Nose Bleeding

 ….

Jason opened the door and out of his car, right in front of them, lay an old three-story building at the end of the busy street.

"You staying here, Val? It's quite far from the office, is it?"

Val limped out,

"It's not far, if you take the metro it takes at most half an hour to get to the office, it doesn't take long."

Jason looked up. The building was one of the ones that the city government would soon restore. How did he know? He came to the auction and his grandfather had already bought the block with buildings that would be demolished and turned into the shopping center.

"Hemmh, the building is quite old, isn't it?"

Val nodded.

"Yeah, but the rent is cheap, it's good to be able to save more money" He was about to move towards the building and stopped when he saw someone standing, as if waiting for him, right at the building entrance. Ilyana was there, waiting for Val with an anxious face.

"Val! Anwar said you were injured, what happened?"

Jason smiled to see that Val was already being taken care of by Ilyana, she looked worried.

"I'm fine, it's just a normal sprain." Ilyana helped Val enter the building. 

"Thanks, boss, see you Monday, okay?"

…..

Inside Val's studio-sized apartment.

Ilyana helped Val to his bed and sit down. She took the warm water for Val to wash up.

The girl took a towel soaked in warm water to wash Val's hand.

"Come, let me wipe you, you shouldn't take a bath with leg like this, just a little wipe can be done, it's not that difficult"

Val can't argue with Ilyana who stopped him from taking his bath.

"It's not that bad, Il, just a little sprain"

But the girl looks stubborn more than him.

"Just listen, besides, it's midnight already, just change your clothes and go to sleep, don't argue"

Val's word hang outside his tongue, can't even say anything anymore, the girl was so persistent.

Val realized he might have everyone worried, his boss, and now the girl. He ended up to stay at one building apartemen with his senior who happens to know the landlord, otherwise he couldn't stay there because they doesn't accept the new tenant anymore, consider him, lucky. That place is not bad and Ilyana being so kind with him.

"Sorry, for taking up your time."

The girl smiled, her eyes sparkled when she saw Val, as if nothing in this world made her more satisfied than that. She enjoyed it. The smile on her face wouldn't disappear.

This was what she had been waiting for a long time, alone in Val's room.

"What's taking up time, I don't mind being here, I'll do anything for Val."

Val smiled shyly. He was neither naive nor oblivious; he knew that the girl liked him and he could sense her interest. He lowered his head to massage his aching legs, his slightly long hair covered his view. Unaware of his surroundings. The girl's face was already right in front of him with a sudden kiss on the cheek.

"Chup"

Like slow motion, the girl returned to her position looking at Val who was looking at her with awkward eyes.

Val was silent, he didn't think Ilyana would do it so he could only freeze in place, slowly raised his face and found Ilyana's blushing face. It's awkward.

"Ahem, I'll prepare the bowl, I bought porridge for you earlier, you have to eat it, okay?"

The sweet girl gracefully stood up from the bed and hurried out. It seemed as if she was jumping for joy when she succeeded, and she exclaimed to herself. As Val touched his cheek, he realized that a kiss from Il wasn't something trivial. It wasn't something he had imagined before, but he should have expected it.

"Heh"

 ….

Bright Monday morning.

In the city's bustling park, even on weekdays, there were a few blocks from the Diamond building. The marketing team on duty at that time consisted of Val, Anwar, and Alex. They were standing in the middle of the park, distributing brochures and samples to visitors.

"Here are the free samples from our company, you can try it for free."

Val's radiant smile is the perfect bait to attract more customers. No one can resist his sweet smile. It didn't take long for their snack samples and brochures to run out, so they could end the day quickly.

Alex came to put his arm around Val's shoulder who was busy putting their luggage into the box, the sun was far above their heads and they had already missed their lunch.

"What shall we eat? I'm so hungry now."

Anwar had finished cleaning up and approached with a blue box containing all their equipment.

"Let's eat pizza, it looks really delicious"

"It's so hot, eating pizza, really, war!" Alex exclaimed, while Val just smiled at the behavior of his two seniors.

"What's wrong with that? Pizza can be eaten hot and cold, what does it have to do with the weather?" Anwar exclaimed.

"Yeah, that's just weird."

While the two of them were busy polluting the air with their incredibly loud voices, the sound of a horn not far down the road distracted Val's attention.

"Tut Tut!"

A black luxury car had pulled over, with Jason looking out of the driver's window.

"Hey guys, are you finished yet? What time is it?" Jason exclaimed.

Val lifted his box and approached, Anwar and Alex didn't want to be left behind, as soon as their boss came down to the street.

"Wow, boss, what kind of storms that bring you here?" Alex exclaimed.

Anwar poked Alex's stomach, which he thought to be very nosy. Jason just glanced at Val.

"Come on, Val, get in the car, we have a survey at the bakery today, remember?" Jason exclaimed.

Alex and Anwar looked at each other, they should have known who their boss was taking to the streets for, not for them of course.

"Wah, I knew it, Val, your car is here to pick you up!" Alex teased him.

Val chuckled at the two seniors who kept teasing him, they were indeed funny. He stepped forward but something dripped on his blue box, blood.

"Pluck"

Val stopped, he had a nosebleed again, and Jason and the others were already looking at him with serious eyes.

"Val, your nose is bleeding."

Anwar gave him a piece of tissue.

"Eh, thanks War."

Alex took the box from Val's hand.

"Here, let me take it"

Jason got out of his vehicle. Checking Val who stopped in the middle of the road.

"This kid, this must be because you've been standing too long in this heat and haven't had lunch yet. Let's find something to eat. You guys please take everything back to the office and end the day here" Jason exclaimed then pulled Val's hand to his car.

"Yes Boss!" Alex and Anwar exclaimed at the same time.

…...

Jason and Val were already sitting in the car, while Anwar and Alex, who had brought their official vehicle from the office, headed towards the parking lot. Jason looked at Val's face for a moment, then reaching for another tissue in the backseat, handed it to Val. Val was stunned when Jason helped him wipe the blood from his nose.

"Let me" gently help him clean up the remaining blood.

"Boss," said Val then grabbed the tissue.

"Look, there's a lot of blood. You need to start to pay attention to what you're eating, so you don't always get nosebleeds like this, you're already so skinny," Jason grumbled as he put on his seat belt.

Val looked at the blood-stained tissue in his hand. This had been happening often lately, and he was also getting tired very quickly. Was he suffering from malnutrition? Jason noticed Val's dazed expression and reached out to fasten the seat belt beside him. Val was surprised by how close Jason's face was to his. He stared into Val's eyes for a long time, as if drawn closer. Jason was almost about to kiss him, but the sound of a horn on the road startled him.

Tut tut

Jason stammered. He pulled the belt and fastened it.

"Uh, so, what do you want to eat?"

Not long after, the vehicle smoothly merged into the flow of traffic on the main city road.

"Brummm!"