I'm Sorry (1.7)

"Would you like some water, love?"

Nova woke up to a kind nurse checking his vitals. She was attentive and quickly noticed the man waking up.

"Ye-" Nova tried to say yes but instead he interrupted himself with a fit of dry coughing and the lady immediately brought a cup over to him, assisting him while he took sips.

"Ah...thank you..." He said awkwardly,

"Could you tell me what happened before? I don't really remember...."

The woman gave him a rundown of all the various injuries on his body and how they would be treating them, then she hesitated before speaking, with sympathy in her eyes.

"It seems that you were attacked by a homeless man who had made his way into the facility. You've been moved to the correct room now. I just got here for my shift but the supervisors told me to tell you that you will be compensated for this..."

Nova didn't expect any answer he got from her to involve the evil woman from earlier. That lady was crazy but the bodyguards and the things they had said and even the simple fact that she had arranged this meeting on purpose was enough to show that she wouldn't be caught. He definitely wouldn't put it above her to frame some innocent homeless man for her crime.

"....would there be any way to drop the charges?" Nova tried to help out the man he didn't know.

"Ah...well I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you this but it seems that the hospital itself is taking him to court so I don't think it would be up to you...."

"....okay. Thank you for telling me...I have a friend called Sky, could I talk to him if he's here?"

Nova sighed. There wasn't much he could do for the guy when he could barely take care of himself right now. Since it was clear that the hospital staff wasn't going to be able to give him anymore information he decided to start questioning the man Tristan had been more familiar with.

"Skyler McDavis? He's been in the waiting room for the entire time since you've been here. I'll tell them he's allowed up."

Nova nodded his head and she turned to make a call, leaving him to think on things before Skyler made his way to him.

"Skyler..." Nova mumbled under his breath. This was the first time he was hearing the other man's full name. Apparently just thinking about him brought up feelings of warmth and comfort for Tristan but there was still that nagging distress in the back of his mind that he needed to repent and apologize to him.

Meanwhile,

Skyler felt that he couldn't even wait for the elevator.

He speedwalked through the halls at a brisk pace, restraining his urge to run to the man who had called for him.

Eventually the 6'4 (195cm) man stood in front of the doorway with his head down, pacing back and forth like he was debating entering. When he had hesitated for so long that the workers were starting to give him strange looks, Skyler finally went in.

Clear green eyes glanced up from some paperwork to look up at nervous brown ones.

Skyler watched the sunlight shine through the window and make the green eyes look like crystal. The gentle slope of Tristan's eyes always made him seem warm and welcoming. It was so easy to feel comfortable around such a man.

....but the impression Tristan left on people had been affected by his recent experiences. The heavy bags underneath his already sleepy looking eyes gave him an air of depression and fatigue. Despite Tristan always being an active man who sported an obvious tan, after over a month of hiding away from the world he seemed pale. Those who knew him would definitely say that he's lost muscle definition.

Of course, those were all things that ignored the obvious, the fact that he was sitting in a hospital bed with his leg bandaged and bruises all over his face. His lips were already cracked and dry, now one side was busted.

"What the hell happened to you?!" Sky said, startled after noticing the state his friend was in, "That is NOT how you looked when I brought you in!!"

Earlier, Nova had asked the woman attending to him for his medical papers. He finally learned that the full name of this body was Tristan Wolfe and he had just turned 21 about a month ago. He was 6'1 (185cm) and had a history of incidents regarding blood loss and self harm. The emergency contact numbers on record for him all had "friend" next to their names rather than family and Nova memorized every single number and address on there.

As he was looking at his own address and other information, Sky walked in apprehensively.

Nova looked at him and was about to smile in a welcoming way when the other man's expression immediately twisted into concern and he asked about the injuries.

"...come sit down and I'll tell you." Nova said, giving the nurse a nod when she gestured with her hands that she would leave the room for a bit, giving them space to talk.

Nova considered, for a second, sticking with the story about the homeless person but very quickly decided against it. He needed help. Even if this "best friend" of his didn't have any resources they could use to fix this mess, at the very least he would be able to provide more context.

"A woman you might know came into the room and...."

Nova explained what happened. What little he knew about the woman and the situation so far. He went into detail, the distress he was in, how the woman wanted him to come to her, how she had been called "young miss" and had enough authority to be able to interfere with the cameras.

He finished the explanation only after getting choked up multiple times, restraining the original emotions. Every time Sky wouldn't say anything, just holding his hand gently or bringing him more water.

The story finally ended with this,

"....I'm sorry for keeping secrets from you. I don't want to hide anything from you... I never did. I barely know what's going on anymore but I want to tell you the things that I do know."

The man looked down at his hands with watery pale green eyes. His now messy brown hair covering up his expression as it hung over his face.

Then he seemed to find his resolve, fixing his posture and making direct eye contact.

'He is so strong' Skyler thought, barely breathing the entire time he listened to the horrible experience Tristan had.

'This is much better', Nova thought, coming to a sudden realization. The apologies from before were because Tristan wanted to tell Skyler about what he was going through but didn't feel that he could.

He felt something leave the body. It was like the original owner had found a bit of peace, the left over emotions were now settling and Nova could feel that they were still there but it now felt like he would be able to control them better.