19. | shy about us

"I swear I didn't cut myself on purpose!" Ethan defends himself, holding his hands up in the air in a defensing manner.

"I know it wasn't on purpose." I mutter as I slap his unharmed hand down and pull the other one closer for examination. He's trying his best not to wince at the pain, distracting himself by rubbing his sore wrists. Thankfully, Cole took off his handcuffs because he's on watch today.

"How did you cut you hand open like that? And why didn't you visit the hospital wing before coming here?" I ask with my eyebrows furrowed. I get up and walk to the cabin next to the coffee machine, pretty sure about Lexi putting the first aid kit there. "You could have at least went to Lexi, this is an easy fix for her."

"Yeah, could have." He mumbles as he grabs more tissues to press on the bleeding wound.

I think I'll never understand why Ethan doesn't really like Lexi. He doesn't particularly hate her, if he did, I wouldn't know what to do. It just seems like their personalities simply do not match. Though, that's just a small worry for another time.

We have bigger issues.

After a few seconds of looking through the cabins, I find the kit. "This should do, for now." I say as I walk back to the couch where Ethan and I have been sitting for the past ten minutes. Me trying to find out how he got such a deep cut in his hand, him trying to convince me it's nothing serious.

I sit down next to him and throw him a glare that tells him to not defend himself any longer. He reaches his hand out to me when I ask him to. At this, I scoot a little closer so that he can put his hand in mine. Tracing and examining the wound with a tissue causes him to wince a little.

He bites the inside of his cheek, an innocent smile lingering on his lips. "Don't be mad at me."

"Too late for that now."

"Please?" He pleads, leaning down to meet my eyes while I search through the kit with my free hand. "C'mon, it's nothing serious." He insists as he follows my movements. He looks adorable, almost making me forget that he's acting incredibly careless when it comes to his own health.

"Yeah, nothing serious." I glare at him as I softly put his hand on my thigh to be able to put on a pair of gloves. Right after, I take out a gauze pad and drop a bit of saline solution on it.

"That's why I think I can see a muscle, right? Plus, the bleeding hasn't stopped ever since you came in here." I start gently dabbing the skin surrounding the cut. As I touch the cut itself, he let outs a sharp wince.

"It's nothing serious." I mimic him as I narrow my eyes. "You're wincing in pain though."

"I'm wincing because you're touching me."

"You're an idiot," I say but my breathless voice betrays me. He just has a way with words and he knows exactly what he's doing to me with those words. He knows.

"I love it when you get so shy about us." Ethan grins from ear to ear, nudging my side with his elbow.

"There's no us to get shy about." I remind hin as I hand him a painkiller.

"Ouch." His eyes linger on mine as I point to the untouched glass of water on the table. He obediently takes it and gulps the painkiller down.

"I'd rather say not yet," he raises his hand and places it on his chest as if in physical pain by my words. "We'll see about that the second I get out of here."

I chuckle at his words and try not to linger on the thought of us. To keep myself busy, I look down at his wound again.

In silence, I carefully finish cleaning the wound. I throw the dirty gauze and tissues in the garbage bin and grab something from the kit to wrap the wound with, for now.

Just as I want to tell him to go to the nurses office after I'm finished with him, Ethan starts humming.

I smile at the song choice, chewing my lower lip. He hums comfortably while I'm busy on his wound and I can't help but sing along.

"Secrets I have held in my heart," I begin softly. He looks up from the wound, taken a back by me joining him.

"Are harder to hide than I thought," his lips curl up into a grin as he stops humming and sings with me in a low voice. His voice sounds soothing and makes me feel warm inside.

"Maybe I just wanna be yours." I sing the prettiest line of the song that describes whatever I'm feeling when I'm with him perfectly.

I let out a nervous laugh because I realize he has stopped singing before me and bury my face in his chest of embarrassment. Ethan's chest rises and falls with laughter. He wraps his arms around me and I soften at his thumb rubbing my back. One day, I might melt under his touch.

When I look up, Ethan laughs and looks down, shaking his head. Out of embarrassment and too much suffocating nerves, I lean back a little, unwillingly leaving the warmth of his chest.

"Hey, don't stop." He whispers, tilting my face to look at him. He has a sweet smile on his face, one I'd kill to see more often.

