My Luna is a Witch

13

Chapter 13

Scarlet felt a few drops of water hitting her face, her eyes scrunched before opening them slowly. It took several seconds to get comfortable with the room's lighting before she opened them fully. Her eyes met Xavier’s, who was looking at her, his brows frowned, his face scrunched up in confusion and worry. His lips moved but Scarlet was unable to interpret his words. Her body was supported on his lap, one hand under her head and the other tapping her cheek gently, trying to get her eyes open.

“Scarlet? Open your eyes damn it,” He tapped her cheek. Scarlet blinked twice before she felt her eyelids getting heavy again and, before she could close them fully, Xavier tapped on her cheek again to make her look at him.

“Look at me—” He told her in a worried tone. “ —Don’t get all unconscious on me.” He said with urgency in his tone.

Scarlet’s head was spinning and she was finally able to interpret Xavier’s words. She put her hand on her forehead and massaged it gently.

“I think I’m going to throw up,” she said.

Xavier got up immediately from the couch with Scarlet in his hold, he walked them to the bathroom and placed Scarlet gently near the toilet seat.

“This is going to be ugly so you better leave—” She said and took deep breaths, her head was still spinning and she badly wanted to throw up.

“It’s fine. I’ll stay. Who knows you get all faint in here,” Xavier said in a stern tone, but Scarlet was too messy in her head to look back and pass him a sassy reply. Scarlet's eyes got watery, her esophagus burned when she unloaded the contents of her stomach into the toilet.

She felt a warm hand caressing her back, her hair was gathered and put away from her face. She felt embarrassed and humiliated, but the worst part was her pain. She felt like she died, came back to life, and died once again.

Her head was still a little hazy when she got up with Xavier's assistance. He walked her to the sink where she washed her face, the freshwater slapping her face helped her get back to her senses— she rinsed her mouth with the mouthwash. All this time, Xavier was standing behind her, watching and observing her with curious eyes.

After she was done, he tried to help her walk but Scarlet told her that she was fine and this was not necessary. She sat on the couch, her head laid back on the headrest, eyes closed. She was taking slow rhythmic breathing.

Xavier got her a cup of water and she took it. She drank huge gulps of water before giving the cup back to him.

“You should go to your room and get some rest. I’ll go and get something lighter for you to eat,” Xavier said in a gentle voice that Scarlet was not used to hearing, so she asked him.

“Why are you doing this?” She questioned.

Xavier stood still, and the cup of water was still in his hand, a displeased look took over his face, “What do you mean by why I am doing this? You’re sick," he said as a matter of fact.

Scarlet’s eyes observed him for a while, “I am, but why are you taking the initiative to take care of me? Isn’t watching me all miserable your favorite hobby?” She asked.

Xavier scoffed and went into the kitchen to get a refill, “For a person who threw up three times in under five minutes, you’re quite energetic,” he came back with a painkiller and a refilled cup of water.

He handed it to her, “And FYI, this is not the first time I have been taking care of you, and not once did you ever thank me,” he uttered.

Scarlet popped the pill in her mouth, her face scrunched at the taste of the pill before she gulped it down with water. She chuckled at what Xavier just said, “Really? When was the last time you remember taking care of me when I was sick? I can't recall,” She said and put the cup on the side table.

Xavier scoffed and looked away, “Of course, you don’t,” he said, picking up the cup, and walking into the kitchen to put it into the sink.

“I’m serious. I don’t remember. How many times and when?” She asked with urgency in her tone.

Xavier walked back into the living room, took the seat in front of her, and said, “I see that you have regained your energy a bit. I guess I can help you jog your memory.” He said.

“The first time was when we were five years old. I was training and you were playing on the field when suddenly you fainted— now when I think about it, you have fainted a lot in the last 17 years. What’s wrong with you?” he asked her, a horizontal line forming on his forehead.

“Iron deficiency, I guess. Continue,” she said.

“Hilmand and I brought you home, my home, because your parents were out of town and you were staying with us at that time. Hilmand brought the medicines and decided to stay with us till my parents returned.” Xavier laid back on the couch.

