"We need to set some ground rules," I tell Malice as she eats her vitamins and oatmeal. "I can't watch you 24/7, so I'm going to have to trust you not to stab me again."
"Okay," she mumbles, her mouth full of food.
"And don't even think about breaking into my car; I've discarded your drugs."
"What?!" Crumbs fall out of her mouth and onto the white sheets. "Son of a bitch! Tell me you didn't just throw them away!"
"You said you didn't want to use anymore," I defend my actions.
"Doesn't mean you should throw 'em all out! We could've still sold them!"
"We're not going to sell drugs," I reply firmly.
"Well, fuck..." She pants and falls back into the pillows. "You owe me."
"I owe you? You're kidding, right?" I'm starting to realize that this conversation is going nowhere. "Look, I've got my own set of rules, and they include staying out of illegal activities."
She sighs exasperated. "All high and mighty. Princess and the pea. May I remind you that you've broken the law before? That's right, you've got your own skeletons in the closet?"
"Such as?" I challenge her.
"Breaking into Ganondorf's house for starters," she says, arms crossed.
I narrow my eyes at Malice. "What's important is that we're trying to make a fresh start here. We can't do that if we're constantly looking over our shoulders. Or would you rather return to your old life?"
Malice rolls her eyes and pushes her breakfast aside. "You're such a damn Girl Scout," she mutters. "Fine, I'll play by your stupid rules."
"Trust me, I'm doing this for both of us."
Malice might not be the most pleasant person to be around, but deep down, I believe that underneath the tough exterior she presents to the world, there's a person worth saving. She's been hiding behind her demons for far too long. I can see it because I am guilty of it too. Unlike her, I've been given second chances by my friends when in truth, I'm the most prejudiced of them all. Turning Malice's life around will help me turn myself around.
"You can stay the night," I say, picking up her dishes. "Tomorrow morning you can ride to school with me, and afterward, if you don't have a ride, I can drop you off somewhere."
"If you want to help me so badly, why kick me out after tonight?"
"My father is coming home tomorrow, and he cannot under any circumstance find you here. So start making arrangements for your next stay."
"Sure thing, Princess."
"Don't call me that."
"Mkay."
"One last thing," I say before I leave the room. "I need you to promise me that you'll stay in this room and keep the door closed."
"I told you how I feel about promises."
"Well... I need some kind of reassurance that you won't relapse or try to murder me in my sleep."
"There's never an assurance," she says coldly.
"Guess I'll have to lock you in then," I joke, but she doesn't take it as such. She looks downright terrified at the idea of being locked up again. "I'm kidding," I assure her and apologize for a bad joke.
She continues eating. "I can't guarantee that I won't relapse," she returns to the topic. "But I guess I can promise that I really want to try."
I raise a brow at her. "I thought promises don't mean anything to you."
"But they mean something to you, right?"
I give her a faint smile. "I'll go take a shower now. I trust you won't run off or murder my staff."
"We'll see," she shrugs playfully.
"Are you comfortable with sleeping in the same bed as me tonight?" I ask.
Her response is guarded, "Why?"
"Because if hunger, thirst, or illness strikes, or if the temptation becomes too much, I don't want you wandering off and risking being caught by my staff," I explain. "I don't want to sit on the floor all night again just in case you have a psychotic episode again. By sharing the bed, I can be there for you whenever you need something. Just wake me up, and I'll get you some food, water, or medicine."
"Or drugs?" she teases.
"No," I assert. "No drugs. But I can be there for you when the cravings get too strong again. Would you be okay with that?"
"Yeah, whatever," she shrugs. "As long as you don't hoard the blanket."
"I'll have my own," I roll my eyes.
"You think Link's gonna come back tonight?" she suddenly asks, making my heart ache.
"I don't know."
"Ganondorf probably got to him," she tells me casually, placing two fingers on her forehead and pretending to pull the trigger.
This time, she is the one to apologize for a bad joke. I don't say anything in return, I just leave the room to take a shower, forcing myself not to think about Link's body parts at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
Link's POV:
"It's over. We caught you and there's nowhere left for you to run," the man threatens, his finger on the trigger of the gun. "Unless you do exactly what we tell you to do, you're not gonna make it out of here alive."
"You're gonna tell us what we need to know, got it?" the second guy in the room says.
It's a dark basement with two armed men asking for information. There's blood on their hands, blood on their faces, blood everywhere.
"Time to start talking," the first guy says, stepping closer. He makes sure that everyone in the room is aware of the gun in his grip. I know I'm supposed to feel fear and anxiety but I'm too focused on the scars on his face. All the blood and bruises remind me of Karusa, and the fight we had a few days ago.
The room is silent. There's a single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling, it's flickering, and I think there's a table in the corner with some garden tools.
