Two Hearts

\"What do you want? This is none of your business! Now go away!\" The person said, trailing kisses down Ea\'s neck.

\"It is my business if you touch her!\" the deep voice floated over them once again.

\"Leave now!\"

\"I don\'t think I will until I\'ve got my friend back!\" The person took a step forward.

\"Oh, you want your friend back? I\'ll give her back, just hold on...\"

A little while later, the stranger pushed a little closer to Ea before distancing away from her. Before he left, he kissed her forcefully on the lips and passed the person with the deep voice.

Before the person with the deep voice could stop the stranger, he heard a thud from the corner where Ea was left. He ran to her side and let her face him, while frantically buttoning her blouse.

\"Ea! Ea! Are you alright? Come on, answer me!\"

Ea slowly opened her eyes and groaned.

\"Tom?\" she asked, weakly, while squinting her eyes.

\"Yes, Ea, it\'s me. Are you alright?\"

\"There\'s blood, everywhere, and my vision is getting blurry.\"

\"Blood? I don\'t see any blood.\" he then looked at Ea\'s hand, and saw blood. A lot of blood.

\'Why did he do this? I\'ll kill him if he crosses my path again! I\'ll kill him!\'

He was brought out of his suicidal thoughts when Ea touched his cheek.

\"Thank you.\"

\"For what? I didn\'t do anything. You\'re hurt!\" Tom said, near tears.

\"For coming and saving me from what he was going to do.\" she said weakly.

\"Save your breath and strength. I\'ll bring you to the hospital.\" He then carried Ea and ran to hail a cab.

\"Hold on Ea, you\'ll be fine.\"

\"I feel tired. I want to rest now. Will you stay, Tom?\" she asked.

\"I\'ll be by your side.\"

Ea then lost consciousness in his arms.

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Lying on the bed, was a very pale-faced Ea. On the seat beside the bed sat a worried looking best friend of hers.

\"Ea, what happened? How did you get caught in that situation?\"

He laid his head on his arms and sighed. He felt helpless and frustrated. He wasn\'t able to keep his best friend safe. Now she\'s in the hospital, and he can\'t do anything but wait.

Just then, the door opened to reveal the basketball team, some with sad faces, and others, horror-stricken.

\"What happened?\"

\"Is she alright?\"

\"Will she be ok?\"

\"How did this happen?\"

\"Who did it?\"

Tom was bombarded with questions and he was getting fed up.

\"Could you keep it down?! You\'re going to wake Ea up with your ruckus!\"

They all shut up at that.

\"It\'s ok, Tom, I\'m awake.\" A weak voice said.

\"Ea, how do you feel?\"

\"I\'m fine. What are you guys doing here?\"

\"We\'re here to visit you, of course! We need you to boost our stamina. We can\'t win without you.\"

They talked for a while longer, until a nurse walked in and told them that Ea needed her rest. They left Ea, Tom promising to come back later.

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

That evening, Tom came back to visit Ea once more, when somebody stopped him.

“Tom, could we talk?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“You know, I think this whole incident is my fault.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it was me who made Ea so upset earlier today. I kind of told her that she was stupid.” He looked sheepish.

“Why did you tell her that anyway?”

“Well, I told her that I liked her more than a friend and of course, I knew she didn’t feel the same way about me. I told her that I just needed to get it off my chest. But along the way, I kind of told her of her own feelings, which she has been ignoring. At the same time, I insulted her. That was why she left without telling you. I’m really sorry.”

“Well, you should be telling her that, don’t you think?” Tom said, a little angry.

“Yeah, I guess I should…”he trailed off.

“Yeah. Get going.”

“You want me to leave?”

“No, you git! Tell her!”

“Oh.”

“What ‘oh’? Just go in and tell her before I strangle you!”

“Ok. Ok.” He said heading for Ea’s door.

“If you say anything that will make her upset, I swear I’ll kill you. Is that clear, Bill?”

“If you say so.” He then entered the room.

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

Ea was sitting on her bed, gazing outside her window. One could tell that she was thinking deeply and she looked sad. She never even heard the door open.

Bill entered the room and looked at the figure in the bed. He really felt guilty for making Ea upset and that she was in the hospital.

“Ea?” he asked, silently.

Ea tensed and looked at the figure on the door.

“What do you want?” she asked, her voice shaking slightly.

“It’s me, Bill.”

“Oh.” Ea relaxed.

“Can- Can I come in?”

“Yeah, yeah sure.”

Bill entered the room and sat on the seat next to Ea’s bed. They sat in uncomfortable silence until Bill decided to speak.

“Hey, Ea, I’m sorry for what I told you earlier today.”

“It’s okay. Just don’t beat around the bush next time. If you want to tell me something, tell it to me directly.”

“Ok. I’ll remember that.” He said. “What I really came here for is to tell you that I’m sorry.”

“You already said that, you know.”

“Of course I know. I mean I’m sorry because if I didn’t tell you what I have said, you wouldn’t have run away and then this wouldn’t have happened to you in the first place.”

“You know, it was bound to happen even if you didn’t say anything. If it’s God’s will, so be it.”

“Well, someone’s itching to come see you, so I’ll be on my way.”

“Oh. Ok. Bye.”

“Yeah. Bye.”

When Bill left, Tom immediately came in and sat on the seat next to the bed. Ea raised an eyebrow at the display and chuckled.

“Why in such a hurry?”

“I thought he will tell you something stupid again.”

“Don’t worry. Nothing will happen.”

“I’m just worried something will happen. I have a feeling that you’re not telling me something.”

“Me? No.” she looked everywhere except for Tom.

“If you say so.”

“You don’t believe me, do you?”

“No.”

“What? Why?”

“You’re an awfully bad liar. You can’t even look me in the eye.”

