Map of your head (chapter 11)
Title: Map of your head
Fandom: U-KISS
Characters & Pairings: Elvin, Xander, OFC, other possible episodic characters.
Rating: NC-17 in this chapter, PG-13 in general
Genre: Romance, Fluff, Humor, Drama
Summary: "Because the language confuses, like computers refuse to understand how I'm feeling today."
Eli is new to this world. Kevin makes him feel like home.
Disclaimer: The title belongs to English rock-band Muse, as well as the lyrics, extracted from their 2002 album entitled ”Hullabaloo”. I am in no way, shape or form affiliated with the named group, or any characters presented in this writing. No copyright infringement intended.
Read: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10
Month two. Day three.
The alarm clock went off at precisely 6:30 AM, making Eli wake up with a flick of movement. He had fallen asleep only two hours before, despite going to bed early in the evening. Spending all night thinking about the poster he had seen in the bus station, however, banished any signs of fatigue, resulting in him pondering upon a plan he had conceived over and over again in his head, until he could recite it by heart.
Of course he knew the idea was reckless, dangerous, illicit, unconsidered, and any other adjective that dealt with instability he could think of. He was also aware of the fact that Alexander would probably slap him across the face after hearing it and that he was playing with fire -hell, right now he was playing with a nuclear bomb- but whenever he was on the verge of giving up the thought, all he needed to do was to picture Kevin being taken away from him and nothing seemed insurmountable anymore.
He got up, opened the window and took all of the air his lungs permitted in. He then stripped naked, went for a quick shower and dressed as fast as he could. After preparing some messy sandwiches, with pieces of meat and tomato sticking out, he packed them in along with his job’s required wardrobe, a few extra money and headed out the door.
**
The asylum felt half abandoned when he arrived. Since there was no one around, besides the janitor -which made Eli wonder if that man ever went home- he took advantage of it and headed straight for Kyung Hee’s room, making sure to enter without being heard. The girl was sleeping with her back turned at him, so he took out two bars of chocolate from his backpack, a sketchbook, some crayons and modeling clay and put it all on the table beside her bed. He then placed a note on top of everything, in which he reminded her of their agreement, and left the room mutely, proceeding to the lockers.
By the time he had finished dealing with the alphabetical sorting of more than half of the files in the archives, it was already past 9 AM and, just as more and more staff were arriving, the residents were also starting to wake up. Eli thought it was nothing wrong with taking a five-minute break, and with this idea in mind he headed towards Kevin’s room, where he found the named one sitting yoga-style in the middle of the bed - he always liked to stand in the middle of everything; even when it was just them and Alexander, Kevin would usually place himself between the two, so that he could take turns looking at them.
He stopped from his munching when he heard the door open, and smiled widely upon seeing Eli. He was eating some sort of weirdly-shaped corn cereal with a spoon that was too big for his own good, but didn’t seem to mind. Eli greeted him by kissing him lightly -the taste of milk was unusually sweet- and sat on the edge of the bed. He then took the bowl and the spoon from his hands, at which Kevin groaned in protest, but blithely obliged after seeing Eli’s intentions of feeding him.
‘You thought I would eat it myself?’ He asked with an amused look on his face.
Kevin swallowed the first sip before replying.
‘I wouldn’t have been surprised if you did.’
‘Are you saying I’m not nice? Again?’ Eli asked, pretended to be slightly offended by his remark. ‘I told you, I’m everything connected to nice. I’m-’
‘Yes, yes, I know.’ Kevin sighed. ‘You live with nice under the same roof, you eat with nice at the same table and you sleep with nice in the same bed. And one day, you two will be having an army of babies.’
‘Precisely. Now eat before it gets too warm. Because warm milk is disgusting.’
They spent the next minutes discussing every little trifle that came to their mind, with Kevin pointing out all the corny jokes Eli was capable of coming up with and underlining that all those years of medicine wore out the last bit of humor assembled in him. In return, Eli would just admire his perfectly-framed face whenever he laughed, glad that smiling and being overjoyed still fitted him like a glove, despite what he was going through.