“So, Hilmand took care of me,” Scarlet said lazily.

Xavier pointed his finger at her, “See here I come as the lead— Hilmad slept somewhere at noon and you were in my room asking for water in your sleep. Fortunately, I was there so I got you one, and helped you drink it. You demanded food after that, so I gave you my favorite snacks that I saved. After that, you told me you couldn’t sleep, so I may. . . or may not have sung you a lullaby,” Xavier's cheeks got flushed at this part and Scarlet couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“It’s lamentable how I have no memory of this story you just told,” She said and wiped out the fake tear from her eye. She was much better than before. “What happened after?” she asked him.

Xavier licked his lips, his hand rubbing the back of his neck before he said, “I was not able to sleep a wink because of you. You got better till the time Hilamand woke up and my parents came back late at night. I remember you waking up after the second nap you had. You asked me why you were sleeping in my room. Was it one of my pranks? And then you left without showing any gratitude and this was just one of the times I helped and took care of you when you were sick,”

Scarlet rolled her eyes, a silly smile playing on her lips, “That’s so not me. I always show gratitude to people who are nice to me.” She stated.

Xavier looked at her with an intense gaze, “Well, you did not show any to me. Do you seriously have no memory of this incident?” He asked.

Scarlet’s brows frowned, “Listen, if you’re telling me this story then I do want to believe you, but I have no memories of an incident like this, maybe because we were too young,” She shrugged her shoulders.

Xavier raised his brows at her, he sat up straight, “Then what about the time in junior year? You were sitting near the lake, looking into it.”

“That’s my usual spot, my space,”

“That’s not the point. You were looking into the lake— I don’t know what you were trying to find or looking at but somehow you fell into the lake. Luckily, that was the spot where I went for a run, so I spotted you. I was laughing my ass off thinking about how someone could be so stupid to let them fall into the lake, but my laughter died down when there was no movement from your side. I knew you knew how to swim but the lake was too silent, there was no movement from your side at all.” He said,

He continued, “So I jumped into the lake to look, and, to my suspicion, you were in the water, eyes closed and no motion from your side. At that moment, I felt like you were trying to drown yourself as you were eerily still. Without giving much thought, I grabbed you and swam us to the bench.”

Scarlet tilted her head quizzically, “This happened last year?!” She asked him in surprise.

A look of puzzlement crossed Xavier’s face, “Don’t tell me you don’t even remember this,” He got up from the couch and walked closer to her.

She paused and thought for a moment, “Are you making things up?” She asked him.

Xavier’s jaw clenched when hearing her, “Are you suffering from Alzheimer's?”

He continued, “You were unconscious when I took you back. The doctors checked you and you woke up a couple of hours later. Everyone in the pack was worried about it. You can’t tell me you don’t remember that,” Xavier stressed.

Scarlet sat in a short sitting position, “I do remember that. I don’t remember the things you just told me before,” She said, and Xavier ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

“You’re unbelievable.” he shook his head in disappointment, “Now what? You’ll sleep and the next moment you’ll wake up— you are going to forget everything that just happened, right? Or maybe you’ll just pretend to forget about them because you don’t want to own me,”

Scarlet's mouth opened in surprise, “Oh please, for all I know, you could be making all this stuff up and then later label it as one of your stupid pranks,”

Xavier watched her with an intense gaze, “You got a problem lady, you need help.” He said and rolled his eyes at her.

Scarlet's jaw tensed, and she took deep breaths to calm herself down. She has indeed been fainting a lot since puberty. She used to be one of the fine fighters, but with time, her body began to give up. On the intellectual level, she was one of the finest wolves, but in the battleground, she was weakling in front of other wolves. As she held the entitlement of the future Luna, she couldn’t afford other wolves calling her weak and leaving the post of leadership, so she trained harder and harder and the result was yet again, more fainting. Slowly, this began to depress her, and after Sal left, she isolated herself from everything and everyone.

Xavier's eyes met Scarlet's. He spoke through his teeth, “How do you explain things that happened before you fainted?”