he walked back to the coat rack and reached into the pockets of his coat. In it, was the bookmark he got from the florist.

He climbed into his bed, examining the bookmark in his hands.

"He mentioned that this is a lavender rose," he said, softly. Soraru picked up his phone and looked up for the meaning of it. He was surprised. Feeling his face heat up, he knew he was blushing. Good thing he was alone in his bedroom. Soraru leaned his back against the wall behind him. Just like its name, the petals possess of a light, pastel purple, that seem to soothe people's hearts just by looking at them. He brought the bookmark to his face and sniffed it, not in a disturbing way, pardon you. He only wanted to get to know the flower a little more, including how it smells like. And from it he knew that they smell incredibly good. Why would he want to do that? He himself also had a hard time trying to answer that question.

It's all dried up but it's still so pretty, he repeated the sentence he said to the Omega in the shop today in his mind. Being a guy like him, he never believed that there were such things as love at first sight, but he might actually try to accept it now. Maybe, just maybe, a portion of his heart was already taken away from him. He felt his lips curve, forming a smile, as he stared at the wilted rose, thinking about him. He hoped that the little Omega at the flower shop was not taken.

Suddenly, he heard someone sobbing. Soraru turned to look for the source of sound, only realizing that it came from the wall behind him after some time. He never knew that the walls were this thin to the point he could hear his neighbours. The person behind the wall sounded as if he was in pain. It did not sound like he was having sex though, that was for sure. Soraru sat at his spot, not moving an inch at all, and waited for a bit as he listened to him cry.

Soraru considered lying in his bed and try to get some sleep, to ignore his neighbor. But he couldn't. He craned his head up, looking up at the ceilings while toying with the bookmark in his hands. This was why he really wished that he could have lesser feelings to save up the trouble he was going to cause for himself.

The sobbing died down a little after some time had passed. Soraru turned his body a little, pressing his head on the wall and overheard the little one behind the walls sniffling. He cleared his throat and lifted his hand.

"Are you okay?" he asked after knocking on the wall gently, twice.

There was no sound. Soraru was worried that he might have scared him but the reply from the person behind the wall said otherwise.

"... Ah, no, it's nothing,"

Soraru frowned. "Are you sure?"

He waited for him to respond but it never came. Soraru knocked on the wall again. "I'm just a stranger, so even if you were to tell me about you, I'll have no one to tell to about. So worry not, and spill everything out if it makes you better. I'm all ears," he did not know why he would even say that. It was none of his business anyway, whether his neighbour wanted to talk or not. Wasn't that what he aimed for when he first moved here? To not make any contact with any of the neighbours, to not bond with any of them. And here he was, trying to persuade the stranger behind his wall to talk. Even he knew that what he said just now was not even convincing at all too, not even towards kids, so why would an adult?

Soraru heard him sniffle again, and then taking small deep breaths before he heard his voice again.

"Really, it's nothing. A slight fever got me, that's all," Soraru said nothing, as if waiting for him to say something more. "I guess I get pretty lonely when I'm sick," he laughed mockingly at himself.

"Isn't there anyone there to take care of you?" Soraru asked.

"My friend was here when I passed out," he said. "But I guess he had something else he needed to deal with. I can't rely on him all the time, right?"

Soraru did not add anything to that, not because he didn't want to, more like he didn't know how. What this person behind the wall is saying was the truth. They were entitled 'friends' but it would still be bad if one relied on them too much.

"But thanks to you knocking on my wall- ah, our wall, I realized that I'm not exactly alone," he heard him say. Soraru knew that he was smiling by the sound of his tone in that sentence. "I'm sorry that you have to hear me cry. It was disturbing, wasn't it? And at a time like this when people are supposed to be resting for the day,"

Soraru closed his eyes and shook his head, not caring if he could see his actions or not. "No, I was just worried,"

The person behind the wall said nothing for a while. Ah, he did it again. There was no way a stranger would be worried about another stranger, where have the logic went?

Bubbly giggling could be heard from the opposite side of the wall. "Thank you, that meant a lot to me,"

To be frank, his voice reminded him a lot about that Omega from that flower shop. But too many assumptions have been made tonight, he should give a rest about it. He might not even be an Omega anyway.

Turning his head to the side, Soraru knocked lightly on the wall again. "Do you need me to go over there for you?" Soraru had no idea why this came out as a whisper, but it did. "If you need company,"

He got a knock back at him before that person said anything.

"No, it's okay. I'm fine, really," he insisted. "Now's not the right time anyway..."

"Are you sure?"

Soraru heard him giggle again. "Yes, I'm sure," then he knocked on the wall again, giving him reassurance.

Soraru made a sound, as if that person would know what he implied from it, he lowered his head to look at the bookmark again. "Go to sleep, it's late,"

"But I just woke up,"

"You're sick, go to sleep,"

"... But,"

"I'll stay up until you fall asleep, okay?" coaxed Soraru, his voice soft and gentle, the ones you use when you try to convince a child. "You need plenty of rest,"

Receiving another knock in return, the opposite side of the wall was suddenly quiet. Soraru thought for a second there that he falls asleep really fast. Straining his ears to hear if he was really asleep, he thought he heard him mutter something to him.

"Thank you," he said.

TBC