But he had to bring it up, despite not having the slightest clue as to how.
‘So I was thinking, last night.’ He began.
‘Last night? Weren’t you sleeping?’
‘I couldn’t really. Anyhow, I saw an ad in the bus station as I was going home. It was about this company that held out an offer on traveling around the country.’
He paused for a bit, since he was unsure of how to continue without looking as if he had gone round the bend overnight. Kevin was plain confused.
‘Why are you telling me about traveling offers? It’s not like either of us is in a position of leaving right now.’
‘Actually, I think we are. And I think that’s our best chance.’
Kevin watched him with an even more muddled expression on his face.
‘What I’m saying is that I think we should make a run for it. We should get you out of here as soon as possible.’
There was a deep silence gradually starting to fill up the room, as they watched each other. Eli didn’t really know how to interpret Kevin’s lack of words, because a silent Kevin never seemed quite right. He always had to say something - a remark, a story, a joke, a question, anything really. And he always seemed to have the perfect reply for anything, which was one of the reasons for which Eli loved being around him. But now he was just staring back, changing his gaze from one of Eli’s eyes to the other in a fast, rhythmic pace, as if he was trying to decipher something hidden behind that look.
‘I know how mad it sounds.’ Eli continued, to assure him he hadn’t lost his mind since the last time they saw each other. ‘And I know all the consequences we’d have to deal with if we’re ever caught.’
‘We?’ Kevin asked in an almost whisper. ‘Not we, you. Think about the position I might put you in if they find out. What am I even saying, they will find out, sooner or later. It only takes a nurse to bring me the food, and we’d be doomed. They’ll probably blame you for kidnapping or something, while I’d be completely innocent in this. Eli, please take this idea out of your head.’
He didn’t sound upset, disappointed, not even frightened. Just extremely serious. Serious like he had never been before. It was a towering change from earlier, when he had been laughing and smiling until his cheeks hurt.
‘Listen to me.’ Eli tried again. ‘Before refusing so quickly, hear me out. If you stay here, you will be taken away because there’s nothing we can do to stop them. You saw it with your own eyes. No matter how solid our arguments are, they’re pointless from a legal point of view. And only God knows the kind of place you might end up in. What if you’ll be locked up in some shitty, lousy room, like you said? You’ll regret not having done this for the rest of your life. Second, what if we never see each other? Let’s assume that I do get your address and that someday I’ll be capable of returning to the States. How am I going to contact you, by randomly showing up at your house? And under what pretext?’
Kevin shook his head.
‘It’s still wrong, in so many ways. You have to think about yourself before me, you can’t just say stuff like that. How do you think I would feel if they found us, take me away and later on heard that you got fired from here, or worse, ended up in prison? Do you think I’d be happy? It would be a loss-loss situation. We can’t risk it.’
‘And do what instead? Wait for them to arrive and laugh in our faces?’
Eli never liked those soapy, romantic dramas in which the couple would run away and live happily ever after. It always seemed so unrealistic and sugary in such a lingering way, it made him puke. And now here he was, trying to convince Kevin to escape away with him, like in some sort of syrupy love adventure.
Kevin sighed.
‘I’m not saying we should just stand around and do nothing, but this won’t work either.’
‘How do you know?’
Kevin got up from his bed, took Eli’s hand into his own and directed him towards the library. Eli wanted to object at first, but decided to just wait and see what was that he wanted to show him. They stopped in the door’s frame and Kevin pointed out with his index finger towards a man sitting at one of the tables. He seemed much older that Eli’s and Kevin’s ages combined, but relatively peaceful, as he was reading a book about Britain’s history. Kevin leaned in closer to his ear.
‘You see that man? His name is Dae Jung. I don’t really know how old he is, but Xander told me he had been here long before he came to work in this place. He’s here because he lost his minds after his daughter’s death, years ago. She died in an accident. And whenever a female figure comes up to him, he thinks she’s his daughter. He doesn’t remember how she looked like, so basically he takes every nurse or female patient in this hospital as a substitute for her.’
