Gentle Green

Chapter Twelve

Sua's lashes fluttered as she woke to the dawn of a new day. She turned her head and noticed that sunbeams were already crawling over her floor. The fluffy pillow she laid on cradled her aching temple, while the blanket covering her from the chest down hid most of the bruising on her skin.

She tried moving her arm, but her injured shoulder, swaddled in bandages, prevented her from waving it around too much.

Luckily, Binasa had only managed to dislocate her joint instead of shattering any bones. Batani had no problem setting it back in place before securing it so the swelling would go down faster. The memory of her friend finding out what had really happened to her made Sua sigh.

There had been no way of hiding anything from Batani after Sa Gin returned to Tamisna Inn with her barely conscious body in his arms. Her mother had quickly figured out what the cause of her injuries was, and she wasted no time fetching the ditched woman from the town square. Sarisa had banked on her daughter's friend to keep the truth hidden from anyone else.

Batani thankfully pulled through and fixed Sua up in the privacy of the inn. Then she'd made up some story about Sua contracting an illness from one of the traveling show's members. Thus, she had to remain in her room so as not to infect anyone else.

The only other people she'd confided in were Guyaba, who took Ubi in so the child wouldn't know what was really going on, and Pina, who volunteered to deliver groceries and other supplies whenever they needed anything. And of course, there was Gin, who offered to take over the menial tasks that needed to be done around Tamisna. Not that he had to do much since they couldn't open the bar or the guest rooms again until after she had healed.

Sarisa had given her an earful for that before letting her motherly instincts take over and pampering her to the fullest. Sua had apologized for worrying the older woman, of course. Now, she just had one person to say sorry to, if she could find the time to talk to him.

As luck would have it, the knob rattled when someone in the hall made to enter her room.

The door swung aside, and Sa Gin peeked into her quarters. He held a feather duster and a tin of floor polish in his hand. He stopped himself from entering when he noticed that she was awake.

"It's all right," Sua said. "You can come in."

Gin moved at her prompting. He strode to her bedside, and she noticed that he had donned another set of his more expensive clothes. But they didn't look very clean now that they were covered with dust and stained with streaks of polish.

"How are you feeling?" he asked as he settled into the chair beside her bed. "Are you hungry? Thirsty? Does anything hurt?"

"Not hungry, a little thirsty, and everything still hurts. Better than yesterday, at least," she replied. "Why aren't you wearing my father's clothes? You've gotten yours dirty."

"That's precisely why I didn't put them on today." Gin set the duster and metal tin on the floor so he wouldn't have to keep them on his lap. "I'm fine with ruining my own garments, and I don't want to disrespect your late father by destroying his. I know his memory's very important to you."

Sua's brow furrowed as she bit her lip.

"I hope you can forgive me, Gin." She picked at the creases on her blanket, wrinkling them even more. "Because of me, your stay in Alola has been ruined. Instead of relaxing, researching, and exploring the town, you're stuck here having to help. And I also... I also saw you... how you look like as a g-g—"

"God," he answered after noticing how uncomfortable she was even mentioning the truth. "I'm a god. A fallen one. And that creature you were fighting?"

Sua gulped. Clearly, the time had come for Sa Gin to question her about the problem he'd involved her in. She didn't have the heart to lie to him, not after he'd saved her from the brink of a painful death.