The blue and red wires were entangled together in the silver-coloured metal. A vibration could be felt around the metal when it was put together. She switched on the switch. After five seconds, there is no obvious difference. But after 20 seconds, the metal began to let out smoke.
She quickly switched off the switch when the smoke began to occupy the room she was in right now. She coughed and went to the window to open it for better ventilation. The smoke slowly cleared from the area.
She sighed when looking at the now-blackened metal.
"Overheat again."
She clicked her tongue and kicked the table leg harshly until some of the equipment on the table fell.
She let out a loud huff before she settled down on the nearby chair. The door to her lab slowly opened, and she managed to hear it, but she did not pay much attention to it. She did not even flinch when someone wrapped their arms around her shoulders.
"Stop stressing over this and get some rest, Helen."
The soft voice of the man managed to lessen her frustration over her failure just now. She closed her eyes and leaned her head on the man's body. The man caressed her head gently.
"It overheated again."
"You will succeed later, but take a break now."
"I almost get the formula right. I just need one more hour or two."
"No, you said it every time, but you end up here until late at night."
"Gillian."
"Nope, let's get out of here."
Helenis wanted to protest, but her body subconsciously leaned onto Gillian when he assured her to stand up and walk out of her lab, leaving all her equipment. He locked the door before he wrapped his arm around her shoulders to support her.
"You look like a panda now with that eyebags of yours."
"Just say that I am looking ugly right now, Gill."
Gillian let out a chuckle.
"No, Helen. You will always look beautiful to me, however, you represent yourself."
Helenis pursed her lips with a rising heat on her cheeks.
"Silly."
She slowly nudged his stomach with her elbow, earning another chuckle from the purple-haired.
"Why are you here? Aren't you busy too with your work?"
Helenis stepped aside from the embrace to hold his hand. He intertwined their fingers.
"I miss you; that's why I came here today, and I knew you would be here stressing yourself like this. It has been a month since I managed to see your face. I will become crazy if we do not meet even a day later."
Helenis snorted.
"Dumb. If you become crazy, I'll just send you to an asylum."
"Hey, you can't do that to your fiancé, Helen!"
"Of course, I can, with just a command."
"Now you want to use your status on me now?"
"Well, what's the use if I don't use it, right?"
She glanced at him and smirked. Gillian just smiles hopelessly.
"I am still marrying you, though."
"Hm? Let me think about it first when you are not becoming crazy over not meeting me."
"Helen."
"Pfft, sorry, you just gave a nice reaction to my teasing. It has been long for me to tease someone."
"You're still a little troublemaker since the academy, aren't you?"
"Usually I would tease Nasha, but she is busy with the academy now, and sometimes Micha will fume when I tease him. Oh, I already told you before that Micha and Nasha didn't like you. When you were brought up in our conversation, those two would gang up on me by insulting my taste. Always managed to make me angry, but then I would tease them back, especially Micha. His reaction was hilarious; he would always act like he didn't care, but then he would pout over the smallest thing I said and ignore me completely by playing with Nasha. I gave him chocolate afterwards, though if not, he would give me a silent treatment for who knows how long."
She chuckled slowly, reminiscing about the memories. Her steps were becoming lighter every time her younger brother's name rolled off her tongue.
"I would love to meet them often to show that I am likeable until their older sister manages to fall for me."
"You should, actually. I really want to know what reaction Micha would give you if you guys ever met, but I think I could imagine it. Like how Nasha met you for the first time, I think Micha would be ten times worse."
"He must love his sister so much that he didn't want to let you be with a man he didn't know. I'd be protective of my little sister too if I knew she had someone already."
"Is that so? He never kissed me back when I kissed him, you know? When he became older, he became a brat. But I still love him. He will always be in my heart. No one can compare to him."
They arrived in front of Helenis' door. She brushed off the sappy feeling and looked up at Gillian.
"I'm sure he loves his sister too. He must be watching over your family from somewhere."
"...Yes."
She smiled nostalgically. They looked at each other for a moment before she let go of his hand.
"Do you want to come in? I could use a company right now if you are not busy."
He cupped her cheek with his hand and gave her a soft smile. She has always been grateful to meet this man, who helped her overcome her grief and stay by her side when she was in her lowest state.