‘I don’t get it, why…’ Eli interrupted.
‘My point is, he keeps hoping she will come up one day as if nothing happened. But just because you hope something, it doesn’t mean it will automatically materialize into a concrete event.’
Eli sighed.
‘Kevin, I know that. You think I haven’t thought about this? You think I’m not scared of doing this? Because believe me, if I had any other alternative, I would opt for it. But we have no other choice. Besides, I made a promise to you and I won’t break it.’
‘Well screw the promise.’ He was on the verge of crying. ‘Screw the damn oath, because right now we need to solve this through logic, not running away.’
‘And logic has done nothing but good up to now.’ Eli replied in a sarcastic tone, looking around.
‘You’re being stubborn and it’s not helping.’ Kevin said, turning away from him and going back to his room. Eli decided not to follow him, seeing that both of them were pretty torn up and starting an argument wouldn’t do much good. So instead he returned to the archives and decided to finish what he had started half an hour ago, before nurse Bess would show up and accuse him of slacking.
**
It was noon by the time he ceased with all the papers, which brought an aftermath consisting in a hungry and haggard Eli. He had to get himself a coffee before he would fall asleep on the spot and eat something before his stomach would start making loud growls of protest. He also hoped that Kevin had cooled down by now and that he was easier to being talked into.
Eli had just finished picking up the steamy, plastic container from the espresso machine and was about to knock on Kevin’s door, when a voice stopped him. Turning around, he noticed Alexander waving at him, signaling with his head to drop whatever he was about to do and come by his side. Eli did, and when he got closer he couldn’t help but notice the older’s dark circles and weary expression.
‘Had a bad night?’ Eli asked.
‘Couldn’t really sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about Kevin.’ He said in a drained voice.
‘Well that makes two of us.’ Eli smiled, pointing at his own marks of apathy. ‘Have you thought about anything else, besides what we already discussed?’
‘No.’ He replied in a miserable voice. ‘I squashed my brains out, trying to come up with something, but one idea seemed more stupid like the one before. So I gave up in the end and just went to sleep. What about you?’
‘Same.’ Eli responded instantly, with Kevin’s word ringing in his head ‘Just because you hope something, it doesn’t mean it will automatically materialize into a concrete event.’ Maybe he should just drop the idea, after all.
‘Eli, listen…’ Alexander started cautiously after a while, when they both landed in the staff lounge. ‘Remember when I asked you some time ago about you and Kevin?’
‘Yes.’ He said in a monotone, not believing he was bringing it up again. ‘And if you’re going to imply-’
‘No, I’m not implying anything.’ He immediately answered, raising his hands. ‘It’s just that I was talking to Kyung Hee earlier. You know her, right?’
A sudden cold sweat almost took over Eli’s body, but he tried to remain as composed and placid as possible. This didn’t sound very good.
‘Yes, I do.’ He said, trying to mask his shaky voice. ‘What about her?’
‘Well, we were talking about relationships earlier, which took me by surprise. She never seemed interested in this subject before, and when I asked her why the sudden care, she told me she was curious after seeing you and Kevin on one of the garden’s benches.’
Eli remained stiff.
‘Yeah, well, we go there frequently. Whenever he says he is in need of fresh air, I just take him outside. But I still don’t see the connection.’
Thank God he was a good liar.
‘As a matter of fact, she also told me you two were quite touchy-feely with each other and that she always see you guys like this. I’m not saying it’s wrong or anything, but you should be careful.’
Eli couldn’t believe his ears.
‘Careful about what? And ehm, did she say anything else?’
‘Careful about how you present to others. We have patients like her who are not entirely capable of understanding the world around them, and they might adapt what they see to their own way of comprehending. Besides, she is still a child, technically speaking. She might spread rumors, and that would put both you and Kevin in a bad light. Understand?’
‘Yes.’
‘She didn’t say anything else. Why, is there something more?’
‘No.’ Eli replied, a bit too quickly, which made Alexander look at him in a curious way. ‘I was just wondering.’
