But she didn't look away either. "you were crying?" she said with a guilty expression.
He stiffened.
"Nooo…" he said quickly, his voice breaking over its own lie.
Jay was sitting upright in bed, the blanket still tucked around her like a shield. Her face looked pale, but her eyes; those were fierce and calculating. She wasn't just recovering. She was remembering the dream, the button, the betrothal issues and everything related..
"Don't lie," she added sharply. "Your eyes are red and swollen. You look like someone ripped you out from the middle of a dusty storm."
He didn't answer. His hands were behind his back, fingers twisting and fidgeting each other like they were confessing sins his mouth couldn't.
"I didn't know it was you" she continued, eyes not leaving his. "The one I thought was following me… the one I secretly hoped would help me escape my engagement; turns out, he was the groom all along. Isn't that poetic?"
He shifted uncomfortably. "I didn't mean to deceive you."
Jay laughed. But it wasn't a joyful laugh; it was bitter with a hint of tiredness. "Then what did you mean to do? Because from where I stand; or lie; I can't figure it out. One moment you're a stranger, the next you're the man I'm supposed to marry. Do you know what kind of chaos that creates in someone's head?"
"I wasn't trying to hurt you, I didn't know that you didn't know that I am…"
"that you are my groom! But you did," she cut him off, firm. "You did hurt me. You dragged me from my house, drugged or not; I didn't know who you were. I was scared out of my mind. And then you show up here, acting like some savior with a fruit basket! And my to be husband!"
He flinched.
Jay exhaled shakily, her hands tightening around the blanket. "Tell me. Right here. Right now. Why did you do it? Why didn't you just… tell me the truth from the start?"
He looked up at her now, really looked.
"I was afraid."
Jay blinked. She hadn't expected that.
"Afraid?" she echoed. "Of me?"
He nodded slowly. "Afraid you'd say no… Afraid you'd hate me for knowing too much. For caring too soon. Afraid I wasn't enough to be the kind of man you needed."
Jay's jaw clenched.
He stepped forward, cautiously, like one wrong move might shatter the delicate air between them. "You want to talk about pain? I've watched you fight alone. I've watched your parents ignore what was in front of them. I saw you slipping through the cracks… and I couldn't stand still. I entered through the door that day! I was there to meet you but when I knocked the door it actually opened and through the door I saw you crying and in pain."
"That doesn't give you the right to own my story," Jay snapped. "To write yourself into a chapter without permission."
He looked down. "You're right. It doesn't. but I went over to you and called your name but you didn't respond. You were unconscious so I took the liberty to take you to the hospital. I saw how you were in pain, I couldn't unsee what I was seeing!""
For a long, slow moment, they said nothing. Only the beeping of the heart monitor filled the room. The tension wasn't just thick; it was intimate.
Jay finally whispered, "I don't know what I'm feeling. You've been hope. You've been fear. You've been anger. And now… you're just him. The stranger I almost trusted. The man I almost loved. And the boy I might be forced to marry."
"I don't want to force you," he said immediately. "That's the last thing I want."
"Then don't," she whispered back.
Another silence.
And then Jay asked, without looking at him: "If I told you to walk away… right now… would you?"
He hesitated. Not because he didn't know the answer; but because it hurt to say it. His eyes were again wet.
"…Yes," he said.
Her voice was trembling when she spoke. "Sit down. Why are you standing"
He slowly sat down, at a deliberate distance. Like a man on trial, stripped of his armor.
Jay watched him, her expression unreadable. Then she asked, her voice quiet but deadly serious:
"Do you love me?"
His head snapped up. As if saying, "yeah?
"Because if you do," she continued, her voice still shivering, and shy full of sentiment, "you better mean every damn word you utter!"
His throat bobbed. His fingers trembled.
"Yes? Yess!!!" he said, barely more than a breath.
Jay leaned forward slightly. "you have said it but I don't believe you.. you know that right?"
He swallowed hard.
"ufff… its burnt dish Man! How can you love a stranger! How do you even know me?" she muttered.
He looked down again. "I know, right!"
"No, you don't," she snapped. "You don't get to just know and still show up here expecting things to go back to normal. You hijacked my pain, hijacked my future, and you wrapped it up in this weird savior fantasy like that was supposed to impress me."
"I didn't mean it to be like that," he said, eyes pleading now. "I just… when I saw you like that, hurting, alone; I couldn't just walk away. I am not a hero but I am not a villain either! I am just a broken piece of my own circumstacnes."
Jay's voice cracked as she said, "Then you should've walked in bravely, openly instead of sneaking through the cracks, doors and shadows like a ghost story, that I never agreed to write with you."
He looked like he'd been struck.
And then she asked again, low and bitter: "Do you really love me? Or do you just love the idea of saving me? Or because I was just here and you thought you like me? Maybe its just an obsession or something? A trance that might fade anytime?"
The question hung in the air like a guillotine.
"I love you," he said finally, slowly, like every syllable weighed more than he could carry. "not your body, your soul, or anything, the mere revelation of your existence send a wave of happiness in me. I don't know. Yes you might be right it might not be love! But whatever it is, it is not based on shameless fantasies but on a sacred idea."
Jay didn't say anything at first. But her shoulders softened. Her eyes flickered; not with forgiveness, but with exhaustion and curiosity. And honestly she was impressed. But right now they were mere words…
"You want a chance?" she whispered.
He looked up at her.
"Next time you try to save me; ask if I want to be saved first. And don't hide anything from me…"
He smiled faintly, and nodded with a solemn expression.