✨~ Fluff
💔~ Angst
The photo accurately describes Alhaitham's reaction while reading this chapter HAHAHAHAHAHA (i'm sorry alhaitham pls don't hate me)
⚠️TW - This chapter mentions blood, poison, and stab wounds.
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Alhaitham's POV
What a nuisance.
It was 8 PM, with me sitting in my desk, checking the hundreds of badly written applications.
Seriously, whoever taught those people how to write a resume should have their teaching licenses revoked immediately.
Such a disgrace.
On the other hand, a fortunate thing was that Kaveh was not here to annoy me. In fact, he left early this morning to visit a 'friend'. Oh, that friend must be really lucky to have someone like Kaveh as their friend. I was actually more surprised about the fact that he had a friend.
The main door swung open. Speaking of the devil...
I sighed, not daring to look at him. Why would I want to torture myself by looking at such a hideous creature? From the corner of my eye, I could see a tall and blond figure wobbling to the kitchen.
He was drunk. Again.
He had been away for hours and didn't even say hello? Heck, he didn't seem to have bought anything for me. As if he would ever do anything that kind to me.
I left my desk and started heading to where Kaveh was.
What is he- CRASH!!!
My thoughts were interrupted by a loud noise. I rushed to the kitchen, and there he was on his knees.
"Hey, are you drunk again?" I grumbled, kneeling down to his side.
"S-Stay away from me. Don't get.. dirty," Kaveh spoke in a shaky tone.
He's speaking nonsense as usual. Of course he's drunk, or so I thought.
If that was true, why is it that I'm not smelling the faintest scent of alcohol? Was he really not drunk?
"What are you even saying?" I sighed. He looked like he could barely move. What a nuisance.
I placed his arm over my shoulder, supporting his body by holding him from the waist. What a silly mistake that was.
He let out a cry and placed his hand over mine.
"L-Let go," he whimpered.
Huh? What's going on?
I pulled his hand away. "I'm trying to help you, okay? At least stop making it unnecessarily harder for both-"
My hand. My hand felt weird.
I looked at it, and I wished I didn't.
It was covered with blood. Kaveh's blood.
"Kaveh, what is this?!"
It was then when I realized that I didn't carefully examine Kaveh yet. He was paler than usual, and his white top was drenched in blood. His breathing was heavy and unsteady. Even the blue belt that he wrapped around his waist had bloodstains on it! How deep was that wound exactly?!
Heck, why am I even staring at him right now?
The only response Kaveh gave me was a groan. He was semi-conscious. I have to act immediately.
I quickly took him to our shared bedroom, laying him down on his bed. My bed was closer to the door, but of course he wasn't dumb enough to think that I would let him bleed on my bed.
"Take off your top," I ordered him before I put on a pair of medical gloves.
He weakly untied the silly belt around his waist and lifted the hem of his top, exposing the nasty wound.
As I thought, it was a deep stab wound.
I grabbed the first aid kit that was under his bed. Why did we decide to put it there? Because the dummy always gets himself injured. He could be going out to get some fresh air and would somehow manage to get himself hurt. That idiot made it seem like the butterflies outside were armed with razor blades. However, he never got himself this badly injured before.
Maybe I should really stop bullying him and stop the heavy bleeding instead.. or not?
I placed his hand on a clean cloth. "I want you to keep doing this to stop the bleeding," I calmly said as I pressed his hand against the wound, earning a deep groan from Kaveh.
I poured some antiseptic solution on another clean cloth. "Now pull the cloth away," I ordered. Of course, I could be doing all of that myself, but I had to let him do it. He must do it. He must stay conscious.
After he had reluctantly obeyed, I pressed the wet cloth against the stab wound. Immediately, Kaveh's head titled back as cries and pleas came out of his parted lips.
I took a glance at him. A hand gripped the bedsheet, grimaced face, slightly arched back, and shaky breaths. Looks like I underestimated how badly he's in pain.
I lowered the wet cloth for a bit. I couldn't help but notice that Kaveh was tensing up badly, and his breathing was far far from stable.
Was it discomfort, fear, anxiety, or agony?
Or was it because I was touching him?
Well, could I really blame him? How would I feel if my annoying roommate saw me in such a vulnerable state?
I hummed in an attempt to relieve the unbearable tension in the room, my hand moving along the arch of his back.
"Is this how little you trust your roommate, Kaveh?" I whispered, a small smirk carving itself on my face. "Arching your back and not breathing properly when I'm being so gentle with you, huh?"
He glared at me in a way that could penetrate me. Groans interrupted his speech as he whispered, "And why... why would I-I trust you?"
I huffed. Was that his attempt to be kind with me?
With one of my hands on his back and the other over his defined abdomen, I gently pushed him down against the bed.
"Breathe, okay? Take deep breaths and tell me when to stop," I said, holding the wet cloth in my hand again and pressing it against his bleeding side.
This is going to take a while. Well, he seems conscious enough to talk. Let me chat with him for a bit. Maybe that would help him relax.
