Accidents - 2

Darah had made up her mind to not look in his direction today. His anger was unjustified, whatsoever the previous night. All she wanted was to get him to eat and she hurt herself in the process. But that wasn't what hurt her more. She knew it was an accident. What hurt her was how bad she'd lost herself.

There were some things that she was obviously keeping aside. Even if she didn't show it, she certainly knew. The fact that she had these weird feelings for a cold blooded murderer. She cried the whole night thinking about it, just how much of her sanity she had lost in these few months of meeting him. The fact that she hadn't seen the whole of him yet made her heart tremble in fear of what more was in store for her to know about him. Asking Lyra would be easy but it scared her to know more. Darah had always believed that love was blind and now she was in a situation that proved it. Because now that she was finally getting to know of  this feeling, it made her realise how much she was overlooking the danger signs in Ryu… 

She staggered through the stairs with a cold face, lost in thoughts when she tripped over a step, falling face first over a rough surface. Her fingers tightly clutched over the fabric. Looking at the broad chest and the deep blue long coat hanging over his tall frame, Darah knew immediately who it was. Even though she didn't notice, the gaze of the man weakened seeing her still red wrist under her long sleeve. He wondered if it still hurt… 

Without a glance, she stepped back and headed straight outside, ignoring the food set over the table. 

"Are you both going hungry today!?" Mrs Ruo said hysterically. Darah looked at the table and she was right. Ryu hadn't eaten either.

"Darah." The deep voice called out and pulled her by her hand softly. She didn't turn behind. Just one look and she might find herself losing her strength. 

"You know I wouldn't hurt you like that. Look at me." Ryu looked intensely into her eyes, but she didn't return the gaze.

She felt even more sad how his voice broke but ignored it anyhow and freed herself from his grip. She felt like that kiss was a mistake. Everything was a mistake. How could someone in their right mind even fall for a man like him? An air of coldness took over him immediately as he saw her walk over towards Luca and say something to him in a very low voice. Luca agreed and walked beside her outside until a voice interrupted them.

"Luca can stay behind." His voice caught both of them off guard. Luca immediately moved away as told, seeing his boss's menacing glare but Darah didn't seem to give a damn about it. 

"Luca can either come with me or not. If not, I'm going alone!" Darah glared right at him and that was the first time she looked at Ryu that day. A smirk appeared on Ryu's lips as he saw her confidence. Luca on the other hand was whispering gibberish at Darah, pleading her to not say anything more. 

"You can go…" 

Darah was surprised. She expected Ryu to half lose his temper whereas Luca on the other hand was trembling in his spot, pleading with his eyes at Darah to remain silent.

"Because I let you." Ryu's voice was cold but gentle. Darah couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. She expected the worst honestly. Luca bowed apologetically to Ryu and got into the car and joined Darah.

"What the hell were you thinking back there!? You crazy woman!"

"Yes I am crazy! Now what!?" She cried, pouting as she looked away from him. Luca only sighed and drove away from the devil's presence. He wondered how Ryu held in all that anger which was so unlike him. 

"You really are something aren't you?" Luca smiled and tried to calm her down but it seemed she was in a worse mood. It was obvious to him that something was going on between the two...

"I've known him for years. The only thing I can say about him is that he's unpredictable. Have you felt it?" Luca only received silence for a few seconds.

"So am I…" She spoke suddenly, looking out of the window. He smiled, taking a glance at her before focusing on the road.

"Are you afraid of him?" Luca asked again. Darah felt very odd about it. The answer was very obvious. Because you'd never be afraid of a person you loved… However she was silent. As if she were lost in thoughts. Luca didn't want to bother her with that so he stayed mum.

 He dropped her off and watched her wave to him sadly before she walked off. Not long before she stepped into her class did she feel a hand over her wrist, pulling her harshly to a side. She shrieked from the pull, feeling the sudden pain from the previous night's burn. 

"Ow!" She whimpered watching Jake's smile suddenly drop into a frown.

"Hey, you okay? I wasn't trying to hurt you!" He stepped back sadly but Darah smiled back in a weak way. She pulled the sleeve further down her wrist so that he wouldn't notice but out of concern he pulled it up noticing something weird about her. 

"Woah, that looks bad. How?" Jake was awfully worried, examining the redness on her hand. Judy noticed it too, watching from behind Jake with wide eyes. 

"Damn, life's tough on you…" Judy whispered.

"It doesn't hurt as much now. Just a light burn, that's all.  She smiled. It was hard listening to classes, the same thing everyday. But nothing made her more sad than trying to focus on something after an unwanted fight. The whole time spent there was menacing enough that somehow through her thoughts, she hadn't noticed the last bell ring. Jake was keeping her good company but she didn't recall smiling genuinely for once. 

Should I move out? Should I go far away from him and never see him again? Darah was completely out of focus, having had an exhausting day both at class and work. Jake was equally tired since they were receiving quite a good flow of customers lately. 

"Darah. Does your skin still hurt?" Jake asked but noticing her distracted mind he pinched her cheek lightly and smiled at her. She jumped a little and returned the smile weakly.

"You okay?" 

"Yeah" 

"Jake!" The manager called him, pointing to a table. But it was almost nearing closing time and most of the regular customers had left.

"Can't you see that man sitting alone there for a while? Get his order quickly." The middle aged woman pointed to a lonely table at the corner. Jake nodded defeatedly and approached the table with irritation written all over face. Over here he was trying to wind things up for the day and this new customer was making his day longer. 

"Can I get your order, Sir?"  Jake asked in disinterest, keeping a cold gaze at the young man in a black hoodie, his face covered with a mask. The man didn't look interested either to order anything. 

"Get me a glass of water." 

Jake ogled at him weirdly, noticing the cold stance of the man. He was tracing his index finger over the rim of the glass lazily. 

"Just water?" 

"You heard me." His voice was cold, irritating Jake to the edge.

Without any more questions, Jake decided to get his job done for god's sake and stomped back. It was only a few minutes later that Darah heard a sudden sound of shattering glass from the front. She rushed to the scene only to watch in shock Jake picking himself up from the mess while he glared angrily at the unbothered man at the table.

"Y-You did that on purpose didn't you!?" Jake grit his teeth angrily at the strange looking man. Darah was confused about what was happening. With just a slight turn of his head, she lost her breath seeing Ryu staring keenly into her wide eyes.