“I’ll take Porsche to the bathroom to clean it up.” Vegas began to help me stand, but Kinn stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m going to trouble you to go ask for a bandage from the nurses’ station out front,” he said expressionlessly. Vegas looked at Kinn for a while before nodding with a smile and leaving the room.
“What’s he doing here?!” Kinn barked as soon as the door closed.
“Attending the monkey banquet,17 I guess.” What a stupid question! He was here to visit, obviously.
“Don’t piss me off!” he yelled. What the hell was he so angry for?
Kinn breathed in deeply in an attempt to calm himself down before drawing my hand over to the fruit plate. He took a glass and poured water over my finger to wash off the blood. He wasn’t gentle at all, gripping my finger tightly until I cried out.
“Fuck you, Kinn, that hurts!” I tried to pull back, but he held on and continued washing the cut.
“When did you become such a whiner?” he asked, staring at my finger.
“How about I hit you where it hurts?” I said, annoyed. Kinn looked at my face and loosened his grip.
“Why is he here so late?” he continued, still preoccupied with Vegas.
“How am I supposed to know? Go ask him!” I pulled my hand back when I saw that he was done.
“The fuck is he here for?” Kinn cursed as he nudged me to the other side of the bed and sat down next to me.
“How would I know?! He’s your cousin, not mine!”
Kinn sighed and shook his head, seeming lost in thought.
Vegas returned. “Here we are,” he said, handing me the bandage.
Kinn intercepted it. “If there’s nothing else, you can go, Vegas. Let Porsche get some rest.” He glared at Vegas silently.
Vegas paused and nodded. “Of course. Will you be going back to your room? I can accompany you there.” His expression was as friendly as usual.
“It’s fine,” Kinn said. “You can go.”
Vegas smiled in answer and gave Kinn a wai. From their conversation, it sounded like Vegas hadn’t even gone to visit Kinn. Why had he visited me first and not his cousin?
“Get well soon, Porsche,” Vegas said. “You too, big brother.” Kinn sat still and stared at him, not taking his eyes away until he left the room.
Then Kinn sighed and turned to me. “What did he say to you?”
“He was just visiting. He asked how I was feeling,” I answered truthfully. Kinn must have still been concerned about Vegas inviting me to work for him. That would explain why he blew up like that.
“Just that?” Kinn asked, raising one eyebrow.
“Mm-hm,” I hummed in reply.
“Was he here long?” he asked.
I looked up at the clock and shook my head.
Kinn sighed. “I don’t like him sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong,” he said. He went still for a while, seeming to be pondering something. I looked away. I didn’t know where all this anger had come from, why Kinn was so bent out of shape like this. I knew his whole damn family hated Vegas, but what did I have to do with it? Besides, Vegas had been nice to me. We were all adults here—expecting me to hate him just because everyone else did was incredibly childish.
I stayed silent until Kinn’s hand slid over and caught my wrist, pulling me toward him. I jerked backward, afraid his hand would brush against my cut again. It didn’t really hurt that much, but I’d rather avoid any further pain.
“Stay still!” he snapped. He tore the bandage packaging open with his teeth, then gently applied it over my cut. I stopped resisting when I saw how carefully he was tending to it.
Kinn lifted his head. “Does it hurt?”
“It hurt when you cleaned it,” I answered, irritated.
He smiled slightly and lightly kissed the bandage. “Feel better soon.”
I bit my lip, not knowing what to do. What was he doing? Was he trying to piss me off? But my heart was beating so fast, completely different from when Vegas blew on it.
I didn’t speak.
“Go turn off the lights, I’m sleepy,” Kinn said. What the fuck was his problem?
Kinn took off his shoes and collapsed onto the bed. I looked at him in confusion until he had to repeat himself: “Go turn off the lights! Do I have to drag my saline with me to turn it off?” Motherfucker, you managed to haul it down the hallway to my room by yourself. Are you gonna die dragging it to the light switch?!
