Colt stared at his friend who sat behind the wheel of their shared Audi in thoughtful silence, his body slightly turned to face the driver's seat while his index finger tapped his smooth chin. He didn't try to make conversation, knowing Kai had always been this way when faced with anything he was trying to figure out, his eyes cold and revealing nothing of the multitude of thoughts going through his mind.
Colt chuckled remembering how this very look had been the downfall of many girls in the past, young ladies who had believed this was part of his charm. The fortunate ones had silently admired this cold mountain from afar, allowing their love to blossom and wither unnoticed, the unfortunate and less clever ones had dared to approach him when in this state and endured a response their fragile hearts could not withstand.
"What's with that look?" Colt was jolted out of his nostalgic thoughts and noticed his friend had reverted back to his normal state.
"Remember how you traumatised all those girls who had tried to confess their love to you and even got sent to the school counsellor by the headmaster that one time in high school?" he grinned, his blue eyes glistening like a pool in the sunlight, causing his friend, who had briefly turned to face him, to pause momentarily before turning his attention back to the road.
"Yeah well remember how you insisted on escorting me to each of the sessions with that dopey grin on your face until Miss Xi insisted you join us?"
"That saved you from one and half hour long sessions of charm school" he shot back laughing, recalling the mousy voice of the school counsellor as she went on and on about the importance of being kind to girls, oblivious of the silent comments shared between the two boys' laughing eyes.
Kai remained silent, lost in his own memories of their high school days, unsure how things had changed so much, slowing down, he turned his eyes to his friend briefly and opened his mouth to speak.
"But flowers never blossom on the cold mountain" Colt grinned as he cut off the sentence that had yet to leave his friend's mouth, wording the phrase that often acted as a warning to newcomers who had taken a liking to his friend.
"Yet they also whither in the sunlight while waiting to be plucked" Kai retorted, recalling how no one had ever called Colt by his name, preferring the nickname Sunshine due to his appearance and warm demeanour. Although this had won him a lot of admirers both in the academic world and amongst most of their social circle it had cost him the acceptance of almost all the males in his family, who, deeply rooted in law enforcement, could not fathom this countenance on the child born into their prestigious clan, resulting in the scorn of his father who was the current head.
Another stretch of silence ensued, as each man drifted through the years of their shared childhood.
"You've lost a lot of that light though" Kai commented quietly, a slight crack in his voice revealing a sorrow he rarely showed.
"Huh?"
"I was thinking aloud about the case, we're arriving at the hospital and need to get our story straight. So this is a case of assault to the outside world, I'm not sure how bad the injuries are so how about you-"
"I'll come in with you, I would like to hear about her straight from him" this earned a surprised glance from Kai, who knew his friend as being unable to bear the sight of blood, injuries or anything related to what he loosely referred to as "suffering".
He parked the car in silence, then turned his brown eyes, now slightly golden in the sunlight to look into the blue ones, "let's hope third time's the charm or we'll end up in business at the fried chicken place before the week is up" he grinned, and grabbing a coat the colour of his friend's eyes exited the car.
*At the Hospital*
As two young men made their way into the hospital many pairs of eyes found themselves unconsciously following. The two remained oblivious as they were deep in conversation, to the outside world it seemed as though the pair of polar opposites were sharing words of affection as they walked almost shoulder to shoulder and whispered with smiles tugging at their lips, to anyone who knew better they would know that the young men were really in the middle of plotting, their mischievous eyes filled with schemes.
"So what bring you two handsome boys to our place today" an elderly lady everyone called aunt Woe asked good-naturedly, the wrinkles on her face deepening as her smile widened. Almost everyone knew the two by name and were completely smitten by them, and despite not having frequented the hospital in their time here, aunt Woe was no exception.
"Well chief asked us to come get some information about the assault on Marley, we were hoping to speak to him if he's awake" flashing her a bright smile, Colt explained, causing the older woman to pause slightly before breaking out into a wider grin and ushering the boys down the corridor.
"Now you two are just in time, poor old Marley finished his treatment and got settled into his room a while back, he's a bit shaken and mostly angry so I reckon you'll get a lot out of him without having to ask much" she paused at the foot of the steps noticing Kai had silently offered her a hand, a happy blush tainted her tan skin as she accepted the unnecessary help, climbing up the three steps before turning right into a corridor that already revealed this was a VIP section from the floral scented corridors instead of a sterile smell to the fact that the small tables outside each door contained fresh flowers that were colour coordinated to match the walls and tiles along eith brand new magazines, books and mints.
Stopping outside a door marked "VIP05" in gold aunty Woe turned to the young men with a more serious expression, "now I don't pry because my job here is to take of patients and nothing more, but I know, as I'm sure the both of you do too, that this was not a simple case of assault. The man is very badly beaten so take it easy on him, anger raises ones blood pressure and he's got plenty of anger to go around. I'll be down at the reception, a nurse will be along if you ring the silver bell by his bedside, I would suggest no more than thirty minutes of your questions so he can rest."
Without another word she turned and soundlessly made her way back the way they came, leaving the boys to themselves.
"Third time's the charm" Colt whispered, meeting the slowly darkening eyes of his friend before pushing the door open.