Internal conflicts

Kyley looked between the bed and Darren, her entire being still shivering in fear and anxiety.

" Will you?" Darren asked, pointing towards the bed with his gaze. The expression on his face made it obvious just how furious he was.

' He's gonna treat my wounds? Not harm me?' Kyley was confused and didn't know whether to believe Darren.

' Nonetheless, there was nothing to do but play it calm and by his rules' Kyley decided to listen to Darren for now. There was no way she could escape now anyway.

" O-okay" Kyley nodded nervously. She slowly and cautiously got back in bed, her gaze moving to watch Darren with every move she made.

Darren exhaled heavily and walked over to the bedside, he placed the needle holder down and revealed the suture needle and thread that he'd held in his palm the whole time.

Kyley looked at this and couldn't help but grow tense. Darren tied the thread to the needle and raised his fierce gaze to look at Kyley.

" Show me your wounds!" Darren ordered in a stern tone.

Kyley nodded meekly. She slowly removed the hand she held her wound with and lifted her shirt to reveal the ghastly wound on her side. It was a pallid dark bloody lesion tear.

Darren frowned a bit at the sight of this, conveying his concern. However, he picked up the needle holder and started stitching up Kyley's wounds with the suture needle right away.

Twitch!

" Aah!" Kyley grimaced and let out painful gasps as the needle pierced into and out of her skin. Her face paled both from having lost too much blood, as well as from the pain she suffered at the moment.

Naturally, Darren was supposed to give Kyley some anesthesia before stitching her up. However, Kyley wasn't a normal being. Besides, Darren lacked the luxury of time. This was 'a stitch in time' situation, and he could only bet on Kyley's supernatural tolerance to sustain.

The frown on Darren's face was still deep as he stitched Kyley's wounds using the needle holder to pick as he sewed the wound close with the suture needle and thread.

Save for the occasional soft grunts and whimpers that Kyley would let out during the process, silence reigned over the room all through. The room grew tense by the minute, as both Kyley and Darren were in dire situations.

The former was in severe pain and required immediate treatment, while the latter struggled with internal conflicts that only he knew about at the moment.

When Darren was done with the stitching, he wiped the sweat off his forehead and rose quickly to grab the bluish-gooey medicine that he'd left stop the drawer in the corner. He returned to Kyley's side and bent to apply the medicine.

However, he realized that her wounds had too many blood stains that needed to be cleaned first.

Darren searched around for what to wipe the blood with. However, left without an option, he quickly tore whatever was left of his cloth, revealing his toned muscular torso.

He used the piece of cloth to clean the bloodstains around Kyley's wounds. Without warning, he applied the medicine to the wounds.

" Tsss!" Kyley hissed and couldn't help but kick her head back, gritting her teeth hard. Her face was covered in sweat and her expression contorted into that of agony as she felt a sizzling sensation burn around her wounds.

However, she soon relaxed when a cold sensation seethed her wounds; an effect of the bluish-gooey medicine that Darren applied on her wounds.

A while after, Darren patched up the wound using bandage afterwards.

When he was done, he didn't wait around and just stormed out of the room.

Slam!

Kyley who had begun to relax, and felt her pain slowly relieving couldn't help but be jolted by the sudden bang of the door.

Still confused, Kyley fell into a silent thought about what had just happened.

...

Darren continued on his storm with his brows furrowed. He was genuinely furious and was holding back his anger as much as he could at the moment. The way he clenched his fists besides him as he stomped towards his room made it evident that if he'd spent a minute more with Kyley, he would have lost it.

' What the heck is wrong with her?' Darren thought as he walked into his room.

Bang!

He slammed the door behind him and grabbed a towel before heading out the room once again. He walked towards the door at the rear end of the hallway, stomping his feet on the floor while still deep in thought.

' She must have hit her head, to be honest. Why'd she suddenly start throwing things at me like that? Besides, is that lady trying to kill herself!? Those wounds were dangerous, and even strange is how she slept with such ghastly wounds! Is she crazy!? Darren pondered in shock and confusion. He'd been able to piece together the incident that led to Kyley being in her current state. However, he still didn't know just what was on Kyley's mind nor why she'd done what she did.

' She must have fallen off the stairs and reopened those wounds. Must have been a hard fall even for her. But... Just why and how?' Darren was confused. He couldn't help but stop to think for a bit. He understood she must have slept from exhaustion and whatnot. Besides, her tolerance to pain must have aided a considerable amount. If not, Darren couldn't even imagine anyone normal to sleep through such pain.

" Crazy? Or perhaps... Suicidal?" He muttered thoughtfully. Darren knew that Kyley having fallen off the stairs like that could only be an accident, however, he could only come up.with such thoughts considering how Kyley had reacted when he tried to help her with her wounds.

Of course, Darren came up with the conclusion that she fell off the stairs and held on to that for now. Although, he still wasn't certain what had happened.

It could still be that Kyley had been attacked but managed to hold her ground against the enemy, though wounded. He knew he probably should have asked, but back then just wasn't the right moment to do such a thing.

Darren looked down at his bloodied hands and couldn't help but shake his head. He heaved a deep sigh not knowing what to think of anymore.

He headed into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. The bathroom was quite spacious, allowing the huge bathtub to fit in while leaving enough space to move around.

Darren hung the towel by the wall and unzipped what was left of his pants.

Thud!

He walked into the bathtub and turned the knob handle of the shower to switch it on.

Splish!!

Coldly seething water gushed out of the shower and rained on Darren who grabbed a soap bar to clean himself with.

Splish! Splash!

While taking a bath, Darren fell in thought once again.

' I should ask her about what had happened later...' Darren having relaxed a bit started to think clearly. He realized he still wasn't aware of Kyley's situation and should probably get her to open up.

' But... I should probably apologize first' He scratched his forehead and smiled wryly when it occured to him that he could've treated Kyley better than how he'd yelled at her and grabbed her by the arm. Although Darren did it as a necessary means to stop Kyley from throwing a fit, he must still confess that he had done so out of anger and was in no position to have treated her that way.

" Haah!" Darren heaved a deep sigh. Ever since he'd met Kyley, he'd been having to think alot and consider the right way to relate to people once again. Something he hadn't done in... Well, not this frequently.

Darren sighed and switched off the shower. He stepped out to grab the towel and wiped off the droplets of water on him before wrapping it around his waist.

He bent to pick up the torn piece of pant and walked out the bathroom, heading back to his room. Darren threw the pant to a corner and went towards his closet to grab something to clothe himself with.

He picked a simple dark blue T-shirt and a pair of jean to match. When he was done dressing himself up, he brushed through his hair with his fingers and headed out the room.

' She should feel more relieved and hopefully able to talk now' He thought as he walked along the hallway towards Kyley's room. His room and Kyley's was on the same floor- the second floor.

However, Darren stopped when he passed by the stairs.

' That's quite a bloody mess, literally. I'd be in big trouble if anyone were to come in and meet the sight of that. Not that it'll ever happen, but... I have to clean that, right?' He thought as he stared with a disgruntled expression at the trail of dry blood all over the staircase and the floor.

...