The Injured Leg

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THE RAIN HAD stopped, leaving nothing but raindrops from the last shower on the glass windows. However, even so, the winds didn't relent. It continued to howl in the night, sending leaves and twigs to brush against the outer walls of the dormitories every few seconds. Even indoors, I could feel the chill of the night in my bones. The rain had left me drenched and there wasn't much of a heating system in the dorms since we're in the middle of summer.

Harr had gently settled me down on the edge of the bed, peeling my shoes and wet socks of my feet. I had protested, insisting that it was something I could do on my own but he left no room for argument. Instead, what I received was a round of chiding, something I very much deserved.

"You're injured. Who cares about being embarrassed!" Harr nagged.

My cheeks flushed scarlet.

"I do," I mumbled under my breath. "It's just a small accident. Nothing I can't deal with. There's no need for you to baby over me, Harr."

From the other side of the bed, Jules folded her arms across her chest. She hadn't been caught in the rain as badly as I had so she was still fairly dry. Yet, light drops of water speckled her hair, glistening under the silver rays of the moon that streamed in from the windows.

"Just let him fuss over you, Aiko. He was just yammering away to himself the entire time you were in the forest."

My chest warmed at the thought of Harr being worried for my wellbeing. Like Jules, he was a very precious and dear person in my life. It felt good to be prioritized and always placed as number one by certain people.

Harr was kneeled on the ground next to me, still slightly bent over from when he had helped me to remove my shoes. Since he was slightly lower than me, I easily placed a hand on his head, lightly ruffling his hair with a laugh. His red hair resembled threads of fire between my fingers. When it moved, the strands shined. He looked up, shock in his eyes at the sudden contact. Although his lips were parted, he made no indication he was about to speak anytime soon.

"Thanks, Harr," I whispered with a heartfelt smile. "But you don't have to worry about me. I can't bear the thought of my dear friends worrying about me all the time."

I quietened my voice, hands dropping off of the crown of Harr's head and returning to my side. My eyes focused on my lap, staring at the fabric of my clothing mindlessly.

"It makes me feel so useless," I admitted.

"People worry about you because they care, Aiko." Instantly I was pulled into a warm embrace. Jules's fragrant shampoo smothered me, her hair falling in soft cascades close to my face due to the hug.

"That's right." Harr nodded firmly. "Don't ever feel that way about yourself. You're not useless."

"Mmm..." I sighed into Jules's hair. "If only that's the case," I murmured.

The silence was broken when a loud cheer erupted from outside. It was from the direction of the forest and the cheers and whoops of the students could be heard echoing into the night.

"Ah." Harr stood up, slowly climbing back up to his feet before crossing the room to the windows. "They must've started the test of courage again since the rain stopped."

"Have you gone yet?" I asked, gently pushing Jules away by her shoulder so that I could look her in the eye.

She shook her head.

"No. They stopped it not long after you went in since storm clouds were gathering."

"You need to get back there before they send teachers up our asses. I'll take care of Aiko, don't you worry." Thumping a fist to his puffed-out chest, Harr wore a proud grin on his face. He flashed his pearly white teeth, eyes sparkling.

However, on the other hand, Jules looked less than amused. She had an eyebrow arched high, lips pursed in doubt and eyes squinted narrowly.

"Yeah..." she drawled. "Right."

Nevertheless, there wasn't much room for her to argue. It was necessary for her to return to the gathering point at the edge of the forest. Hence, with a final reassuring pat on my shoulder, Jules was out of our shared dorm, disappeared down the dark corridor and back into the world of the night.

Harr, who had stayed back, had found the medical kit that was placed in every room and was now fiddling with the bandages. He had a few various plasters removed from the box and was examining the size and shape of each one. Every few seconds, he hovered one over my injured ankle, debating which gauze would be the best for my minor injury until he settled on a roll of standard white medical gauze.

Before that, he had already cleaned the area and applied a generous layer of soothing gel that would help with the swelling and redness. It was only after that had he began to gently wrap the cloth around my ankles. He made sure it was tight enough not to slip off but also not too much that it would cause me pain.

"You need to ice this," he mumbled under his breath. "It still looks swollen."

His fingers worked skillfully, bring the roll of gauze up and over my ankles a few times. It took mere moments for the entire thing to be cleaned and bandaged up, bound tightly with a layer of medicinal cream against my skin.

"I'm sure it will be fine in a few days." I waved a hand nonchalantly, dismissing the idea. "Instead, I think I'm actually hungry. Do you think we can head down to the kitchen to grab a quick bite?"

Prepared to leave the room, I already had my palms pressed against the edge of the bed, ready to lift myself up at any given time. However, I hadn't been able to assert much strength before I was pushed back down again. Harr's hands were firmly placed on my shoulders, weighing me down on the soft mattress.

He shook his head, hair tossed lightly with his motions.

"Stay here and nurse your injury. I'll be back with something for you to snack on. I'll grab some ice from the freezer downstairs for your leg on the way."

Leaving no room for argument, he quickly scurried out of the room as well, shutting the door behind him with a soft thud. Once he left, the room returned to its silence, an atmosphere that was both uncomfortable and unbearable. It left me alone to my thoughts and for a short while all I could see was Xavier's disheartened expression accompanied by the soft drizzle of the rain.

