Mistaken Trauma

Music recommendation on loop: Pensar en Ti- Ganges, Natalia Lacunza

Tynan stood up and straightened himself before staring at her. She seemed a bit taken aback by his presence but still kept looking at him like she was processing something.

"Melina...H-how-" he halted the words when he saw her struggle to push herself up a little. Driven by emotions as he doubted he was even thinking straight, he immediately drew closer to her in an attempt to help her sit up.

However, before he could touch her, she abruptly slumped back on the mattress with her head still up, letting out a whimper like someone who was quelling their pain.

"Melina!" his voice also came out as a whisper as he quickly held her head up which was yet to hit the edge of the metallic bar of the bed from her continuous exertion to sit upward.

"Rest your head, Melina. You're not strong enough for that yet," Tynan urged the toiling girl as he firmly but carefully propelled her head back on the cushion that spread behind her.

Melina stared at him in a daze, trying to process what was going on but still listened to him and slackened her head she had kept stiff when he pushed it down, letting it sprawl on the cushion in a relaxed form.

Nevertheless, she said nothing and simply kept looking around, darting her eyes from one direction to the other in confusion before the pair of eyes finally settled on Tynan.

"Tynan?" she called again in an almost inaudible voice as if she was trying to confirm that he was really present there with her. Her brows creased a little and she blinked her eyes multiple times.

Tynan, however, was short of words. His mouth opened to say something but nothing came out and his words only appeared jumbled.

"I-I was..." he tried to think of an explanation as to why he was even here. Wasn't that what she was probably trying to ask him, calling his name like that?

'Why was he even here?!' he began to scold himself when he heard her speak.

"Where...am I?" The lines between her forehead deepened as she pried him with her gaze for an answer.

"You are in the infirmary, Melina. You got hurt so stop straining your head and rest or you might get hurt again," Tynan summoned the courage to speak without breaking as he shut Melina a pleasant smile to cool her down. And it worked.

As if she was eventually coming back to her senses, her heart skipped a beat when Tynan smiled so kindly at her.

Was she dreaming again? She asked herself.

She attempted to speak again but choked and coughed dryly.

Water...she needed water.

Tynan immediately understood and lifted himself from where he crouched, ready to flit out of the room to get water for her when he suddenly noticed a desk with an ornate design. On it was a two orange-coloured medium-sized jug along with a golden-painted goblet placed beside it. One such goblet he had never got the opportunity to hold in his life, talkless of drink from it.

He blinked at it with surprise, subconsciously moving backwards. It even had a tray filled with refreshments on it, and not just any refreshments but the type that only a high-ranked person, one of impressive position ate from.

'Indeed, this room was resolutely not for who was staying in it at the moment!' Tynan pointed out in his head. Had the prince perhaps been intoxicated when he brought her here? Because only alcoholic wine could do such wonders in this life.

"Oua! Eu! Uff!" Melina's hoarse cough snapped Tynan back to reality as he rushed over to where the desk was.

He raised one of the jugs which he confirmed was water before he picked up the goblet that felt weird to his touch, then he poured the water into it gently till it reached the brim of the goblet.

He dropped the jug back carefully and carried the goblet like it was a molten treasure which could slip from his hand any moment...when in truth, it was just like every other drinkware.

Since he hadn't held one before, he was a bit dramatic about it.

As he reached the bed, he slightly pulled Melina's head up before bringing the goblet close to her lips and she hastily drew her hand to collect the goblet from him before she gulped its content whole, some of it sliding down her jaw and trailing down to her neck in tortoise's pace. Something that didn't go unnoticed by Tynan but he swallowed and tore his gaze away from it.

She breathed out in relief when she pulled the cup away from her lips, finally feeling refreshed again, and then she drooped her head back on the cushion.

As Tynan went back to drop the goblet while trying to arrange everything on the desk the way he saw it so he wouldn't get himself in trouble, a frown appeared on Melina's face and it deepened further like she was recalling something.

Her back...and her head...her clothes too.

Displeasure was etched over her beautiful face as pieces of something began to emerge gradually and conjoined themselves together as a memory.

Although the memory seemed blurred at first, segments of it started to clear in her mind, shooting alarm around her. She glanced around again trying to grasp something as she laid on the delicate mattress.

When Tynan had dropped the goblet and strode back to her side, he grew startled when she suddenly forced herself to sit up in fright, looking horrified.

"The library..." her voice rasp as she spoke. "What happened at the library?!" she raised the small quilt that had been used to cover her lightly, throwing it away completely in panic and looking all around her body like she was looking for something.

