45 ✒ Chapter 33 : Blinfold memories

SLEEPING soundly, Khein fell asleep earlier than usual. Rei on the other side was having a hard time. He couldn't sleep at all. The thought of having Khein beside him sleeping denfenselessly is enough to make him restless and hot.

Khein was sleeping with his hands on either side of his head. It was already midnight and Rei was staring at Khein's sleeping face.

"How could you fall asleep so easily in front of me? Aren't you afraid of what I might do with your defenseless body?" Rei whispered.

"Dad, stop. I'm scared." Khein mumbled in his sleep. Khein didn't look bothered but he sounded scared.

"Hey, are you okay?" Rei asked. Khein was talking in his sleep. It looked like he was having a bad dream.

Rei pulled Khein closer to him and Khein immediately hugged him tight. Khein used to be independent and he never needed someone to look after him when he was having a bad dream.

Khein unconsciously opened his eyes as if he just got escaped from a nightmare.

"Water... I want water." Khein said while panting. He was covered with little sweat while breathing heavily.

"Ah-yes water" Rei repeated with a shocked face. The psycho guy went to get a glass of water immediately.

.

.

.

The two remained silent. Khein awkwardly glanced towards the nervous guy beside him. Rei was playing with his thumbs as he waited for Khein to speak.

"Kheiny, I'm sorry. I won't ask you ever again. Please forgive me. I'll never do it again. I'll never ask about your father again. I'm sorry, please, Kheiny...I... I-" Khein held Rei's trembling hands as the guilty guy bit his bottom lip.

"Stop thinking that you're at fault." Khein said. Rei bowed his head, still blaming himself for making Khein had those nightmares.

"My father was a selfish person. He only took my mother's feelings for granted. When he got problems at work, he usually hit my mom. He treated my mother as a stress reliever-a punching bag to be exact." Khein said calmly. Trying his best not to show any sadness, Khein just bowed his head.

"My mother decided to have a divorce when my father started hitting me. I was about eight or nine when he started hitting me." Khein said with a forced chuckle. He didn't want to show Rei his weak side.

"He slaps me when he's drunk. He throws everything he sees in the house towards me and my mom whenever he's angry. He even tried to stab my mom with a knife in front of me when they had a big fight. My mother was crying that time because she found out that dad was meeting with other women." Khein continued. Rei sighed heavily as if he no longer wanted to listen to Khein. He just wanted the rebel guy to stop talking and let him comfort him in his arms.

"I wonder what my mom felt when she knew that my dad was cheating. She was so hurt and depressed. I couldn't do anything back then." Khein said bitterly.

"Stop. No more, please. Baby, don't talk anymore." Rei said sweetly. Khein sighed and smiled.

"Don't blame yourself, okay?" Khein said calmly. Rei nodded like a kid and smiled.

"I think I better sleep on the floor after all." Rei said awkwardly. He needed to refrain himself from ravishing and jumping on Khein all of a sudden.

"Or let's just put the bolster between us again." Rei suggested the better idea.

"Dumbass, stop playing innocent. Are you a virgin?" Khein chuckled while covering his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Stop teasing me, Kheiny. Or you'll regret it." Rei warned which made the rebel guy shut his mouth.

"Yeah right, I guess you just sleep on the floor." Khein declared.

•••

WHEN Khein was a kid...

"Hey Kheiny, can I hold your hand?" a taller kid named Rei asked Khein. Rei was eight years old while Khein was one year older.

"No way! I might catch your killer hands. You killed a dog in front of me! Stay away from me!" Khein shouted. Khein ran away from Rei and he stumbled on the ground. His knees were bleeding so he cried, not because of pain but because of the blood. Khein wasn't afraid of blood before. But when he saw that dead dog, he started fearing blood.

"Are you okay?" Rei asked and offered his hand to help Khein. Khein slapped Rei's hand away as he remained closing his eyes. He didn't want to see the blood on his knees. It was a deep cut and a long one on the other.

Rei pulled the handkerchief on his back and folded it to make a blindfold. He put the blindfold on Khein's eyes as he carried the crying boy on his back.

"I'll take you home, Kheiny. Are you still scared?" Rei asked Khein who suddenly stopped crying. Khein shook his head and let Rei carry him all the way to his house.

"Why are you being nice to me even though I kept pushing you away?" Khein asked. He was still wearing the blindfold.

"Because I like you!" Rei said cheerfully as if saying those words were normal. Khein frowned and chuckled.

"Well that's wierd" Khein said and held on Rei's shoulder tighter.

'Not at all.' Rei thought in his mind.

•••

REI watched Khein sleeping the whole time. Seeing Khein's sleeping face up close felt so unreal for him. He dreamt of this a hundred times. He wished for this to happen. He always wanted to stay by Khein's side. Rei smiled and placed a long folded handkerchief on Khein's eyes. Khein looked like he got a blindfold on his eyes while sleeping.

"Please stop seeing bad things. Please stop remembering painful memories because of me. Please look at the me now." Rei whispered and kissed Khein on the forehead.

"Please dream of me" Rei said with a smile. The psycho guy went back to his futon to sleep. Sleeping on the floor is a hundred times better than enduring the pain because of his physical needs.

Not long enough, Rei finally closed his eyes and fell asleep. He hoped to meet Khein in his dream.

.

.

.

Khein's hand moved and removed the blindfold that Rei placed on his eyes. His heart was thumping. He could hear his heart trying to jump out off his chest as he smiled.

'How could I even dream of you when I can't even sleep because of you.' Khein thought as he clenched his chest with his hand. He was holding the handkerchief and stared at it for a long time.

"How lame..." Khein frowned. He bit his bottom lip as he forced himself to stop smiling.

"...yet so sweet." Khein continued and kissed the cloth.

Rei was sleeping soundly without having a clue that the rebel guy on the bed was squeezing his eyes shut. Forcing himself to sleep and trying his best not to act strange.

'I shouldn't have agreed to let him stay! Now I'm having trouble about not being able to fall asleep!' Khein shouted in his mind.

The rebel guy knew that he is going to have big eyebugs for the next day. And for the first time, it wouldn't because he stayed up late to play games but because of Rei.