Him and I

Of alarms and acceptance

Sky watched the hands of the clock moving. He knew that that meant that time was passing. But why did he feel that time had come to a standstill? He felt oblivious to everything happening around him. He was snapped back to the waiting room when someone stroked his hair. He looked up to see Papa Pete, softly smiling at him. "Have some coffee Sky," Pai held out a cup in front of him. Sky shook his head. "I don't want anything Phi," he said. "Sky, please. I have asked Phayu also to have. Both of you need to stay strong for Rain na?" Pai tried to gently coax Sky. Sky looked at him for a minute. "Pai is right Sky. Please have it. Porche will not let anything happen to Rain. He is my best friend, and the best doctor Rain could have. And Chay is with him. He is also excellent at his work. I promise you," Pete said, still stroking Sky's hair.

Sky finally nodded and took the cup from Pai. He had just taken a sip when someone called his name. He turned around and saw Yihwa rush in, hair flying behind her. Pai took his cup from him as he stood up and she rushed into the arms he opened out to her and hugged him tight. She was sobbing, and he stroked his hand down her back. The other boys also came in and quickly surrounded Sky and Yihwa in a big group hug. They finally broke apart. "How did you guys get here?" Sky asked them. "P'Pai called us," Nut said. Sky looked gratefully at Pai and Pai simply nodded. "How is he?" Yihwa asked, wiping her tears. "We don't know. No one has come out and said anything," Sky said.

"P'Pai? Do you know how he is?" Sig asked him. "All I know is that he has a wound on the head. We know as much as Sky. My Pa and Uncle Chay are working on him. We should know something soon," he said. "How is P'Phayu doing?" Por softly asked Pai, as they all watched Phayu pace restlessly around the room. "He is not doing so great. Till we know something, he is not going to rest, and he is not eating anything," Pai said, just as softly. Sky turned to look at Phayu. He was shocked at the devastation he saw on the senior's face. He had known that Phayu and Pai liked Rain and him.

But both Rain and he hadn't really understood or tried to understand the depth with which they had loved. He looked at Pai, who was looking at him with a worried expression. How had Rain and he not seen that? How had they not realised it? Or had they closed themselves off so much so that they couldn't see beyond their pain and their hurt? Sky, who was still being hugged by her, buried his face in the crook of Yihwa's neck. This time, she stroked her had down his back. "Sit down na Sky?" she said, gently helping him sit. "Sky, lu, do you want us to inform your parents?" Kinn asked.

The rest of the Theerpanayakul family had started trickling in almost immediately after they had come to know about the accident. They had rallied around not only their sons, but also Sky. Sky just shook his head. "No Uncle. There is no point even if you do. They will not come anyways," Sig said, answering Kinn's question. Everyone looked shocked. "What do you mean?" Kim asked. Sky looked perplexed. He didn't know how to answer this question. His first thought was the ingrained response he was conditioned to give, that they were busy. But then so were the Theerpanayakuls, but they were all here, so why not his family?

He was still struggling to answer when the doors to the OT swished open. Everyone jumped up and rushed to whoever was coming out. Sky was the first to reach as Porche and Chay came out. "Papa?" Phayu's voice was sounding completely broken. "He is out of immediate danger. But not completely out of the woods yet. He hit his head, and what we thought was a minor concussion, turned out to be a blood clot," Porche said. "We have drained it, so that should be okay. He has an injury on his calf. I don't know if it was deliberate or not, but it missed his knee and ankle, so he will not have a problem in playing football," Chay added. "Can I see him?" Sky asked, his voice holding a hope so poignant, that everyone's eyes filled with tears.

"Not yet Sky. He is still in a coma. That's the body's natural response when it tries to heal itself, so don't stress too much. No one knows how strong Rain is better than you, right? So just relax," Porche said, stroking Sky's head. "I am going into see him right now," Phayu said. "Phayu, no. You can't," Chay said. "Then when will you bring him into recovery Uncle Chay?" Phayu asked. "Soon. Right now I am worried about the recurrence of the clot. I just want to ensure that nothing goes wrong, that's all," he continued. Sky nodded, and the sudden movement caused him to sway. "Sky!" Yihwa shouted and Nut immediately jumped forward to help her. They put Sky back on a chair and while Yihwa sat next to him, Nut squatted in front of him.