[District Six Headquarters - Saturday, 9:01 am]
"...Where am I?" Sage groaned as she stared at the unfamiliar ceiling above.
She looked down and noticed the white blanket over her. She pushed herself to sit up but flinched at the pain that exploded in her right leg. She bit her bottom lip and managed to get herself to sit up.
Her eyes darted around to inspect her surroundings.
There were a few white beds that were similar to hers. All lined up in an orderly manner, parallel to one another. Sage had been here before. The windows looked familiar, the shelves looked familiar, and the curtains looked familiar. Everything was too familiar.
Uh oh. Sage knew exactly where she was.
It was the HQ infirmary.
She looked over to the chair by her bedside. Someone she knew was sitting there.
Nathan Ashford.
With his arms across his chest, he was asleep while sitting up. His face looked exactly like how Sage last saw him around four years ago. Same light brown hair, which seems more strawberry blond-ish, same relatively chiselled face, same pair of almond eyes, same diamond-shaped nose and same sharp lips.
However, his hair grew, and he definitely bulked up. His shoulders were wider. His biceps were bigger. His legs were longer. And-
"Staring," Nathan muttered with his eyes closed.
Feeling slightly flustered, she turned away in an instant, "...Aren't you sleeping?"
"I was." He replied as he stretched for a bit, "But, I heard you shifting on the bed."
She remained silent.
Smirking, he stood up and walked over to the other side of the bed. Once he stopped, he bent down slightly to meet Sage's brown eyes, "Morning, sunshine."
She irked.
He barked out a laugh, "What's with that look?"
He then pinched her nose, "You haven't changed much."
"You have three seconds to get your hand off my nose." She warned as she lifted three of her fingers, "Three, two-"
"Okay, okay!" He chuckled as he backed away with his arms lifted as if to surrender. Once he was a few steps away from her, his expression softened, "...I'm just so happy to see you."
Her chest tightened.
Instinctively, she wanted to change the topic. And, she immediately thought of Katelyn, "Oh yeah, how's Katelyn? The girl."
"Oh, she's fine!" He answered, "Stephan said that those two were fine. The girl, however, has a broken ankle, but nothing too serious."
"Thank god." She let out a sigh of relief.
"How are YOU feeling? Does your leg still hurt?"
She shifted her glance to her leg, "I'm fine."
"What a liar," He sighed as he narrowed his eyes towards her, "Micheal said that it was pretty serious, and you probably need to stay here for a few days."
"Yeah, that's not happening." She shook her head as she pushed the blanket to the side, "I'm leaving."
Just as she wanted to stand, a sharp pain shot straight into her right leg. Her legs buckled, and she fell forward.
Luckily, Nathan moved just in time to catch her, "See? You can't leave. Well, at least not now."
He helped Sage back into her bed, where she sat on the edge, "I don't want to stay here."
"Yeah, I know." He nodded as he tried to hide the pain in his expression, "I know this place gives you bad memories, and I'm fully aware that being here is suffocating for you. But, please just stay for a few days. Once you're better, you can go if you want to."
"But, if I stay here for too long, you know the higher-ups would-"
"Probably find out about your sudden reappearance, and they would find any way to keep you in the elites' world." He lifted his head to meet her eyes once more, "But, I swear I'll do anything to get you out."
His gaze was stern and unfaltering.
She felt that.
She broke the eye contact and huffed, "Fine, I'll stay. For now. But, can I at least go back to my room?"
He smiled and shrugged, "Sure. I'll get someone to prepare your room. But, you probably need to wait for a day. Since your room hasn't been touched for four goddamn years."
"It's fine. I'll just clean it myself."
Nathan lifted one of his eyebrows, "You can't even stand. So, no."
She rolled her eyes, "I'm sure I could figure something out."
"It's fine. You can use my room first."
Sage gave him a look.
He waved her away, "Relax. I'll be sleeping in the living area. You can take my bedroom."
Teasingly, he allowed one corner of his lips to curve up slightly, "Besides, it's not the first time you've been in my apartment. Don't need to be shy."
