Her Pain, His Anger

In there Statistics subject, Macky noticed Aya was struggling, she can't hold her pen properly and when she tries to write she seems uncomfortable. As gentleman as he was, it bothered him, so when the teacher wasn't looking, he immediately transferred to the empty chair beside her,

"Hi, I'm Macky," he whispered,

"H-hi... I'm Aya," her responds, suprised from his sudden introduction.

"Do you mind If I borrow your smartphone?" he inquired, she wondered why but she let him borrow it anyway. He opened his finished notes and took a picture of it using her phone then returned it to her, "There you go," he beamed at her.

"Why I didn't think of that," she thought.

Stephen and his friends were having their lunch at the canteen when Aya together with her friends arrived. He already memorized all of her habits, therefore seeing her using her left hand often made him pondered, he knew that she was actually right handed.

While he was quietly watching her, Macky also spotted her,

"Maybe there is something wrong with her hand," he blurted out, unaware that Stephen's eyes was on her. He turned to him puzzled, Macky assumed that he reacted that way because he didn't know who was he talking about. Until now, none of his friends have an idea that Stephen already knew and stalked Aya for quite sometime.

"See that girl," as he pointed at Aya, "She was my classmate in Stat." Stephen wasn't interested on that,

"Why do you think there is something wrong with her hand?" his direct to the point question,

"She was having a hard time writing our notes earlier," answered Macky, "everytime she tried, it's like she was in pain." Hearing that, Stephen stared back at her then he witnessed her discomfort when she unintentionally hold her drinks using her right hand and this made him worried. As much as he wants to approach her, he knew that he can't just do that because recently he discovered that she was actually avoiding him, though he doesn't know why. There was a time when they met unexpectedly, she literally ran off even before he have a chance to greet her. Since that, he made sure that he was far enough from her so she doesn't need to distance herself from him.

With each passing minutes he becomes more anxious and he was having a difficulty on controlling himself. In the end he decided to search for her and found her at the library. He sat at the table a few meters behind her. She was too focused on searching for a reading material to notice him. Actually she was here to talk to the librarian regarding her injury, but she needs to wait for her for a while.

He observed her from a safe distance and whenever she went too far from him, he would follow her. He even took a book and pretended that he was reading it while leaning on the bookshelf. Time to time he averted his eyes on her. With his perfect acting nobody will guess that he was actually tailing her.

Two students where tackling each other playfully when one of them accidentally pushed towards Aya. It suprised her thus she failed to react, fearing that the guy will hit her she closed her eyes. It didn't happened though, someone pulled her out of the way, and the guy fell down on the floor. Aya felt something firm and warm enveloped her. A man's chest greeted her eyes when she opened it, she realized that someone was actually embracing her.

"Didn't you know that playing here is prohibited?" she freezed when she recognized his voice, it was Stephen. His right arm encircled her small frame and his hand on her back, pressing her against his body. She almost breath in his masculine scent due to their proximity while his other hand was covering her head. Both students trembled in fear seeing how he glared at them, the guy on the floor stood right away.

"We're very sorry sir!" they said and left as soon as possible. Stephen sighed, then checked on Aya who were looking down, he felt a bit sad because it seems that she don't want to see him.

He was so closed to her that made her embarrassed, therefore she try to push herself away from him but winced, she forgot that she was injured. This time he can't fight off his urge not to touch her any longer, so he reached for her right elbow, and gently pulled up the long sleeve that covering her arm. Seeing it wrapped up with handkerchief tells him that it wasn't a good news, it also made his worries intensified as he untie its knot. His body turned rigid when he saw her arm was covered with bruises, there was a huge one on her wrist. By its dark purplish color and size, he could tell that it was really painful.

Recalling all the the things that Macky mentioned before, such as her misspelling, how slow her response over the chat last night and how she can't write properly, anger started to crawled under his skin. He need to look away to gain control of himself, slowly he let go of her arm and walked out of her sight. Aya was left wondering why he acted that way. As she pulled down her sleeve, Stephen reappeared. She was about to speak when she sighted her backpack over his shoulder and heard him uttered in monotone the words,

"Come with me."

Stephen walked ahead of her, but he made sure that he wasn't fast so she can match his phase. They went straight to the parking, where his vehicle was. Stephen opened the door of the passenger sit then he gestured at her to get inside. Sensing his authoritative aura, she assumed that opposing him will be pointless and didn't dare to question his actions, something tells her to just follow his lead. He was way different from the Stephen that she encountered last time, at this moment he looks more intimidating.

