Bittersweet Love // #KaoEarth AU

42

Earth slowly regained consciousness. The first thing his eyes could see was the ceiling above his head. The scent of a familiar subtle woodsy, accompanied by a hint of mint and lemon, greeted his sense of smell. He felt somewhat disoriented and bewildered to look at his left side and found a big glass window half-closed by a pastel blue curtain and revealing a clear blue sky, which means he was in a rather tall building.

Earth frowned while his eyes still observed the sky; if he remembered correctly, it was past midnight when...

"Ahh!"

Earth immediately got up from his lying position and turned into a sitting position with a shock. Earth had shrieked after his memory before everything turned dark, returned. He failed to realize that he wasn't alone in the room and was a bit spooked when a hand touched his right shoulder. Earth pulled back from the touch instantly as if the physical touch he received burned him and turned his head to the source.

"Phi...Kao?" Earth voices sounded weak, and a hint of relief could be heard, especially accompanied by the sigh it follows. He bowed his head down when he saw Kao's face clearly; he whispered. "Don't look at me with pity, please. I'm...okay."

Kao was a little bit taken aback. It wasn't his intention to look at Earth that way, with a soft voice. "I'm not looking at you with pity, Earth. I'm concerned and worried about you."

Earth looked up, wearing a surprised expression on his face. "I, I..."

Kao stopped what Earth had wanted to say and instead pulled the younger one in his embrace. His right hand caressing Earth's back slowly, and his other hand was ruffling the younger one's head.

The words got stuck in his mouth at the sudden hug. He was actually surprised at receiving anxious feelings from Kao and had wanted the older one to repeat what he said, but when he felt the soothing touches, Kao had on him. His hands gripped the older one's clothes tightly.

"I...I was so afraid..." Earth's voice trembled, and a few tears managed to escape his eyes when he remembered last night's incident. "I thought no one would come for me...."

"Shush, I'm sorry that I was late, Earth." Kao was relieved when Earth let his heart out instead of taking it all alone.

"I..." Earth hiccuped, "I thought he would get his way with me."

Kao's hands hadn't stopped working their wonders on making Earth calm.

"...I thought I could handle the stalker problem on my own," Earth buried his face on the crook of Kao's shoulder.

"If you hadn't come—if you hadn't come, I would—I would...It was my fault..."

Kao pushed back Earth and made the younger one's grip falter on his side. He gazes deep into Earth's shaking eyes, "Listen, Earth. It wasn't your fault."

Earth opened his mouth to protest, but Kao's narrowed eyes stopped him from objecting.

"It was that bastard's fault. He was crazy, he was a vile man, he was bad." Kao raised his hands and wiped both of Earth's wet cheeks with his thumb. "Don't ever blame yourself over his act," he gave the younger one a small smile to encourage the distressed Earth.

Earth's cry turned to hiccup and eventually stopped its tears. He looked down to his fiddling hand, feeling full conscious for the first time since he woke up in this unfamiliar place. Speaking of an unfamiliar place, he looked up hurriedly. "Where am I?"

Kao couldn't help but laugh a little at the curious and innocent face Earth was making. He ruffled Earth's hair to tone the bed hair down, "My penthouse. I brought you here after giving testimony to the police."

Earth was awed at hearing that he was inside the house of the person he likes. At the realization, Earth controlled his expression and frowned. "Why didn't you leave me with the police, Phi? They will probably bring me to a hospital," he asked confusedly.

Kao places his right hand on Earth's left cheek, caressing it softly with his thumb. "I shouldn't have let you out of my sight, Earth."

to be continue

a/n:
There would be a point-of-view chapter for Kao. It would answer numerous questions you had throughout the chapters before this too. I will update that chapter maybe this afternoon (it's currently 4:10 AM by the time this chapter is published). Also, it was a super long chapter, with more than 4000 words inside of it.

Updated on the 5th of June 2021,

junijunipers.