Chapter 11

It's been a week now but that guy has not shown up at all.. Noel thought to himself while he was walking down the street. The daylight was bright and he was off work but his mind could not stop pondering over the fact that Jade had not been to the bar all week. News had spread about the Jade Devil and Silvester's fight and it only caused him to be even more curious. Not a single moment didn't pass that he couldn't help but wonder if something bad happened.

"Gah! It's not my problem!" Noel shouted out loud as he tried to erase the thought from his mind. He was not that close to Jade and he did not even know so much as the man's real name. He only served him in a bar on a regular basis so why should he care if the man was injured somewhere?

Entering his apartment building with a bag of groceries in hand from a local store he sighed to himself. Opening his eyes wide he dropped the bag on the floor with a thud. All over the floor the contents of the bag spilled out and a few oranges rolls across the floor while one bumped into the foot of Jade.

Ah.. I might have jinxed myself.. Noel thought to himself as his eyes were locked on Jade. The man was hunched over against the wall of mailboxes with his fist balls up while a piece of crumpled mail was tightly grasp in it. It almost seemed like he did not notice Noel or the orange that bumped into his foot at all. His body was shaking slightly where he stood as if he was upset about something.

"Ah.. I should probably.." Noel started to quickly pick up his things so that he could head towards his room. As curious as he was about whether or not the man was still alive he still did not feel comfortable being near him. It was a wonder to him why he was in the same building to begin with so he thought if he hurried to his room he could get out of this situation as soon as possible.

As he leaned down to pick up the orange that was next to Jade's foot the man shifted slightly. Noel's gaze turned up towards the man and their eyes locked. The red hue in the whites of the jade eyes seemed to have worsened since the last time Noel had seen him. It looked as though the man had not slept in days. There was no sign of the man saying anything to Noel so he quickly pulled himself back with his orange in his hand.

"Ah! Have a good day!" Noel blurted out in a tone that seemed to shake. He could not steady his voice because no matter how many times he met Jade at the bar the man still scared him.

A slight scoff came from Jade as if something about Noel's words upset him. Jade just stood there still as a statue until he leaned forward more until his forehead was touching the mail boxes.

Someone help me! Noel shouted in his head at the fact that he did not know what to do in this situation.

After a few moments the elevator opened and Noel darted into it to head towards his floor. Little to his expectation Jade finally stood up straighter and got into it as well. The door closed behind him an locked them both inside of it as it started to ascend higher. Jade never did push a button for a floor so Noel was tempted to ask him about it but felt too uncomfortable to bring up the question so he left it alone.

"Are you alright?" Noel mustered up all the courage he could to ask while glancing over slightly in Jade's direction. He could see the man bracing his weight on the wall of the elevator as they moved. It almost seemed as though he was off balance and struggling to stand.

"I'm fine." Jade's eyes glared over at Noel as if he felt insulted at the thought of being asked if he was alright. There was a rage behind his gaze that caused Noel to shudder where he stood.

"Sorry!" Noel couldn't help but to reflexively blurt out that he was sorry for asking. After he apologized though a slight puzzled expression seemed to come from Jade as if he had no idea why the man was apologizing to begin with.

I don't know what you want from me! Noel panicked internally from the situation he was in. He could not understand what Jade wanted him to say. He was only trying to be polite towards the man and find out if he didn't feel well.

After a while the elevator started to open and Noel quickly removed himself from it to head towards his room. Out of the corner of Noel's eyes he could see Jade making his way towards the same door that the man from that night had entered before rushing out of it in a hurry. The thought crept to his mind that maybe that man was rushing out that night to go find Jade from what he heard happened on the news to Jade. The more he thought about it the more he found he felt slightly bothered in a way that he did not understand himself.

"I heard about what happened.. Are you sure you're-" Noel made an attempt one more time to find out if Jade was alright but the second he started to mention what happened Jade punched his fist against the wall beside his door.

"I'm fine!" Jade shouted out as his body began to tremble from head to toe. The mail he was once holding tightly in his hand fell to the floor as the man began to fall at the same time as he lost consciousness.

"Jade!" Noel shouted at the sight as he dropped his bag to the floor and rushed over. His hand quickly went to check that Jade was still breathing before checking his forehead. "Fine my ass! You're burning up!"

Noel glanced at Jade's door that was still shut and pondered what to do. He had no idea what the man's code was to enter the room so it was not like he could open the door and throw him inside. The more he thought about it the more he could only think of a temporary solution to bring Jade into his own room until he woke up.