Chapter 12: Through the Silence
Erina lets out a small sigh as she places a cup of Hisako recommended tea as well as a bowl of homemade porridge on the nightstand next to Soma's side of the bed. It was a Saturday afternoon, and normally, the dean of Totsuki would be in her study, filling out whatever paperwork needed her attention – god knows she had a lot to do. However, last night, the young woman had come home to find Soma coughing his lungs out. Along with the cough, Soma was running a high fever and experiencing vertigo whenever he stood up. So that's how, instead of doing whatever work that needed to be done, the god tongue found herself nursing over an extremely sick diner chef.
"You're lucky it's the weekend," she informs Soma as he sits up against the backboard of the bed. "Otherwise you'd need to be taking care of yourself right now." Soma just shrugs. "I told you that you needed to take a break and sleep," Erina continues as she takes a seat on the bed beside him. "Repeat after me: I do indeed need sleep, and coffee does not solve the problem."
Soma snorts, but sadly does not do as he's directed. "Thanks Erina," he says, resting his hand over her's for a brief moment. Erina can't help but notice that his hand is unusually warm.
She picks up the bowl of porridge from the nightstand, blows on it lightly, then raises the spoon to Soma's lips. He raises a questioning eyebrow at her; they're both very aware that he's completely capable of feeding himself. In fact, despite how sick as he is, Erina could probably get on with her work without really needing to worry about the redhead. However, if Erina is going to nurse her boyfriend back to health, she plans to do it right, so she gives him an expectant look.
Soma doesn't say anything, but as Erina carefully spoons soup into his mouth, the warmth never leaves his eyes. "You know, it's nice to see this side of you," he tells her as she places the empty bowl of soup back down on the nightstand. "I wish I'd get to see it more often."
A soft blush paints Erina's cheeks. "Just be grateful you see it at all," she mutters. "And if you're going to make fun of me, I'm leaving." She tries to get up, but she's stopped when Soma grabs her wrist.
"Jeez, so defensive," he mutters. "I'm not making fun of you. I'm just… thanks Erina. I love you." Erina rolls her eyes, but she smiles all the same.
"I love you too," she tells him, before seating herself back down on the bed next to him. "Now hurry up and drink this," she says, picking up the cup of tea she'd left on the nightstand and pushing it into his hands.
There isn't much else said after this; despite deciding to remain in their bedroom, Erina gets onto her laptop so she's able to at least get some work done. To his credit, Soma also tries to get on his laptop so he can do his part to help with the restaurant. However, upon Erina's insistence that he needs rest, instead he mostly naps or – if he's unable to sleep - goes on his phone to message Megumi and watch the latest cooking reality TV show.
They say those that truly care for one another can hear the silence, so in this warm, lack of conversation, Erina and Soma could hear two very clear declarations being made. Through the caresses of his hand over her's and every stolen glance she catches, Erina can once again hear the message "thank you, I love you." And through her clear lack of productivity and the cup of tea that never seems to be empty for longer than fifteen minutes, Soma can hear Erina saying "it doesn't matter how busy I might be. If you aren't well, you will always come first."
In a world where nothing is truly for sure, the one thing that we can always be sure of is that the future is unpredictable. But despite this, in the moment, there is one thing the couple is quite sure of; no matter what the future held, they could always, always count on each other.
Author's note: My god there is so much cheese in this chapter. Sorry not sorry. Anyway, here's a quick one to help get everyone through the millionth day of quarantine. This is just a bit of an intermission before I post my new year's chapter which will be a finale to the holiday arc I've been writing. But real talk, I've been having a hard time deciding on how Soma would make it up to Erina after the last chapter, so if anyone has a juicy suggestion, plz send it my way T_T . As always, I hope you all enjoyed and I will see you all next time.