All four of them were sitting in the living room with silence hanging on their shoulder. Words were failing them. What would make it all okay? What could they say to comfort each other? Would that even make any difference? Some were drowning in guilt while others in self pity. Gulf stood up suddenly and ran to the kitchen only to come back with a bottle of wine, four glasses and some beer cans. No one objected to it and soon everyone was a little drunk. Liquid courage was very much needed in that situation.
"I'm sorry." All four of them said at once and burst out laughing at the absurdity of it all.
"What should we do now?" Mew asked.
"I don't know. I really have no idea."
"You should talk with your Dad."
"I will once he calms down." Wat said.
"You should have told him you were dating me. He must've been so shocked." Tine said.
Wat sighed, "I know. I just couldn't find the right time. I wanted to tell him but I was scared of his reaction."
"You didn't really think we could invade this problem forever?"
Wat pouted, "I know that much but I wanted to live in this bubble of happiness for a little longer."
"We aren't breaking up, right?" Gulf whined.
Mew laughed at his baby, "I'm not leaving you."
Wat chimed in, "No one is breaking up. We'll make Dad understand. I'm sure he'll forgive us with time."
Things returned back to normal in few days. Tine did overthink at times but he was getting better at controlling negative thoughts. Amidst all that drama Tine had totally forgotten about his stalker. Messages had stopped in between so he had thought the person must've lost interest but it had started again. He wasn't sure what he could do about the situation. Reporting to police wouldn't do much since the stalker hadn't done anything yet and apart from those creepy messages nothing else had happened. Maybe he was making a big deal out of it.
Tine was humming softly as he went grocery shopping. It was last minute thing. Gulf was supposed to come with him but at the last minute he had stomachache so he was currently resting at home. Tine didn't like leaving him by himself when he sick but Gulf insisted he'll be okay, it was just a stomachache. Wat and Mew had gone to the office for some work and would be returning late tonight. Tine finished his shopping and as he neared the billing counter he realized how long he had been shopping. He tended to do that at times. He preferred getting everything of best quality and at times he couldn't make up his mind regarding what to buy which led to long stroll in the store. Gulf often grumbled about it but tagged along nonetheless.
When he arrived he hollered Gulf's name. He had got some medicine for his pain if he wasn't better yet. He received no response. Gulf must've fallen asleep. Tine was about to go to kitchen to put the grocery away but felt a growing urgency to see Gulf. He called his name few more times but received no reply. He first checked Gulf's room then bathroom. When he reached his room his eyes wandered around the room, then his gaze hit the person, lying on the couch, face down. His heart almost stopped, then he ran towards him. "Gulf? Can you hear me?" Tine asked, almost shouting at him, clearly panicking. He quickly dialed for an ambulance worrying about his friend. He called Wat and Mew informing them about Gulf's condition, pleading them to reach hospital as soon as possible.
It was daunting to wait for Gulf to gain consciousness. According to the doctor, he hadn't been hurt badly. He was hit on head with something so that led to concussion. As soon as Gulf opened his eyes, all three of them frantically went to see him. There were million of questions going through their head but at that time only thing they asked was how was he feeling. It wouldn't do any good to overwhelm him as soon as he woke up. Their main priority was making sure Gulf was completely fine. Doctor discharged him after three days. Gulf hadn't said a word since he woke up. It was extremely worrying for all of them. Mew had consulted the doctor but there wasn't any medical issue refraining Gulf from speaking. It was likely PTSD.
They desperately wanted to know what had happened but Gulf refused to even discuss about that day. They hoped once he came back home maybe he would recover faster. Seeing a therapist was a likely option but Gulf had refused even that. Mew felt like he was at his wits end. He couldn't help his baby unless he knew what had happened. He was itching to kill whoever had hurt Gulf but had no clue whatsoever to hunt down the jerk. Physically Gulf had recovered well but mentally was an entirely different matter. They had given him space to sort out his thoughts but Tine concluded this was enough, they needed to know who had hurt him so that they could protect him better. The culprit could try again, they needed to get him arrested before that happened.
He had made up his mind to tackle this situation as soon as possible. But for the life of him he couldn't think of anyone who would want to hurt Gulf. The people who were after them were already gone so who could it be? It's not like they had any enemies but if life has taught him anything it's that people at times don't really need a reason to hurt others. They just to do it. He had met fair share of people who thought nothing of hurting someone. It absolutely broke his heart to see his Gulf being fearful and paranoid again. It felt like the progress they had made all these years was for nothing.