So Tired

Not long after, Fena was sitting on the sofa in the living room, deciding to just wait for Val.

Jason just turned his phone off.

"Um, that's strange, the phone is not active, where is he? It's almost evening. It's not unlike him"

Jason then sat in front of Fena.

Not long after, the two of them were chatting happily in the apartment. Jason had sent multiple messages to Val's number and he had not replied.

"Of course, we are close, Val has been a very quiet kid, almost no one wants to play with him. He doesn't talk much and has panic attacks if he hears loud noises and suddenly screams for no reason. The other thinks he is a very strange kid and avoids getting closer to him. I was the oldest among the other kids, I looked after them like my younger siblings, and one of them was Val. The poor kid is so attached to me, he can't let me go not even once and kept following me wherever I go."

Jsaon frowned in deep thought. 

"That's strange because, at the office, Val is a so sweet and sociable child, with a sweet mouth and good at taking heart. He becomes the center of attention as soon as he starts to work with the other employees. I get dizzy every time Val has to do work outside and everyone asks to come with him. Heh, this kid is such amazing"

"Val is, wonderful, he is very kind, he has been like that ever since I know him. Although he hardly expresses his feelings he has deep concerns for others. Once, we run off the food, every kid gets their share equally, but one kid spills the soup and cries, We can't do anything because the soup is all finished. But Val took another small bowl and gave the kid more than half of his soup. His act makes everyone love him more than before. He can do anything that can't think of, smart, gentle, polite. Overall, Val, is perfect" Fena started to get serious.

.....

The last bus' horn can be heard faintly from the distance. The once crowded street was now abandoned by people and left the winds that strongly pushed the leaves falling to the sidewalks. Some people were still roaming the street and had to tighten their coats to dispel the cold air that penetrated their bones.

The city of Argent, the giant that roars fiercely at the lights had to surrender to the dark and fall into the silence. However, on some highways, one or two car lights still can be seen as if they announce to everybody that the city is still alive even though it's wrapping the day off and moving to the next page of the day.

The night did come quickly.

The apartment was so calm and quiet and you could hear the wind blowing right to your ears, the sound of the clock ticking seemed to be the loudest there. Jason knocked on Val's door, widened, and saw Val sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Val"

"Boss" the kid just sat silently there and only raised his head when he saw Jason enter.

Jason halted in his position, looking at Val's face. The kid looked so pale and tired by the time he saw him. Jason pulled his lips, maybe he had lots of problems or anything, that he hesitated to talk about. Jason couldn't do anything if he didn't want to talk.

He smiled and slowly sat down next to him, about to touch Val's hand but the young man moved his hand. Avoid him.

"Are you alright? Have you had your dinner yet? I tried to call you, but your phone is off" he asked.

Val reached for his phone in his pocket, the battery was drained, he had turned it off earlier for one reason or another.

Jason saw that Val's lips were dry and chapped. Recently, he thought that the kid was getting thinner until his cheekbones were visible. 

"Did, something happen? You look really tired lately. You left the office by three in the afternoon. I'm not going to ask where were you, but you've done that a couple of times now. It's not like, I'm nosy and want to know anything, I'm just, concerned. Did you go back to your campus and have another project or.."

"Nothing Boss," Val answered quickly, his eyes looking big at Jason. He averted his gaze when he realized he had been looking for too long.

"Eh, pardon me, boss, if you don't mind, I would like to clean myself"

Val stood up from his seat. Holding on to the bed, he got up to go to the restroom which was just a few steps in front of him. But he might have pushed himself and caused his vision blurry for a second, he almost fell to his back uncontrollably when Jason reflexively caught him.

"Val!"

Val might have lost himself for a second or two. Jason looked at him with his worried eyes.

"Val, are you alright?"

Val straightened up, took Jason's hand off his waist, and smiled at him. He can see Jason's face pale as he looks at him worried.

"Eh, thank you, boss, I'm just tired"

Jason was still hesitant to release his grip on Val's hand, which he thought was so thin that he could feel the bones. He was about to grab it again when Val pulled his hand.

"Boss"

"Tired? Where have you been? Let me have a look at you" Jason eagerly held on to Val who was moving away from him towards the restroom, and closed the door.

"No need Boss, excuse me"

Val closes the door right in front of Jason's face. Closed it tightly.

"Val, what's going on, are you alright?" Jason exclaimed again.

He was about to bang on the door when he heard Val's from behind the door.

"I'm fine, Boss,"

The sound of water running from the tap covered the silence then. Val covered his mouth to hold the nausea as if all of the content pushed up to his throat. He stared at his face in the mirror, with reddish eyes and a white pale face. He looks so sick, how can his Boss not suspect anything bad happened to him? Another blood dripping from his nose staining the white sink.

"Hoh" his hand shaking, his knee so weak, his breathing heavily as if he'd been running too far and exhausted. He can't hide this any longer, he should have just moved from there immediately. Val lowered his body and opened his locked drawer under the sink, various kinds of colorful medicines in plastic bottles almost filled up the space.

Previously, at Argent Central Hospital.

The smell was so strong. Soon, all his senses are back at him, including his vision. Val opened his eyes slowly. Confused. He tries to collect the piece of memory he might have lost. He just felt unconscious, how much time passed without him realized? He looked around the white room, seeing the light curtain wave by the wind with the breeze of cold air from the air conditioner blowing it. He noticed someone sitting so close, staring at him, right beside the bed where he lay down with the needle punch to his venn. Doctor Rio sitting next to the bed.

"Doc, what happened?" Val asked.

The doctor smiled. He straightened his body to check the IV line. Val fell unconscious when Doctor Rio ran a biopsy on his back, and it felt very uncomfortable. He could still feel the pain in his back left by the long needle that pushed inside his bone to take his fluid. He realized that they had also put an oxygen tube on him, his head was dizzy.

"Ah" Val had little strength left and tried to pull himself up, but Doctor Rio grabbed his shoulder.

"Hey, just lie down, and stay here until your IV runs out, after that, you can go home. Your blood pressure is very low, if your condition continues to decline you may have to stay in the hospital tonight. You might need to check your heart, it's too weak"

Val gripped Rio's hand which was holding his, closing his eyes to try to ease up the dizziness.

"Heh, it's nothing Doc, please don't scare me more than this. It is over, doc? There are no other tests, right?"

Rio brushed Val's hair behind his ear, looking at the young man's face for a long time. He nodded. The young doctor smiles. He grabs on Val's cold hand.

"Yeah, hopefully, just go back to sleep, I'll wake you up before night, okay?"

Rio's hand was still on Val's until finally, he fell asleep again.

"Thank you, doc"

Rio held his breath, stroking Val's hair and looking at him for a long time.

"Go to sleep, everything will be fine later,"

...