And then, he winked.
"You know what? Suddenly, the infirmary sounds so much better."
"Hey! I'm kidding!" Nathan chuckled, "Just use my room. I'll get you a wheelchair."
Before she could protest, he then hurried off to get one.
———
[District Six Headquarters, Nathan's apartment room - Saturday, 10:23 pm]
Sage slept for almost the whole day.
And, she loved it.
Micheal did come by once to check on her leg and change the dressing. He said she probably could leave in two days. In other words, she will be back in school by Tuesday. And everything will be back to normal.
Micheal gave her some painkillers, and they helped a lot. She was starting to get used to the pain, and it did not bother her as much. Sage did not need the wheelchair to navigate around Nathan's apartment. She could walk for a little with the help of the wall.
Right now, she was on the bed, scrolling through her phone, when she received a notification.
It was a text from Katelyn.
Katelyn: Hey Sage...
Sage: Hey! Hey! What's up?
Katelyn: I don't think I can make it for tmr's movie :"(
Sage: Oh no, what happened?
Sage knew what happened but was trying to play the role. After all, no one at her school knew that she was an elite. That includes Katelyn.
Katelyn: I broke my ankle, and the doctor said that I need to be hospitalised ;-;
Sage: Omg how? Are you okay? Do you need me to bring your stuff?
Katelyn: From what the doctor has told me, they said there was an explosion at the café that I worked at. And my foot got stuck under a pile of rubble.
"Oh, so they didn't tell her." Sage made a mental note to herself.
The governor in each district tends to cover up corrupt attacks unless they were massive. They just did not want to scare the citizens. And, they do so by making it seemed like these attacks were rare and were not happening every day.
But, they were happening every day.
The elites and the governor worked pretty closely. So, the governor knew the existence of elites and knew they were. But, they agreed that the identity of elites was not made public to safeguard their privacy. And, this ensured that they would not be swarmed by a bunch of people requesting their protection.
Katelyn: I'm fine! Don't worry too much hehe :>
Katelyn: I don't think I need you to come over now since they provide almost everything... But, could you bring me a set of clothes when I do get discharged?
Sage: Yeah, of course!
Katelyn: Honestly, I'm surprised that I just got a broken ankle from that. Strange.
Sage: Maybe you're just that lucky HAHA
Sage: Anyway, rest well and get well soon, okay?
Katelyn: Alright! I will! Thanks! <3<3
She felt hungry and decided to make something for herself.
She got out of the bed and left his bedroom. She expected him to be back from corrupt cleansing by now, but he was not.
It was a little weird, but it was not too weird. Maybe there were just more corrupts today.
She walked over to the kitchen area and took a quick look around. Nathan had a loaf of bread and a pack of bagels sitting on the kitchen counter. She did not mind having a bagel now, although it's the middle of the night.
Again, she was random like that.
She swung open the fridge and searched for the cream cheese. But, there were not any. All Nathan had were eggs, ham, chicken breast, boxes of homemade salad and bottled water.
"Oh right. He's lactose intolerant." She remembered, she took out an egg and the packet of ham, "This will do."
She placed a bagel in the toaster and made scrambled eggs in a pan. She pan-fried the ham and assembled her bagel once it popped out of the toaster. She did add a little ketchup because she loved her ham and eggs like that.
She placed it on a clean plate and moved to the kitchen island. However, it was difficult for her to sit there, so she moved to the couch.
Just when she wanted to take a bite, she wondered if Nathan had eaten.
She considered it for a while and decided that she would make him one just in case.
She placed the second bagel on a similar white plate and covered it with cling wrap. She then moved it to the kitchen island.
"Finally." She sighed as she plopped onto the comfy leather sofa.
She turned on the television, and it was broadcasting some rom-com movie. She shrugged and decided to watch it as she enjoyed her bagel.
Once she was done, she cleaned up the kitchen and washed the dishes. She dried her hands with a nearby towel and checked the time.
It was already 11:34 pm.
She debated on whether she should look for Stephan to check if something had happened.
