A flower boy

Crystal didn't delay further and walked up the trail. Silas was trying to hide his blushing face. Such a brazen woman! Silas shook his head to elude any further misleading thoughts that were brewing in his mind.

Speechless at his thought, Silas slapped himself hard before following her. After a few minutes of walking without any further talks, they reached the waterfall.

The striking milky water dripped from the peak giving it a majestic appearance. The rippling flow of the water was a symphony to the ears. The bamboo trees covered most of the surroundings, their leaves always soaked by the pellucid water. The mist covered them as if she had walked into a paradise. The cold air blew at her as a sign of welcoming her. The beads of sweat that formed on her body from all the walking were carried away.

Silas sat down at one of the boulders by the shore, resting his body. While Crystal was awestruck and went close to touch the waterfall. In that, her uniform ended up getting soaked from the water. Silas watched the girl still playing carelessly with the cold water, even with her clothes already drenched.

Silas sighed, she was complicated. That word described her perfectly. Silas went up to a cave that was beside the fall well hidden by the bamboo leaves. He has been coming to this place long and that came was his hidden spot. He even put a few necessities there, specifically a box of first aid.

Sitting down at one of the rocks, he opened the first aid box. Why was this giving him a deja vu vibe? Yeah why will it not, he had gotten beaten for the seventh time this week only. Unbuttoning his shirt to reveal bare skin.

As usual, it was covered with black marks from all the beating. Taking out the medicine, he put it one, hissing in pain.

"Ahhh!" A scream diverted his attention outside. In fear, Silas put his thing and ran out.

His eyes widened in shock, seeing the scene in front of him. Crystal walked out of the pool of water, completely drenched.

She was trembling from the cold, her white shirt translucent to him. Silas shifted his head away from her, afraid she misunderstood him as some kind of pervert.

"Wait!" Silas ran back into the cave, eyes still looking everywhere except her.

Crystal came up to the shower, covering her chest with both arms as she still trembled from the cold. She was wet from top to bottom, who would have thought the stone she was standing on was slippery.

Soon Silas came out and saw her sitting at the shore, covering her chest. Her dark hair let down, after being damp it looked more like black.

Silas bit his tongue to stop himself from ogling her and handed her the towels. Luckily he kept a stack for emergencies, and he had towels.

Crystal was flustered by his good nature. She smiled and thanked him before taking the towels from his hand.

"Come inside," Silas responded by showing her the way inside the cave.

Crystal covered herself with the towel Silas handed her and followed him inside.

She was surprised to see the cave was pretty cleaned up, with everything one needed to use it for a hideout.

"Want some cup noodles?" Silas asked, taking out a stack of ramen hidden behind the rock. From the looks of the cave, it looks like he had made it liveable and often visited.

Crystal nodded to his question, "Thank you." She sat down on a rock and checked out the place when her eyes landed on the first-aid box on the ground.

Crystal completely forgot he was injured, and she never asked how he got hurt that much. Did someone bully him?

Crystal glanced at the guy who was squatting on the ground beside her and turned on the gasoline stove and put the water to boil.

Her eyes glanced down from his pretty face to his unbuttoned shirt. He was pretty lean but he still had a bit of muscle but his bare chest was kinda defined.

Damn! How could he be totally her type! A flower boy. He doesn't mind if he is her first bf but he looks so innocent that she just wants to crush on him.

Crystal slapped herself inside her mind for thinking about those. She met him just a moment ago. How could she think about that stuff? And what was worse was his body was covered in bruises from beating and she was drooling on his body.

'Shame on you, Crystal!' She scolded herself, smacking her lips and then focusing back on him this time more on his wound.

Crystal got up from her place and squatted on the ground facing him. Her long slender fingers moved up to his cheek and touched it.

Silas was flabbergasted by the abrupt touch, his eyes widened up. Silas turned her head towards her to see what she was doing. Instead of something weird, her eyes showed concern.

"Does this happen often?" Crystal asked, looking at his wounds. Her eyes flashed a mix of concern and fury.

"..." Silas remained silent. It's not like he wanted to be silent but his voice gave up seeing someone like her concerned by her.

World forbid, it looked like some kind of dream to Silas. In his nightmarish life, he suddenly came up against a beauty like her that was already surreal and now that beauty was concerned for her. This must be a dream.

Seeing Silas lost in thought, Crystal could only think that he was thinking of the painful nightmare and was not comfortable sharing it with a stranger like her.

She didn't ask further and got the first-aid box and started to do his injury, as slow and careful as one can be even blowing onto the deeper wounds.

Silas was used to being beaten and the pain. It rarely heals since he gets beat every other day. But seeing her blowing his wound, he felt relief.

He could never tell his parents or any adult knowing it will do nothing but worsen his situation but this warmth. He didn't think he wanted but he did.

Tears rolled down his cheeks, embarrassed she would laugh at him. He immediately hid it before she could notice.

"Thank you…" he muttered in a hoarse voice, not loud but enough for her to hear it. Crystal didn't reply to it but her lips curved up into a transient smile.