"Start talking. Who did this to you?" I spoke as I continued cleaning the wound.
Kaveh looked at me. He had that look on his face that I absolutely hate. He looked so submissive and weak. I despised that.
"I.. I went out to visit a friend. Then, on my way back home"—groan—"I accidentally came across a large group of hilichurls. They were so many, but I got all of them."
Kaveh then looked to the side, avoiding my gaze as he whispered, "Well, almost all of them. I... lost one and it had a bow an an arrow."
I sighed. "So the arrow stabbed you and you pulled it out like an idiot, huh?"
"That... that hilichurl seemed strange so I-I thought that the arrow w-was poisoned, but turns out it.. it wasn't."
Indeed, that wound of his doesn't look poisoned nor infected.
I don't know why I'm even helping this idiot. Don't get the wrong idea. I absolutely hate his guts, but now that he was trembling under my fingertips, I couldn't forgive the monster that did this to him. Not that he was special or anything. Rent is due tomorrow, and he must not die before paying his share.
After cleaning the wound, I grabbed a needle and a thread from the first aid kit, but it felt like something was missing.
How strange. Why isn't there any numbing solution in the kit? Is it even supposed to be there?
What a nuisance. I guess I have to do it the hard way.
"I will be right back," I told Kaveh before heading to the kitchen. There, I grabbed some ice cubes from the ice tray then went back to the bedroom.
"This will feel cold on your skin. Try your best not to move," I said. Why am I even reassuring him? I should stop being nice to him, and maybe I should just stitch the wound close without numbing him. Maybe that would teach him a lesson.
I placed the ice on Kaveh's injured side, keeping it in place using my left hand while the right one had the needle prepared.
Kaveh gasped from the sudden cold feeling on his skin, then he placed his hand over his mouth. It was obvious how uncomfortable he was from the way he was squirming away from my touch. My hands were cold, after all.
"Don't move," I said before carefully piercing the needle into his skin. He obeyed, wincing in between the few seconds there were between relief and the feeling of a sharp needle being pushed against delicate skin.
"What were you planning to do if you didn't find me at home?" I asked, glancing away from the needle for a bit to look at Kaveh.
As I expected. He didn't dare to look me in the eye.
"Do you think I'm that dependent on you? I would have helped myself on my own, of course!" he said.
Now he's back. The loud and annoying Kaveh is finally back.
I sighed. That hilichurl should have aimed to the upper left corner of his chest instead of merely his side.
"Stop it with the nonsense," I said. "Those shaky hands of yours couldn't have possibly done anything good to that nasty wound. Besides, a million Mora says you wouldn't have made it to the bedroom without collapsing."
Of course, he stayed silent. His silence was a clear answer. No, he wan't planning on surviving if it weren't for me.
Wait. Did he return home expecting me to be there and save him? So that fool depended on me with his life?
I cut the extra piece of thread then removed my now bloodied medical gloves. I despised people who trusted others so easily. Why did that reckless fool think that I would willingly help him? I would've left him in the kitchen to rot if it wasn't for the fact that he fulfilled his responsibilities as my roommate.
I wiped away the now melted ice using the bloodstained cloth. Kaveh had already closed his eyes. Dead, I hope. I took out the roll of bandages and began wrapping it around his waist.
Why was he closing his eyes?
Wait a minute.
I pushed away the loose strands of blond hair away from his sweaty forehead.
"What are you doing?" he spoke, but it came out as a mere whisper.
I pressed the back of my hand against his forehead, and it was warmer than what I had originally anticipated.
"Were you hiding this from me?"
He opened his eyes and sighed. "Do I have to tell you everything?"
As I suspected, he had a fever. The wound couldn't have possibly caused it, for it wasn't infected nor was he poisoned whatsoever.
Did he visit his friend while burning like this? What an irresponsible fool. I guess I have to... pay more attention to him.
Once I was done bandaging his abdomen, I returned the medical instruments back in the first aid kit before placing it under Kaveh's bed, then I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Are you going to say anything?"
He looked confused at first, then he spoke, "Oh uhh.. thank you?"
That's more like it.
"No, no, seriously. Thank you, Alhaitham. You saved me," Kaveh said.
"Hm?"
I moved his loose strands of hair again to place a wet cloth on his forehead.
I looked at him to surprisingly find a pale shade of red coloring his cheeks. Of course, he didn't mind saying something embarrassing like that.
"Never do anything reckless like that ever again. Am I clear?" I said, ignoring what he said.
He nodded his head with a tiny smile on his face.
What a nuisance. Not only do I have to watch after him now, but I also have to continue checking the applications.
I sighed as I left the room.
Everything seemed fine, but somehow, I felt rather... strange. Why am I feeling weird?
I closed the door behind me, pressing my back against it.
What is this strange feeling?
A small smile made its way over to my face.
Then the realization finally hit me.
Kaveh trusted me with his life, and I didn't disappoint that idiot.
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I stayed up late until 6 AM to edit and publish this chapter. I hope it was worth it though :)
Word count: 2096
Edited: 15/9/2023