One of the guys picks up a set of pruning shears from the rusty table and threatens to cut off a finger. I knew this was where he was going. So predictable.
I look down at my left hand. My knuckles are scarred and bruised from punching Karusa. I clench my fist. Still hurts like hell.
I shift my focus back to the men. They exchanged a look. "Last chance to tell us where she is," the one with the scissors says. My mind instantly goes to Malice, and Ganondorf who is probably looking for her right now. I wonder if Malice is still at the mansion and if Zelda is doing alright over there.
I shut my eyes. I don't want to think about her right now. I'm still confused and hurt from everything that happened on Saturday.
"You can make this easy, or we can make it painful," one of the two men says.
"Your call," the other one says. "We'll cut off every one of your fingers if you don't start talking."
"Tell us where she is or else!"
"Jesus Christ, just do it already!" I growl impatiently. "Cut it off, don't cut it off. I don't even care anymore. Just stop talking and actually do something already!"
The door opens, and Kafei steps into the living room. He looks at me, then at the TV, then back at me with a chuckle. "Why the hell are you yelling at the TV at 6 in the morning?"
"Sorry." I pick up the remote and mute the TV. I almost forgot that I'm at his apartment. "Did I wake you up?"
"Nah, you're good. I was already up. Gotta go to work soon." Kafei curls his lip in disgust. "Yuck, work. Screw adulthood."
I fall back into the soft pillows and let out a sigh.
"Want some coffee?" Kafei asks.
"I'm good, thanks."
Kafei nods, staring back at the TV screen. "So what are you watching?"
"Some low budget thriller horror action movie."
"What's it about?"
"Two cops are trying to find a missing girl and go undercover to hunt down the kidnapper. They finally catch the bad guy in his basement but they're so bad at their job that they haven't been able to find enough proof to arrest the dude. Now they're threatening to torture the kidnapper if he doesn't tell them how to find the girl but the kidnapper hasn't said shit because he knows the cops can't legally hurt him without evidence." I look at the TV again. Looks like the cops are still yapping instead of getting to the action. "It's pretty shit."
Kafei chuckles, "Yeah, sounds like it."
I try to give him half a smile but smiling still hurts my face.
"Did you stay up all night again?" Kafei asks, but I don't answer. "How's your face? Still painful?"
I shrug. "It's alright."
"Need more ice?" He offers.
I shake my head. "Got any meds?"
"You took the last ibuprofen last night, sorry. I can stop by the pharmacy after work."
"It's fine," I reply. "I'll have to attend class later, so I'll swing by the student health center."
Kafei takes a seat next to me. I scoot to make some room for him on the couch. Now we're both just staring at the muted TV screen.
"Thanks, by the way, for letting me crash here."
"Sure thing, bro. Sorry for the mess, we're still moving boxes. Moving from a small room in a frat house to our own apartment has been more stressful than we expected. Up until a few days ago, we didn't even have a couch yet. We've been living here for two months now and we still don't have a dining room table or TV stand. Furniture is crazy expensive."
"I know you guys are busy with the new apartment and all, plus the pregnancy," I say. "I won't stay long."
"It's cool, Link. Stay as long as you need. As long as you don't mind sitting on cardboard boxes for dinner."
After a minute of silently watching yet another boring scene from the movie where nothing happens, Kafei starts a new conversation.
"Do you maybe want to talk about what happened on Saturday? You haven't really said much since you showed up at our door that night."
"I got into a fight," I say.
"I can see that."
"Yeah..."
"Who'd you fight?" he asks.
"A Boar."
"Ganon?"
"Ganon's in prison," I say, playing with the remote in my hands.
"Karusa?"
"Ding ding ding..."
"What happened?"
"Thanks for caring, Kafei, but I'm not really in the mood to talk about it."
"Fair enough, I won't ask about the fight then," Kafei says. "But can I just ask... Why'd you come here?"
"The fraternity kicked me out," I confess. "I have nowhere else to go."
"What about Zelda?"
"Her dad doesn't like it when I stay the night. He's old-fashioned." I pause and shake my head with a sigh. "Sorry, that's a lie. I mean, it's true I guess, but that's not why I'm here. Her dad isn't even home at the moment."
"Talk to me," Kafei says, sipping on his coffee.
"Zelda said she needed space..."
"From you?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Because I behaved like a maniac."
I really don't feel like talking about it, but Kafei seems like he genuinely cares and I shouldn't be rude by shutting him out. Especially after he gave me a place to stay for the weekend.
"I promised her I wouldn't get into a fight, but then I did, which messed up the school's chances at suing Karusa."
"Damn..."
"Yeah," I sigh. "I try not to think about it though. This movie might be shit, but at least it's distracting me from everything else. At least for the most part."
