Lin had been gone for hours. Too many hours. He said he'd be back soon, and Pippa didn't know where he'd gone off to.
"Pippa, I'm back." Lin called out in a somewhat nasally voice. He heard nothing from the girl, so he ventured deeper into the dorm. Lin really prayed she hadn't gone out, seeing that the blizzard outside was getting worse and worse by the moment. Lin walked deeper into the rooms, and halted in front of Pippa's bedroom door when he heard her keyboard clacking. "Pip, I'm back." Lin opened the door to see Pippa with her hair pinned ontop of her head, a pair of glasses perched on the bridge of her nose, and she was typing away at her laptop. "Pippa?" Lin asked a little louder. She still didn't turn around. Lin approached her a little closer and noticed her breaths were incredibly shallow. "What's wrong, Pippa?" This finally got her attention. Pippa turned and faced Lin.
"Oh my gosh, Lin, what happened to you?!" She jumped up and gingerly touched her thumb to his bruised eye. Her index finger traced his broken lip and around his cracked nose. "Why are you so bloody?"
"Don't worry about it." Lin shook his head.
"No, I will worry about it." Pippa saved her work and shut her laptop. She grabbed Lin's hand and led him to the add on bathroom in her dorm. "Sit." She tapped on the counter. Lin exhaled, but sat himself up on the sink anyway.
"What are you doing?" Lin asked, looking down at Pippa, who was rummaging through the cabinets below the sink.
"Shh, Love, bite your tongue." Lin watched in horror as she poured something onto a cotton pad.
"Why do I have--" Lin complained.
"Love, just bite your tongue, this is going to sting." Pippa sympathetically smiled as she pressed the cotton pad to where Lin's lip was busted up.
"Ahh!" He exclaimed. "Stop!" Lin pulled her arm away.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Pippa threw the cotton away and helped Lin down from the counter. Lin shook his head. "What even happened to you?" Pippa asked once more.
"I said not to worry about it, it isn't worth it." Lin coaxed. He sighed at her panicked expression.
"It is worth it. Did someone--" She was cut off by her phone ringing. Pippa ran back to her room and saw the call was from Matt. "It's Matt." She mouthed. Lin shook his head, but she answered the call anyway. "Hey, Babe, how are you?"
"You lied to me!" He shouted into the phone. "You are sleeping with that--"
"Matt!" Pippa exclaimed, she didn't want to hear what he was about to call Lin. Pippa transferred the call to speaker phone, but forced Lin to stay silent. Lin anxiously bit his lip as he waited to hear what Matt was going to say.
"Record the call." Lin whispered. "Just in case." Pippa nodded and began to record the phone call as well.
"Matthew, I'm not sleeping with Lin." Her voice cracked. "How many times do I have to tell you that?" Tears started flowing down her cheeks.
"Then why is that--"
"You call him anything but his name, I swear." Pippa scolded, but instantly regretted it.
"And what if I don't?" His wicked chuckle cracked through the phone speaker. "You can't do anything to me. I'm the one with the control here." At this, Lin reached out to grab Pippa's hand, but she jumped away. She obviously wasn't with him anymore, she had gotten stuck in between his words, on the horrible train of thought they sent her on. "Am I wrong?" He sneered.
"No, you're not." Pippa said. "I'm yours and yours only." Pippa said once again, almost as if she'd been trained to do so. This made Lin want to cry.
"Good. Now, if I find out he's still staying with you, I'm going to have to remind you of that, hmm?" His voice sent chills through Pippa's body.
"Yes."
"Glad you understand. Goodnight now, Sweetheart."
"Goodnight." Pippa whispered. She hung the phone up and ran back to her room. Without a word to Lin, she shut the door and immediately started pacing.
"Pippa, let me in, please." Lin turned the doorknob slowly. He froze at the sight of Pippa pacing a line in the carpet, her breaths coming out more in pants. "Pip, breathe, please."
"No, don't touch me!"
"Pip, it's me, Lin." Lin said softly.
"Lin, I'm sorry to bother you, I have so much work to do, I'm sorry." He could tell her mind was spinning in so many different directions. He watched in pain as she sat back down at her laptop and touched her shaking fingers to the keys.
"Pippa, stop, please, don't do this to yourself. That script isn't even due for three more weeks, please, you're hurting yourself." Lin pleaded. He couldn't stand to see her in such a state.
"Lin, please. I don't want you getting hurt any more than you already are. Please, you can't be here." Pippa's voice lowered as tears started to fall.
"Well, guess what? I already went and confronted him about how he treated you, and he hit me too. That's how this whole thing happened, and I'd rather him beat me than beat you, so what's the worst he could do?!" Lin quickly regretted his loud tone of voice and that last question.
"He could very well could kill either one of us, you have no idea the Hell I've had to endure, and you have no idea what he's capable of!" Pippa shouted, tears rushing down her cheeks.
"Well what do you think I'm doing all of this for?!" Lin yelled. He'd lost all regards he had to the entire situation, even though he shouldn't have.
"Leave!" Pippa screamed.
"Phillipa, I just want to help you!"
"Well, you're not doing it! Leave!" She choked through tears.
"Pippa..." Lin realized he had royally screwed this one up.
Pippa rested her forehead in her hand. "Lin, go."
"Please..."
"Go!"
"Alright. Alright." Lin put his hands up in surrender. "I'm still going to protect you. I promised you, and I won't break that promise." He muttered through the last bit.
"Go!" She pointed out the door, and Lin left through it. He knew not to take any of that to heart. She was in such a raw state that she didn't know what she was saying. This whole situation was just too messy to handle right now, a little too bloody to look at in the moment. But I was going to be resolved. But neither Lin or Pippa knew exactly when.