"I'd love to."
×××××
He jolted awake after the sudden sensation on his skin. He opened his mouth to let out a scream, but then his mouth was covered by someone's hand.
"Woah, calm down."
His body was being pushed back on the bed while his eyes finally managed to distinguish the man beside his bed. His rough breathing calmed down a little, and the man finally let go of his mouth.
"I didn't mean to wake you up like this, but your wound is bleeding."
He heaved a sigh before he looked down at his body. The neatly wrapped bandage that was wrapped around his body has gone, and he can see his bleeding skin. He also saw the cotton on the man's hand and some yellow liquid. He put his head back on the pillow.
His silence urged the man to continue treating his wound. The man dapped the cotton on his skin. The burning feeling could be felt when the cotton made contact with his skin. He closed his eyes tightly and surpassed a groan from his mouth by biting his lips.
"That's why you shouldn't wake up so suddenly. You also fainted even before we could introduce ourselves."
He frowned. The voice of the dual-haired man annoyed him so much when he was in pain right now. But the pain made him recall what he had been doing before.
Oh yes, he woke up in an unfamiliar place, went out of the door, and met with this stranger man upstairs. Then he followed this man back to this room. This man talked too much, and then he asked this man a question.
'Is this hell?'
Yes, that was his question before his vision became blurry and he felt like he was falling. Maybe he fainted.
"I'll be done in a minute."
He hissed when the cotton was pushed down on his skin. Sweat trailed down his forehead. After a while, the man stopped applying whatever yellow liquid was on his body and got up from his position to discard the cotton. The man came back with a roll of bandages.
"Sit up for a while; I need to wrap you up."
He looked at the man for a moment before complying. It was for his own good, and he is injured right now, so it is better if he did not do something that may upset this man. From this man's actions, he could conclude that this man was the one who treated him, so he had to lower his guard around him.
He is not an asshole who does not know when to appreciate someone's help when he is clearly the beggar here.
The man rolled the bandages around his body. He raised his arms to make it easier for the man. After his body was completely wrapped in bandages, the man went to put back the bottle of yellow liquid and other equipment he used in the cabinet, which was full of many unique things.
His eyes trailed along with the man's movement.
"You must be hungry. I'll bring some food that's easy for you to digest before we can continue our talk. You also need to be fed a painkiller; well, you don't need it if you could survive without it."
The man looked at him for a while, waiting for a response.
"....Okay."
The man smiled and then walked out of the same door they had walked in earlier. When he was alone right now, he looked around the room. He did not do it when he woke up just now because he needed to know where he was and why he was in this state, but after he knew this man was not going to harm him now, he eased a little to observe his surroundings.
This room was big. The bed he sat on was the only queen-size bed in this room and was stationed in the corner. Two cabinets, one in front of the bed and the other at the other corner opposite this bed were filled with vials with different colours of liquid, some bottles with labels on them, some equipment that is usually used by a doctor, and some empty beakers, flasks, and tubes.
'Is this guy a scientist?'
The room was white except for the floor, which was beige. There is nothing more than what he saw. He put his feet down and let them dangle on the side of the bed. He didn't know how long it had been while he was lost in thought, but the black and red-haired man came back with a tray of food.
"Here, it's not much, and I have never served anyone before."
The man gave him the tray, and he accepted it without complaint. It was a congee with some tiny slices of meat, he guessed. The congee was too watery until he could spoon the water from it. He took a spoon, but the taste was bland. He didn't know if it was because his tongue lacked taste buds or because this congee was really bland.
"How was it? I never cooked congee before."
"Eatable."
He just swallowed everything. Who was he to complain when he had been given food and was starving right now? Beggars can't be choosers.
"Say, what's your name? It felt weird not knowing your name until now."
The man pulled up a chair to sit in front of him. He gave a simple glance at the man before he put another spoon in his mouth. His mouth felt dry, and it was not easy to swallow. How the hell did he end up in this situation, seriously?
"My name is Sora Harukawa. You can call me Sora."
'Japanese?'
He looked up, then nodded when he could actually see the feature. Maybe Sora is multiracial because his eyes are green.
"I'm Michael Lee."