Dance with the Dragon [Mile x Apo] [MileApo]

Chapter 19: Sands in the Hourglass

"I wanted to spend my lifetime loving you Mile..."

The wanted was past tense and it roused Mile from his dreamless slumber in agitation of the finality behind it; however, he found he couldn't move.

It was the softest whisper in his ear, it tickled and all at once filled his heart with lightness at the statement itself. He wanted to reach out and grasp onto the owner's voice and was restrained. Or felt like it. His arms felt like cement had been poured onto them and kept them pinned onto the soft mattress where he laid. His lips felt sown shut with invisible thread as he couldn't even wet them to return the sweet sentiment uttered to him. To give a confirmation of 'want' instead of 'wanted'. Why did he feel awful and useless right now? The best he could muster up in his incapacitated dream state was a twitch of his nose.

He had to be hallucinating with his eyes closed right? It was one of those situations where everything moved around him, while his feet remained glued firmly in place. He read a dream interpretation that dreaming of being frozen meant he felt unconsciously trapped or stuck in a situation. The interpretation wasn't entirely off in its accuracy. The last thing he remembered was driving to the studio with Apo, being flooded with the guilt of knowing that Chatri's target was Apo, and then.............. blank. It seemed his dreams were definitely the gateway to trying to open the deep hidden memories that were repressed exponentially. Now it all came to a boiling head and was spilling over the edge of his mind into the abyss, and he couldn't follow through except to become sick.

"How is he doing now?"

"He's better than yesterday, Khun Nattawin. He seemed to have just fallen into a coma state that makes it difficult to know when he will wake up. It's almost like a really long nap but nothing we do has aided him to awaken," This voice sounded different to Mile, clinical and cold, he let out a grumble of displeasure. "He seems to be attempting to wake up, so that's a good sign."

"Mm...yes. Yesterday he was just shivering from the fever. Thank you doctor."

"Nngh."

"Mile, I'm right here," A hand came to gently push back his hair, a soothing gesture to ease him and a kiss against his cheek that made Mile want to fight even harder to do something! Open his eyes, reach out and grab this man he knew had to be his love, and demand why he was in this state ...again. The distant thought of being like this when they'd been in Egypt didn't sit well with Mile. That and the numb feeling of immobility. He wiggled his fingers and felt another hand whose palm was sweaty, interlace their fingers together and squeeze with another reassurance. An anchor. Something that Mile was failing miserably to do for Apo at the moment. How many times was he going to be blindsided like this?

Before Mile could work through into opening his eyes again, at least to see his beloved's face, another voice cut through into the room and it made his heart sink.

"Apo. The taxi just got here to take you to the airport..."

It sounded vaguely familiar, yet Mile couldn't pinpoint it right now. His focus was on this person trying to take Apo away from him and he couldn't let that happen. Where were they going? Who was this? Why won't his eyes open?! Another disgruntled grumble escaped Mile, "Nngh!" His hand tightened around Apo's with the only strength he had.