2 Chapter Two: The Beginning

The customers have mostly left the premise. Believably it was because their break was ending, and each of them had to return to their respective work place. Ryohei needed to bring Yuki to the hospital for thorough examination due to the incident happened that morning. The manager put Yuki to settle down at the reading zone while Ryohei had to cover the shift, altering the original plan to immediately bring Yuki to the hospital.

Yuki was the one asking Ryohei to prioritize his work. He promised to wait for the latter until the packed customers decreased at least. Ryohei's guilt piled up, but he still tried hard to cover it by straight tone.

"Are you okay? Do you feel hurt somewhere?" Ryohei finally could breathe in relax and sat beside the puzzled Yuki. "I'm sorry for letting you alone here."

It was Ryohei's first time to witness Yuki's small yet sweet smile. Yuki's eye smile added on the prettiness, causing Ryohei to slightly experience heart throb. Ryohei eventually faced away, refusing to let Yuki sensing his pounding heart even though Yuki was a blind man. The gap between their seats luckily helped Ryohei from exposing his embarrassment.

"I'm totally fine here. You surely worry too much. I'm okay," said Yuki, looking affront yet Ryohei knew Yuki was talking to him.

Ryohei blinked as he felt his eyes were wet. Due to too much heart throbbing, he had the urge to cry. He glanced at the still-smiling Yuki, and the entire countenance. After nearly a minute of staring intensely, he realized Yuki was a pretty boy. Judging physically, he could guess Yuki was younger than him. Or probably he was at the same age as the blind.

"Say, Yuki." The surrounding was paradoxically quiet, "Do you have somewhere else to go before I send you home?"

Crap! Ryohei ogled at no one. Why was he asking for suggestions? From Yuki's expression, Ryohei could interprete his bewilderment. It was out of his mind plan, and Ryohei was not the type to wander around before going home. However, he could not retreat the words.

"Not really. I don't have my white cane," Yuki's smile faded a little, portraying his upset.

Ryohei's sight landed on Yuki's hand grasping nothing in the air. Yuki was surely depending on his white cane, and losing it indirectly disabled him from walking normally. Ryohei pursed his lips, containing himself from speaking his heart out.

However, the limbs disobeyed him.

Out of the blue, Ryohei caught Yuki's hand from gesturing in the air. Even Yuki seemed stunned by the action. Ryohei could hear soft voice mocking at himself in his head. Since he has already grabbed the hand, he dragged it to Yuki's other hand and gently patted them together. Yuki was not facing towards him, but Ryohei could witness how deep Yuki furrowed upon the deed.

"For today, let me be your cane."

It sounded cringe enough, but Ryohei could not help much unless willingly offered himself as Yuki's one day eyes. He still could not disclose whether Yuki could detect his tease earlier, hence he was going to redeem his fault by treating Yuki nicely. Yuki was basically innocent - He might get panicked for losing his 'eyes'. That could be why he drastically walked forward without considering the busy road.

"My house is quite far from here. You can leave me at the hospital," Yuki attempted on rejecting.

From the tone, there was a slight hesitation which Yuki refused to let Ryohei figuring it out. However, Ryohei could say Yuki was terrible at lying. It was a big fat lie if Ryohei was unable to spot the anxiety on Yuki's face. He must be because he has lost his sensor. Ryohei did not wait any longer - He knelt down in front of Yuki and led Yuki's hand on his shoulder.

"Just give me the name of place. I will be your navigator," said Ryohei and patted Yuki's hand on his shoulder. "Trust me. I won't bring you anywhere dangerous."

Yuki was speechless and clueless to respond to Ryohei's bravery, but then he curved a heart warming smile. Ryohei definitely saw that and ducked his head, smiling along in shyness. He never thought he would call a man 'pretty'. Yuki was an exception though.

They left Niji Bookstore and hailed a taxi. They went to the hospital Yuki claimed as the most common one. Ryohei did not comment much as to him it would be better if they went to Yuki's regular.

"We've arrived, safe and sound."

Ryohei assisted Yuki to enter the hospital. Smell of medical tools and medicine gushed into the nostrils. Yuki nodded, acknowledging Ryohei's intention. He really brought him to a hospital.

"I'm sorry for burdening you."

The examination went on pretty well. Fortunately Yuki did not injure himself anywhere. The doctor even provided him new white cane as a replacement to the missing one.

"You weren't burdening me. I was one of the witness. There's no way I will abandon you, especially after knowing that you're blind."

There was quite an interval before Yuki replied, "Then did you do all these due to sympathy?"

"Surely not. I did voluntarily."

Ryohei pressed the buttons in the elevator, transporting them down from the upper to ground floor. Ryohei still assisted Yuki until they existed the elevator.

"Let's test the white cane, shall we?"

Yuki's priceless expression unconsciously became lovable to Ryohei. He liked it when Yuki seemed confused and flipped to cheerful side of him in an instant. Yuki's prettiness might be the main reason of the attraction, but the mood Yuki has indirectly kicked off enthralled Ryohei.

"I've already walked with a white cane before," Yuki grinned while looking away from Ryohei's focused stares on him. "It's not a new thing to me."

"Why not? If there's anything wrong, we could straight refer to the doctor," Ryohei insisted.

Yuki gulped at Ryohei's spirit. Ryohei was shockingly honest. After he unfolded his white cane, Yuki demonstrated on how he walked with the help of white cane. The pace was not as fast as normal human, but he was cautiously waddled to restrain himself from tripping his feet and falling.

"The white can is as good as my old one," Yuki faced towards the direction he predicted Ryohei was standing at. "Thank you very much for accompanying me."

Ryohei could feel his flushed face transformed the colour of his countenance. He frowned. 'Just what has happened to me?'