“What the hell is wrong with you? You’ve got your own room; can’t you sleep in it?” I asked, not lifting a finger to follow his order.
“I’m lonely!” Kinn enunciated each syllable, smiling. “Hurry up and turn off the lights!” He tried to push me to get off the bed.
“Go sleep in your own room!” I yelled back. Coming to my room and forcing me to wait on you? Bastard! I got off the bed, hands on my hips, and looked at Kinn. He was spread out on the bed like a starfish, as if he owned the damned thing.
“Go on. And don’t even think about sleeping on the sofa,” he said when my eyes slid over to the couch. If I have to turn off the lights, I might as well sleep over here, motherfucker!
“I hope your wound gets infected!” I huffed and turned off the lights and the TV. I sure as hell wasn’t going to get into the bed with Kinn. I sank onto the sofa with a resigned face.
Kinn raised his head to look and chuckled. I lay back on the sofa, even though I had no pillow or blanket.
Silence enveloped the room. Kinn seemed to let the matter go quite easily. I was relieved, thinking he wouldn’t bother me any longer, but then…
“Hey… Do you know how many years this hospital has been in operation?” he asked. I frowned at him.
“Who wants to know?” I said, irritated.
“This is an old hospital… You know that people die in hospitals, right? And this building… They say that this building…”
“Fuck off, Kinn! Stop that! I don’t believe you,” I said with a nervous gulp. I knew he was spouting nonsense to try and scare me like he did in the forest, but I couldn’t help but think that the hospital at night was creepy as hell.
“It’s up to you if you believe it or not,” Kinn said, “but did you know…?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t want to know,” I said, using my hands to block my ears. I could still faintly hear his laughter. Fucking bastard!
“Why don’t you try looking under the bed?” I heard Kinn say. I slowly looked toward the space under the bed, which was directly in my line of sight from the sofa. I started to feel lightheaded, my heart beating erratically even though there was nothing there. Why did I have to look?!
“You stop that!” I lambasted him.
“Sounds echo underneath the bed at night…thump, thump, thump, like someone knocking,” Kinn kept going. I felt cold sweat form on my body and fear build in my heart.
“You evil bastard!” I yelled.
“Ah, I’ll go back to my room, now, so it’ll be more comfortable for you on the bed,” Kinn said, sitting up. He slipped his feet into his shoes, acting like he was about to get up and leave. I jumped off the sofa and lurched toward the bed, grabbing onto Kinn’s arm.
“Fine, you can stay, asshole!” I snapped, clinging tightly onto him. Fuck, this was embarrassing! I knew Kinn was probably making shit up, but I was too creeped out to care.
“Hah, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Kinn leaned back down, laying his arm across the bed and pulling my head down to rest on it.
“You better sleep properly. And don’t hug me, I’m gonna suffocate!” I declared, scooting away from him. That fucker didn’t listen, of course—he moved onto his side and used his free arm to pull me to face him. I struggled, but he wouldn’t let go of me.
“Shh! Do you hear that?” he said as he poked at my back. I looked up from his chest.
“Hear what?” I whispered, my mind going to all sorts of terrible places. Is it the ghost under the bed?
“Like a thud, thud, thud sound. Can you hear it?” he asked me, his voice grave. At this point I was more scared of ghosts than worried about maintaining my tough guy image. I burrowed into his chest, not wanting to hear anything. It was too fucking creepy.
“It’s getting louder,” he said. I held tightly onto the hem of his shirt. He leaned down to whisper in my ear. “Do you want to know what it is?”
I shook my head. Stop asking if I want to know! I don’t want to know anything!
“It’s the sound…of…” he trailed off ominously, “your heartbeat! Hah!”
Kinn’s head dropped onto the pillow as he howled with laughter. I slapped at his arm with all my strength before his hands and feet all locked onto mine, not letting me move.
Kinn, you asshole! I’m like this because of you!