Rishan’s POV

Tanner was resting on the bed when we discussed inside the room beside it.

She puffed her cheeks as puffy as she could and pouted. Crossing her arms, I couldn’t help thinking that she looked like an angry hamster. I stifled a laugh.

“This is not funny!”

She retorted, but even her retorts are cute.

“I’m sorry...”

I cleared my throat.

“What do you want to ask from me? I will try to aswer you.”

She heaved a sigh and slumped on the sofa.

“I don’t know, In the morning you said you wanted to rest, now at night you suddenly requested for me, out of the blue, and I was brought to a middle of nowhere-”

She massaged her throbbing forehead. I guess some of my headache got transferred to her.

“Don’t you know how hard it was?”

I looked at her apologetically.

“I’m sorry...”

Again, she raised her one finger.

“It’s okay. It’s rare to have you requesting me in the middle of the night, and as a nurse, I expected these kind of thing to happen, so chill.”

She said briefly and ended with a silence.

For quite some time, we exchanged glances with each other, but no words left out from our mouths. Elliot suddenly tapped on the seat beside her.

“Doctor, you should rest. Your complexion doesn’t look good.”

I chuckled again and was on my way to sit on the place she tapped, before I felt something pulling me from the back. Standing behind me with his towering stature, Viktor overshadowed me while grabbing my shoulders. Judging from the ruffles of my shirt, his grip looked painful, but in reality I didn’t feel any clenching pain from where his hands were at.

I suddenly swayed a bit when my headache came back.

“I will have him rest somewhere comfortable, in addition of changing his clothes.”

He glanced at my outfit—my white shirt and my brown pants—which had entirely painted with the color of blood it was hard to dismiss.

Elliot paused while looking at us with a confused eyes. Then, she mouthed an OH and glanced at me with knowing glances. I immediately denied her assumption and mouthed a NO.

Viktor raised an eyebrow, curious as to what we are signalling about.

“Miss Trafalgar, I will assign some escorts for your journey back home. We will make sure that you are safe.”

As if knowing the situation, Elliot broke into a half grin for a brief second before returning to her normal expression.

“Alright.”

She narrowed her eyes in a judging manner. “You better take care of Doctor, or I will sue you!”

Her unprecedented statement ended the conversation.

After assisting her back home, we slowly trudged back to his bedroom.

“Thank you...” I said. I was thankful of his patience in wanting to hear what I said, completely different from the rebellious, forceful image of him that I have in mind.

I felt his hand squeezing my shoulder, before he let them go slowly, causing me to sway a bit, maybe because I have been in his hands for so long I literally gave up transmitting my strength to my legs.

Just as when I was reprogramming my brain to transfer strength towards my lower limbs, I felt myself floating in the air, and noticed Viktor was having his arms under me.

“Wait, Viktor!”

I clutched his shoulders in panic. Flailing my feet, I pleaded for him to put me back down as being carried like a princess, for an old man like me, is particularly embarrassing. Yet Viktor was insistent in his action.

He resumed walking again while ignoring my failing attempt to want him to put me down. Seeing his face up this close after the warmth we shared between each other for several times now is really not good for my heart. It makes me feel jumpy.

For the second time, I flailed my legs again. This time, I hope he would finally let me go when he suddenly stopped walking and angled his head to face me.

“Rishan.”

My eyes wavered, probably because in every occasion since the beginning of our meeting today, I have called his name for countless of time, yet he never called mine. Although I have a clear idea as to why he refrained from calling my name. After that single word, his face glowed in a tinge of pink. He cleared his throat in an attempt to hide his shyness.

I inadvertently let out a soft chuckle, some part of me was moved, some other was strangely attracted to him. However, I didn’t want to be catching feelings if he didn’t have the same inclinations as I do, so I shrugged off the latter part.

We safely reached the bedroom and I opened the door while still being carried by him. Inside the bedroom, he placed me down on top of the table instead of the bed.

“I’m sorry to put you here, but we can’t afford getting the bed dirty.” He pulled my legs so I could face him and settled his body between my parted legs.

He got a point. Now looking back at myself, I was used to having blood stains on my clothes back in my hospital days, but that time I would usually have on my scrubs so washing off the blood was easy. The thought of blood staining the entire length of my polyester pants and also the front of the high end shirt that Viktor have me wear never crossed my mind when I attempted to save Tanner.

I guess that is what you call habitual response.

“Wait here.”

He turned his back on me and went towards the wardrobe to get some clothes. Along the way, I noticed him brought out some clean towels, maybe wanting me to take a bath.

I massaged my temple while waiting for him. I predicted my headache to end in just a matter of half a day because that’s their usual duration, but the more I rest and think of something, the more excruciating they became. I decided to empty my mind for awhile.

I heard footsteps from when Viktor was walking to where I sat.

“Here-”

He paused when he noticed me again pressing my temple. Before long, he handed me the clothes he prepared for me.

“Clean yourself and wear this.”

I nodded and gave him my thanks.

It took me a few minutes to slightly ease the throbbing pain, and another minute to walk to the bathroom that was located inside the very same room. I decided to take a quick shower and would brace myself another level of pain from a cold shower in the autumn season, but instead of freezing water, sprays of warm water meets my skin from the shower place.

Gladly, my headaches lessened when I have that warm shower. I got out of the bathroom to see Viktor already have changed into his bathrobe and was scrolling the phone on the bed.

I paced near him with a disbelieved look on my face. If my mind is still sound, I believe I am the one who entered the bathroom first, but how come he finished cleaning himself before me?

“Took you long enough.”

He answered my confused look with pat on the empty spot on the bed beside him.

“I took a shower in a different room while you have your sweet time.”

I suddenly blushed.

It might be only me, but was he mocking me?

“Not at all.”

He suddenly answered.

I widened my eyes in surprise.

“H-How do you know what I was thinking?”

I hugged myself, starting to get defensive.

He snickered.

“Your face is like an open book, so obvious.”

He smirked. Once again, he tapped on the empty spot beside him, inviting me to lay on the bed.

I was reluctant at first, but I was too fatigued to ask for another room, and also, his bed was soft and comfortable. I slowly sat on the bedside, before gradually shifting towards the middle spot where he tapped his hands on earlier. I lie there silently while resting my arm on my forehead.

While closing my eyes, I heard a shuffling and saw Viktor covering me with the warm blanket to protect me from the cold. I was too busy handling my headache that I forgot to cover myself.

“Thank you...”

I clutched the upper end of the blanket. He gave me a slow nod, before soon placing his phone on the bedside shelf and also retreated himself inside the blanket.

“...Do you have a headache?”

He finally asked, though I guess it was obvious from all this time he’s been with me.

“Yes. I have been fighting them off since the morning. I don’t really know the actual cause.”

I chuckled underneath my breath. Now that I am allowed to rest, I feel my tensed shoulder loosening. I was too tired, yet somehow, still managed to strike a converstion with him. I don’t know why, just talking with him feels so much fun.

He fluttered his eyes for a few moments, before again, with his swift hands, he placed them on my cheek.

He brushed my ears softly and stared at me.  

“...I am sorry if I dragged you into all of this mess...”

He said in a low tone. He looked at me with concern, yet in his eyes, he was staring at me, like I was something precious to him. It feels weird, like some sense of discomfort within myself, but I shrugged it off. I guess maybe werewolves treasure the person they were indebted to.

I shook my head a no. “It’s not your fault. I am the one who wanted to follow you, remember?”

I reminisced the earlier events. I was too immersed in my role as a doctor, even forgetting to take care of myself. Maybe that’s some sort of cause of this endless loop of headthrob.