“Well, it’s nothing really.”

“Ok. You’re the boss.”

“Are you angry?”

“Of course not.”

“You seem angry.”

“But I’m not.”

“Ok. If you’re sure.”

The next day, Ea was back to her normal do-not-talk-to-me behavior and Tom was getting extremely worried. It has been over two hours and no one has spoken. Tom was itching for a way to get Ea to talk but couldn’t think of anything. The silence was killing him! He was about to stand when Ea spoke up.

\"When will I be able to get out?\" Ea asked, looking out the window.

\"You want me to ask? I\'m not so sure.\" Tom asked, worry evident in his voice.

\"Thanks.\" she said softly.

He looked at Ea, concern in his eyes, but went to inquire about the matter.

Once Tom exited the room, Ea sighed. She knew she shouldn\'t make Tom worry over her, but she didn\'t know how he will act around her now that she got into trouble quickly.

\'It\'s not his fault. I shouldn\'t do this to him.\'

The door creaked open and she heard light footsteps approach the bed. For the first time that day, Ea faced Tom. Tom was surprised, but quickly recovered.

\"What did they say?\"

\"Your injury wasn\'t serious so you can be released tomorrow afternoon.\"

\"Oh. I could watch your game on Saturday then.\"

\"Yeah.\" Tom replied softly.

Silence met that statement and they both felt uncomfortable.

\'What can I say to her?\'

\'What can I tell him?\'

A few more minutes passed, and the silence was unbearable.

\"I\'m sorry\" they both said at the same time.

\"No, you go first.\" again, they said together.

They both laughed and Tom told her to go first.

\" I\'m sorry.\" she said, sincerely.

\"For what? You didn\'t do anything, right?\" He asked, clearly confused.

\"I\'m sorry for making you worry. I know it\'s not your fault, but I\'m scared of what you will think of me now.\" she said, voice wavering.

\"I don\'t think of you any lesser. I even think that you are a strong person. You endured that kind of thing, but you\'re still here, are you not?\"

\"Well, yeah...\"

\"I\'m sorry too.\"

\"What? Why?\"

\"Because I couldn\'t protect you from him. I am useless! I couldn\'t even catch him!\"

\"But you did something better for me.\"

\"What is it?\" he asked, completely baffled.

\"Well, if you ran after him, do you think that I will be here, awake?\"

\"Oh...\"

They fell in comfortable silence.

\"Could you stay the night?\" Ea suddenly asked.

\"Yeah. Do you want me to stay?\" he asked hopefully.

\"Yeah. I\'ll feel safer if you were here.\" she said honestly.

\'She feels safe when I\'m around.\' he inwardly smiled.

\"I\'ll always be here.\" He said.

\"You promise?\"

\"Of course.\"

\"Thank you.\"

\"Don\'t mention it.\"

They talked until very late at night. Of course, Tom being the worrisome young man that he is, told Ea to rest.

\"Night Tom.\"

\"Night Ea. Sweet dreams.\"

Ea smiled. Once her head hit the pillow, she was fast asleep. After a few minutes of just staring at her face, Tom soon followed Ea in dreamland.

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

The next morning, Tom woke up to feel the rays of the sun in his face. He looked at Ea and saw that she was still asleep. He wanted her morning to be special, so he went and ordered food from the fast food restaurant just across the street.

\"What will it be, sir?\" the person working on the cashier asked.

\"I\'ll have two of the Sausage meal. Could you change the drinks to decaf coffee and hot chocolate?\"

\"Yes, sir. Please wait a moment.\"

After a few minutes, his order was packed. He paid the bill and went back to the hospital. When he returned, he saw that Ea was still asleep. He took that time to really look at Ea\'s features.

Lying on the bed was the most peaceful face he has ever seen.

\'Why haven\'t I noticed that Ea\'s face looked peaceful?\'

He then looked more closely.

\'Her eyelashes are quite long and her complexion is naturally pale. She has full, pouty lips.\' he sighed. \'Oh and her eyes are a deep chocolate brown.\'

Tom started. \'Her eyes...are open! She\'s awake!\' he thought frantically.

\"Morning Tom!\" she greeted him cheerfully.

\"Morning.\" He said. Inside, he sighed in relief. \'She didn\'t notice.\'

\"Are you alright?\" Ea asked, worried, while peering at him closely.

\"Yup. Everything\'s fine. Why do you ask?\"

\"Your face is all red. And you\'re acting strange.\"

\"Oh it\'s nothing. Why are you so cheerful?\"

\"Don\'t you remember? I\'m getting out of here. I don\'t really like the smell of alcohol first thing in the morning.\"

\"Oh, right! I just remembered, I brought you breakfast.\"

\"You didn\'t have to.\" Ea said shyly.

\"It\'s alright. I wanted you to have a great breakfast. I don\'t think you like the hospital\'s food.\"

\"Thanks.\"

They ate in silence. After a while, Ea decided to ask a question.

\"You still remembered what I eat for breakfast?\"

\"Yup! You\'re my best friend after all.\" He smiled.

She laughed.

\"Why did you look for me yesterday?\"

\"Cause you left without leaving a message. And Bill said you were upset.\"

\"Oh. Sorry.\"

\"Nah, it\'s alright.\"

The nurse then decided to enter and ran a few tests on Ea, before nodding.

\"If you want to know, you could leave whenever you want.\"

\"Really?\" Tom asked.

\"I could go right now?\"

\"Yes. Just go to the nurse\'s station and sign some papers, then you\'re free to go.\" the nurse smiled at them both.

\"Thank you.\" they said in unison.

\"No problem.\" she said, and left them in the room.

Ea suddenly stood up.

\"Let\'s go! I can\'t wait to leave this room.\"

Tom laughed.