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 Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:02 pm
It'd been approximately a month since she had left, and for once, Alex found herself looking forward to returning to a place she considered her temporary home. Despite the fact that the ordeal was over and her name was cleared, the woman looked as far from happy as possible; in fact, she looked downright miserable. Her eyes were dark and vacant from lack of sleep for time that she could not remember, her face drawn and slightly pale from stress and a general lack of living. Weary legs trudged heavily from the Harbor into the heart of the school, the morning still heavy with dew that the sun had not yet risen to disperse. She figured she was the only conscious thing on the island, although she felt more like death warmed over than a human being.
Alex was carried by her two feet, not really aware of where they were taking her until she found herself stopped outside of a door. Tired eyes shifted over it, recognizing it; and why wouldn't she? She'd left dinners at it for the better part of a month, unable to face the man inside while she fought her own demons. He probably hated her for disappearing without a word, or worse, didn't care. She tried to walk away, but her hand insisted on holding onto the knob and turning it without so much as a knock. Admitting herself more by force of habit than by any conscious effort, she quietly closed the door behind herself, looking over the office. It was like walking into a memory, making her shiver in the slightest. Her eyes needed a minute to adjust, and when they did, they found the person she had half been hoping was there.
The Italian took a deep breath though her nose, a light flickering in her eyes as she moved to the desk where Doctor Kenth was slumped over, sleeping. Her lips twitched in a ghost of her former smile, slender fingers reaching out to touch his shoulder. She couldn't help that one stolen touch, and it turned into more; she found her fingers brushing through his hair as she kneeled by him, murmuring his name softly. "Hey, Kenth...Doctor, wake up."
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Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:22 pm
Kenth had be diligently working. In fact, he was working so diligently that he lost sleep and lost track of time. The reason why he was working so diligently was because he was behind on his own schedule due to what he called "deficit of concentration". In other words, he was suffering slightly from ADD. It wasn't a disease for Kenth. Something had simply kept distracting him. It was not until the day before before he decided that work would only pile up if he kept "slacking off", which was why he worked and worked in his office nonstop for two days, without sleep and only occasional energy drink stored in the office.
As a result, the doctor, even though this had happened sometime before, had finally collapsed on his desk after a major paper was sent out from his silvery laptop. He fell unconscious right after that, releasing all the contained exhaustion by allowing himself slump over the desk and started snoozing. He didn't see what time it was when he fell asleep. It felt like a very short time, before someone started whispering in his ears like a battery-deprived alarm clock. Kenth had heard the sound, but he was slow in registering it with his mind almost fully shut down. So like any sleepy people would do, Kenth ignored the sound, and simply stirred a little in an attempt to evade the alarm clock sound.
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Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:28 pm
Alex quirked her lips a little, debating just waking him up the good old fashioned way, with a huge kiss...but she decided she really wanted to stay on the good side she was supposedly on. She did, however, lean forward to press a brief kiss to his brow, saying his name a little louder as she resumed kneeling. "Doctor Kenth, wake up! There's beds for times like this, you know." Her fingers untangled from his hair, touching his cheek tenderly. Gods, but he looked so peaceful when he slept. Maybe...if he didn't wake up this time, she'd let him sleep. He hadn't been so unresponsive before...
Biting her lip, she murmured softly, "I'm sorry," before standing and turning to go. She should just let him sleep, he worked too hard anyway.
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Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:36 pm
As the sound became louder, it also became more clear in Kenth's mind. It finally occured to him that the voice didn't sound much like an alarm clock, and the voice sounded strangely familiar. In fact, his own voice didn't even register in his brain when it came out.
"Alex..."
If one hoped this as a sign of him waking up, he/she'd be deadly wrong. For the young doctor, it was almost as if he whispered the woman's name out of sub-conscience, that the word came out as part of a dream. Of course, only Kenth at the moment would know what he was dreaming about.
"Alex..."
Kenth called out again when the voice from outside of his head seemed to subside. He stirred a little, almost as if he was struggling to wake up from the dream.
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Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:41 pm
Alex had barely taken a step away when she heard the distinct sound of her name...coming from his lips. She turned around slowly, dark eyes wide with surprise, almost disbelieving. The woman tried to rationalize that she was hearing things, and was almost able to convince herself of it...until he said her name again.
Legs possessed of their own will returned to the sleeping man, giving out so that she practically fell onto her knees, landing in a kneeling position once more. Her hands moved of their own accord, one reaching to touch his face again, the other resting on his back. He didn't seem to be going back to sleep...would it be okay to try and awaken him again?