I mirror his expression as I try to gather my thoughts by asking a question. "So we have the same music taste." I begin, ignoring the burn in my cheeks. "Who would've ever known?"

His look moves to the side of my face as he plays with a strand of my hair, making me wonder where his mind is wandering to right now.

"We could sing together more often." He places the strand of hair behind my ear. "I mean when I get out of here."

"Okay." I reply to his silent promise. "I better get back to work then."

"Hold on—," He begins as he slightly tilts his head to the side, "Am I not getting a small get better kiss?" He holds up his neatly cleaned and wrapped hand.

I shake my head with a chuckle as I pretend to be getting close. I notice how he's slowly following my movements with his gaze in anticipation. I'm glad that this time I get to make him a little nervous.

I lean closer, enjoying the effect I seem to have on him. His breathing hitches for just a second, almost going unnoticeable. "You," I whisper near his ear, "You're going to the hospital wing."

As I pull myself back and get up, I crack up at his expression, slapping a hand to my mouth. I manage to urge him to get up and make a guard bring him to the nurses straight away.

"You're so mean." He mumbles with a slight pout as he gets out.

As soon as Ethan is gone, I try calling his attorney before my next client comes in. I have to get some more information before I meet up with Cole tonight.

▀▀▀▀

"I know you've forbidden me to throw a birthday party. You should know that I didn't plan one because I don't want you to cut off my non-existing balls." Lexi explains as she joins to walk me to my meeting with Cole. We decided to talk in my office, late at night. At that time, most guards are walking around the cells and have nothing to do around here. It's the safest option we have, since Cole never has free time when I do, outside of the prison.

"However, " she continues. "We're going out tomorrow night to celebrate your birthday, whether you like it or not. We're going and we're going to have a good time." She finishes her speech.

"Okay dictator, we're going." I give in, soon after I start wondering if it'll be just the two of us. "Don't tell me we're going with those guys you promised a date to, without my consent." I emphasize the last few words.

"Fine," She pouts but agrees to my terms, to my surprise. "But just so you know, that blind date is happening."

"Fine." I repeat her manner of giving in. "But just so you know, I'll only come so that you can have a good time with that guy. Not because I want to enjoy my time with his friend."

"Because Ethlyn is happening right now."

I shrug since there's no denying that. I can't bother with people who do not matter at this moment. I'm sure the best friend of the guy can find someone who'll be a match. Just not me.

"Damn right it is happening. " Cole startles me as he joins us. "Just so you know, the entire corridor heard your conversation, lucky I was the only one in it."

I open the door to my office and turn the lights on. Lexi seems eager to join us, but I slowly push her outside, reassuring her that I'll be fine and join her back in the room quickly. She waves me a goodbye and heads back to my bedroom, a few corridors and turns from here.

After her leave, I glance to my left and right in the corridor for a few seconds before closing the door and turning around to face Cole. He's already seated in the chair in which normally my clients sit in. I walk over to him to sit in my own chair.

He pulls out his phone and starts scrolling through some sort of photo roll, clearly looking for something. After merely a few seconds of him silently looking for whatever picture he's searching for, he clicks on it and slides his phone over to me.

I grab it and examine the picture in front of me. It's a white male, seeming to be somewhere in his fifties. I've never seen him before, but he does look like a professional person. It seems like a picture someone would use for their resume.

"You're looking at William Davis. He's a high functioned attorney, working for the district attorney office. He has also been seen with the governor at official parties and such. It could be said they're friends." Cole begins telling me about the unknown man. I do not speak as I listen to where he's heading with this. He swipes right, showing me a photograph of Davis shaking hands with the governor, laughter evident on their faces. He swipes to the right again, showing me another picture.

It's Ethan's attorney named Chris, pictured with this William Davis figure at the same party. I throw Cole an utterly confused look, because I can't seem to understand what he's trying to show me. "Okay, so Ethan's attorney knows another attorney who has direct access to the governor. Are you trying to say we should use this friendship to make sure the governor throws out the old verdict and gives us the green light for a new case? Because if you didn't think that, I'm for sure seeing this as a great opportunity."

"Well, that's exactly what I thought. " Cole mutters and I lighten up at this. This is honestly a great opportunity. Maybe Ethan's attorney didn't know he could reach the governor through a mutual friend, William Davis.