Tension sufficed the air in the room as Tynan slowly realized she may have recollected what happened to her earlier. In an attempt to calm her down, he came close to her and brought his hands forward to hold her hands which were slapping mindlessly in the air with anxiety. Instead, he got slapped on his bandaged wrists which he had cut before, causing him to wince in pain.

"What d-did he do to me?! My body!" she scratched her body itchily in disgust as she kept saying incoherent things, her voice now getting louder as if she was about to shriek.

Tynan noticed her eyes turn cloudy before a tear pooled down from it, followed by another and another and it kept going until she was crying loudly.

He looked at the entrance door that was still closed. It was a transparent door so he could see through that no one was coming... 'for now' he told himself.

They were probably not alerted by her cries yet and if they came here to find him inside her room, he would be in grave trouble since it was not customary to entertain any servants being intimate with each other as it was a taboo. If caught, one could be beheaded or severely punished. Only elites had the liberty to get away with such and he wasn't one.

Not to forget, this one had been ordered by the prince to be kept safe and secure. If he was seen here, his intentions would be greatly misunderstood.

He looked at the girl who kept screaming like she would go berserk.

There was no way he could leave her in this deplorable condition and run out of the room for her to bask in her sorrow of being assaulted. He would be a hypocrite if he did that because why was he even here in the first place? Wasn't it to comfort her and make sure she was okay?

Ignoring the forthright pain that coursed through his wrists, he jerked to her again and tried to calm her down by covering her mouth but she was indignant.

"No! No! My body!" she cried out, pushing his hands from her mouth in annoyance and when Tynan held her arms shaking them, she turned to him in her dishevelled state,

"Tynan, he...my body. He touched my body. He..." she tried to explain to Tynan in tears but her voice cracked as she was left with little energy from the previous day. It was only the little water she drank that managed to strengthen her a bit and now, it seemed she had used up the energy it gave her.

"Calm down, Melina. Your voice is loud!" he said in a hushed tone as he too was beginning to panic, looking behind him constantly to make sure no one was coming.

Melina didn't know exactly what happened after she felt faint but she did not recall Sir Julian stopping in his devious acts and everything had turned dark for her. Now that she had woken up, she immediately thought that he had succeeded and done the deed to her, making her repulse and want to throw up.

She couldn't believe that she had given up so easily! How did she not fight for a bit longer? And now her dignity was gone! Her little priority which was the only thing she had left of her self-respect was gone! How could she not panic?

Wasn't it enough degradation serving as a maid and being flogged every day like an animal? Now this...Oh, Lord...

Her thoughts were infiltrating her senses. Was she some sort of animal that these high-ranked people played with for fun?! She was human too!

Tears streamed profusely from her eyes, her face wet from the hot tears that she didn't notice when Tynan pulled her closer to his warmth.

She tried to open her mouth again but it was too dry and she began coughing instead. She stared at Tynan with pleading eyes, not wanting to believe it.

"Sir Julian...H-he took it a-w-" her voice was hitched from the earlier shouting and cries. "He took my only gift a-"

She didn't finish her statement as Tynan suddenly pulled her into his embrace, his hands wrapped tightly around her small frame as he rested his neck on her head, muffling her cries.

He would be lying if he said her behaviour didn't startle him at first but he knew deep down how hurtful it was to lose one's pride forcefully as a woman- one who was looked down on for that matter.

No matter how endearing the other maids who may have gone through this tried to sugarcoat it, this was indeed the reaction that fitted it most.

Melina's perturbance right now was the definition of the pain. It even hurt more when they were supposed to have no say in it and simply accept it like it was nothing when in truth, it meant everything.

He wrapped her even closer in his body before he brought one hand up to caress her hair, feeling her tiny hands on his chest and her cries that now turned into tiny sobs.

"It's okay... It's okay... you'll be fine, I promise," he assured as he kept caressing her red hair, relaxing when he noticed her barriers melting under his warm clasp like she had given up.

He breathed a sigh of ease as relief flushed on his face, realizing he had just calmed this troublemaker of a woman down.

'How brutal it would be for him if she kept yelling...' he thought as he swung his head to look at the still-close door.

Despite her irritation from being touched against her will, Melina could still tell when an embrace meant well and Tynan's touch was nothing like the repulse and revulsion she felt from Sir Julian's some hours ago.

It was filled with comfort even though he, himself was hurting. His wrist's bandage tied around it had turned slightly bloody from the slap she gave it earlier but he didn't mind and just focused on calming her first.