TWENTY-NINE
Luis looked the young man up and down, he had obviously lost a lot of blood and yet was able to defend himself so thoroughly... impressive.
Luis then looked at what he was so desperately protecting...whom.
Luis walked closer and Amane took a step back then Luis said,"Relax, if I wanted you dead, I would have shot you by now."
Before Amane could speak, Luis shot a bullet through the window, hitting a sniper on the nearest building.
Amane turned back as Luis had somehow appeared right next to him, and caressed Scarlet Sapphira's cheek, till her hands lost their grip and fell.
The two men felt a strong sense of urgency then Luis said Amane should keep up as he snatched Scarlet Sapphira and sprinted down the stairs, leaving Amane far behind.
Amane took a deep breath, then jumped the entire staircase through the gap and landed on the floor with a safety roll, a second after Luis.
Luis got in his car and told him also to get in, then hit the gas.
Despite feeling pale and weak, Amane was much more worried about Scarlet Sapphira's safety than his own.
He caressed her soft cheek, and brushed some orange coloured hair from it, hoping she'd wake up soon.
They got to the nearest hospital and admitted Scarlet Sapphira and Amane.
The young and foolish man didn't want to go, so that was exactly why Luis forced him in a different room, he still didn't trust him.
After a few hours, it was said that they both needed a blood transfusion and Scarlet Sapphira had several samples of her blood type in the blood bank, Amane wasn't so fortunate though, being a rare O positive, he was in a pickle, despite that, he was more worried about Scarlet Sapphira than about himself.
"Stop being such a suck up..."Luis said,"... Scarlet Sapphira's in great hands and will be fine, you on the other hand, wouldn't unless you get that needed blood."
"Sir, with all due respect, I can't take this from you."
"What? You want me to take it back?"Luis asked.
Amane knew immediately there was no talking to this guy.
Scarlet Sapphira's eyes fluttered open when she felt a hand on hers and saw him; Luis.
She could barely get up as she was still recovering.
She immediately asked with parched lips,"Wh... where's Amane?"
Sarcastically, Luis said,"You're welcome."
"I'm sorry, I just wanted to know if he's okay."
"What I want YOU to do is to lie down and rest, pretty boy will be fine."
Scarlet Sapphira looked away, ashamed ad Luis asked what was wrong, as she spoke,"He doesn't need me anymore..."
"Why not?"
"They...they raped me..."
"Really?!"He asked,"Scarlet Sapphira...stop being such a suck up, god!"
"What?"
"Tell me something real quick, how many times exactly has he had s*x with someone else, men and women alike and you after all your years of virginity have been defiled FORCEFULLY and expect him to leave you, what do you expect me to say? Boo hoo, I'm new at this and full of rue gratis? Suck it up, it isn't the end of the world."
"You aren't very good at making people feel better uncle."
"Never said I was trying to, listen, if this boy walks out that door saying he doesn't want to be with you because you were raped, then, no maybe necessary, but he's a big fat jerkyl worse than Steve Urkel and in short, is NOT THE GUY for you, got it?"
"But I could never forget him if he left."
"Scarlet Sapphira, grow up, you have many years and heartbreaks ahead of you... you can come in now."
"Amane!"She yelled.
"Your uncle is really mean."He said.
All of a sudden, she gained the strength to sit up and hug and kiss him and Luis gagged, till they both said he should get out.
He shrugged and said,"Sure, it's not like I just saved both your lives after tirelessly..."
"Uncle Luis...leave."
"Sheesh."
He walked out and closed the door behind him and smirked, she was one of the lucky ones...
***
Sitting with Amane as he gently caressed her hair, the door was opened and Luis came in with every get well soon gift taxa imaginable and dumped them beside both Scarlet Sapphira and Amane, took out a bunch of cards and began reading,"Good afternoon, young ones...I wish to present to you...this mountain of gifts I selected and bought myself...and use them in your own sinister shenanigans..."
"Why are you reading to us?"Amane asked,"...you didn't need to before."
"I do it when I don't want to be mean now shush,~clears throat~I know you do not like... hospital food due to the smell of... alcohol and old people, so I...got you some low sodium ramen noodles, assorted varieties of sushi and tempura and for...my little Tabby cat, waakye alongside a coy fish salad, durum- wheat semolina variety spaghetti I found down town, with fried beef to the side...your favorites, yay...now, I've gotta go puke, all this sweetness is killing my insides."
"Uncle Luis..."
"What?"
Scarlet Sapphira walked to him and gave him a hug then said,"I love you...and call me Scarlet."
She heard him sniff and looked at him as he began shedding tears, then asked,"Are you okay, Uncle Luis?"
"Yes, I'm fi...ha...hine! Don't look at me Lucille!"
He fled the premises and Scarlet Sapphira shrugged off the Freudian slip and sat down on Amane's chest again, as he fed her the waakye...
Luis made a phone call to none other than Huang...
"I need your help..."
"Twenty six hours, forty two minutes and twelve seconds...I thought you'd last longer personally..."Huang said.
"Huang, I'm not in the mood, there's a dangerous man on the loose, the top dog of this entire rig and he may be holding someone hostage according to what I've heard."
"So what do you want me to do?"Huang asked with a smug grin.
"... you're a cop, I want you to come by and clean up after me, so do your job."
He heard Huang begin to laugh on the other side of the line, before he began counting again and Luis hung up, weirdo...
Luis went to Amane then asked if he could speak with him in private.
"You said your father claimed he was going to Ethiopia, right?"
"Yes, but he could be going anywhere..."
"No he couldn't, think pea brain, there's gotta be a place in there, some place which is available and holds sentimental value to both your parents..."
"...where they met..."