However, Cole reaches for his pocket. He takes out a folded paper and slides it towards me on the desk. I unfold it and stare at the piece of paper in front of me. It seems to be a check written for this person, William Davis. I look at the right corner to figure out who's autograph it is.

"It's from your father. " Cole confirms when he notices both the realization and confusion in me. "He prepared this in these past couple of days. He hasn't given it yet, because I found it in an office. I quickly took a copy of it and put it where I found it. It seems—,"

"Like my father is paying him off. For what? To make sure Davis convinces the governor to not start a case, right?" I put the pieces together. Cole just nods as he takes back the paper and folds it, burying it back into his pocket.

"I'm not surprised that my father is trying to not get the case opened. He's afraid of a new investigation. He finally realizes that when Ethan's innocence is proven, they're going to try to find the actual murderer. He's getting nervous."

"He sure is. I'm going to keep this copy and hide it somewhere at my own home. It'll be of good use when we need to prove that your father is indirectly trying to bribe the governor through his trusted attorney friends. It'll make him look quilty as hell."

I'm glad that Cole found this piece of evidence and we'll find a way to put it to use. We need to use every single one of our resources, because they're limited.

My mind cannot comprehend how my father would even have the money to write out checks, bribing attorneys. I didn't even know he had savings like that.

"I better head back before anyone starts looking for me." Cole says as he gets to his feet. "Have you been able to reach Ethan's attorney?"

I shake my head as I get up too. "I might have called him a dozen times these past two days. He's an attorney, he should be reachable at all times." I mutter as I come to a second realization. "Maybe he's dodging me. Why would he dodge me? "

"Don't worry about it for now, yeah? I'll try to call the son of a bitch tomorrow, if he still doesn't reply then we'll try to figure out if maybe he's being bribed too. It's a possibility, we should expect traitors left and right. Even the ones closest to us."

With those awakening words, Cole leaves the room. I rub my temples and wait a few more minutes before leaving my office. Finally, after a small amount of time put between our leaves, I head back to my room. As I open the door, I hear Lexi's soft snoring.

Dressing into my pajama's, I walk over to my bed and sit down. That's when I realize there's a little envelope on my pillow, with my name scribbled on it.

I don't recognize the writing so I anxiously open the envelope. There's a little note and a necklace in it.

I take a deep breath as my mouth falls slightly open at the sight of the necklace. I take it in my trembling hand, admiring it. It's a dried daisy between two round shaped pieces of broken glass. It seems to be self-made, finally making me realize the owner of this present. I feel tears stinging in my eyes as I close my hand with the necklace in it, holding the note with my other one. Smiling like a fool through my prickling tears, I start reading the note.

I'm sure the smile on your face right now is worth ending up with stitches in my hand.

I found out that tomorrow's your birthday. By the time you're reading this, I think it'll be way past midnight, so it's your birthday already. Don't think I don't notice that you always seem sleep deprived.

I know this is merely a present, but I just wanted to be able to give and tell you something.

Even if you'd be a withered daisy in an entire garden of roses, I'd still notice and chose you. I'll always choose you. I just want this necklace to be a reminder of that. A promise for when you manage to get me out of here.

Thank you for everything you are. Thank you for always trying your best for others. Thank you for making me the better version of myself, the version I thought was completely lost a while ago.

Happy birthday.

— E.

As I'm at a loss for words, I lay down with my face to the wall. I clutch both the letter and necklace in my hands as I feel a few warm tears roll down my cheek, onto my pillow.

I bring my hands to my chest, letting the drowsiness take me away from reality by engulfing me in endless dreams,

taking me to a place where I can be Ethan's withered daisy, even if just for the night.

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A/N; hey! finally a significantly longer chapter with both some ethlyn and some investigation in it. i hope i'm starting to wreck your brains with the confusing murder complot against brooklyn's mother. i'd love to read your ideas as to why, and by who she was murdered. more details and secrets will be revealed as we start working towards the climax. buckle up ladies, gents and nonbinary babes, we're on a hell of a ride :)

thanks for reading, i hope you enjoyed.

please don't forget to vote & comment, i really enjoy reading every single one of them.

— lyra b.