Withstanding an odd pang in her stomach, Kika glanced up at him. He looked ready to release barbed comments at her. She knew it! Being in his bed like this was too good to be true. It's all just a facade.
She shifted the duvet completely off and tried to put her feet into the slippers. By doing that, her nudity and the state of her leg became apparent to her. She was only in her red lace bra and panties while her leg was in a cast.
Kika stared into the distance in despair. Luke flashed over to her and prevented her from wearing her slippers.
"I asked where the hell you think you're going?!"
He caught hold of her fists while he asked with a glare that resembled that of a wounded wild animal. Enraged and dangerous.
"I-I'm going back to my room."
Kika was bewildered and frightened. He seemed concerned and at the same time he didn't. She should quickly get out of here before his twisted nature returns.
"But you reached for the spoon, Kika?"
"I-I can eat it in my room."
Kika lowered her gaze from Luke's searching eyes. She couldn't decipher why he was looking at her like that. Straight in the eyes like she wanted to peek into her soul and cross-check if she was being transparent with her words or not.
"Why not here? Get back in bed."
"I don't want to be a bother to you."
"A bother?" Luke's eyebrows furrowed. "Nonsense. I want you to still rest for a bit, you barely slept at all last night."
She was quite relieved he was here but her senses were far from settled. Aside from that, she felt less alone and out of her element now that he was in sight.
Luke didn't let her speak on the matter anymore. He took hold of her and placed her broken leg back on the bed, carefully. She let him do it, stammered a thank-you and tried not to turn red from embarrassment. She actually thought he was going to hit her.
He sat at the edge of the bed and reached for the porridge. He tasted it, the temperature was just right. Luke filled the spoon again and fed it to her.
"How long was I out?"
Kika chewed slowly, she wanted to savour this moment for as long as she could. Surprisingly, Luke was patient. He waited for her to swallow before putting another spoonful into her mouth.
"Three days and five hours."
He was counting...?
"Oh... Did I really break my leg?"
"Yes but it's a clean break so as long as you don't move around much and eat healthy, it'll heal in a month or less."
Kika tried to catch Luke's eye while she ate, but she didn't succeed.
"Did the Medallion say anything else?"
Kika asked tentatively. Her gaze remained fixated on his face. Luke hesitated. Maybe it was Rhea who entirely talked to the Medallion. If Luke couldn't say anything, it only proved she was trying to cover up for him.
She didn't want to upset her as soon as she woke up so she just said that.
"You're going to be fine, if Rhea mentioned anything to you about the vomiting then don't worry too much..."
Luke fed her the chopped vegetables and blew on the cup of tea before placing it in her hands.
"... don't worry about the bolt surgery. It was just a suggestion, nothing has been finalized yet. Right now just focus on your recovery."
Luke gave her the lubricating tablets. They resembled stainless steel eggs with a black oily substance inside them, only digestible by a cyborg's techno-biological system.
That just wasn't enough information but she just wanted to know.
"Are... Are you the one who took off my clothes?"
Kika had saved the most important question for last. She didn't know why this action carried weight so much, but it did.
There was a likelihood that Rhea was the one who took them off, and if that was really the case, she would have been embarrassed for nothing.
"Yeah, why? Are you feeling cold?"
The back of Luke's palm was on Kika's temple before she could process it. Luke removed his hand with a confused face. Cyborgs were too complicated. Everything about them defied common knowledge.
Their cellular make-up, biometric engineering, action and reaction arcs and brain recovery capacity surpassed other creatures, even immortals.
"N-No, it's warm in here. I... was just curious."
At Kika's startled response, Luke laughed.
"Get some rest then."
He pulled the duvet up to her chin and carried the tray of empty plates out with him.
"Rhea! Rory!"
Luke called after he'd shut the door firmly behind him. Rory materialized to his left while Rhea scurried up the stairs.
"Here."
He handed Rhea the tray and turned to Rory.
"Get me a book on cyborg biology."
"Yes, your lordship."