Elijah holds his little boy in his arms, loosening his grip at the insistent repositioning Matteo has on his lap. His son preferred to stretch his legs on one side of the passenger seat as he laid his head against Elijah’s chest. Matteo was breathing heavily from his fever and eyes closed as an attempt to rest on their ride to the hospital. Elijah wanted to nap for a while as well but it was a wish that hardly came true.

He looks around, glancing at the moving view of the street they’re driving by. Adam speeds up his pace, overtaking the slow-moving vehicle in front of him and changed the station the radio was on. Albeit, in a low volume. Regardless, Elijah can still hear the rapid beat of the drums, the growls of the singer and the fast and rough strums on the guitars.

Adam merely looks at him with the rear-view mirror and asked, “Is the song alright? Like is it okay for you to have it as a background noise?”

Elijah shrugs, unbothered by the genre Adam likes. “Just keep the volume low so it wouldn’t bother Matteo,” he replied his nonchalance and hears the loud sigh of relief from the man. Adam immediately went on to hum along the lyrics of the song.

He continued his sight-seeing, restless from his stiff sitting arrangement and hands damp from sweat. He reclines on the seat, resting his head on top of it and tries to close his eyes. Rest, he thought, begging for the minutes to passed by with a wink.

However, nothing could remedy his unease. As he shuts his eyes, yet again. He can feel the debris and uneven bumps on the road, even the loud honks from cars whenever the traffic began to slow everyone down.

“So, Elijah?” He bit his tongue, refraining himself from displaying his annoyance with a click. He opens his eyes and angled his head to face Adam on the rear-view mirror, waiting.

“Hm?” Elijah hums, encouraging the man after a short pause of silence. “What is it?” He added.

“So, who’s the pediatrician you’re seeing again?” Adam asked him, “I am confused as to why you’re not seeing Matteo’s usual doctor.”

“He’s Lorenzo Reyes – and he’s a customer that came in yesterday,” Elijah explained with an obvious exclusion of the man’s relevance to his string. “During closing time to be exact, he begged us to let him buy a custom-made bouquet and we eventually agreed to make one.

“He was also thankful enough to offer his service for free,” Elijah continued in a haste, hearing the hum from Adam from his explanation.

“I see,” Adam said back to him and turns the car to the right, entering a trail that leads to the entrance of a hospital. They parked near the stairs and Elijah watched as someone comes out of the automatic sliding door with a wheelchair.

This is it, Elijah thinks. 

“Holy shit,” he murmured.

His heart skips a beat, his hands clenched onto Matteo’s clothes and gulps at the inevitable meeting. Then, his anxiety was aimed at the money Adam has on his hand. Elijah glances at the wallet placed on the cupboard with bills poking out.

“Um, what is that?” Elijah points at the obvious rolls of paper bills.

“Money,” Adam tells him, “it’s for medicine and lab tests and other things the doctor will recommend.”

“Oh,” Elijah voices out, understood the reason behind the gesture. Of course, the reason was obvious but having it explained to him makes the situation harder to ignore. Beyond the soulmate he’s trying to avoid, the struggle he’s facing needs money, lots of it – probably.

He was already planning on stocking up some paracetamol whenever Matteo will experience fever again. And with a few vitamins he aims to include in his son’s diet too. But money is blocking the path he’s trying to pave and as he looks down on the bills, he could never attain any time soon, sours his perspective on the generosity behind it.

“Lisa pitched in as well,” Adam mentioned, pushing his hand close to Elijah. Fortunately, Matteo moved for a bit and the man pulls it away to give Matteo some space. Elijah kissed his little boy on the forehead and eyed at the expectancy on Adam’s expression.

“Thank you.” Nonetheless, he’s grateful.

Elijah do reach for it, crumpling the edges with his tight grip and pushed them all down on his bag.

“No problem,” Adam replies back with a nod and went back to hold the steering wheel.

Elijah gently shakes his little boy, hearing the grumbles and whines from being woken up. “Matteo, love. It’s time to wake up,” he added, sounding off his urgency to his son. He manages to make Matteo stand up on his feet, ignoring the tight grip on his wrist with nails digging into his skin.

The car moves backward as another tries to park the entryway on the front of them. Elijah had to hold his son in place as his little boy sway around to the movement of the car. Matteo gagged after Adam parked the car, again, and Elijah immediately fished out the box of tissues and the water bottle from Matteo’s bag.

He guides his son back to the passenger seat, raising Matteo’s face to check for any sort of bodily fluid that came out of the attempt. Only with a daze look, Matteo rests his face on Elijah’s hand, sighing in relief.

“Don’t let go, papa.” Matteo’s voice was hoarse.

“I won’t,” Elijah reassured his little boy and repeats it for good measure, “I won’t.”

“Are you two alright?” Adam looks at them from the rear-view mirror. Worry was visible on his face. “I’m sorry, I should’ve been more mindful about Matteo. God, I’m sorry, Elijah.”

The man was quick with his apologies.

“I should be the one to apologize if Matteo did puke in your car.” Elijah finds it excessive but he tries to alleviate the situation with his own.