The spent the next minutes in silence, eating their sandwiches while awkwardly looking around the room, trying to think of a conversation that would cool down the tension. After taking a look at Alexander, however, Eli was surprised to notice the calm expression on his face and lack of worry, which made him wonder if he was becoming paranoid.
He excused himself and went to check on Kevin, but told his superior he had to use the restroom. He was glad to be finally out of there and reminded himself along the way to have a conversation with Kyung Hee later on.
He knocked on Kevin’s door and entered after hearing a fainted ‘yes’. Kevin was sitting on a chair, by the window, with his arms sprawled across the sill, seeming deep in thought. An open book was placed in the middle of the bed. Eli picked it up and read the cover. ‘It had to be you. Isn’t this a romance novel?’
‘It is.’ Kevin said, rising from his place, coming near him. ‘The title fits both of us right now, although the story is completely off-track.’
Eli remained quiet for a while, before saying ‘I guess it does.’ He placed the book on the small table near the bed and grabbed Kevin by the waist, pulling him as close as possible. He cupped his face into his hands and kissed him gently.
‘Are you still upset?’ he breathed on his lips.
‘I wasn’t upset.’ The small reply came shortly after Kevin embraced him tenderly.
‘You were, though.’
‘Maybe a little.’
They both smiled and kissed again, enjoying the sweet savor it always left behind. Eli liked how each time he kissed Kevin he tasted differently, but never bad. This time he could sense orange tea.
‘What about you?’ the younger asked, looking into his eyes.
‘I wasn’t mad, I was just being stupid. Even if I do think we should still run away, I have to admit it is dangerous for both.’
Kevin looked pensive for a while.
‘You know what we should do, still? Go back to your place. At least, if I will be taken away, I want to go there one last time.’
‘Kevin,’ Eli said in an exhausted tone ‘you’re not going anywhere. Try to stop worrying because we’ll find a way.’ He gave him a peck on the lips. ‘We have to.’
Kevin simply smiled and melted more into the kiss.
Fandom: U-KISS
Characters & Pairings: Elvin, Xander, OFC, other possible episodic characters.
Rating: NC-17 in this chapter, PG-13 in general
Genre: Romance, Fluff, Humor, Drama
Summary: "Because the language confuses, like computers refuse to understand how I'm feeling today."
Eli is new to this world. Kevin makes him feel like home.
Disclaimer: The title belongs to English rock-band Muse, as well as the lyrics, extracted from their 2002 album entitled ”Hullabaloo”. I am in no way, shape or form affiliated with the named group, or any characters presented in this writing. No copyright infringement intended.
Read: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10
Month two. Day three.
The alarm clock went off at precisely 6:30 AM, making Eli wake up with a flick of movement. He had fallen asleep only two hours before, despite going to bed early in the evening. Spending all night thinking about the poster he had seen in the bus station, however, banished any signs of fatigue, resulting in him pondering upon a plan he had conceived over and over again in his head, until he could recite it by heart.
Of course he knew the idea was reckless, dangerous, illicit, unconsidered, and any other adjective that dealt with instability he could think of. He was also aware of the fact that Alexander would probably slap him across the face after hearing it and that he was playing with fire -hell, right now he was playing with a nuclear bomb- but whenever he was on the verge of giving up the thought, all he needed to do was to picture Kevin being taken away from him and nothing seemed insurmountable anymore.
He got up, opened the window and took all of the air his lungs permitted in. He then stripped naked, went for a quick shower and dressed as fast as he could. After preparing some messy sandwiches, with pieces of meat and tomato sticking out, he packed them in along with his job’s required wardrobe, a few extra money and headed out the door.
**
The asylum felt half abandoned when he arrived. Since there was no one around, besides the janitor -which made Eli wonder if that man ever went home- he took advantage of it and headed straight for Kyung Hee’s room, making sure to enter without being heard. The girl was sleeping with her back turned at him, so he took out two bars of chocolate from his backpack, a sketchbook, some crayons and modeling clay and put it all on the table beside her bed. He then placed a note on top of everything, in which he reminded her of their agreement, and left the room mutely, proceeding to the lockers.
