Jin turned around and walked towards the door. "Alex?" he called out, as if trying to confirm who it was.
The knocking abruptly stopped, followed by a loud, heavy thud from the other side.
Jin quickly opened the door and gasped, his eyes widening in horror at the mortifying sight before him.
It was completely unexpected. Alex stood there, battered and broken. His eyes were badly swollen, his lip was torn, and his hair was wildly disheveled. His shoulders hung at a bizarre, awkward angle, looking as though one had been violently popped out of its socket.
His clothes were torn to shreds.
He was a bleeding mess. He looked unrecognizable compared to the day before. It wasn't that Jin wanted to notice, but Alex had started coming home looking different lately.
Yesterday, it had just been his hair that was a mess, but today, his entire face was ruined. He looked like someone who had barely been dragged back from the brink of death.
Right next to him on the floor was a tightly closed sack, entirely soaked in blood, which had crumbled heavily against the ground. Alex just stood there, staring blankly into space, exactly as he had done the previous day.
Jin rushed forward, gripping Alex's good shoulder. "Alex, what happened to you? What's wrong? Where did all this blood come from? What have you been doing this whole time?"
Jin was completely baffled, but more than anything, he was terrified. Any complaints he had previously harbored completely vanished.
Alex slowly stepped forward, moving unconsciously, and accidentally bumped his dislocated shoulder against Jin. Winces of pain shot through him, and he retreated swiftly, pulling a sharp dagger from his side pocket.
"Hey, there. I think it's best not to include violence in your sorry state," Jin said softly, reaching out to disarm him. But Alex moved with surprising quickness, slashing sideways and leaving a small cut across the back of Jin's hand.
Jin winced at the sharp sting. Out of pure annoyance and desperation to stop him, he struck Alex firmly on the head, rendering him unconscious with a single blow. "I didn't want to resort to this, but you really disturb me sometimes," he muttered.
He lifted Alex's limp body and managed to prop him up on a chair. Looking at him, Jin shook his head. "I don't think I can treat him properly in this position."
Jin looked around the room for a better spot and decided the carpeted floor was the most practical choice. He let out a heavy sigh. "I guess I'll have washing duty later this morning."
Leaving Alex for a moment, he took the lit candle from the table and headed into the kitchen. He searched through the small cabinet, found seven more candles, and brought them back into the sitting room. He lit them one by one, placing them across the table to illuminate the dark space.
Still needing more light, he went into his bedroom, grabbed a lamp, lit it, and suspended it from a hook in the center of the sitting room ceiling.
With the room fully lit, he carefully removed Alex's ruined clothes and laid him flat on the carpet. He hurried back and forth, bringing in buckets of water, wiping towels, bandages, and medicine.
Examining the wounds up close was difficult, but Jin felt a wave of relief finding that none of the cuts had targeted vital organs. Bracing himself, Jin popped Alex's dislocated shoulder back into its socket with a sharp click.
He meticulously wiped the bloodstains from the bruised skin and carefully sewed the open wounds closed.
Time ticked by agonizingly slow as he tended to the injuries, but eventually, the work was finished. Afterward, Jin cleaned up the bloody mess and returned to the sitting room.
"I should put him in his room, then head to bed," he murmured to himself.
When he opened Alex's bedroom door, Jin paused, stunned. "He's really organized for a doctor," he remarked, looking at the tidy space.
He quickly dusted the bedsheets, then went back to carry Alex inside. By the time he finally laid him down, he noticed the darkness outside was already fading, morning light slowly breaking through the shadows.
"Ugh! This is frustrating. I haven't even slept," he complained aloud.
Feeling too grimy to rest, Jin quickly went into the bathroom to take a bath.
After a few minutes, he finally headed to his own room, desperate for sleep. He changed into simple nightwear and happily climbed into bed, ready to relax at last.
Suddenly, his bedroom door burst open with a loud, violent bang. Jin jolted upright, his eyes wide with shock at the sudden noise.
Alex stood in the doorway. His eyes were partly open, and his posture was completely drowsy as he stumbled into the room.
"Alex?" Jin asked, bewildered.
"Va... va... vanilla?" Alex mumbled, swaying as he approached Jin's bed.
Jin instantly grew alert, a sudden panic hitting him.
Are my pheromones leaking, or is he about to go into a rut?Before Jin could even scramble off the mattress, Alex collapsed directly onto the bed.
A faint, painful groan escaped his lips. "Argh... shoulder..."
Jin stared at him for a moment and sighed, completely exhausted. "I should just get some sleep." Pulling the covers up, he stretched the blanket over both of them, resigning himself to the chaos.