If You Miss It

13. balance

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

BALANCE

—

Dmitri had finally levelled out.

After a whole week and a half of tears, numbness, nightmares at two in the morning, and no personal hygiene whatsoever, he finally felt normal again.

Happy, even.

And Tariq had stayed throughout. He stayed when Dmitri had cursed him out, told him to fuck off when all he was trying to do was get him to eat something so that he wouldn't pass out, he stayed when Dmitri had ended up having three consecutive panic attacks one afternoon, ones that left him unable to move out of bed for the rest of the day, he even stayed when Dmitri didn't say a single word to anyone for two days straight.

He had stayed through it all, and Dmitri couldn't have been more grateful.

Even when Eden was home to check on him and to make sure that Juno was doing okay, he stuck around, alternating between spending time with Eden and Trinh and reading the history books that lined his shelves when he was unresponsive.

The room had begun to smell of Tariq's cologne, to be honest.

Any time Tariq was free, he had been in Dmitri's house.

And now, finally, he was okay. He could tell that he was beginning to come out of his depressive episode around two days ago, when he had asked Tariq if they could eat lunch at the dining table, instead of in bed.

It had been so long since he had even actively asked to eat food, and holy shit, food had never tasted better than it did that day.

"D? You goin' to work today?" Eden asked through the door. She had asked him the same question each morning, even though Dmitri was sure that she always knew the answer to that question. "How are you feeling?"

For the past few days, it had been no response or a snappy "fuck off".

Today, Dmitri replied with a loud, "I'll be out in a second!" as he tugged on his t-shirt, not before spritzing some cologne onto his body, despite having just showered.

For a moment, there was complete silence. And then, Eden knocked once on the door, before saying, "Dmitri?"

"You can come in." I have to apologise.

Apparently, that was all Eden needed to push the door open and barrel into Dmitri, knocking the breath out of him as she wrapped her arms around his body, swaying him from side to side.

Laughing, actually laughing, Dmitri wrapped an arm around her head, holding it closer to his chest. "Woah there."

"I'm so glad you're goin' to work," she whispered into his chest. "D, you scared me so bad. Like, rationally, I knew that you'd be okay, but the irrational side of me was goin' wild. Trinh can tell you exactly how wild it was goin', she bore the brunt of all my panicked rants at one in the fuckin' morning. I was literally fuckin' praying 'n shit, for you to just be okay, and you know that I rarely ever pray."

Dmitri just sighed, guilt stabbing his gut. Somehow, despite the guilt, he still felt better than he did in the last week. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, kissing the top of Eden'd head.

"Don't be sorry, bitch, it wasn't your fault," she assured, finally letting go of him and scanning him up and down. "You look hot, let's go."

Just as he was about to take his keys off the table, someone else knocked on the bedroom door, the doorknob turning to the left as a head popped into the room.