Lie to Me Again | ONC 2024

16 - Thaw

"Hold still, please." Rhett dabbed her finger with a paper towel to dry it off, glasses pushed lower on his nose so he could see over them. He'd gotten out the family medical kit from a kitchen cupboard and had an array of disinfecting wipes, bandages, and gauze laid out in a row.

"It's just my finger. I'm not dying." Yuki perched on the stool like it was a throne, Rhett holding her hand like a humble supplicant seeking a boon.

"So you're not sick," he said, as if he still didn't believe her.

Yuki slapped his hand away, reaching to grab a bandage for herself. "No, I'm not sick. I'm not dying. Figure out what you want to say at my funeral later. Give it several decades; I'm sure you'll come up with something by then."

Rhett grabbed her wrist, snatching the bandage from her fingers. "Stop being a brat. I asked a perfectly reasonable question and I'm trying to help you."

Maybe I didn't ask for help. Yuki sighed, determined to be less of a brat while Rhett peeled the bandage open and wrapped her finger. "I don't see the reason why though. Why in the world would you think that?"

"Oh, I don't know," Rhett said quietly, only a hint of sarcasm seeping through like a dash of chili oil in noodles. "Your best friend stops talking to you, tells you to leave her alone. Not too long after, you find out she's been hospitalized and still won't answer your calls. Then she shows up in your hometown, at your school, in an obviously weakened state, intent on pushing you away."

Yuki squirmed on her seat. "Okay...so it does look suspicious—I'll admit that."

"Not to mention you decided to acknowledge my existence again out of the blue." Rhett finished wrapping her finger and started cleaning up. "I guess I was worried for nothing. Were you ever even in the hospital or was that a lie too?"

"I was in the hospital," Yuki said without thinking. Under the heat of Rhett's steady questioning, she could feel herself melting like a piece of popsicle that fell on the pavement in summer.

He only replied with one word. "Why?"

Yuki looked away from his dangerous grey eyes. Dangerous because they were too gentle, too apt to make her forget that this secret had to stay in the dark where it belonged. "I can't tell you." Faintly, she heard the movie downstairs, at the part where bombs rained down from the sky.

"Can't or won't?" Rhett washed his hands and finished assembling the sandwiches. Once done, he slid Yuki a plate with hers.

"Can't..." Yuki's voice lowered, "My grandma made me promise not to."

After swallowing his bite, Rhett smiled. "If you won't tell me, I'll go ask her then."

"You can't do that." Yuki tossed her sandwich back down on the plate and slapped her palm on the counter. "She'll take my head off." She sighed running a hand through her loose hair. Gosh, she needed a shower. Greasy hair caused headaches sooner or later.

"You don't think I can keep a secret? I've already stayed quiet about you." Rhett set his sandwich down and went to the fridge to pull out a jug of lemonade. "My mom thinks we had a small disagreement instead of not talking for two years. Don't you think you owe me an explanation?"

Walls weren't built in a day, but they could crumble in one. Yuki sensed the rumbling that was Rhett getting her to lower the defenses and let him in. She could trust him right? She wouldn't scare him away. "You have to swear not to tell."

"I'm not going to tattle on you to your grandma," Rhett said, while he held out his pinkie to seal the promise. Their fingers locked before letting go.

Yuki didn't tremble or scream and that always scared her more. In the early days of recovery, she'd been angry and broken things, like her parents' wedding photo. It had frightened her grandparents until they pleaded with her to stop, as if her grief were an inconvenience. But when Yuki sat completely still, numb to everything, that frightened her more.