"Watching TV isn't gonna help the situation. Just apologize to her and say it won't happen again."
"She didn't just ask for space, Kafei. She threatened to call the security guard if I don't leave her property. She was genuinely scared of me. She looked at me as if I murdered someone and even flinched when I moved closer."
"I'm sure she was just confused and shocked," Kafei leans back and offers me his advice. "Maybe give her some time to cool off. After class, you should stop by her place with some flowers or chocolate or something."
I scratch my head, unsure about his suggestion. "I don't know, man. She's not the type of girl that likes cut flowers for a gift. If anything, she likes potted plants."
"Well then get her a plant," he suggests with a shrug.
"I think our situation might need more than just gifts."
Anju enters the room in a bathrobe, holding her pregnant belly. She raises an eyebrow and joins the conversation, asking, "What's all this talk about flowers and chocolates?"
Kafei turns his head her way. "Have you been eavesdropping?"
"It's my apartment as much as it is yours," she tells him. "If Link shows up with a bruised face and spends the night on our couch, I should be in the loop."
"Zelda kicked me out," I tell Anju, hoping she can give me a girl's perspective on all of this. "I made some bad choices yesterday, and I don't think flowers will cut it."
"What did you do?"
"A lot..." I sigh and sit up to face her. "I... I was kinda heartless when Zelda showed up with... with this homeless girl. Drugs and gangs were involved, so I told her we should keep out of it. Zelda really wanted to help that girl but I wasn't on her side. And there's other stuff I did that I'm not very proud of. Impa has this new boyfriend and he's a Boar, so I was kinda hesitant to trust him. I also took Zelda's phone against her knowledge to text someone from her Instagram. I think the worst part of it all was getting into a fight even though I promised Zelda I wouldn't get into any more fights."
"Did you talk to her about it? Did you explain why you got into a fight?" Anju asks me.
I nod. "I recovered some of my memories and it made me act out of control. I felt like two people at once, like I was fighting against myself rather than Karusa. A dark version of me just took over. And it's not the first time that's happened. And I know it scares Zelda when I get into fights but I never thought she'd be scared of me hurting her."
Anju nods in understanding and takes a seat next to Kafei. "It sounds like you've been going through a tough time, and sometimes, we make mistakes when we're not in the right headspace."
"Still doesn't excuse my behavior. I don't know how to make up for it."
"It's great that you're thinking of making amends, Link."
"What do you think I should do?"
She glances at Kafei. "Flowers can be nice, but they won't magically fix everything."
"They always work on you," Kafei smirks.
"No they don't," Anju rolls her eyes. "I just pretend they work on me because I'm tired of bickering." Her eyes return to me. "What you need to do is have an open and honest conversation with Zelda."
"Communication is not really our strong suit," I tell her.
Anju continues, "Just tell her how you feel, apologize sincerely, and let her know what steps you're going to take to avoid similar situations in the future. Actions speak louder than gifts, and showing her that you're committed to change will mean a lot more."
"We've already talked about it a million times in the past. I think I'm just a constant disappointment to her. I said I'd change, but I didn't. I keep hurting her. I'm starting to think she might be better off without me."
"Change doesn't happen overnight." Anju gives me a warm smile. "Relationships have their ups and downs. It's how you handle the downs that really defines the strength of your connection. Look at me and Kafei, we don't always see eye to eye, and that's okay. We talk about our feelings, even when it's uncomfortable. It helps us understand each other better and find solutions to our problems."
"True," Kafei says. "It's not always perfect but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I'd rather work on it a million times with her than start over with someone else."
"But... guys... How can Zelda ever trust me again?"
"Trust takes time to rebuild," Anju says. "And you can't do it all alone from this couch. It always takes two."
"I can't forget the look on her face when I asked her if she's scared of me... She literally said her home isn't safe as long as I'm there."
Anju reaches over to place her hand on my leg. "Zelda might need some time and space to process what happened, or maybe she needs you there by her side to work through this together. You won't know unless you talk to her."
She's right. I can't keep hiding in this apartment. I need to face the situation with Zelda, have an honest conversation, and ensure we're both okay. If she asks for time, I'll give it to her. If she wants me to stay, I'll be there. But there's a third possibility, and I don't know how I'll handle it if it comes to that.
"What if she tells me it's over?" I ask them.
Anju and Kafei exchange a knowing look before Anju speaks, "If that's what she decides, Link, you have to respect her choice."
Her words feel heavy on my chest, and I swallow hard. I don't know if I can just accept that outcome, but I know I have to. Can't force her to be with me.
Kafei chimes in, his hand on my shoulder. "We'll be here for you no matter what happens."
I manage to force a small smile. "Thanks, guys. I'll talk to her tonight and hopefully we can work it out."