hospitalization and hospitality

This is how the love story ends. The statement as a whole pops undisturbed in Rio’s mind as soon as he wakes up. It’s a reasonable jump to a conclusion.

The view is too familiar. Plain white. The same plain white of the walls. The artificial light is harsh. The sunlight seeping in through the blinds is harsh too. Pure white, broken down by shadows. Aggressively neutral.

Rio is back at the hospital, facing an all-too-familiar ceiling.

He’s back to square one. At any point now his nurse will pop in to inform him he had been in a coma. He had gone insane. Of course, he never had a girlfriend. Him? He can’t talk to people in the way others can. He can barely walk straight most days. How could he even go out with anyone? Much less date a crazy popular celebrity.

He tries to get up, his movements slow and stiff. Emphasis on tries. He can’t move his leg at all.

This is it. The proof. He has one hundred percent been in a dream the entire time. He got taken out by some sadistic weirdo who chopped off his leg. He’s back to being bedridden and stuck at the hospital. This time for good. A quiet but harried beeping now fills the room.

Rio takes in a deep breath. He can check on his legs to see if they’re still there. His hands are trembling as he pulls on the thin white linen covering his body. He looks down and sees—

“If you don’t stop jerking off, I’ll hit you.” A voice interrupts his findings.

“I WASN’T — I was not,” Rio pulls down the blanket, “I wasn’t doing such a thing.”

“Right. You have a visitor,” says the man at the door. “We have cameras on at all times, mind you.” He adds pointedly, as he walks away.

“Rio!” Rinko looks like she fought death but won. Her hair is in disarray, she’s still wearing her wrestling gear and she’s carrying bags; both on her hands and beneath her eyes. She's gorgeous beyond words.

“Rinko, I — What happened?” He asks, trying to sneak a glance to his legs.

She takes a long look at him, frowning in worry.

“I can tell you’ve been catastrophizing again. You’re fine.” Her face softens, fluffy and bright like clouds in the early morning. “Silly.” The insult drips with fondness.

“Hm, yes.” He agrees, not sure if he’s agreeing to the former statement or the latter.

“Have you been up long?” She sits down, she swings the bags she’s been carrying over her legs. “I don’t think anyone expected you to faint there.” She comments, as she rummages through her bags’ contents.

“No! Don’t remind me, who passes out from a toddler stomping on them!?” His voice breaks. He covers his head with the blanket in complete mortification.

“Your health just happens to be delicate, nothing wrong with that.” Rinko makes a small sound of elation after finding the bag she was looking for.

Rio peeks out from under the covers. “You just happen to be kinder than most people, actually. Too kind!”

“You deserve kindness.” She reaches for him, an apple in her hand.

He thanks her quietly. Rio stuffs his mouth full to avoid embarrassing himself any further. Despite everything, his heart still gets flustered at the sight of the total knockout next to him. Their relationship is peculiar, in a word. Despite being a couple, they haven’t been able to go out on a date yet. Yesterday was a rare precious date night, but he had ruined it. They didn’t even get to actually enjoy being in each other’s company, because his weak body passed out.

“I’m sorry, about last night, I mean.”

“You don’t need to apologize! If anything, that should be on that little twerp.” She huffs out. “You know, I really wanted to do something, say something! You could have been seriously hurt! But the producers said it was bad optics.” She mutters a quiet ‘It’s always bad optics with them.’

“Is this about their rules?” He asks with a furrowed brow.

“I’m ready for a change!” She thumps her legs against the cold hospital tiles. “You know, they said they would be okay with us publicly dating ‘in two months’ three months ago!?” She fiddles with another apple in her hands. “They keep promising they will let me try out another gimmick ‘soon’. How far away is soon, anyway?” Her strong grip cracks the apple into two perfect halves. “I just, I love my work. I would just like a bit more freedom with it.” She dejectedly bites down the apple.

“Rinko—”

Only for her to spit it out.

“Ugh I hate apples.” She whines.

Rio can’t help but adore her a bit more for it. She’s very much saying that while wrapped head to toe in her apple themed gear. Red hair highlighted in yellow to resemble a cut apple. Her red top and green bottoms plastered with halved apple motifs. His pride was her white net gloves. He had them customized to resemble the net covering fruits from the supermarket.

She’s still sputtering out the now discarded apple when she speaks again. “You know, I didn’t eat all night. I’m still thinking about that stew.”

“It had apples. You would have hated it.” He can’t help but tease.

“Nuh uh, you would not have attempted to poison me.” She peeks her tongue out.

“Poison? You’re not allergic, are you?” He pretends to look concerned.

“You know I’m not! You’re just being mean for no reason.” She says in a mock-upset tone. It’s cute. She does it just like when she’s on tv.

“Are you doing any shows today? Maybe we could squeeze in a meal together.” Rio asks hopefully.

“Yeah, but I will stay until visiting hours are done.” Rinko says, her gaze dropping to her hands.

“Then let’s make the most of it.” Rio says with startling confidence. “This can be our little date.”

“Yeah!”

Their eyes lit up with a shared sparkle.

Their date went on much like that. Sweet cheesy moments cut with teasing tartness. Lovey dovey all thorough. Blissfully unaware of a social media storm brewing.