Chapter 10

Sai hugs me back, and it’s as if his very presence pulls me out of my mental exhaustion. For the past ten years, I’ve shown up to this place nearly every day. You would think it gets easier.

When I release Sai and step away from him, he looks troubled. He probably wants to tell me to quit, but thankfully, he hasn’t said something so childish in years. At least he’s growing and understands that money and survival go hand in hand.

“I’m fine. Let me guess, you missed me so much that you decided to visit?”

“Sure.” Sai says with a smirk, and then he reveals what he’s been hiding behind his back. “And I thought you might need some emotional support. I’ll unfortunately be occupied for the rest of the night, but I brought the second best thing.”

“Bread!” I say as I grab the bag with the logo of my favorite restaurant printed on it. No way there isn’t bread in here. Wait. “You said you were occupied for the rest of the night. What are you doing? Where are you going?”

Sai gives me an, are you serious look, before responding to both of my questions with one-word answers. “Home. Sleeping.”

“Right, sorry.” I smile out of embarrassment as I open the bag and, yup.

Still hot, the freshly baked flat bread greets me. I know that beneath the bread is plenty of grilled lamb and chicken smothered in grilled peppers and onions. Of course, Sai made sure there’s extra food for Rumi. He cares, in his own way.

“Hurry up and go eat before your food gets cold. If you lose any more weight, you might become even shorter than you are now.”

“My height and weight are unrelated.” I yell at his retreating back.

“Sure. I just hope the food taste better than the biscuits this morning.”

My mouth hangs open. How does he know that? I check the trash can by the entrance, but I already emptied it. Though I’m annoyed, I call out to Sai once more, but he’s too far away to hear me.

“Thank you. I love you.” I wave until his form is swallowed up by the crowd of people on the street.

I decided that I’ll just thank him when I get home. Ohh, I should pick up coffee on my way home for him.

Food In hand, I march toward Rumi’s shop. Along my way I hear vendors yell out names of food and drink, somehow remaining audible over the surging voices of the crowds on the street. At this point into the night, every gambling house has their doors thrown wide open welcoming the desperate, the fools, and the hopefuls.

It paints the odd scene. While some drunkards file into the gambling house singing happily, others cry silently on the sidewalk staring at empty money pouches. It’s just the kind of place Wirra is.

This is a playground for the rich, for everyone else, it’s a trap. A place that was made to take everything it can and give nothing in return. Some people just don’t figure that out until it’s too late.

“Hey Blue, you can go up.” Ghost maintains her same emotionless expression when she greets me. After knowing her for a while though, I’m used to it.

“Thanks.” With the all clear, I head up to Rumi’s room.

When my knocks go unanswered, I wonder if Rumi fell asleep after his last customer. If he did, then I’ll have to leave his portion of the food in his room for when he wakes up. I call out to Rumi as a last attempt, but still no answer.

The handle on the door feels stuck so I bend down to place the bag on the ground. I’m going to have to lift the door up to try and realign whatever’s keeping it shut. Right before I release the bag’s handle, the door swings open.

Rumi’s head is lowered and his movements are sluggish. Feeling guilty for waking him up, I hold out the bag. “Special delivery.”

Rumi’s peers up at the bag but doesn’t react.

“Sorry I woke you up. Do you want me to leave the food so you can eat it when you wake up?”

I expect Rumi to say yes since he loves his naps, but to my surprise, he leans into me. I use my free hand to pat his head that’s resting on my shoulder. Rumi isn’t a hugger, so I’m not sure what I should do.

“Bad day?”

Rumi nods his head before standing back up straight. He takes a moment to gather himself before grabbing the food and walking inside his room.

“Customers?” I ask as I close the door.

“People.”

Rumi gathers the strands that have fallen out of his messy bun. For some reason, he has on the green dress that I know he hates. The sleeves are two tight and they restrict his movements.

“You want to change?”

“It’s fine, let’s just eat.” Despite what Rumi says, I can tell he’s annoyed. If changing the dress will improve his mood even slightly, he should do it.

Reaching into his closet, I pull out a red summer dress that’s similar to the wrapped one I’m currently wearing. “Change. I’ll set up the table.”

Rumi protests, but it’s half-hearted. Turning away to give him some privacy, I set up the table and spread out some of the pillows for us to sit on. When I hear the sound of the balcony doors opening, I turn around to look at Rumi.

