I didn't know where they came from. Possibly from the shadows like the demons they were. They didn't like it that I was Chinese and Iván was Russian. Something about 'not liking interracial dating' or something like that.
"Iván! Don't hurt him, aru..." I was helpless, watching my friend getting beaten up by some racist men and their girlfriends. I struggled to get free and was rewarded with a hit to the face. My head snapped to the side and I fell to my knees, my tears and blood mixing.
Sure, Iván had a faucet pipe as a weapon, but it didn't do him any good since he left it at home. A group of people passed by and the men and women scattered finally, throwing me to the ground. "I-Iván... Be okay, aru," I crawled over to his motionless body and strained to pull him into a half-sitting position, then rested his upper body against my chest and stomach.
"I hurt everywhere, da..." He whispered, violet eyes closed. I looked around, then grabbed a small rock and threw it at a boy passing by. It hit the boy in the arm and he turned with a glare. That glare quickly turned into horror and he hurried into the alley where we were.
"Are you okay!" The 'boy' turned out to a be a very tomboy-ish girl namd Elizabeta. "Let me call for an ambulance!" She ran out of the alley, leaving the us two behind. By the time an ambulance pulled up, we were unconscious.
When I woke up, I didn't know where I was at all. Then I remembered that Iván and I had been beaten up by some 'activists' for same-race dating. My face and arms hurt, my knees were scraped raw, and so were the palms of my hands. There was a nurse tending to the wounds of the person next to me...
"Iván!" The nurse jumped and looked over at me. She looked a lot like Iván. I think he said he had an older sister. "Is he okay, aru?" I sat up and looked over at him in worry, not liking the condition I saw him in.
He had bruises coloring his face, scratches and cuts covered his arms, and his exposed chest had a deep infliction on it. He was still asleep. "I hope so, I wouldn't know what to do if he died..." Definitely his older sister. "You are Yao right? Iván talks so much about you at home. He loves you."
My cheeks grew hot. "Y-Yeah, I'm Yao, and he talks about me, aru?" She smiled gently, nodding. "I-I love him, too..." I looked down at my clenched and bandaged hands with wide brown eyes. I didn't know he talked about me that much.
"It makes Belarus jealous, ahaha. But, don't worry, he'll be okay. Most of blood that was on him was from the whoever he managed to beat up before they overwhelmed him. You're lucky – most of the time, he would go crazy and kill them if he was alone. You are like his sanity. You keep him sane. Thank you. You can call me Ukraine." She patted my head as I sniffled.
"I-I..." I started crying. His sister handed me a box of tissues then finished bandaging Iván's wounds. "I know I keep him stable, because he keeps me happy, aru." I managed to say, wiping away the warm tears with my hands, even though it hurt to do so.
"I'm glad to keep you happy, da..." Both of us gasped, looking towards the one we both worried about. "You've always kept me happy, Yao-Yao." I threw my covers back and stumbled over to his bed (two feet away), then took his hand. Ukraine left the room silently and I broke down again.
"I-I'm so glad you're okay, aru..." He moved his free hand and rested it on my hand, smiling in the way that made my breath catch and my heart flutter. It was that smile that made me love his childish tendencies, his not-so-sane state, his everything about him.
He merely smiled again and drew me closer to him. "I'm glad that you seem okay, Yao-Yao. You are okay, da?" He looked like he'd been through the shredder and spat out roughly, but he was alive and that was all that matter.
~_~_~_~ Several weeks later ~_~_~_~
He had been released from the hospital two weeks after we had been admitted into it, and we were now slowly healing. At least Iván was. Most of his cuts and scratches had healed over and now were scars, his bruises almost gone, but the cut on his chest would take a little longer to heal and Ukraine had said that it would most certainly scar.
"Iván?" He looked down at me in wait. "Why do you love me?" I'm sure every couple has had their lover ask that particular question. He seemed to think about that question, then turned me around so I was in his lap facing him.
"Well, I love you for you," He kissed me. "But I don't think that's good enough for you, so here goes: I love you because you're unique; I love you because you've got a good temper when needed, and I especially love how your hand fits in my own, da." My cheeks flared red. "But, I mostly love you for you~" He kissed me deeply, while my hands buried themselves in the cloth of his thick jacket.
Something small and metal slipped onto my right hand and I looked down at it. A ring. A ring with two small diamonds and a slightly bigger one. I raised one eyebrow. "Will you marry me, Yao-Yao?" My hands flew to my mouth to cover the gasp. "What do you say, da?" I threw my arms around him and whispered into his ear:
"Yes, Iván, I will."