Hmm, probably should. Sage wanted to help if something did happen.
She turned off the television and went into the bedroom to grab her crutch before heading out.
Once she opened the main door, she almost collided straight into Nathan's chest. He stood there, and it looked as if he was about to open the door.
"Hey?" He greeted, but once he saw her crutch, he asked, "Where are you going?"
She looked away for a moment, and bit her bottom lip.
"Sage?" Nathan called as he quirked one eyebrow up, "Don't tell me... You wanted to leave the HQ?"
Sage did not know if her eyes were playing on her, but he looked a little sad.
She shook her head.
"...I was about to look for you," She mumbled almost inaudibly.
She could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks.
Nathan's eyes went wide for a moment before he broke into a grin, "You're worried for me?"
She turned away and went back to the living area, "No. I just wanted to know if something happened. If it did, I wanted to help. There's nothing more to it."
He followed behind her and shut the door behind him, "Oh, really?"
"Yes." She answered as she flopped back onto the couch.
"Alright, if you say so." He plopped right next to her. He laid back and rested his head on top of the cushion, "Urgh, I'm so tired."
"Take a shower and call it a night," Sage said as she placed her crutch nicely to the side.
"Yeah, I probably should." He replied, "But, I'm kinda hungry."
"I made a bagel." She answered almost too quickly, "It's ham and egg."
His head suddenly perked up, "You made it for me?"
"Yes." She replied with a blank stare.
He gasped dramatically, "You shouldn't have, babe."
Sage could feel her toes curled when he said that. She would usually ignore him or walk away. But this time, she wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine.
She turned to face him and reached for one side of his face. She caressed it, rubbing the area under his eye with her thumb, "Anything for you, honey-"
Now, she did not expect that.
He froze there for a moment. However, in the next second, his entire face turned red.
He backed away from her touch and cradled his face in his hands.
Oh?
This was going to be fun.
She scooted closer to him and ran her fingers through his hair, "What's wrong, babe? You're not feeling well?"
With his head still in his hands, he moved further away from her.
She suppressed her urge to laugh.
She inched closer once again, "Hey, what's wrong?"
He moved again until there was no space left.
Smirking, she reached out in an attempt to pull his hands down. However, before she could, he grabbed her hand.
"Who are you? You're not Sage!"
"I sure am, honey."
"Stop that!" He yelled as his face got increasingly hotter.
And that made her even happier.
Acting innocent, she clocked her head slightly, "I really don't get what is wrong, Natie."
"Sage!"
This time she could not hold it any longer. She burst out laughing.
Nathan let go and dropped both his hands to his lap, "...Don't do that ever again."
She just laughed harder.
"Hey! Don't laugh!"
She quickly tried to pursed her lips to stop herself from laughing, "Okay. Pfft-"
Honestly, seeing Sage like this, Nathan could not help but smile.
Sage made Nathan's heart fluttered all the time, and he really did not know how she did it. He was just so madly in love with her that he did not know what to do.
She took a couple of deep breaths to control her laughter. She looked back at Nathan, and he could feel himself blushed again.
"Why are you acting like this?" She asked with a smile, "You're always flirty around me."
"Yeah, but you never flirted back. You're not supposed to."
"What do you mean?" She giggled.
"Because if you do," He covered his face again, "...I really wouldn't know how to act."
Seeing him being genuine like this made her a little flustered. She noticed and quickly regained her composure, "Alright, did something happened? You're back pretty late."
"Oh, nothing much. I just got scraped a little. So, I was in the infirmary for a while."
She felt a little bad for teasing him now. She probably would not have if she knew he was injured...
Who was she kidding? If she knew this was his reaction, she totally would.
"Ah, I'm sorry for messing around then."
"No, don't be sorry. I just got a couple of cuts and bruises here and there. Nothing serious."
"I'll take your word for it." She then stood up and headed for the bedroom, "Just don't get your bandages wet. I'm going to bed now. Nights."
"Alright, goodnight Princess."
"Don't call me that."
Nathan laughed.