Kirisu had a lot of things to tell Haji, starting from Ricardo’s arrest to the exposé of his myriad of cris. With everything brought to light, Haji also beca popular overnight. His face was plastered all over the news as soone who fought against the wanted criminal just to save his girlfriend. Since it wasn’t Haji nor gumi who testified about what transpired, the story got slightly mixed. This was thanks to the three debt collectors who agreed to testify and pay for their cris. They’d be facing charges of harassnt, but other than that, they were fine since they didn’t partake in any shady business. Well, they’re also facing charges of willful negligence since they were essentially accessories to Ricardo’s cri.
"So that’s what happened. How long was I out?" Haji asked. "And how’s gumi? Is she doing all right?"
"You’ve been out for half a day. And yes, she’s doing all right, thanks to you." Kirisu responded. She didn’t dilly-dally with answering Haji’s question so he would rest easy.
"In any case, make sure you get so rest. You’ll be very busy from here on out, Haji." Kirisu advised before turning around. As she headed towards the door, she noticed that gumi and her parents were walking toward Haji’s room. She smiled. "Looks like you’ve got so important visitors."
"Ehh?" Haji turned around before Kirisu ushered the family in. Because of the incident, he was too ashad to face gumi’s parents. And before he realized what he was doing, he started breathing slowly, pretending to be asleep— as if that would work when Kirisu knew that he was just pretending.
"Looks like he’s still sleeping. We should head back and let him rest." Koji spoke as Kirisu greeted the three of them. With a bow, his family greeted back before settling in in Haji’s room. He spoke of going back to gumi’s room but their actions spoke otherwise.
’What are they doing here?! Why aren’t they going back?!’ Haji slightly panicked, but he still kept his breathing as slow as possible. Sohow, his hands and ribs still throb in pain, making it harder for him to not flinch every ti he breathed.
"Are you going to stay here?" Kikuchi Saori asked. The reason why they went to Haji’s room in the first place was that gumi insisted on seeing him. Now that they’ve confird that Haji wasn’t in any critical condition, they felt a little bit relieved.
Because of the literal pain in his chest, Haji had no choice but to turn around and stop pretending that he was asleep. As his breathing returned to normal, Haji awkwardly looked at gumi. He didn’t know how to react after everything that’s happened.
In response, gumi flinched and turned away from him, playing with her hair as her face turned bright red. As it turned out, the suspension bridge effect was true, and she was able to sort out her feelings due to the incident. Then again, she’d treated Haji as a friend, even though she started liking him. That’s why right now, she had no idea how to react. There was always the choice of staying in character, but doing so would get her nowhere.
"Haji, you’re awake. We were just talking about you." Koji extended his hand for a handshake, to which Haji shook his hand in return. "Unfortunately, we have to leave for a mont and handle so things. gumi will fill you in on the details of the incident. I hope you won’t be surprised."
Upon saying that, Koji and Saori stood up and bowed toward the two. They also greeted Kirisu on their way out, slowly closing the door to give Haji and gumi so privacy.
For a couple of minutes, Haji and gumi just sat there in silence, they had no idea what to say. Then again, after everything that had happened, it was hard to put everything into words. Furthermore, gumi had affird that she had feelings for Haji, but there was no way she’d tell him that. Besides, she had been a bit aggressive towards Haji at school and he probably won’t believe her change of heart.
"Are you all right?" Haji was the first one to ask. Even though he was in a worse state than her, he was still worried that gumi might have suffered so injuries that he didn’t know. When he arrived at the abandoned storage as soon as he could, he knew that gumi had been there for quite so ti. No one stopped Ricardo from harming her while she was there.
With a silent nod, gumi turned away before she asked back. "Are you o-okay?" She stamred as her mind recalled the mont when all hope was lost for her. She started tearing up but she didn’t want to show her weak side.
Haji warmly smiled, hiding the shaful feeling in his heart since he couldn’t protect gumi. He should’ve been able to get her out of there before the others got her— no, he should’ve been able to sense the trouble and get gumi out of the way. But no, the mont he realized sothing was wrong, they were already in the middle of it.
So much for being a bodyguard.
"I’m sorry, gumi," Haji mumbled as he clenched his fist. "I’m not fit to stay by your side." He was referring to being a bodyguard, but gumi thought that he was being overdramatic.
"What are you talking about? You saved ... you know..." gumi trailed off. She had no idea why Haji was beating himself up.
"In the first place, I was the one who got you in trouble... if it weren’t for ... I’m sorry." Haji turned away. "I- I can’t face your parents after what happened. I’ll quit being your bodyguard... and I’m going to look for another job. I had one job, and that is to keep you safe, I didn’t follow through with my duties."
gumi heaved a sigh before she stomped her foot. Mustering all her courage, she stood up and hugged Haji. Since Haji was on the bed, the hug caused his head to sink into gumi’s bosom.
Haji’s eyes widened, but he tried not to act as surprised.
"Take your ti, I’ll be waiting... besides, I was going to ask you to quit being my bodyguard anyways." gumi smiled, much to Haji’s surprise.
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