Excited Sara woke up extra early the next day. She had always loved sightseeing and was hoping that Rome would bring her out though they were not in good terms. Too bad Rome woke up too late and by the time she waited, it was indeed a waste of time because the lazy brat was too heavy to neither move nor bring her around like what a honeymoon should be. Sara saw it coming but she was not sure why she still felt disappointed that no one was going to bring her around. As Rome went back to sleep, she silently crept out equipped with her camera and her beanie, some biscuits and a bottle of water. She had no idea where she was heading to but she made up her mind to just walk around somewhere near to the hotel.

 

There was a small village further up the hotel. The streets looked abit run down but it was still a beautiful sight for someone who appreciates sceneries. Sara walked closer to the stalls set up by the roadside. Only a few were operating since it was still early in the morning. And since it was a Sunday, there were not much people on the streets at 10am. There were locals walking around maybe to get their necessities, and some kids playing traditional thai games. Sara tried to join in the games although there was a language barrier. The kids were welcoming her with open arms and teaching her the rules of the games with hand signs. She was playing when she had the urge to go to the ladies. But she was too lazy to walk back to the hotel since it would take her about 10 minutes and it was too urgent. The kids directed her to the nearest man made toilet located around the area which sadly was among the tall grasses.

 

As soon as she relieved herself she slowly crept open the door to be greeted by five unknown men who were squatting two metres away from the toilet. They were either drunk or high on drugs and they definitely did not look friendly.

 

“See I told you there is a lady inside”, the English speaking local pushed his friend away and looked at Sara with super stoic eyes and waving to her. “Hello pretty girl.”

 

Sara froze. There was no way she could escape. She was not familiar with the place and the kids were gone from the spot. The men finally stood up after talking in their language and smirked at her. Sara knew she had to stall time because there was no one except for them in the area.

 

“I… I don’t have any money with m-me”, Sara stuttered as she took steps back while the men advanced towards her. “If you… you want my c-camera, here! Take it!” she held her camera over. One guy snatched the camera and threw it to the side.

 

“No. Want you”, the older looking one said, pointing to Sara as the men stood around her. “Pretty.”

 

Sara could not take it anymore as tears welled up her eyes. She screamed as one man grabbed her sling bag. “HELP! SOMEONE HELP!” she cried desperately as she got pushed from one man to another. These men were too strong for her. At that point of time she wished that Barom would magically appear and save her. After the ‘passing’ game, Sara got pushed to the ground roughly, bruising both her elbows against the dry hard sand. She tried to move away but she was too slow. Her whole body was aching. As the circle of men got closer towards her, Sara shut her eyes tightly and screamed for help. She refused to see what would happen to her next.

 

“Now, that’s a bad move.” A familiar voice broke the tension of the situation. Barom! “No one cordially invited me to this ”, he said as he inched closer and closer. The men turned to glare at him. Their red eyes were scanning every part of Barom and they were fuming because they got busted. Barom being Barom threw the most sarcastic smile ever to the group of drug influenced men and bluntly asked if they would like to fight to see who deserved Sara at the end of the day.

 

The older one were shouting to his mates as they advanced towards the lone ranger. Slowly they took out their hidden weapons from the back of their trousers. Knives.

 

“Are… are you going to be okay? Rome, they have got knives!” Sara warned her savior.

 

“Well that ”, Rome retorted. “The only thing I have is muscles!” A second later the men including Rome got into a very serious brawl. Rome’s reflexes were good and he avoided being stabbed at most of the time but soon, his energy began to drain out and his arms were slashed and he got kicked in the tummy. Sara could not just stand and watch. She was limping and running at the same time to the public area and crying for help, dragging locals who brought their weapons to the secluded area to rescue Rome. Once the group of men were in sight, the helpful locals charged towards them wielding their knives, rakes and axes as the hooligans ran for their lives. Rome was on the ground, bleeding profusely. There were cuts on his face, arms and his shirt was torn apart. Sara was crying incessantly looking at him while trying to use her beanie to cover the deepest cut on his left waist. A few of the locals rushed to Rome’s aid and helped him up to the hotel room while one of the stall ladies called for ambulance.