The tension within 10 minutes of car ride from school was the longest minutes Aya ever experienced in her entire life. Stephen was silent the whole time, he doesn't speak or show any emotion, and it made him more even scarier.

At the hospital, Aya was obligated to tell the doctor how, when and where the accident happened, and narrated all of it in front of Stephen. It confirmed his suspicion that she was bearing the pain for quite awhile even during her duty as RareHeart. It made him more frustrated with himself because he already sensed that there was something wrong with her last night but he failed to figured it out earlier. He kept a blank expression so Aya won't see his bad side, he doesn't want her to be afraid of him. But his heart was pounding in rage, he was clenching his fist and gritting his teeth. He felt that way after hearing the part of the story where the inventory gone missing the next day. It was unusual thus he speculated that someone took it in purpose.

The doctor advised Aya to take a rest for today, her arm was now in bandage, fortunately it wasn't broken. She was sitting quietly at the passenger sit when she heard Stephen inhaled sharply, that was the first sound he ever made after they got out of the hospital.

"Where do you lived?" he asked, she turned to his direction,

"You don't need to-" she stopped mid-sentence when he gazed at her,

"Aya..." she heard him, it sounded like he was in pain.

"uhm... #123 Pansol St..." she replied, he entered the address to navigation apps on his smartphone and he started the engine. She felt his sincerity thru the way he looks at her a moment ago. Realizing that he might have no bad intention at all and he even paid for her hospital fee. Stephen really wants to help her, he just don't know how to express it in words and it was his first time to be worried this much.

It took them only half an hour to arrived at her apartment. She didn't expected that he will go all the way up to the third floor where her room was. Stephen observed her place, he saw a mattress lying at the floor placed near the wall, while her laptop and a big sport bag at the corner. It has one window and an electric fan but it wasn't enough to ventilate the room, and it was illuminated by a dim light. By comparison, it was smaller than his living room. After putting her things down, he went outside to inspect more. His eyes narrowed when he realized that her room has no bathroom of its own and saw that the nearest comfort room at the end of the hall way. He didn't like it, there is a chance that someone might peeking on her while taking a bath, fueling his frustration even more. He didn't anticipated this kind of place will be her home. "She was all alone by herself," he thought.

Even he wants to stay with her, he choose not to. Because the more he see her injury the more he loosing his temper. As he drive home, he realized that he was easily affected when it comes to Aya's well being. It pained him even more knowing the girl he cherished was hurt.

"Seriously Aya you'll be the death of me!" Claudia was pinching her cheek, after they met at the school the next day.

"Stop it already Claudia," Nina pried her hand off and faced Aya,

"What did we tell you before?" Aya gulped, she was more afraid of Nina. She doesn't talk too much but if she open her mouth, surely her words can make you depress for the whole month.

"That what ever happens I'll let you know," replied Aya, both of then narrowed their eyes at her, "Listen, I'm really sorry, I don't mean to hide it..." as she referred to her injury. Claudia hugged her suddenly,

"Aya, I freaked out when I saw you walking around with your arm wrapped up like that," she said.

"Her reaction was like a demon rising from hell, and ready to kill anyone on her path," bragged Nina.

"Your exaggerating," claimed Aya, Claudia let her go.

"She was right, I'll kill anyone who hurt you," she said in serious tone,

"I told you it was an accident," Aya calmed her down. She wasn't a fool, of course she already thought that someone intentionally took the record, for uncertain reason. Since she wasn't sure who did that, she can't tell them for now.

Kevin approached them, "Excuse me, can I talk to Aya," he asked, Claudia and Nina exchanged looks. They left them alone, he spoke when Aya's friend were far enough from them.

"I've heard what happened," unsettled, Kevin avoid looking at her arm, "How's your injury?"

"Still swelling, but the doctor said it wasn't broken but it needed to be bandaged for a couple of days to prevent it from worsening," she retorted, it made him feel better.

"What do you want to eat? my treat," he exclaimed, she noticed the change in his mood, from being uneasy to relieved.

"Thanks but I'll have my lunch together with my friends," she indirectly turned down his invitation. He really don't mind it at all, the important thing for him was her injury wasn't that serious.

"Okay, maybe next time," he said.

Macky coincidentally saw them. He was suprised to see Kevin talking to Aya because he knew that he actually hated Computer Science and anyone associated with it, in general. Therefore it made him curious about Kevin's real intention towards Aya.