Breaking His Concentration (Alhaitham x Kaveh)

Chapter 19- I'm Not Leaving You

Kaveh's POV

"You look so pale, Kaveh. Something has to be on your mind."

He spoke quietly, sitting down next to me as he reached his arm around my shoulders. I almost recoiled from his touch, I felt bad enough that I didn't tell him the information for a bit.

"I need to talk to you about something important."

I murmured. I couldn't even look into his eyes. He kept tilting his head around to look in my eyes, but when I wouldn't meet his he knew something was wrong. I felt a firm hand around my chin as he pulled me up to finally look into his eyes, mine had already started to well with tears.

"Kaveh. What is going on?"

"I'm so sorry."

I whispered, my voice cracking as I felt my body fall forward. I fell into his arms, my face burying itself into his chest. I felt even more guilty that I was the one crying but I couldn't help it. I don't know how I was going to tell him. I wanted to stay like this forever, his chest smelled amazing. But I needed to tell him.

"Kaveh you're really starting to worry me."

He whispered, lowering one of his hands down to pet my head as I cried into his chest. I took a deep breath and pulled myself away, wiping my eyes with my sleeve as I looked at him.

"Nahida finally got back to me about your sister. She found information about her in Irmunsul."

I swear, the second I mentioned his sisters name I felt his hand grow cold around my arm. His eyes suddenly looked duller, he had to know where I was going with this because of my crying.

"She told me that she died two years ago. She- the Grand Sages put her to death and covered it up. No one had any memory of it, that's why you couldn't find anything. The Sages wiped everyone's memory including their own. I'm so, so sorry."

I placed my hand on his arm, trying to study his eyes. They didn't change. They didn't even flicker with what seemed like an emotion. He just sat there, looking at me. There was nothing. No response. I felt like I had my hand on his arm for an eternity. How was he processing this? Was he okay? Without him telling me anything I had no idea how he was feeling about all this.

"Alhaitham?"

I whispered, my voice breaking as I didn't dare look away from his eyes. He was staring at me but he wasn't blinking, almost like he was lost in space.

"Hey."

I whispered, shaking his shoulder with the hand I had on him. He seemed to snap back to reality, he blinked his eyes a few times and looked around the room. He almost looked confused at where he was.

"Yeah."

He murmured, a very flat tone to his voice. There was no emotion, nothing behind his voice. It sounded like a hollow shell.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm good. Don't worry."

He spoke, a surprisingly calm tone washing over his voice. He couldn't have been fine. Not after hearing this news. But after he blinked his eyes a few times it seemed like they were calm. He seemed fine.

"But you can't possibly be-"

"Kaveh. I'm fine. Really."

He spoke quickly, standing up and pulling my arm off his. I stood up with him, but he forcefully placed an arm on my shoulder that made me fall back to the couch.

"I'm fine."

He murmured again, looking away from me as he turned his back. He started walking out to his room, this wasn't good. I jumped up and grabbed his shoulder, more tears falling down my face. I don't know why I was crying so much. I didn't want him to hurt, but this seemed like the opposite. He seemed emotionless, like there really was nothing behind his eyes. I wouldn't lose the Alhaitham I had fought so hard for. I wasn't going to let him retreat into silence and loneliness again. Not now that I knew he cared for me. He didn't turn his back when he felt my hand on his shoulder, but the words he spoke sounded like venom.