our sport strives for us to reach and maintain."
He had a point. "What if we ask Professor Phoenix? She wouldn't write it down on the report if you consent to it. Obviously, we can try other ways of fixing the root of the problem aside from medication. I'm just thinking it would save you the trouble here and now when we're in a different country. Do your current worries stem from the last exam?"
He didn't answer right away but he glanced away from me and slowly nodded as though he was almost ashamed to admit it.
"I kind of asked Jax, but he doesn't remember much from the exam," Kaito admitted. "He doesn't recall...dying."
Oh no!
It hadn't even occurred to me that either of them would have recalled those events from the exam. Since Jax hasn't shown much concern about what happened and said he was perfectly fine, it never even crossed my mind that Kaito could have been dealing with the aftermath of that.
"Y-You remember?" I whispered.
He gave me a troubled look as he blinked his eyes a few times to fight the threatening tears. "Ya. Not fun to even bring up, to be honest."
"Kaito," I whispered and turned over to sit on my knees before moving to kneel in front of him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him into a tight embrace. His comfort was obvious as he allowed himself to relax in my arms. The two of us shared a silent embrace as I gave him this opportunity to soak up my affectionate hold.
"I didn't think about that. I assumed because Jax hadn't complained about what happened that you also didn't remember. I'm terribly sorry."
"You make it seem as if it's your fault," he mumbled into my skin. "It's not. I don't blame anyone but the person who set us up, which was Elijah. You had to deal with a lot after the exam, finding out about Alice and the idea that Elijah is alive and trying to harm you and Jax still. I don't expect you to catch onto everything, and I personally assumed it would just disappear after a day or two," he confessed.
"Are you getting flashbacks?"
"More like vivid dreams," he elaborated. "Jax and I running and trying to find you guys before the arrows strike. I see Finnick...and his eyes begin to grow black. The darkness consumes him while I'm helplessly frozen in place. There's nothing I can do and I wake up after the world around me is engulfed in darkness."
Why hasn't he told us about this?
He sighed and leaned back to look at my sad facial expression.
"I didn't want to bother either of you," he admitted as he kept his voice nice and low. "We're on vacation in Dubai. When would we ever be able to afford to come here, let alone experience the luxury hotel and access to the various things we've been able to do and see? It's already close to two months of being here with the notice that our stay has been extended. I simply thought the dreams would subside if I allowed myself to relax more, but today has been harder than others."
"Kaito, you have to talk to us when you're experiencing things like that. We're here to love and support you. That means if something is troubling you, we want to be there to help. You were always there for me when I needed you. Can't I return the favor?"
"Brianne." He hugged me again while taking a deep inhale and letting it out slowly. "You don't need to return anything. I should have felt comfortable talking with you. Maybe it's the damn anxiety," he whispered.
I rubbed his back and let him rest against me.
"I'm sorry for not checking in on you," I apologized once more. "Whenever you have that dream again, wake me up and let's talk about it. Even if it's the same one every day. Talking about what's troubling you will help out a lot, Kaito. We can leave the medication or treatment options as a last resort, if we don't see an improvement by the time school begins. Does that sound like a decent plan?"
"It does," Kaito admitted and gave me a warm smile. "I'm also going to try to get back into my workout routine. Even if it's just jogging on the hotel treadmill. I think the lack of a schedule is also adding to my worries. With school approaching, I don't want to be out of shape."
"I think all