Page 87 of Crystal Iris
“See you soon.”
“Is this really necessary?” I ask Hoyt as he opens my apartment door.
“You shouldn’t move your arm.”
“I’m right-handed.”
“Still.”
I look around, noticing the change. “Did you... clean my apartment?”
“I just moved things around. There’s food in the fridge.”
“What?” I open the refrigerator and find it stocked.
“I didn’t have time to make you anything, so I ordered a bunch of stuff.”
“Hoyt, this is…”
“It’s nothing. All your meds are on the bedside table. You need to take them with food.”
“Thank you.” I want to hug him, smell his hair... I walk away to my bed and sit down. He follows me.
“I wish I could stay,” he says, closing the curtains.
“I’ll be fine.”
“I know you enough now not to take ‘fine’ very seriously.”
“I promise. Akira said she’ll come by later.”
He takes a seat on the other side. “Will you keep me updated? On how you’re feeling?”
“Sure. You never told me what happened after the meeting. Did you get your money back?”
“Nothing happened. The lawyers are working on it.”
“Okay. Well, will you keep me updated on that?”
“I will. You should rest.”
It’s dark when I wake up to an empty apartment. I make my way to the kitchen and open the fridge. There’s more food than I could possibly eat in a week. I open the first container and find orange chicken. It smells amazing. I find the rice to go with it.
I finish eating and go to grab more water when the doorbell rings. Could it be Hoyt again? He has to be midair by now.
“Hi,” Aaron says from the hallway.
“Aaron, what are you doing here? I told you I don’t want to see you.”
“I heard you were at the hospital. Are you okay?”
“How did you know? Are you still... following me?” I’m furious at the thought.
“What? No. It was my mother who did that.”
“So, how did you know?”
“I’m your emergency contact.”
