Chapter 151: Because of a Cold
"This is a villa that belongs to my parents." I looked at Night after he said that. "My father gifted this to my mother and became our family’s summer villa where we can be free from the Yamaguchi-gumi’s business even for a little while."
"At least, that’s what this was before." His smile grew faint. "This is an abandoned place that I still have an access to."
"Then... does Tomoe and the others know about this place?"
Night shook his head. "Father kept this place a secret from everyone else. Only my parents and I know about the exact location of this place." He looked at the bed. "Even Shiho doesn’t know where this place is so I trust that they wouldn’t find us here."
That’s right! What about Shiho? Is she alright? Night’s father’s still in a coma, what if those people started hurting them?
"If you’re worried about Shiho, she’ll be fine." Night said as he holds my hand. "They can defend themselves, and I know Makoto wouldn’t leave my sister alone. Despite looking like a fool, he’s reliable." He said, but I can’t trust those words easily.
Maybe I’m the only one they’re after that’s why Night believes that his uncle wouldn’t hurt the others. "What’s going to happen to me now?" I couldn’t help but ask.
My life’s in a mess again, I can’t attend school, and I don’t even know what’s going on with my father and mother. Are they safe? Lots of questions kept on circling inside my head and I don’t know what to think at first. Even though I should be thankful that I am safe right now, I can’t feel like that when I know nothing about what’s going to happen next.
"You’re safe here with me." I glanced at Night and he was smiling. "I’ll do my best to protect you this time." Hearing that reminds me of Tomoe’s questions. Night might truly be willing to die for me, but I don’t want that.
"Please, don’t overexert yourself." My grip on his hand tightened. "I don’t want to lose you either."
Night hugged me and we lay on the bed as if there are no worries inside our heads. If time would only stop and let us have our moment to be with each other like this, it would have been better. "Does your back still hurts?" Night asked making me look at him. He was just blankly staring at the ceiling.
"I’m doing fine now. With enough rest, I’ll be back to normal."
I saw a smile form on his face. "Is that so?" He then turned to me. "This is probably not a good time, but I want to kiss you." Night said as he gets up and glanced at me with a flushed face. He’s not used to saying those things, and I’m not used to hearing that either.
As he said, this is probably not a good time, but when’s a good time?
I wrapped my arm around his neck. "You already know I don’t hate doing those things with you." His face turned redder. "You don’t have to ask every time." He then leaned toward me and our lips touched. I’m not sure if Night wanted to comfort me by this, but I felt distracted from all the trouble that goes through my head.
His warmth transferred to mine making me feel at peace. I should be worrying about what’s to happen next, but Night wouldn’t even make me think as he kissed me deeper causing my head to feel all fuzzy and I can’t think at all.
"W-Wait." I tried to push Night off to let me breathe even for a little, but he wouldn’t stop and it was making me go crazy.
"You don’t have to think of anything else when you’re with me." He said in between our kisses.
Tears came out of my eyes which I couldn’t understand as I smiled. "You’re right," I said and hugged Night. I’ll trust him, even though the worries wouldn’t just vanish, I’ll trust that things will get better as long as I’m with Night.
Hours passed and I didn’t even notice that I fell asleep with Night beside me. It’s raining heavily outside, it should be getting hotter since summer’s near, but instead, we were greeted by the heavy rain.
’Would it conceal our location better with that heavy rain?’ I thought as I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling. Night’s not beside me anymore and I feel like my body’s heavier than usual.
"Is it because it’s raining outside?" I can also feel my body shivering due to the cold. I pulled the blanket and covered myself. "Night?" The room was already immersed in darkness, and the only light brightening the room was from the lampshade near the bed.
Before I could even get off the bed, I heard a knock on the door. "Milady, the young master, and Kenji-san are preparing for dinner." I heard Kaoru’s voice. "If the lady wants to go to the young master, I shall help."
"You may enter," I said, and the door opened with Kaoru having a bright smile on his face.
Kaoru closed the door and even opened the lights for me. "Does the lady want me to close the window?" He asked as he walked towards the window near the bed. It’s raining heavily and I totally didn’t notice that the window was open. That must be why I was shivering due to coldness. "Uhm, milady?"
I looked at Kaoru after he called me. "What is it?"
"The lady looks pale. Did you perhaps catch a cold?" He asked and tilted his head.
I tried to touch my neck. "Hmm, I wonder," I said vaguely as I lay back on the bed.
"If I may?" Kaoru asked as he tried to touch my forehead, and so I nodded. But the moment his hand landed on my forehead, he quickly pulled it away while shaking his hand aggressively. "T-The lady’s forehead is burning." He said, making me laugh at how ridiculous he looked.
"T-This is no laughing matter, young lady!" Kaoru said with tears in his eyes. "I must tell the young master and Kenji-san." He rushed out of the room after that.
Because of Kaoru’s overreaction, Night tended to me all night with care and even cooked some porridge for me to eat. Kaoru was forced to buy medicine despite the severe weather outside. "Would it be fine for him to go out? Wouldn’t the people after us recognize him?"
"Kaoru’s a far better choice than Kenji and me." Night said as he placed a damp towel on my forehead. "Forget about that and just focus on recovering. It’ll be bad if this cold continues." He said while holding my hand. He’s looking all worried and it’s weird, but it makes me feel happy.
My head’s all fuzzy and my vision was kind of a blur. Due to this fever, I can’t think well. ’I think that’ll be for the better.’
When Kaoru arrived with the medicine, Night forced me to eat my food and drink medicine before going back to sleep. "Don’t worry, just go to sleep." He said while patting my head. His cold hand made me feel comfortable and I immediately fell asleep.
As I drifted to sleep, a sudden gush of wind woke me up, and when I opened my eyes, all I could see was plain darkness. "What?" I got up from lying, but I realized that I wasn’t on the bed anymore. When I roamed my vision, I still saw nothing, and when I looked down, I saw my reflection.
"This place... am I dreaming?" I tried to stand up, but as if my legs were glued to the floor, I couldn’t move. How do I wake up from this dream again? I don’t remember.
"How many people should suffer because of you?"
I flinched after hearing a voice behind me causing me to look at my back, but there was nothing there.
"Someone’s going to die because of you. Yoru will die if you don’t hand yourself over to them."
That voice... sounds familiar to Tomoe’s voice.
"Run! Hurry!"
Images of people running flashed in front of me and I couldn’t do anything but watched them pass me by. ’What is going on? Am I still dreaming?’ I thought as I tried to slap myself, but it didn’t hurt at all. I’m relieved that it was all just a dream, but how do I wake up from this?
"Wake up," I told myself as I slammed my body on the ground, but it felt like nothing, and the ground rippled as if it was made of water.
"You don’t love me, don’t you?"
I immediately got up after hearing my voice. ’Did I tell someone those words before?’ My forehead creased. I don’t understand what’s going on, and what these dreams mean.
"Wake up!"
"Noelle! Wake up!"
My eyes opened wide after being shaken aggressively. "W-What’s going on?" Am I still suffering from a cold?
"They found us."
