Chapter 152: Not a Dream
"W-What? How long have I been asleep?" Night helped me get up from the bed as he wore his backpack. "Night?"
He looked at me and made me wear shoes as he covered me with his jacket and even made me wear more clothes. "You’ve been asleep for two days straight." Night said. "We need to go. Kaoru and Kenji will make a way for us."
Everything happened so fast that I couldn’t even react well. I’ve been asleep for two days straight? Am I really awake now? What if all of these are part of my dream?
I slapped my arm and it hurt which means I am not dreaming at all. My legs are feeling wobbly as I follow Night from behind while he pulls my arm. It’s like the day we cuddled under bad weather didn’t happen at all, and we’re now being chased again.
"Don’t worry." Night stopped walking and we hid behind the bushes. With the heavy rain, those people after us will have a hard time finding us. "I’m right by your side, no matter what happens." Hearing that didn’t calm down the anxiousness I was feeling. I was more afraid of losing Night right now than losing myself.
My grip on his hand tightened as I squinted, trying to see what was going on in front of the villa. "Are those... Kenji and Kaoru?" I asked. There seems to be a commotion, and if what I’m seeing is right, Kaoru and Kenji are fighting those other men off.
"This is our chance." Night said after those men passed us by, he stood up and pulled me with him. This time, we ran faster than before because Night didn’t want me to stay in the rain for too long. I just recovered from my cold, but I’m soaked in the rain.
I was following Night carefully but when he momentarily let go of my hand, my wobbly knees couldn’t keep up, and I slipped.
With my weak body, I couldn’t control myself and I keep rolling down the path toward the highway. My whole body got splashed by muddy water while I closed my eyes to keep the water from getting in them. I’m aware that once I hit my head, it’ll be game over for me, so I did my best to protect it from being smashed to the ground.
"Noelle!" Night screamed my name even though we were supposed to be careful.
I kept tumbling down until I finally reached the bottom of the hill. "Ugh," I grunted as I felt my knees burning in pain and my whole body was covered with mud. ’Great. What a great way to escape.’ Despite the pain I was feeling, I was more embarrassed to face Night after letting him see that.
’Why am I always embarrassing myself in front of him?’
"Are you alright?" Night helped me stand up from the ground while I tried to hide my dirty face. I know that I should be afraid of being caught, but I should be careful too. ’Although that wasn’t my fault since my body was still recovering from the bad cold.’ I thought
"I’m sorry for being clumsy." Now Night’s jacket is all messy and dirty. I tried to remove the mud off me, but I just made it worse since my hands were muddy too. "Your jacket got dirty because of me."
I heard Night chuckling causing me to tilt my head. "Don’t worry about any of that. I’m aware that your body’s still recuperating from the fever. Don’t push yourself." He said as he held my hand again. Night wiped the mud off my face and cleared my eyes too.
"What about Kenji and Kaoru?" I asked after remembering those two we left behind.
"Don’t worry, they’ll be fine." Night said. "I trust them. For now, we need to go."
That’s right! I almost forgot that we’re in a hurry right now because of what happened to me.
"There they are!"
Night quickly pulled me and we started running away while holding hands. We ran and ran until we were out of breath. "Those traitors." I heard him saying while we get soaked by the heavy rain. I can’t even keep my eyes wide open due to the thick raindrops slapping my face.
"Hang in there, we’ll reach an abandoned cottage soon." He said and I nodded. I don’t have the time to complain about having a hard time when Night’s helping me escape like this. It should just be me suffering from this because I’m their original target, but Night wants to protect me.
I wheezed as soon as we get inside the small abandoned cottage near the forest right in front of the highway. "Are you okay?" Night asked as he pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket. He started wiping my face again, making sure that I’m all cleaned up. ’As expected of this clean freak.’ I thought as I smiled.
"It won’t be good if you catch a cold again this time." He said making me giggle while I stare at him. We’re both in a dangerous situation because of me, but I wonder why I feel happy being alone with him in an unfamiliar place right now? Did I go crazy because of the cold?
"I think you should remove that jacket. It’s all muddy now." He said. I’m only wearing a shirt underneath which is also soaked. "I’ll wash it on the beach near here."
My forehead creased. "The beach? In this weather? You’ll get dragged by the waves if you do that."
Night scratched the back of his head. "Then, I’ll at least wash this in the rain." He said while pointing to the jacket I was wearing. It’s unlike him to be thinking like that, he’s really smart after all. I’ve been aware that he hates doing bothersome things too.
Even though it was odd, I removed the jacket, exposing my wet white shirt inside. It’s sticking to my skin and exposing my underwear beneath. "I think I should just go naked to dry my clothes off," I said as I was about to remove my shirt, but Night grabbed my hand, stopping me from doing it.
"Wait a minute." He said as he turned around. "You may do it now."
I was confused. He already saw my body but he was still blushing up to his ears. ’It’s adorable.’ I thought as I removed my clothes and so did Night.
"I’ll gather some water so that you could wash those mud off your body." He said and went out of the cottage. He’s indeed a clean freak even at this moment.
After removing my clothes, I squeezed the water out of them so that they could dry faster. When I looked outside, I barely see anything else but the rain. ’Will those people keep on looking for us? Are Kaoru and Kenji alright?’ Lots of questions filled my mind, but I know that I shouldn’t seek answers on my own.
Wait... I’m the one they’re after, if I give up, Night doesn’t have to get in trouble because of me. ’But I don’t want to be far from him.’ Even though I know that things would be better if I just hand myself to them, I don’t want to be far away from Night. I don’t want to be apart from him ever again. "I’m being selfish."
"With what?"
I turned to Night after hearing his voice. He was holding the jacket filled with water. "Here, I’ll help you wash up." He said, and so he poured that water all over me. He’s clearly flustered because we’re both naked right now.
We waited for our clothes to dry and sat side by side.
"Are we going to wait for the rain to stop before we leave?" I asked.
Night looked outside and turned to me. "I don’t think that’ll be good for us." He said as he sat back by my side. "We need to find a telephone quick. I’m planning to contact the others."
I stared out the window and saw that the rain doesn’t look like it’ll stop any minute now.
"Should we just relax here for now?" Night asked as he pulled me closer to him without looking at my body.
"What about Kenji and Kaoru?" What if those people already caught them and they’re now torturing them? "What if they’re getting hurt because of me?"
I felt Night’s hand on my head. "They won’t get beaten that quickly. They’re strong enough to defend themselves." He said, but it didn’t make me feel any better. Night chuckled, causing me to look at his face with my forehead creased. "Seeing you worry like that is adorable, but it makes me want to feel jealous too."
I slapped his arm gently after he said that. "Why would you feel jealous?" I sighed.
Even though our clothes were still a little wet, we wore them because the wind was too cold and Night worried about me. As soon as we wore our clothes, I heard loud splashes outside making me feel on guard.
"Tsk." I heard Night clicking his tongue. "We need to go."
