Page 144 of Through My Window
“You wouldn’t understand,” he says.
I sit down on the hospital bed next to him.
“I’ll try to understand,” I say quietly.
He looks at me again.
“Give me time, I promise to tell you, but right now I . . . can’t.”
I put my hand on his shoulder and give him a reassuring smile.
“All right, I’ll be patient,” I tell him.
He places his hand over mine.
“I’ve missed you so much.”
“Me, too, Yoshi. I . . . I’m sorry.”
“Shhh.” He grabs my cheek gently, forcing me to look at him. “You don’t have to apologize, Rochi.” His thumb caresses my skin.
“But . . .”
His thumb moves to hover over my lips.
“No, stop.”
The touch of his finger against my lips tickles.
“Okay.”
“Now go home and rest.” He lowers his hand and sits up, giving me a kiss on my forehead, then lies back down. “Go, I’ll be fine with Medusa.”
I laugh a little. “Don’t call her that or you’re going to have a very long night.”
Joshua shrugs.
“It’s worth it. It’s the most appropriate nickname I could think of.”
Dani comes in, muttering something about the quality of the hospital’s coffee, and finds us grinning like idiots. She raises an eyebrow.
“What? Were you talking about me?”
“Nope,” we say at the same time. And I leave them, fighting over nicknames and nonsense as usual.
I arrive home to an empty, silent house. I close the door behind me and rest my back against it, playing with the keys in my hands. I slide down against the door until I find myself sitting on the floor. I pull my knees up to my chest. I know I need to bathe and sleep, but I can’t find the energy to do it. I just want to stay here.
I take my cell phone out of my pocket and look at the dark screen. It ran out of battery a few hours after I arrived at the hospital, and I wonder if Ares has sent me any messages. Maybe he’s too busy celebrating New Year’s with his family to notice my lack of texts, and I can’t blame him. I haven’t told him what happened with Joshua. My mind has been so focused on trying to understand and believe all of this has really happened, that I forgot to send Ares a message. Then my cell phone died, and I didn’t want to tear myself away to go charge it.
With slow steps, I go upstairs and take a hot shower. I can’t deny that the water feels good on my skin and eases my tense muscles. Now that I’m a little more relaxed, I let the Greek god invade my thoughts.
I miss him so much.
These weeks have felt like an eternity. It’s so disconcerting when you get used to seeing a person almost every day, and suddenly you don’t see them anymore. It’s still a few days before he comes back, and I know it will be hard, especially now, when I would kill for one of his hugs, and to feel him next to me, giving me security.
In my pajamas, I sit on the bed and plug my cell phone in to charge. I watch it turn on, and message alerts begin to echo throughout the room. Rocky is sleeping peacefully in the corner; the sounds of notifications don’t seem to bother him at all.
Quickly, I open Ares’s conversation. I have a lot of messages from him and I didn’t expect to.
