Chapter 19 Kane’s Protection
Evelyn's POV
I couldn't believe I actually got a message from Celia. I turned to look at Kane, but he didn't answer. I grabbed his hand excitedly, "Kane, Celia just messaged me. Do you know what she said?"
I was so excited I couldn't even wait for Kane to respond, and continued, "She said they found out it was Emma who did it on purpose. The school has decided to make her give a public apology at the assembly."
"And you know what, Kane? The school is also making her take a month off to go home and reflect."
I excitedly put down my fork. Seeing Kane still sitting calmly beside me, I suddenly realized something was off.
I stared at him and asked, "Kane, it was you, wasn't it? You went to Professor Martin and told him about this?"
Kane didn't say anything, but I just knew it must have been him. I reached out and hugged him, "Thank you, Kane. Thank you for not letting me suffer that injustice."
In that moment, all the troubles in my heart vanished into thin air.
Kane didn't speak, and just let me hold him. That stiff yet warm body heat came through his hoodie, making me feel incredibly safe.
"You're welcome." After a long while, he finally replied in a muffled voice.
I let go of Kane, feeling like I'd gotten a bit too excited.
I picked up my fork again and said cheerfully, "Let's eat. The pasta is getting cold."
Kane nodded and picked up his portion of pasta, eating slowly and carefully beside me. I could feel Kane's gaze kept falling on the gauze at my collarbone. He must be worried about whether my wound still hurt.
While twirling my pasta, I casually asked, "Kane, do you have class this afternoon?"
"No." He swallowed the food in his mouth and replied in a low voice.
"What a coincidence, I don't have class this afternoon either." My eyes lit up as I continued, "I was originally planning to ask you to go to the library this afternoon to look up materials, but now it looks like I can only rest in the dorm."
I suddenly scrunched my neck, feeling a tingling, prickling pain from the wound. My brows furrowed slightly, and Kane immediately noticed the change.
"Does it hurt again?"
I waved my hand, trying to make him less nervous, "It's not pain, just a prickling feeling. Dr. Clark said this should be the medicine working. It'll be fine in a bit."
After lunch, Kane cleaned up the dishes. I curled up on the sofa, and the afternoon sunlight was so warm I could barely keep my eyes open.
My mind suddenly went back to the medical office earlier, when Esko mentioned Nebula Chat. Thinking about those vicious comments made me feel sick to my stomach.
I hesitated about whether to tell Kane about this. My gaze swept over to him pouring water for me, and I wondered if telling him would just add to his worries. Plus, from what I knew about him, he probably didn't care much about what other people said anyway.
"Kane, if someone insulted you, what would you do?" I asked tentatively, afraid of touching a sensitive nerve.
"Ignore them." Kane's response was beyond my expectations.
In those deep golden eyes of his, there was no anger, no hurt, not even a ripple of emotion.
I wanted to dig deeper to see if he was deliberately hiding his feelings, but I couldn't find any trace of that.
"You're not angry?" I looked at him in surprise. "They said such awful things..."
"Evelyn." Kane interrupted me, his voice calm and firm. "'Freak,' 'waste,' 'disgrace'... I've heard these words too many times."
Sure enough, good thing I didn't tell him about the stuff on Nebula Chat. I took out my phone and uninstalled the app, immediately feeling much lighter.
As long as I didn't care about other people's comments and didn't take them to heart, nothing could hurt me.
Kane handed me the water. I took a sip, and we chatted for a while longer. Drowsiness gradually came over me. Although the pain from the wound had eased, my body felt exhausted from all the earlier tension and shock.
I yawned, my eyelids starting to droop.
I saw Kane stand up to leave, and with my last bit of consciousness, I grabbed his sleeve: "Dr. Clark said after the anesthetic wears off, the wound might have rebound pain. It's best to have someone watching, and if I wake up in pain, to contact him right away."
My voice got smaller and smaller: "Kane, can you stay with me a bit longer? In about an hour, the anesthetic will wear off. If I don't wake up, you can go back to your room and rest."
Kane nodded, "Okay."
Only after hearing Kane's affirmative answer did I close my eyes with peace of mind.
I felt Kane gently pull his sleeve free from my grip, his movements gentle.
His voice seemed to come from far away, "Sleep."
I don't know how long I slept. When I opened my eyes again, the room was pitch dark, with only the starlight patterns on the walls giving off a pale silver glow.
I opened my eyes groggily and instinctively looked at the wall. The starlight patterns closest to me were flickering on the wall, flowing slowly. They seemed worried about my wound, gathering close to me and giving off a soft light.
I muttered to myself, "What's going on? Am I hallucinating from sleep?"
The starlight patterns on the wall seemed to jump a few times at my words, then slowly returned to their calm flow. Only then did I realize that this Starflame Tower dorm, or rather, all of Thornwick Academy, was full of magic I couldn't understand. It might not just be a building, but more like something alive and breathing.
After living here for a few days, I'd gotten used to things like this happening.
I reached for my phone by the sofa. The moment the screen lit up, an unread message from K popped up.
I clicked on it and saw the message was sent in the early morning hours. I imagined Kane sitting in the chair by my sofa watching over me until late at night, only leaving after making sure I was okay.
I never thought he could be this thoughtful. Just then, a slight rustling sound came from the corner of the room.
I turned to look and saw a glowing magical envelope appear out of thin air on the table beside the sofa.