By the time he had finished dealing with the alphabetical sorting of more than half of the files in the archives, it was already past 9 AM and, just as more and more staff were arriving, the residents were also starting to wake up. Eli thought it was nothing wrong with taking a five-minute break, and with this idea in mind he headed towards Kevin’s room, where he found the named one sitting yoga-style in the middle of the bed - he always liked to stand in the middle of everything; even when it was just them and Alexander, Kevin would usually place himself between the two, so that he could take turns looking at them.
He stopped from his munching when he heard the door open, and smiled widely upon seeing Eli. He was eating some sort of weirdly-shaped corn cereal with a spoon that was too big for his own good, but didn’t seem to mind. Eli greeted him by kissing him lightly -the taste of milk was unusually sweet- and sat on the edge of the bed. He then took the bowl and the spoon from his hands, at which Kevin groaned in protest, but blithely obliged after seeing Eli’s intentions of feeding him.
‘You thought I would eat it myself?’ He asked with an amused look on his face.
Kevin swallowed the first sip before replying.
‘I wouldn’t have been surprised if you did.’
‘Are you saying I’m not nice? Again?’ Eli asked, pretended to be slightly offended by his remark. ‘I told you, I’m everything connected to nice. I’m-’
‘Yes, yes, I know.’ Kevin sighed. ‘You live with nice under the same roof, you eat with nice at the same table and you sleep with nice in the same bed. And one day, you two will be having an army of babies.’
‘Precisely. Now eat before it gets too warm. Because warm milk is disgusting.’
They spent the next minutes discussing every little trifle that came to their mind, with Kevin pointing out all the corny jokes Eli was capable of coming up with and underlining that all those years of medicine wore out the last bit of humor assembled in him. In return, Eli would just admire his perfectly-framed face whenever he laughed, glad that smiling and being overjoyed still fitted him like a glove, despite what he was going through.
But he had to bring it up, despite not having the slightest clue as to how.
‘So I was thinking, last night.’ He began.
‘Last night? Weren’t you sleeping?’
‘I couldn’t really. Anyhow, I saw an ad in the bus station as I was going home. It was about this company that held out an offer on traveling around the country.’
He paused for a bit, since he was unsure of how to continue without looking as if he had gone round the bend overnight. Kevin was plain confused.
‘Why are you telling me about traveling offers? It’s not like either of us is in a position of leaving right now.’
‘Actually, I think we are. And I think that’s our best chance.’
Kevin watched him with an even more muddled expression on his face.
‘What I’m saying is that I think we should make a run for it. We should get you out of here as soon as possible.’
There was a deep silence gradually starting to fill up the room, as they watched each other. Eli didn’t really know how to interpret Kevin’s lack of words, because a silent Kevin never seemed quite right. He always had to say something - a remark, a story, a joke, a question, anything really. And he always seemed to have the perfect reply for anything, which was one of the reasons for which Eli loved being around him. But now he was just staring back, changing his gaze from one of Eli’s eyes to the other in a fast, rhythmic pace, as if he was trying to decipher something hidden behind that look.
‘I know how mad it sounds.’ Eli continued, to assure him he hadn’t lost his mind since the last time they saw each other. ‘And I know all the consequences we’d have to deal with if we’re ever caught.’
‘We?’ Kevin asked in an almost whisper. ‘Not we, you. Think about the position I might put you in if they find out. What am I even saying, they will find out, sooner or later. It only takes a nurse to bring me the food, and we’d be doomed. They’ll probably blame you for kidnapping or something, while I’d be completely innocent in this. Eli, please take this idea out of your head.’
He didn’t sound upset, disappointed, not even frightened. Just extremely serious. Serious like he had never been before. It was a towering change from earlier, when he had been laughing and smiling until his cheeks hurt.
