Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 206. Appointment

Henry’s POV

I nodded slowly.

"Can you get him free of any charges in exchange for going to that center?"

Ethan tilted his head to each side, weighing the options.

"I think I can. The question is, how long would he have to remain there, and to what extent does he have to cooperate? Is telling them everything an option?"

"No." Mrs. Howard and I simultaneously answered, both of us turning to him before I clarified,

"That is not an option." Who knew what he would be able to do after possibly killing such a powerful counterpart or at least bathing in this monster’s blood? What if they felt threatened by him or would really throw away all courtesy and snatch him away to an island to experiment on him?

"I thought so." Ethan nodded and stared at Kenny.

"I will talk to you again after I get their offer. Until then, don’t consent to them taking him into custody; in the worst case, demand he is brought to a hospital or psychiatric clinic. We can’t hand him over to them until we have a signed deal."

"We will do it like this." Mrs. Howard decided and turned back to a doctor coming toward us, the same one who had given me his card. He held two bracelets, one blue and one red, in his hands, both with a small pendant on each of them.

"As ordered." He said, giving them to Mrs. Howard. She threw the blue one at me, which I caught easily in my free hand.

Seeing me not startled by the jewelry attack, she frowned unhappily before explaining, "Because they already know your whereabouts, keep the tracker on you. If you need to suddenly hide in the future, get rid of it."

"Clever. Is the red one for Kenny?" I asked.

"Who else?" She stood up and walked to the bed, and I set my coffee down, following her.

She wanted to put it on him, but after staring for a long time at his throat and his wrist, the tattoos visible, she threw the second one at me as well, really surprising me this time.

"Why do I even care about a gangster? Tell him to get rid of these before coming to see me."

After leaving these words behind, she stormed out of the room, with Ethan and the doctors following, taking the machines with them so that he could have a good rest.

After patiently waiting to be finally alone with him again, I put the red bracelet on his wrist.

"It took two months for you to come back. First, two weeks without you in the Deer Forest, then two months. If you disappear for two years the next time, I won’t know what I will do."

Looking at the matching bracelets, I interlocked our fingers.

"And yes, that was a threat." I emphasized.

Though I had just had coffee, I was so damn exhausted and sneaked to his side before lying sideways and putting an arm over Kenny’s waist.

I watched him breathe regularly and reveled in the sound, closing my eyes as well.

So warm, so alive; we are good, we are alright.

***********

When I felt a presence, I snapped my eyes open and pulled Kenny to me before looking around.

It was just Ethan.

"We have to go in an hour."

"The appointment." I nodded before falling back and fumbling for Kenny’s wrist, checking his pulse.

"Get ready." He said and left.

"What is there to get ready for?" I mumbled before laying my head on Kenny’s shoulder and putting my leg over his thighs and my arm around his stomach.

Cuddling like this felt so safe.

Did the girls back then feel the same, with their constant need to cuddle after doing it? I didn’t have the patience for that, always hurrying away for some more drugs, alcohol, or a smoke.

But this... this was really awfully addictive.

"Can you sleep through my appointment, please? I want to be present when you wake up."

Should I just scoop him up and take him with me?

Or should I just not go?

I didn’t move away or loosen my grip on Kenny until Ethan came to get me.

When he saw me playing crab on the sleeping patient, he took off his glasses, as if he would rather go blind than to watch.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes." I clinked my bracelet against Kenny’s and stood up.

Now I just have to hope that he would be true to his promise and wake up after I returned.

I followed Ethan out; I had showered yesterday, and for brushing my teeth, I could buy chewing gum somewhere.

If I wore a suit, it would be just awkward, so the casual menswear I had slept in would surely do the job.

Outside the mansion, I noticed that the bodyguards around it had increased significantly. One can say what one wants, but Mrs. Howard was truly the perfect ally to have.

Though reassured by her power, I still had to force myself to step into the car that brought us to the courthouse in fear something would happen while I was away.

Funnily, we arrived at the same courthouse as last time, when I had been sentenced by that nice judge. We waited, and I felt every passing person looking at me.

"You have been trending for quite a long time." Ethan commented, sitting besides me in the big hallway.

"Mhm. One of the two saviors of the south district." I already knew, just not the details. I crossed my arms and leaned back until our case would be called.

"Not only that. Your sister’s case, how you became violent after visiting the alleged murderer of hers in prison and ended up in the same situation, how you then saved people with said murderer, how you went into the same class as him, and how you attacked him at a party."

"The internet is not to be underestimated." I don’t care.

"That is true. Your previous life was also discussed."

"Just two months, and what they concentrated on was this instead of the four hundred survivors?" I don’t care even more, though I wouldn’t want Kenny to see it.

"The Four Hundred had been the starting point of all this, with them posting things they shouldn’t. Most of them really regard you two as gods, saving them not only once, but twice." Ethan chuckled.

"You seem to forget that you are one of the Four Hundred." I said languidly.

Ethan fell silent.

"I am doing my best to forget."

"Were you one of the ones turning cannibalistic?" I asked with a fake smile. Seeing that he had been informed about my dark secrets, I felt I had the right to hear one of his.

"No. But it wouldn’t have taken much longer." He said forcibly.

"Do you know who it was?" I steered the topic away from him, not wanting to go too far with my ’friendly teasing’, as he was the person that would have to speak for me soon.

"No. It was dark; everything was chaotic. I can’t tell. I wouldn’t even recognize everyone from down there because, again—"

"It was dark." I finished for him.

Our case was called, and after we entered, there was nothing for me to do besides looking obedient. Ethan directly asked the judge for what we had discussed: an ankle monitor until my parole hearing.

Two years had gone by in this world since we had set foot inside the hole in the South District. Though it was unsure why the time gap was so large, it was most probably because of the second world we had been in, which was good for us.

If time went by faster in our world, then it would give us more time to prepare for their possible attack—should our worlds collide ever again.

I could just go and tell our military that we would probably have to fight another world and should get ready to do that, yet in case they didn’t believe me, okay, but in case they did, what if the other world came in peace because the ’commander’ had understood the things I had written down for him?

And I didn’t even bring more high-tech weapons, which I am suddenly glad about. I am not especially trusting regarding our authorities. Because of that, I also held the information I shared with them at a minimum when I was questioned.

Ethan had told me that he asked around and heard that there could be another two portals that had opened while we were away—but not in our country.

They were just rumors from his side, but what gave them credibility was that every male over eighteen had to report to the military, answering questions and doing tests for them to decide about their usefulness in the case of war.

And every male that had recently become an adult and was not attending college had to report for extended military training.

That was a measure that every larger country around the world had taken.