Seed of Curiosity

Jon could sense a hidden feeling of pain lying behind those eyes as she looked at the violin for some unknown reason.

He knew that pain.

That kind of pain was not foreign to him, who hid behind a smile and a mask as he tried to appear to everybody else like everything in his life was fine and okay.

Unknown to himself, even at this time, his curiosity towards this girl he had saved has begun to be planted in the soil of his heart and grow.

Jon noticed that she had finally stopped her mind from focusing on something stuck in the past and closed the zippers of the instrument case.

She looked at him again in that silence between them as though wanting to say something, still not knowing what was appropriate in this kind of situation.

"You had a fever yesterday and slept for a whole day since I brought you here," Jon told her in a quiet voice after noticing that she was having a hard time breaking the awkward emptiness between them.

She didn't answer.

Pausing, "Sorry that I have bothered you so much."

Finally resting his eyes directly on her expression, he noticed those large emerald eyes containing an unhidden honesty in them without any hint of anything covering her inner thoughts from him.

He only finds that slightly strange since he is used to people covering their emotions to investigate his eyes.

He said to her with a small reassuring smile, "Don't say that."

Jon supported her by holding onto her elbow as they strolled to the penthouse's balcony, and he opened the sliding doors.

Immediately upon Jon opening the white sliding doors to the balcony, she could feel a gush of warm air blowing across her face.

The fresh air of the summer night gently blows her brown hair in the air.

The balcony had some soft seats placed ready for the guests to relax upon the city view and a low table to put food and drinks on.

Thinking that she was probably finding the air still a little cold after the fever, "Let me grab you something to wear."

She stopped him by tapping his stretched forearm lightly.

She smiles to show that she is okay, "Thanks, I'm okay."

Helping herself to one of the outstretched white seats on the balcony as Jon sits on the seat next to her's.

The light from the chandeliers of the living room shines dim lighting on the background of the white tiled floor of the balcony.

Maybe it was because the penthouse was located on the highest level of the city, but the sound of the cars below the big city was relatively quiet.

"Yesterday, I didn't mean to find myself in that kind of situation," she started to speak while looking out at the city view. "I don't have a home to stay in."

She seemed to have paused for a bit before saying the last sentence, trying to find the best way to describe her situation, as though it was something slightly embarrassing.

"Your fever was pretty severe. I was worried after feeling the temperature on your head," Jon commented with concern after hearing about her situation.

He remembered the feeling of concern for her as he wiped the tiny beads of sweat yesterday as she was still unconscious in her deepest sleep.

The System gave him a small pill for her to swallow that was said to help her feel much better after he helped her ingest it with water.

After seeing her face relaxing into a comfortable sleep, he couldn't help but remember when he cared for his sister when she was little.

Jon thought that was probably why he felt a sense of closeness to her when their eyes first met that night.

"It was raining like crazy during the day," she tried to explain with an innocent smile. "And I didn't have any change of clothes."

"Well, that explains why your coat seemed slightly wet when I carried you," Jon joked.

"It was borrowed from the friend I was staying at." She continues to add after she was in some thoughts, "I couldn't stay there any longer after the argument we had. She was right, though."

She remembers that scene from in the morning when they were having a heated conversation that started from something super minor that her friend brought up.

When she showed up at her best friend's house, her friend didn't need her to explain what was going on.

Especially when she showed up on her friend's doorstep with that sad look after crying from something before.

She didn't say anything and happily took her on in the middle of the night and provided her with a room to stay in.

Everything was going great until her friend tried to counsel her by mentioning what was happening between her and her then-boyfriend the day after as they were having breakfast.

"I was in a messed up relationship with my ex," she explained, looking to the ground, "I guess I always end up in these toxic relationships. She was the person that I turned to."

She was now reflecting on what happened between her and her best friend after that argument that seemed to have pained both parties.

She then had an awkward smile as though she was laughing at her actions, "Now that I think about it, I have been crashing in her house a lot. After being kicked out by my step-dad and all those terrible 'memorable' choices."

Seeing that she seems to go a little hard on herself, Jon put his hand on her elbow in empathy, "Hey, I'm not here to judge. Between us, we all make mistakes. That's the way people grow."

Jon gives her a warm smile before adding, "The good thing is being honest about what things you had done wrong."

She looked up from the ground and smiled to indicate that she understood what he said, "It is just that I should not be saying those rude words to her before storming out. It was stupid of me to defend that asshole, honestly."

"If I were your best friend, I would forgive you no matter what horrible things you had said at the moment," he told her reassuringly with warmth, "especially after hearing such an honest confession."

She looked at him with surprise in her eyes.

She was not expecting to have such a deep and truthful conversation with somebody she barely knew.

She said to him finally with a smile, "Thanks."