Chương 11: Looks Like Someone Is Heartbroken

"Uh." She couldn't utter anything more than that. She was at the loss of words for a while upon hearing him. She stood stunned for several long moments. What he said did make sense to her when she took a minute to think about it. She would have been undoubtedly bothered if there was any cat or parrot lying hurt there as he said. She did not know how to admit that she found it right though.

"I know you agree with me. Stop wasting time contemplating how to confess the same," he muttered, "come on, let me clean it up."

"Oh but..."

He blinked his eyes to assure her that it was okay. "There is a solution to everything. The moment we get our focus off complaining is the moment we get closer to it." His lips curled up in a smile and she couldn't help but smile in return.

He stepped by her side, supporting her to walk. "Let's find a place to make you sit first." His eyes fell upon the water bottle lying a little away. Pointing at it, he asked, "Is that yours?"

She hummed.

"Okay, let me take it along." He slowly approached the bottle with Irene in his hold. He quickly lifted it from the ground and began walking forward, searching for somewhere where she could sit and he could tend to her wound.

On covering a little distance, they stumbled upon a small cafe. The cafe was closed but the generous owner had kept a small bench outside it.

"There," he slowly whispered, showing it to her. Once they reached, he made her sit on the bench before he himself settled there. He still had to think about how he was going to clean her wound with the outfit she was wearing.

"Alright. I will have to cut that."

The moment he came up with those words, she turned to him, horrified.

"Ugh. You really think way too ahead." He ran his hand through his hair.

"Wait." She cringed but it was done. "You just touched your hair with those dirty hands."

He shot her a blank look, shaking his head. "So what? I will take a shower?"

She stomped her foot on the ground at how awfully casual he was being only to realize that, doing that caused her knee to pain even more.

"That's what happens when you react without caring how it will affect you." He chuckled and earned a glare from her. "Alright. I meant I have a cutter. I will cut a small portion around your knees and will clean it up. Is that okay?"

The idea did not sound bad. Torn trousers were anyway in fashion. It was another thing that she didn't like them but it was the need of the hour.

She nodded and let him do the work.

As he began carefully cutting the part, she murmured, "I would have done it but I have a history of harming myself with cutters and knives."

The slight frown that had appeared on her face was swiftly replaced with a warm smile as she watched his shoulders shaking in silent laughter. Once he slowed down, the corners of his mouth lifted in a smile that she found genuinely contagious.

"You have a beautiful smile," she mumbled, "and a beautiful heart as well. Thanks for the help."

He paused for a moment to look at her, and his smile never left his face. "You talk without spending minutes contemplating over if to say it or not, too? That surely surprises me."

Her brows furrowed, leaving him to giggle more.

After he finished making two round cuts on her leggings around her knees, he took them off. Her both knees that were covered with grazes were exposed to their eyes.

"I didn't fall that hard to get it this bad." Her eyes widened a bit as she faintly complained, clearly not pleased with the sight at the front.

"It's okay." He picked up the water bottle that he had kept by his side, washed his hands first with it and soaked a cotton ball in it, beginning to clean her knees. "It doesn't hurt, does it?" He threw the cotton ball in the dustbin while getting his hands on the antiseptic bottle.

"Nah. It is cool." She gave him a thumbs-up, asking him to go ahead.

"Sure." He slowly wiped her both knees with the cotton dipped in the antiseptic liquid. He kept stealing glances at her throughout the process every now and then to check for any discomfort on her face but she stayed stilled, visibly unaffected as if the antiseptic liquid did not burn her skin at all.

'Stop crying right now. I am not your mother to sit here and console you. Either let me use the antiseptic now or put it by yourself. I don't have more time to waste on you.'

'Pl… please… it… it… hur… hurts.'

'Quiet. I don't want to hear your annoying voice.'

'Ah… don… don't hit me.'

Her mind was too overwhelmed to get distracted by the burn by the antiseptic at that moment. The haunting past memories that came running back to her left her in tears.

"Does it hurt?" He gently blew some air on her wound, slightly afraid if he accidentally rubbed it harshly though he had been trying his best not to.

"It does," she responded. Her mind was somewhere else.

He pulled out two pieces of sterile, non-stick gauze and put some antibiotic ointment in the center before covering her scraped knees with them. He then placed adhesive bandages over them to secure them in place.

"You have to apply medicine to the wound and allow it some time to heal. You have to take care of it. The more you hide it, the worse it gets. I helped a bit to your knees and I hope you would do that to your other wounds," he said while putting the stuff back in his pockets.

"I have some extra handkerchiefs. Would you like to have them lightly tied to your knees so that your torn leggings do not show up?"

She blinked a couple of times to fight off her tears and watched him pushing the stuff in his pockets. "Like how deep your pockets really are? How do you even carry this amount of stuff?"

"I manage. Do you want the handkerchiefs or not?"

"I do." Sighing, she took them from him and tied them around her knees.

"Give me your phone number. I'll wash them and return." She pointed at his handkerchiefs.

He stood up. "My phone number is too precious to give you."

She shot him a casual look. "Yeah, more precious than true love."

"Looks like someone is heartbroken."