Villain of my own novel

"....why bandages though? I have recovery potions.' Katline said.

"Yes, you can simply use a healing potion, but you will only recover physically, not mentally. I want you to get over it, so by the time these marks heal by themselves, I want you to get stronger than you are now." Eshwar answered while bandaging Katline carefully.

"...." His words stung her heart and warmed it at the same time. She wanted to respond that she was fine, but her eyes welled up as she felt terrified, hurt, and sad all at the same time. She remembered Vinny's story; whether it was true or not, she didn't know, but she felt like his words were true when she heard them, and that was exactly why she agreed to date him. But now, those same words terrified her, and his voice that rang in her mind terrified her. She bit her lower lip trying to control those emotions, but she couldn't stop herself from crying out loud in Eshwar's embrace.

She wept again as if she wanted to remove all of those memories right then and there, though not completely. By the time she calmed down, she felt a lot better, but Eshwar's clothes were soaked in her tears and snot, making them stick to his body, and then, under Katline's persistent request, he went to take a bath in her house after agreeing to sleep in her house today, since his clothes needed to dry.

"I'll put your clothes into the washing machine while you take your bath." Katline told Eshwar, who was flustered and continued to reject her, that it would be better if he just went home so she could make up her mind and get over the morning incident, and a man's presence wouldn't help with it, and a slew of other excuses, but Katline persisted and pushed him into the washroom.

"N-no, i-it is a bit.... embarrassing, please I'll do it myself...." Eshwar's voice sounded behind the closed washroom's door, but Katline promptly ignored him and picked up the carefully placed clothes before walking towards her room, where the washing machine was mounted.

"...." Katline, who stood on the other side of the washroom Eshwar was bathing in, stared at the slightly wet clothes in her hands.

'I cried this much!' Katline thought while staring at his clothes and dropped them on the floor before tapping on the wall-mounted, small black glass tablet, which was a device used to 'scan' the clothes that were supposed to be washed.

PEEP (5x)

CLICK

And with a click, a rectangular, meter-long door appeared on the wall directly beneath the tablet; it was the space where the clothes were supposed to be placed; she tossed in his trousers and socks before coming to a halt with his shirt held in her hand as an extremely important thought passed through her mind.

'W-what would he wear, if I put his clothes to washing? And I even asked him to stay in my home for today?' She thought and blushed violently, then abruptly she remembered about a few clothes he could use that were supposed to be Vinny's, and she started to tremble as soon as she remembered his face. She subconsciously crouched down, crossed her arms, and covered her upper body, then she felt something on her triceps.

She snapped her head towards her biceps and noticed that she was unconsciously trying to claw herself but was stopped because of the bandages covering it. Her mind then started to think straight; she noticed cold sweat trickling down her forehead and back; she hadn't even noticed that she was crouching until then; she looked down and saw Eshwar's shirt, which she was hugging subconsciously.

"Haaa...." Katline sighed and drooped her head.

'Sh*t.' She cursed inwardly and slumped back, with Eshwar's shirt pressed against her face. She felt weak, too weak. Her mentality has always been about getting stronger, strong enough to protect people, dwarves, elves, and other unknown, non-hostile creatures. She was getting stronger, slowly but surely, as time continued to pass by, but... the moment she was pushed down on the bed by 'that demon,' she felt.... helpless and weak, that feeling.... that feeling she didn't like it, not one bit.

"....get stronger than you are now, huh...." She muttered Eshwar's words from earlier and determined herself to do so, taking a deep breath; however, as soon as she took a deep breath, Eshwar's body odour entered her nostrils from the shirt which she was unintentionally pressing down on her face; it was... quite a pleasant scent; she then remembered how comfortable and secure she felt while in Eshwar's embrace; she then held his shirt in both hands, pressed it on her face, and took a deep breath, sniffing his body odour. Though she thought she was behaving like a pervert, the strange sense of comfort Eshwar's scent gave off ignored her worries and soothed her throbbing headache and fear.

"Haa..."

*

"...." Katline stood dazed in front of Eshwar, who was wearing a comfortable black open-front shrug with nothing beneath it. He wore black baggy trousers and home slippers, which were hers; she had left them near the washroom.

"...." Eshwar too simply stared at her with a dumbfounded expression.

"...." Katline ignored his gaze and stared at the water droplet trickling down on his almost naked upper body and moisty white hair, which seemed to glisten under the living room's light.

"Um, Katline.....?" Eshwar spoke with a face which seemed to ask "done?"

"Huh? Ah, hahaha." Katline laughed awkwardly and averted her gaze.

"Ahem, maybe I should return?" Eshwar asked and stretched the back of his head.

"N-no. No, I was simply surprised to know that you had another pair of clothes." Katline said, what she said was exactly what she had in mind, but she felt she was just giving a half-hearted excuse to cover up her blunder.

"Oh, ah. You mean these, I was planning on going to a hunt before coming here, I was...Ah!" Eshwar seemed to have suddenly realized something.

"Katline.... I have something to talk about, I was actually here was another reason." Eshwar said with a serious look on his face.

"Mhm." Katline nodded her head to continue.

"Huu.... I am....haa.... I'm actually affiliated with the 'Persona' guild...." Eshwar said with a wry smile.

"Ah." At his words, Katline could somewhat guess what he had come here to talk about.