Zaynah ✓

xliv

~ Z a y n a h ~

With a determined sigh, I approached Desmond and sat on the bed.

"How did your trip go?" I couldn't let him know that I was aware of the attack.

As soon as he noticed my presence, he sat up on the bed, "Everything went well except for the unexpected revolt."

"What? Were you attacked?" I put on a shocked expression.

"Uh, yes, but I'm alright now," he flashed me a reassuring smile.

"Are you sure?" I touched his face to distract him momentarily if he saw through my façade, "You seem hurt."

He held my hand but didn't remove it from his jaw, "Uh there are some wounds over my body, but none too dangerous."

Now was the perfect time to take another step towards winning over his trust. One big step.

I thought about all the pain that he had put me through to make me tear up, and in no time, tears rolled down my cheeks nonstop.

"I feel so bad that this happened to you," I sniffed, "I'll make it better, Desmond. I'll heal all your wounds."

Saying all those words physically hurt me, but my final aim helped me to bear with it.

He touched my cheek, "You're making my heart flutter. What happened to you while I was gone?"

No, he can't be suspicious of me.

I quickly hugged him and cried more, "I-I just missed you so much."

By now, I was hysterical. Maybe I recalled a lot of bad memories to bawl out like this.

But in the end, he seemed to trust me, and that's what all mattered.

"It's okay, please don't cry anymore," he patted my back to calm me down.

I broke away from him, "Show me your bruises, please."

Let me see how much damage those people actually made.

He nodded after hesitating for a bit. He took off his shirt and showed it to me.

Sadly, it was not as bad as I thought, but I kept up with the act.

I gasped and placed a hand over my mouth.

"Don't worry, Snowflake," he began to put his clothes back on, "it doesn't hurt now."

"Stop," I held his hand, "let me change those bandages."

He froze for a moment but nodded anyway.

I quickly brought some ointment and new bandages and began to change his bloodied ones.

Now that I had to physically touch him to work on his injuries, I realized that there were too many of them, but I suppressed my disgust and decided to do it properly.

I could feel him staring intensely at me throughout the whole procedure, but I gulped down my fear and went through with it.

He winced when I worked on a deeper wound, and I hid my smile without him noticing.

I caught him smiling from time to time when I touched his chest and arms, and I refrained from scowling at that.

"I'm done," I picked up the old bandages and disposed of them in the trash can.

"Where are you going?"

"I'll be back after washing my hands," I managed a smile.

"Oh okay," he put on his shirt, and I dashed out as soon as possible.

Today, I took a leap closer towards my success, and I could feel it.