There I sat in the dark for seconds that felt like hours. An eternity seemed to past and yet I was still alone. From the cabin, I could faintly hear cheers and whoops from the edge of the forest where they held the event. Every once in a while, a scream would follow, sending a flock of birds into the night sky, frightened.

I had just started to trace shapes and figures on my duvet when the door to my dorm creaked open and a foot stepped in. My head spun around, Harr's name on the tip of my tongue before I realized the height and physique was all wrong. When I looked up to face a pair of dark obsidian eyes, I was even more sure that it was a new visitor, not one that I had expected.

He cleared his throat before gesturing at my bandaged ankle. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel regular." Pinching my lips together in a smile, I patted the empty spot right next to me. "Come sit."

Xavier crossed the room in seconds. However, before he sat down, he placed a bundle of towels onto my injured ankle. It was only when the cool cloth made contact did I realize that it was actually an ice pack wrapped with towels to prevent the water from dripping. Even through the towel and through my bandage, I could feel the cold seeping through to my injury. The dull ache was soon reduced to nothingness. It became a faint buzz, a tolerable and pardonable sensation.

The mattress dipped under Xavier's added weight. He kicked off his shoes before climbing up, resting against the pillows like what I was doing. In the dark, with just the dim bedside light to illuminate the room, our shadows blended together on the walls.

Xavier was seated so close to me that I could smell a fresh wave of his shampoo, the same scent that I had caught from him in the forest but much stronger. His hair was still slightly damp, delicately glistening under the light. Unlike me, he had the luxury of a quick shower beforehand, that much was obvious. After all, not only was the scent of his shampoo and body soap invading my senses, his clothes were also changed and his contacts were removed. I had never seen him in his natural eye color before.

"I didn't think that you would ever step out of your room without your contacts in and your hair done," I confessed. It was my best attempt at making small talk. After all, I couldn't think of what else I could say when sat in a dark room with a boy that was in love with my best friend. What an odd situation I had just stumbled upon.

"Ah." Xavier reached up to play with a strand of his unkempt fringe. He hadn't made any effort to style it, that much was obvious, and it seemed as though he was blushing now that the details of his appearance had been brought up. "I don't really need them to see, after all. And I'm just meeting you. I don't need it."

I didn't know whether to take his words as a compliment or an insult. It seemed like something that could go both ways and I wasn't brave enough to see it in a positive light. I couldn't muster the courage to hope that it was because Xavier was comfortable enough to show me himself raw and unrefined, just like Jules. So I assumed that it was because Xavier didn't need to impress me, that's why it was perfectly fine for him to show up at his worst.

Of course, none of my thoughts were voiced out loud. I had tucked them away in a corner of my heart, forcing a smile back up before shifting the topic of our conversation away. Once it moved to other matters, it flowed much smoother, undisturbed and unhurried. For a second, I relaxed against the pillows, laughing merrily at a joke that Xavier had made.

Time ticked by much faster than when I was alone. Before I even knew it, we had already spent close to half an hour, just conversing about nothing in particular and yet everything at once.

This peace was only disturbed when I heard a creak in the wooden flooring outside the room. My ears pricked to attention, eyes tearing away from Xavier's face to stare at the door. It remained mainly closed, a small slit cracked between the frame and the door. However, I couldn't make out the figure hidden behind the shadows.

"Anyone there?" I called out, craning my neck so that I could see who was behind the door.

Then, it was pulled open. Harr stepped in, in his hands a tray that carried a bowl that was steaming lightly and an ice pack at the far corner. Instantly, I felt the dynamics of the bed shift. Xavier was up on his feet within seconds, the area where he sat still slightly warm from his body heat. Yet, he acted as though he hadn't even thought of sitting down on the mattress.

I frowned slightly at that.

"Just me," Harr said. He stood rooted in his spot just as Xavier walked towards him. However, before the latter could leave the room, Harr stopped him by stepping in front of him to block his path. He had a smile on his face, large and a little too sunny. "I didn't know that you were stopping by."

Xavier swiveled back to nod his head at me, tucking his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "Just making sure her leg is fine. That's all."

Even though Xavier had answered, Harr didn't budge an inch. He stayed there, staring into Xavier's eyes for a second too long before he finally moved.

"Alright." He grinned but it held no warmth. It was painfully cold like a winter blizzard.

Xavier left after that, stepping past Harr and out of the corridor without so much as a goodbye.

Harr reverted back to his usual giddily bubbly self after that but even with the warm bowl of soup in my hand, all I felt was a chill down my back. The look that Harr had shot Xavier was not something I had seen before. For all I knew, Harr and Xavier were as tight as brothers. Their friendship had always been filled with mutual respect and concern. Yet, their interaction moments prior had been off.

As much as I wanted to squeeze a question or two in, Harr left no room for me to talk. He made it quite clear that whatever happened in the last few minutes was nothing worth conversing about. His gestures were warm again, soothing like the sun and bright as the day.

Nonetheless, the only image in my mind was the frosty look in Harr's eyes and the matching glacial expression that swirled in Xavier's onyx irises. Perhaps I truly hadn't even begun to understand what their friendship was really like behind closed doors.

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