"...Kenth...can you hear me?"
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Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 6:17 am
The said Dr. Kenth stirred again as the voice came back. His mind had finally able to emerge from the slumber of deep sleep, enough to realize that the voice was not coming from an alarm clock, but an actual human being. There was a drawback, however, now that he was conscious. What happened subconsciously had slipped to the back of his head, and ceased to exist. What had he been dreaming of, or, had he been dreaming at all? Kenth had no recollection of it, even if he did have a dream.
Slowly, out of curiosity to see who the voice came from, the young doctor forced his eyes to open. It took some time, and when they were finally opened, Kenth blinked several times before he was able to see the dim shadow in front of him. The shape looked familiar. In fact, it was so familiar that the doctor did not need his glasses to know exactly who it was.
Kenth's head snapped up from the desk, his eyes yet unfocused, partly due to the fact that he was glass-less. "You..."
It was hard for Kenth to pick out the next word to say. Too many words had flooded his just awakened brain and was competing for attention. So instead, Kenth shut his mouth tight to prevent the flood from coming out of his mouth unsupervised. He merely stared at the rather blurry image of Alex. For all he know, this could still be a dream.
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Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 11:07 am
Continuing to kneel and coax Kenth awake with a gentle touch, Alex smiled in the slightest as his impossibly blue eyes opened slowly. She didn't know what to say as he came to consciousness, blinking at her; it was just as well, as the man bolted upwards, her hands drifting away from him as he moved out of her reach. Huh, he'd called her 'you'...was that the same as calling Greg 'that man?' She supposed she deserved that. The woman settled upon her heels, blinking up at him as he stared at her, wondering just why she had awakened him. Did she have something to say?
"I'm back," she squeezed out weakly, her voice soft as though she too had just awakened. Her hands lay on her lap, still warm with the memory of his skin, her expression somewhat uncertain as she looked at him for an answer to a question she didn't know. Well, this could get awkward. Alex couldn't stop staring, and it took her a few heartbeats to figure out why; his eyes pinned her down, and it dawned on her that he didn't have his glasses.
Blinking her wide, dark eyes, she wearily glanced around the desk, wondering if--ah, there they were. She lifted a hand to grasp the glasses by the ear piece, looking at them momentarily before bringing them back to herself. Alex felt like she was acting on auto pilot, not really having much control as she carefully breathed on the delicate glass and cleaned them with the underside of her shirt. Satisfied, she lifted the glasses back to their owner, finding herself enraptured by him again. Her heart skipped, and her stomach felt funny; was it because she was tired or hadn't eaten properly? Why was it just around him?
Dangit, didn't she have anything to say?
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Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 7:58 am
Kenth blinked a little, slowly registering what had happened. He didn't reply initially to Alex's words. Instead, he silently took the glasses and put them back to the ridge of his nose. After eventually adjusting himself to the environment he was familiar with, he turned back to the dark skinned woman.
"Where have you been?" His voice was quiet, and there was a tone of solemnness within the words. The young doctor was not sure if he should be surprised, angry, or happy to see Alex disappear and reappear so suddenly. And in a mixture of all three emotions...there was none.
He thought about turning the computer back on and start working once again, but found himself unable to do so due to the fact that his head was still feeling slightly dizzy from lack of sleep. In a way, he was also embarrassed that Alex caught him sleeping. He turned away from the woman and looked out to the window, trying to relax his just awakened mind.
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Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:24 am
"Varna," was her quiet reply, still resting on the balls of her toes. "On the east coast of Bulgaria. Well..." Alex felt like her thoughts and memories were colliding, making it difficult to sort out the proper words. "...actually, the outskirts of it. It was the third largest city in the country, but after the war, it's just a collection of small outer sanctums.
I suppose...that's not important." Her voice became even quieter, her eyes dropping from him as he turned away from her. "Norman made me take care of a warrant there. Said I couldn't stay if I was in a criminal status." The words were something between a whisper and a sigh, not wanting to think about it so soon. She'd only left the country less than twenty four hours ago...she still had the beach sand on her boots, and that fetid wind on her face...
Her green eyes closed, feeling her throat tighten. She shouldn't have come here...it's not like Kenth could possibly care. Alex needed to just...scream into something, to let it out, and she shouldn't have dragged her feelings for the doctor into her need for comfort.
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Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 7:35 am
"Ah." Kenth remarked, neither nodding nor looking back at Alex. He felt a tention in the air, possibly coming from the dark skinned woman. It was not something he'd expect coming in early in the morning (was it even morning yet? ), and it was not something he'd liked.
