Kai doesn't want to leave Tyson's embrace but the pain in his is becoming unbearable. Tyson can feel the tenseness of Kai's body.
"Kai are you in pain?"
"A little…"
Tyson helps Kai off his lap, to his side. He takes Kai's hand in his. "Kai I don't care about you past I care about you future, I'm sure each of your scars has a story and I would listen to each of them, no judging. But these scars are only skin deep. I care about the scars that got deeper than that. The emotional scars, I want to help you through that. I know you don't know me, but I care about you and I can't lose someone to emotional scars again."
"What do you mean, again?"
"Kai this isn't my first rodeo, I once cared for someone with emotional scars. His name was Max. He hid his pain for a long time, before I realized it, I was too late… I found him lying on the bathroom floor, in a pool of his own blood. He'd sliced both arms from wrist to forearm. I tried to stop the bleeding, called for help. But by the time help arrived it was too late. His heart had stopped pumping; the blood had stopped flowing. All I could do was hold his lifeless body. I didn't want to let go but I had to. I later found his suicide note; he blamed me for not seeing the signs. I had let him down and I started to spiral myself."
Kai can see the pain in Tyson's eyes. He squeezes his hand tightly.
"I'm sorry."
"Stop apologizing for things you didn't do." Tyson says wiping his eyes.
"It wasn't your fault, he choose to suffer in silence. I did for a while, then one day I started running and I haven't stopped running since."
"You don't have to run anymore. I'm going to protect you."
"Let's run together."
"We can't run away from our problems Kai, sometimes we have to face them head on."
"I don't think I'm ready…"
"When you are, we will face it together."
"Thank you…"