Katherine slowly lowered the towel from her head, "It's just a bruise." With heavy movements, she covered her abdomen with the towel. This action caused Elizabeth's gaze to drift to the parts of her body left exposed by the towel. Yes, she had noticed the scars on Katherine's hands and arms before. Although she had never brought it up because of hesitation, Katherine had once caught her looking at her arm and told her that the scars were the result of her clumsiness in her engineering projects. But compared to the scars on her arms and hands, the scars on her body were more intense and more... horrifying. They were obviously old. Only that big bruise on her abdomen should have been new. But what could have happened?

Why did she have so many scars in the first place? Is it all because of clumsiness- "Ah. You mean Elizabeth? You see, she's so clumsy! She must have scratched her cheek when she fell the other day. Elizabeth, come here. If I ever see the slightest scratch on your face again, I swear- Oh, I'll be right there! I had to have a word with Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth stood there with her head down, not saying a word. Her hair covered her face so Katherine couldn't see her expression. Now she began to blame herself... She even put ice on the bruise late at night in case Elizabeth noticed, but she had caught her here anyway. "It looks bad, doesn't it? I'm sorry if I scared you. Can you give me that T-shirt plea-" Elizabeth's tears prevented her from finishing her sentence. Suddenly panicked, she struggled to put two words together, "I- I- I'm so sorry! I must have really scared you-"

"It must hurt a lot..." When she looked up, Katherine did not see fear or disgust on Elizabeth's face, but pity.

"No... It's just.... It doesn't hurt, really.” Katherine approached her and tilted her head, "It doesn't hurt, it's just that the bruise hasn't gone away yet."

As soon as Elizabeth's fingertips touched her stomach, her whole body trembled. "What happened?"

"I fell."

Elizabeth lifted her head and looked into her eyes. Katherine felt something she couldn't make sense of. Had she realised? How could she? She'd never been caught before. Why was this woman looking at her as if to say 'you're lying'?

"Is this related to me?" Elizabeth saw the slightest flicker of movement in Katherine's face. So it was really because of her… "It must have happened when you rescued me." She looked at the bruise again, running her fingers over it. Katherine's abdominal muscles contracted with each movement. "Saying you fell is the simplest trick in the book. So please don't lie to me."

Every caress of Elizabeth's breath made Katherine's heart beat a little faster. "Katherine?"

Katherine spoke between her breathes, "Yes?"

"Did you apply an ice pack?" Again, she looked Katherine with her ocean eyes.

"I did." She gulped.

A small curl formed at the corner of Elizabeth's lips. She slowly lifted her hand and placed it on Katherine's cheek. Katherine forgot how to breathe for a moment as Elizabeth's face came closer to her own.

Elizabeth rose up on the tips of her toes to reach Katherine's cheek. She placed a gentle kiss on Katherine's flushed cheek. When she pulled back, Katherine seemed to freeze. The girl’s brain had stopped working so she just stood there like a rock. "Thank you for caring about me, Katherine. It's just... You don’t have to keep things like that from me, okay?"

Katherine replied like a robot, "Yes ma'am."

Elizabeth took the t-shirt from the bed and handed it to Katherine. "Get dressed and come downstairs. Mrs. Hudson and I made some of your favourite cookies."

When Elizabeth left the room, she took a few steps down the corridor and sat on the floor against the wall. Her face was flushed all red. How did I manage to do such a thing? She covered her face with both hands. As embarrassed as she was now, she couldn't help herself as Katherine stood before her like that. Did she always do this? Did Katherine also hide her scars just like she did?

Hardworking, intelligent, kind, thoughtful... What chance did anyone who knew her have of not liking her? She realised how much of a burden she was to her, yet she kept staying with her. Was that not selfish?

“I really shouldn’t bother her anymore…” She whispered, her voice barely audible.