But it was Norman who made her go after all. The young doctor sighed inwardly. This was something he had expected, and knew that he could never get along with the headmaster...not that he had ever tried to in the first place. There was silence, and eventually Kenth turned his laptop back on, making some slight noises coming from the small machinary.
"Well?" Kenth kept his voice quiet, almost as if he was trying to surpress the tension (and of course failing), "did you?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 7:47 am
The whirring of the laptop made her open her eyes, her throat so tight, she wasn't sure she could talk normally. "Yeah," came her half strangled whisper, feeling vastly out of place. Alex felt at a loss; she'd come to the worst person possible to talk to, and felt disregarded as he began to do what he did best, namely, work. She supposed she'd have to push past her own guilt and get to work as well; no doubt Greg would be half mad with her not telling him anything, either.
Her eyes stung. She stood from her kneeling position, wobbling a bit as she got back onto her feet. "I'll...let you work." Alex tried to pass it off as a normal statement, but her voice was as shaky as her legs; she turned away from him so that he couldn't see that she was about to lose it. He'd probably think less of her, if possible...and that wasn't helping her keep her cool. Between a lack of sleep, eating, general happiness and comfort...and now this...
She started towards his door, the tremor in her voice moving to the rest of her body as she fought for control, at least until she got out of his office.
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Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 8:32 am
Well, that was a good enough answer for Kenth, that she was allowed to stay here after all. However, something blantantly obvious in her voice caught his attention as he was just about to turn and start working again. It was something he had never heard from Alex before.
Could she be...no, no, she was not someone to break down easily like that. Yet, despite repeatingly telling himself so, Kenth had no doubt that Alex was about to collapse. He whirled his chair around.
"Alex." He called. The voice was still quiet, but stern enough to be recognized as something more than speaking...but rather commanding. "Sit."
The young doctor motioned at the chair that was nearby his desk. His icy blue eyes remained on Alex's back. If she had turned at that moment, she'd have certainly see that Kenth's expression was of someone who was troubled. Or, to put it nicely, displayed a slight concern.
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Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 8:50 am
Her feet froze as he said her name. The tone of his voice startled her into turning around, her eyes wide and red-rimmed with unshed tears. One tear managed to be startled from her turn, snaking down her her drawn face; she quickly lifted her hands, using the heels of her palms to press against her eyes. Alex did not want to cry in front of him, of all people...
She was surprised, certainly, but she also felt somewhere deep within that she was touched. The woman was so busy trying not to meet his eyes that she missed the expression of concern, instead chalking up his command as being a doctor with an exhausted patient.
Shaky legs returned to where he indicated, not bothering to pull the chair next to him. There, she sat slowly and carefully, as if one sharp motion would break the control she was so desperately fighting to keep. Her hands balled into fists against her knees, her eyes staring at the space of ground between herself and Kenth. Alex tried to focus on the man she could not look at, and better memories, but the invisible hand of stress was still tight around her neck.
Soft lips moved as though to say something, but no noise came out, the line of her jaw trembling with the effort. Swallowing roughly, she forced herself to speak a breathy word. "Thanks."
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Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 8:59 am
Even in the darkness of the room, Kenth could be able to make out the tear mark that Alex had tried to wipe off from her face. He sighed. There was someone he thought he knew about, but now he wasn't sure anymore. To his surprise, Alex looked, at that moment, no more than a ordinary female in distress. Kenth retracted his focus from Alex and looked down. He didn't know what to say, and he doubt that anything he says would be useful at the time. The strong shield that protected Alex was shattering, and he had nothing to stop it.
And really, there was no reason to stop it.
After a period of what felt like forever, Kenth leaned back against his chair and put his hand up to block his eyes.
"Go ahead, I'm not watching."
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Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 9:09 am
"I don't...want to." Her words were soft, whispered, and squeezed between her barely parted lips. She swallowed hard again, saying what she thought he should have already known, "I don't want you to think less of me." Okay, that didn't help. The sting in her eyes swelled, the lump in her throat rising, her breath hitching in the slightest. "I want...to be strong..."
Alex clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut. She was failing herself, and the man in front of her, who felt so very far away. She hadn't cried since her brother had died, many, many years ago. Part of her was hoping she'd forgotten how to cry.
The woman had suffered a solid month of physical and mental abuse. That Kenth was actually...seeming to show compassion, was hitting her harder than the rocks that left marks on her body. Alex usually would have tried to turn it into a flirting session, but right now, it wasn't what she needed. Another tear trickled from her closed eyes.
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