‘Listen to me.’ Eli tried again. ‘Before refusing so quickly, hear me out. If you stay here, you will be taken away because there’s nothing we can do to stop them. You saw it with your own eyes. No matter how solid our arguments are, they’re pointless from a legal point of view. And only God knows the kind of place you might end up in. What if you’ll be locked up in some shitty, lousy room, like you said? You’ll regret not having done this for the rest of your life. Second, what if we never see each other? Let’s assume that I do get your address and that someday I’ll be capable of returning to the States. How am I going to contact you, by randomly showing up at your house? And under what pretext?’
Kevin shook his head.
‘It’s still wrong, in so many ways. You have to think about yourself before me, you can’t just say stuff like that. How do you think I would feel if they found us, take me away and later on heard that you got fired from here, or worse, ended up in prison? Do you think I’d be happy? It would be a loss-loss situation. We can’t risk it.’
‘And do what instead? Wait for them to arrive and laugh in our faces?’
Eli never liked those soapy, romantic dramas in which the couple would run away and live happily ever after. It always seemed so unrealistic and sugary in such a lingering way, it made him puke. And now here he was, trying to convince Kevin to escape away with him, like in some sort of syrupy love adventure.
Kevin sighed.
‘I’m not saying we should just stand around and do nothing, but this won’t work either.’
‘How do you know?’
Kevin got up from his bed, took Eli’s hand into his own and directed him towards the library. Eli wanted to object at first, but decided to just wait and see what was that he wanted to show him. They stopped in the door’s frame and Kevin pointed out with his index finger towards a man sitting at one of the tables. He seemed much older that Eli’s and Kevin’s ages combined, but relatively peaceful, as he was reading a book about Britain’s history. Kevin leaned in closer to his ear.
‘You see that man? His name is Dae Jung. I don’t really know how old he is, but Xander told me he had been here long before he came to work in this place. He’s here because he lost his minds after his daughter’s death, years ago. She died in an accident. And whenever a female figure comes up to him, he thinks she’s his daughter. He doesn’t remember how she looked like, so basically he takes every nurse or female patient in this hospital as a substitute for her.’
‘I don’t get it, why…’ Eli interrupted.
‘My point is, he keeps hoping she will come up one day as if nothing happened. But just because you hope something, it doesn’t mean it will automatically materialize into a concrete event.’
Eli sighed.
‘Kevin, I know that. You think I haven’t thought about this? You think I’m not scared of doing this? Because believe me, if I had any other alternative, I would opt for it. But we have no other choice. Besides, I made a promise to you and I won’t break it.’
‘Well screw the promise.’ He was on the verge of crying. ‘Screw the damn oath, because right now we need to solve this through logic, not running away.’
‘And logic has done nothing but good up to now.’ Eli replied in a sarcastic tone, looking around.
‘You’re being stubborn and it’s not helping.’ Kevin said, turning away from him and going back to his room. Eli decided not to follow him, seeing that both of them were pretty torn up and starting an argument wouldn’t do much good. So instead he returned to the archives and decided to finish what he had started half an hour ago, before nurse Bess would show up and accuse him of slacking.
**
It was noon by the time he ceased with all the papers, which brought an aftermath consisting in a hungry and haggard Eli. He had to get himself a coffee before he would fall asleep on the spot and eat something before his stomach would start making loud growls of protest. He also hoped that Kevin had cooled down by now and that he was easier to being talked into.
Eli had just finished picking up the steamy, plastic container from the espresso machine and was about to knock on Kevin’s door, when a voice stopped him. Turning around, he noticed Alexander waving at him, signaling with his head to drop whatever he was about to do and come by his side. Eli did, and when he got closer he couldn’t help but notice the older’s dark circles and weary expression.
‘Had a bad night?’ Eli asked.
‘Couldn’t really sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about Kevin.’ He said in a drained voice.
‘Well that makes two of us.’ Eli smiled, pointing at his own marks of apathy. ‘Have you thought about anything else, besides what we already discussed?’
‘No.’ He replied in a miserable voice. ‘I squashed my brains out, trying to come up with something, but one idea seemed more stupid like the one before. So I gave up in the end and just went to sleep. What about you?’
