Under The Stars. It's Infinite [Reki x Langa]

Chapter Thirty-Eight | Let Me Talk

The car ride to the hospital was warmer than the other times I had been in the car with Joe or Cherry before. Filled with laughter and stories that I was excited to hear about. Cherry spoke about after Joe and he had gotten married, travelling the world together, how the proposal went and all of their fond memories together.

It was a sweet feeling, like biting into a strawberry and letting the taste sink into your tongue, or biting into a chocolate bar that you were excited to try for the first time. A feeling of pure happiness.

"Alright, Kojiro told me visiting hours aren't until 10 so we have a few more minutes. Here. Buy some snacks." Cherry pulled up in the hospital visiting parking space and turned the car off. "Is that alright?" I hesitated to take the note that was sitting in his hand, and he scoffed. "Don't act all chivalrous now, Kojiro has been buying you food for the last few days, so this is nothing. Off you go."

I was waved out of the car with the $10 note and a grumbling stomach. It was true that my hunger had built up since we left. The ride here was almost another 20-minutes on top of walking back to the house from that café. So, I took my time considering all the different options for snacks in the machine. Chips of all flavours, jelly, pocky and drinks. Looking at the flavours of pocky made my stomach rumble, and I pressed the button. Chocolate was the only correct option.

Then I pressed another button, and a jelly cup fell into the bottom of the machine. Something in case Cherry was hungry. I was left with 4 dollars so I was sure he'd be alright with it. With that, I walked back to the car.

Cherry was standing a few metres away, under a smoking perimeter sign. A cigarette in his hand, and his phone in the other. I stepped closer to him and handed him the change. "I got you jelly."

"Thank you." He tapped his cigarette on his finger, and I watched the ash fall to the ground softly, "Are you going to eat now?"

"I'm going to wait to see Langa first." I tucked the small box into my pocket and patted it to remind myself to think about it later. "Well, you can have this then. I don't need it." Cherry tossed me the jelly cup that I had just handed him and I blinked. "But I got this for you?" He shook his head softly and tucked his phone away. "I don't need it. You eat it."

I agreed hesitantly, before opening the cup and digging into it with the plastic spoon that came with it. "You know, when Kojiro brought me to the hospital, I was terrified." It took me a second to understand what Cherry was talking about, but it registered with me that he was referring to his beef with Adam. 

"I couldn't feel anything, and when I could, everything hurt. I was blacking in and out of consciousness and all I could hear was the sound of Kojiros' voice. He kept repeating the same thing over and over again. It was going to be okay. For the first time in our relationship, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to believe him."

There was a grim look on Cherrys' face, and I felt my stomach churn. It wasn't what anyone was expecting that night, but he probably only wanted Adams' respect. Like me. Instead, he was hospitalised.

Cherry flicked his cigarette on the ground and leaned against the wall again. "I wanted to redeem myself. He always said I was boring... but I didn't need his redemption. I needed to accept myself, and I did. Eventually."

"I think he's a creep, but he just needed someone to be there for him," I added myself to the conversation, taking a look back at Cherry, who was staring at me with wide eyes. "I mean, he's got terrible morals. He's wrong to do what he does, and he's deranged. Despite all that, I think he just needs someone to point him in the right direction."

"Well, hopefully, he gets that one day." Cherry sighed and straightened his posture, then took a step forward. "Alright, let's go see those two idiots."