Stay 1

Ravi wakes up from sleep sweaty and exhausted. He massaged his forehead and took a breath realizing that he still smelled the chocolate again, Ravi pulled the edge of the blanket to his nose. He inhaled deeply as if that was his focus on breathing. Ravi thought that what happened earlier was a flower bed, but when he sniffed the blanket in his hand again, Ravi knew that everything that happened was real.

"Enjoying something, eh?" Ravi was silently tensed as if he was caught doing something he did.

Ravi's cheeks felt warm to find Daniel caught him kissing the blanket unnaturally. He immediately removed the blanket from his hand as if nothing had happened. Ravi doesn't know what's wrong with him acting like this. It sounded more absurd to Ravi, he couldn't possibly inhale the scent emanating from another man like this.

"He didn't do anything, did he, to Ravi?" asked Daniel which Ravi understood who his brother meant.

Ravi sighed then shook his head slightly, he pushed the blanket away from his body. Ravi suddenly felt worried about what happened after he lost his consciousness at that time. Whereas previously Ravi was fine and it was unlikely that he would suddenly faint at that time. "Where's Raymond, Daniel?"

Daniel looked at Ravi with narrowed eyes, his brother's suspicious gaze always lingered in this condition. He was propped up on one of his legs with his arms folded in front of his chest. "I've kept him in the barn for a while. Ravi, he's not human. He could be plotting evil. We don't know what he came here for. How can you believe that?"

"I know. But somehow I believe he wouldn't do anything bad." Ravi looked at Daniel reassuringly. For a moment silence enveloped them, but Ravi decided to get up to walk to the doorway.

"Still, Ravi had only met him less than three hours, and immediately trusted the stranger. I can't even call him a person, with his black wings. Just feeling trust can't be the benchmark and feel safe, Ravi. He's a man who suddenly walked into your room naked, I don't know what would have happened if I wasn't there."

"Daniel, if Raymond wanted to be mean. He could have done it when I walked into the room and closed the door at once, but he didn't," said Ravi reassuring Daniel once again in a gentle tone. "And I believe because my heart and mind say so. That he is not a bad person."

Daniel took a deep breath and shook his head slightly. "I don't feel that way. Trusting someone isn't that simple, Ravi." Daniel then showed his finger with the bandage, then again said, "Look, Ravi. The fur is very sharp when I try to touch it."

Ravi was taken aback by Daniel's last sentence, he shook his head slightly and tucked his hair behind his ear. "No, the fur is very fine. I touched the feather that fell on the floor."

"No way. I did too." Ravi knew Daniel wasn't lying but the fur was so soft that Ravi wanted to touch it directly. "Listen, Ravi, he's a foreigner and he's not human like us. We don't know what he came here for and why he's suddenly in your room without a balcony? We can't just trust strangers."

Daniel said the same thing again to Ravi and it didn't make the decision he would take later would change. "I know Raymond isn't a bad person, Daniel."

"Ravi, we never know what a person's head is and what he might be planning. It's not just you that I'm worried about getting into danger, but also mom, dad, and myself," said Daniel, holding Ravi's shoulder gently. Ravi was silent for a while thinking about it, he knew that he didn't know what Raymond was like before he came here and also the risks his family could take. However, Ravi also couldn't ignore his heart saying that everything would be fine with Raymond's arrival.

Ravi had to stop this conversation so he could get to Raymond sooner and ask the question he'd been wanting to ask since his arrival. "Daniel, I want to see Raymond first and I'll find out."

"As father and mother, you are too quick to believe," Daniel muttered resignedly as Arghi still insisted on meeting the stranger. "He kept crying loudly, that's why I had to lock him up in the barn. If anything happened, Ravi had to scream right away."

Ravi snorted at Daniel's last sentence telling him to scream like a girl, but he nodded in the end. He also held back the question of why Raymond was crying.

However, he felt a bit of discomfort hearing that Daniel locked Raymond in the warehouse, before he came out of his room, Daniel spoke again. "Mom and dad are going to buy him something he can wear."

For some reason, Ravi's chest then warmed after knowing that his father and mother also trusted Raymond instead of kicking him out without talking to Ravi first, it made him relieved. Although Ravi realized and felt strange about him he was quick to admit and trust Raymond just like that through his heart and feelings.

However, he was sure that Raymond's arrival would not be just as Raymond himself had told Ravi. There must be something more pressing going on in that man's life.

***

Ravi knocked on the barn door and he didn't expect Daniel to lock it because Ravi thought if Daniel locked Raymond in the barn then Daniel would lock it. There was no answer from within there was only silence as he slowly opened the door slightly to find a dim yellow glow from an old light bulb, shining enough for him to know where Raymond was. Ravi stepped further inside leaving the door open behind him.

In a corner of the empty room, Raymond was curled up on his knees not knowing the existence of Ravi around him. He was now wearing one of Daniel's T-shirts which was loose on Raymond's body.

Ravi feels sorry for him, it can't be denied when Ravi sees Raymond without the clothes attached to his body he can see many scars across his half-thin body, and can't make Ravi just ignore him.

Don't know how old Raymond is, he's probably having a little 'distraction' and Ravi winces about his thoughts just now which he finds too harsh. For some reason, it wasn't in Ravi's mind to kick him out the first time he saw Raymond.

Ravi chose to sit next to Raymond, he didn't say anything. When Raymond had recognized Ravi's presence, he looked up and turned, a smile quickly forming on his lips.

"Ravi?"

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