 

And again, Rome being Rome, he was dead sure he need not go for a treatment in the hospital after the ambulance came and in the end, he was carried out on the stretcher since the paramedic told him his wound was too great and they would need to stitch it up. Sara followed over to the hospital, not letting go of Rome’s hand even in the ambulance. She was still crying like a child because she was not ready to lose anyone because of her careless act. Not even the person she abhor the most.

 

“You are going to be fine, right? Your bleeding is so bad. I’m so sorry you had to get into this mess because of me.” Tears were endless streaming down her face as she sobbed like a little child.

 

Rome looked at her and started laughing weakly. “Why are you crying as if I am going to die? They are only going to stitch the bad wound up. Then I’m good to go. You are so noisy!”

 

“But… but you are scared of needles aren’t you?” Sara blurted out, half crying. Barom turned pale as soon as he heard the word ‘needle’. He hated needles the most in his whole entire life. “Don’t worry I am here. You will be fine. And I am really, really sorry.”

 

It was Rome’s first time seeing Sara crying so much for him. He wanted to wipe those tears off her face because it was breaking his heart. And the grip of fear on his arms when he was finally rescued, Sara was indeed worried and apologetic towards him. Sara hated skinship and to have her holding onto Rome and trying to help him up was already enough to set Rome’s heart beating faster than usual. As promised, Sara stood by him as the doctor stitched up the wound on his waist. He resisted the nurses’ attempts to clean his wounds, saying he could do it himself back home and were dead serious about getting discharged on the spot. This guy hated the hospital.

 

Sara and the hotel concierge helped Rome up to the room and as soon as they got Rome to sit on the bed, Sara rushed to get the first aid kit to attend to his wounds. Nothing else was in her head except Rome. She felt guilty and foolish for being a smart aleck. Tears started to roll down her cheeks again as she nursed the wounds on his face, arms and those little ones on his body. “You got hurt because of me today. And I hate someone getting hurt because of my foolishness”, she said as she dapped the medicated oil on to his injury. She was whispering so that Rome could not hear her voice crack.

 

“Yeah you were foolish. So foolish that you forget you yourself could be a victim of your foolishness”, Rome replied looking at her as she moved her gaze from one wound to another in concern. “Why didn’t you kick my for me to wake up and accompany you or something?”

 

“I don’t want to disturb you since you said you were lazy. Plus you were not keen on this trip in the first place so I thought I would never have a chance to go around for sightseeing. Bear with me a little I am going to be done soon.” Rome winced in pain as Sara dapped his eye injury. “I will get us lunch while you rest in bed okay?” She tucked Rome in bed like he was her little child and proceeded to discard the used material and get a refilled first aid box from the front desk. Rome grabbed her hand lightly while she was leaving. For the first time, Sara did not attempt to let go and just turned to Rome, assuring him that she would only take a few minutes to settle the stuff and then come back. Rome nodded silently and watched her leave their room.

 

Rome smiled to himself when he realized that Sara had unleashed her true self to him. She was the kind that was so annoying yet to vulnerable that she needed to be protected. The smile on Sara’s face as she assured him could not be wiped off his mind either. The sweetest and most sincere smile from the person who had never smiled at him warmly ever since forever.

 

Sara got back with a concierge and a tray of food for lunch. Somehow Rome was too weak and tired that he had fallen asleep while waiting. While she stayed by Rome’s side, she silently nursed her own wounds. They did not feel painful anymore once she saw Rome’s deeper wounds. The wounds that could have been avoided if she was not so hard headed. There was a phonecall from the front desk again asking for her because the police just came to take in her statement. Silently she tiptoed out of the room so as not to wake Barom up.

 

By midafternoon, she carefully woke him because Barom was the kind to get really cranky if he was woken up so suddenly from his sleep. However that day he was too weak to get cranky, he was even conversing with her with the tone he had never used before. It was Sara’s first time listening to such weak but gentle voice that could not even have the ability to sarcastically tell her off like Rome normally did. He closed his eyes as Sara fed him his food, his head leaning onto her shoulder. Sara started to get worried as he succumbed to fever at night. She wanted to bring him back to the hospital but the persistent being was just too scared of those needles in IV drip. The afternoon stitching session was already the maximum he could bear.