“Better?”

“Better?” Rumi confirms as he finally smiles at me.

“Good. Let’s eat.”

With the balcony doors opened, the scent of the aphrodisiac and incense lessens allowing the smell of the food to fill the room.

I remove one of the flat breads from the bag and slowly rip it down the center and watch the steam inside release into the air. I hand the larger half of the bread to Rumi, but he graciously turns down my good intentions. I give him the other half and devour my piece in in three large bites.

Rumi nibbles on his piece, but his focus is somewhere else as he pulls out everything from the bag. When he finds the pastries, his eyes light up. I wait for him to make it halfway through one of the two pastries before I ask the question that’s been stuck in my mind since this morning.

“So, those people today. Who were they?”

Rumi sets down his food deflating somewhat. But he still gives me an answer. “It doesn’t matter. They shouldn’t be back.”

“What if they do come back?”

“They won’t.”

I stare at Rumi for a while before I turn back to the food. Once again, it’s just him and his secrets. He has so many that at times, it’s hard to say I truly know him at all.

“If yoo see them again, come find me. If I’m not around, then leave and don’t come back.”

My head snaps up. He’s serious. “Go where?”

“Anywhere. I’ll find yoo so it doesn't matter.”

Scrunching up my nose in frustration over this vague response, I ask, “That’s it? You don’t want to tell me how you met them or if they’re dangerous?”

“They aren’t dangerous.”

“Yet.” Rumi flinches when I say this. Exasperated, I repeat what the voice told me earlier today. “They aren’t a threat yet. That’s what the voice said. Based on your, run if you see them warning, she’s not wrong.”

“Blue, yoo need to stop—”

“I’ll stop listening to the voice when you stop keeping secrets.”

“What secrets?” Rumi throws up his hands leaning away from the table and distancing himself from the conversation.

“You know what secrets.” I state.

When Rumi’s expression glazes over, it tells me that he’s pulling away from the conversation. If I keep pushing, he’ll just leave.

I place both of my hands up on the table in a show of surrender before I go back to eating my food. This time, I do it without saying anything or asking any more questions.

Rumi doesn’t talk either, but he doesn’t eat either. Sighing I push the pastries towards him motioning for him to eat. I even tell him he can eat my potion.

“Blue—” I’m not sure Rumi knows what to say. After speaking my name, he goes quiet.

“I just want you to trust me. You know every horrible thing I’ve ever done. Every reason for me to rot in the abyss after I die, you know them. I told you because you’re my best friend and I trust you. It just hurts knowing that you’ve never been able to fully trust me.”

Rumi grips the top of his hair and tugs letting more strands fall out of the messy bun. He doesn’t have to say it. He’s told me over and over again since we met. He doesn’t trust anyone. He’s told me not to either, but I can’t help it. I can’t imagine a world where I can’t trust anyone. Especially him and Rumi.

“Yoo didn’t do anything.”

“Huh?” I lean closer to Rumi trying to hear him better.

“I said yoo didn’t do anything wrong.”

I process his words for a moment, then I snort in disbelief. “Sure. We’ll go with that.”

“Blue.”

I cut Rumi off by holding my hand out to stop him. We’ve had this argument and I’m not interested in going though it again. “Eat your pastries.”

“Did you just order me to eat my pastries?”

“Nh. Did I sound like an adult?”

Rumi’s glare softens before he flings a pillow at me. I block it with ease and continue to eat. When Rumi finally speaks again, I don’t think I’ve heard any truer words spoken in my life.

“Today sucks.”

“You’re telling me. Even the biscuits didn’t make up for it. At least I didn’t burn down Lady Auclair’s shop. If I did, we would have to leave the country.”

“Wait, what happened?”

With Rumi’s full attention on me, I tell him about everything that happened today and we vent. We vent about people, and our jobs, and this place. And by the end, I feel less drained and a little less alone.

I decide in that room that I won’t ask anymore. Whatever happens with those people from earlier, I’ll just do what Rumi says. Even if he thinks that trust is for fools and children, I trust him. I’ll trust Rumi until the very end when Divinity of Death comes to get me. And then even in the next life if I’m lucky enough to meet Rumi again, I’ll learn to trust him all over again.