‘Same.’ Eli responded instantly, with Kevin’s word ringing in his head ‘Just because you hope something, it doesn’t mean it will automatically materialize into a concrete event.’ Maybe he should just drop the idea, after all.
‘Eli, listen…’ Alexander started cautiously after a while, when they both landed in the staff lounge. ‘Remember when I asked you some time ago about you and Kevin?’
‘Yes.’ He said in a monotone, not believing he was bringing it up again. ‘And if you’re going to imply-’
‘No, I’m not implying anything.’ He immediately answered, raising his hands. ‘It’s just that I was talking to Kyung Hee earlier. You know her, right?’
A sudden cold sweat almost took over Eli’s body, but he tried to remain as composed and placid as possible. This didn’t sound very good.
‘Yes, I do.’ He said, trying to mask his shaky voice. ‘What about her?’
‘Well, we were talking about relationships earlier, which took me by surprise. She never seemed interested in this subject before, and when I asked her why the sudden care, she told me she was curious after seeing you and Kevin on one of the garden’s benches.’
Eli remained stiff.
‘Yeah, well, we go there frequently. Whenever he says he is in need of fresh air, I just take him outside. But I still don’t see the connection.’
Thank God he was a good liar.
‘As a matter of fact, she also told me you two were quite touchy-feely with each other and that she always see you guys like this. I’m not saying it’s wrong or anything, but you should be careful.’
Eli couldn’t believe his ears.
‘Careful about what? And ehm, did she say anything else?’
‘Careful about how you present to others. We have patients like her who are not entirely capable of understanding the world around them, and they might adapt what they see to their own way of comprehending. Besides, she is still a child, technically speaking. She might spread rumors, and that would put both you and Kevin in a bad light. Understand?’
‘Yes.’
‘She didn’t say anything else. Why, is there something more?’
‘No.’ Eli replied, a bit too quickly, which made Alexander look at him in a curious way. ‘I was just wondering.’
The spent the next minutes in silence, eating their sandwiches while awkwardly looking around the room, trying to think of a conversation that would cool down the tension. After taking a look at Alexander, however, Eli was surprised to notice the calm expression on his face and lack of worry, which made him wonder if he was becoming paranoid.
He excused himself and went to check on Kevin, but told his superior he had to use the restroom. He was glad to be finally out of there and reminded himself along the way to have a conversation with Kyung Hee later on.
He knocked on Kevin’s door and entered after hearing a fainted ‘yes’. Kevin was sitting on a chair, by the window, with his arms sprawled across the sill, seeming deep in thought. An open book was placed in the middle of the bed. Eli picked it up and read the cover. ‘It had to be you. Isn’t this a romance novel?’
‘It is.’ Kevin said, rising from his place, coming near him. ‘The title fits both of us right now, although the story is completely off-track.’
Eli remained quiet for a while, before saying ‘I guess it does.’ He placed the book on the small table near the bed and grabbed Kevin by the waist, pulling him as close as possible. He cupped his face into his hands and kissed him gently.
‘Are you still upset?’ he breathed on his lips.
‘I wasn’t upset.’ The small reply came shortly after Kevin embraced him tenderly.
‘You were, though.’
‘Maybe a little.’
They both smiled and kissed again, enjoying the sweet savor it always left behind. Eli liked how each time he kissed Kevin he tasted differently, but never bad. This time he could sense orange tea.
‘What about you?’ the younger asked, looking into his eyes.
‘I wasn’t mad, I was just being stupid. Even if I do think we should still run away, I have to admit it is dangerous for both.’
Kevin looked pensive for a while.
‘You know what we should do, still? Go back to your place. At least, if I will be taken away, I want to go there one last time.’
‘Kevin,’ Eli said in an exhausted tone ‘you’re not going anywhere. Try to stop worrying because we’ll find a way.’ He gave him a peck on the lips. ‘We have to.’
Kevin simply smiled and melted more into the kiss.