Chapter 4
Becoming Friends
Fear took over as I dropped. Everything else faded into insignificance.
Tears formed in my eyes—there was nothing I could do to save myself—and spilled. My own mother had done this to me. She’d sent me to this man just to get me killed.
The ground rushed up toward me, and I shut my eyes against it, only to feel someone putting an arm around me tightly the next moment. Before I could open my eyes, the world blurred painfully, and I tumbled clumsily onto the carpeted floor of the conference room with Sasuke.
For a long moment, neither of us spoke as we stared at each other in shock.
Sasuke recovered first, swearing in his native language before turning back to me. “Are you all right?” he asked, still sprawled on the ground beside me.
Opening my mouth, I tried to speak, but words failed me. Uncontrollably and without warning, tears brimmed then rolled down my face. I wiped them away with the back of my hands industriously. But they kept flowing.
“Hey! Don’t cry! I get it!” Sasuke babbled anxiously while I willed the embarrassing crying rampage to stop. I hadn’t cried in years, but since entering Black Gold two days ago, it was almost as if my tears were on free flow. “Of course you’re not okay. I’m not either. I swear my heart stopped,” Sasuke said. “And where in the world is that old geezer, anyway?”
There was a clothes-ruffling sound to the left, and Sasuke slanted his eyes to meet Sir Albion’s impassive gaze. “What the hell was that for?” he demanded at once. “You could have gotten us killed! What were you thinking?”
“Some people function better under pressure.” Sir Albion threw a smug glance at Sasuke, who looked away irritably. “That’s all for today. You are dismissed. Report to me here after school tomorrow, and remember that you’re forbidden to speak a word to anyone about our training.” His eyes lingered on Sasuke. “Mr. Takahashi, do not even think about missing it because I’ll find you wherever you go.” With that, Sir Albion opened and walked out the door, leaving us dumbstruck.
Still glaring at the door, Sasuke let out a breath so loud, so livid, I was surprised he didn’t try to hit anything. “I don’t like the way he orders people around!” he complained, huffing heatedly, and then whirled around to face me, making me turn red with embarrassment at once. I desperately swiped tears at my face with the back of my hands, and he got off the floor and strode toward the conference table. Reaching over, he removed a bunch of tissues from the tissue box in the centre of the table and scratched the side of his head awkwardly before holding them out to me.
Gratefully, I accepted his good will and hastily wiped the traces of embarrassment off my face, managing to squeak a thank you as I did.
“I’ve had plenty of girls crying in front of me, but you’re the first one I’ve had no idea what to do about it.”
Plenty of girls... This boy had to be a Casanova, a heartbreaker.
“What do you do when they cry?” I asked in my creaky voice.
He appeared thoughtful for a moment. “I always smile wider to show my appreciation, and if the time and place allows it, I...do more.”
Show his appreciation?
I frowned. Were we on the same page? What he’d said didn’t make sense at all—not unless he was a sick, perverted jerk with a completely twisted mind.
When I’d calmed down enough to look presentable, he offered me a hand, but I regarded it with hesitation. Eventually, I took it, and he helped me up. Pain shot through my left arm, and I winced, clasping my wrist.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. “You’re hurt,” he said, sounding almost worried. “I’ll bring you to the nurse.”
“I’m all right,” I declared quickly, eager to be left alone, but he wouldn’t hear it.
“I’ll bring you to the nurse.” He slung both our backpacks over one shoulder before walking to the door and holding it open for me.
“Thanks,” I muttered, entirely puzzled. Sasuke didn’t—at all—seem like a sick, perverted jerk with a completely twisted mind. In fact, he seemed like a nice, perfectly normal boy. “And please don’t tell anyone…” About me crying like a baby, I couldn’t bring myself to say.
“We can’t mention the content of our training to anyone else, remember?” He smiled kindly but, just as I was making a mental note to return his kindness someday, he went on to say, “What do I get in return?”
My expression hardened—I felt deceived—but he merely laughed.
“Okay, it’s a regrettable joke. I’m deeply apologetic.” He bowed theatrically, and then laughed again as I stepped out of the doorway, smiling politely. I was hardly amused by his so-called joke, but I was inclined toward forgiveness. He was my savior after all.
After Sasuke delivered me to the infirmary, he took his leave while the nurse applied an anti-inflammatory cream onto my swollen wrist and twirled a long strip of dressing around it.
“Visit a doctor on your way home. This could be serious so don’t take it lightly,” the nurse advised me as she finished up bandaging.
I nodded, even though I had no intention of doing as she said. I didn’t want to spend the time or money. Anyway, my body always rebounded from damage fast. I would be as good as new after a night’s sleep.
I thanked the nurse and was about to leave when Chaste entered the infirmary. Her hands were scraped and smeared in blood, but she greeted me with a smile. “Hey, Averie.”
I smiled back, and this time I meant it. A sincere smile in this hellhole was rare.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you in here.” Her gaze dropped to my bandaged wrist. “Is your wrist okay?”
“Yeah, it’s fine now,” I said then pointed to her injured hands. “You should get your bleeding stopped.”
“Averie’s right. Come sit down here,” interrupted the nurse, patting the stool.
“That looks pretty bad. What happened? You fell?” I asked as she sat.
“I was about to go home when I tripped and fell. It was embarrassing. Thankfully, no one else was watching when it happened,” she said quietly, looking away as her face flushed red. “What happened to your wrist?”
“Oh, I—erm—I fell and sprained it. Clumsy.”
“That makes the two of us.” I gave Chaste a lopsided smile as she let out a jolly laugh. “I think we’ll make good friends.”
“I think so, too,” I agreed, my mood lifting a little. “How did the competition go? Good?”
“Yep, not bad. We didn’t win”—she winced as the nurse dabbed yellowish solution onto her hand—“but our school team gave our best and did well.”
“That’s great. What competition was it, anyway?”
We were deep in conversation when the happy birthday song echoed throughout the small infirmary. Sasuke, holding a small cake frosted with pink icing, emerged from the doorway.
Completely overwhelmed by the gesture, I burst into tears.
Sasuke opened his mouth then shut it again. His silence only lasted several seconds though. “You’re a cry-baby, aren’t you?” he teased, clearly unable to resist the opportunity to make fun of the situation, though his voice was slightly uneasy.
“I just haven’t had a birthday cake in a while,” I said, still astounded by his kindness. “Thanks...really.”
Sasuke offered me the cake. “You can have it all by yourself then.”
I laughed. “That’s not what I mean.”
Sasuke put the cake on the table in front of me.
I made a quick wish—to see my mum again ASAP—before blowing the candles out and saying, “Let’s share it.”