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Gundham is very good at hiding when things are wrong with him, suppressing it all until literally the last minute.
Now, Sonia can’t claim to know Gundham terribly well (it has only been thirty days or so since they arrived on the Island, after all), but she likes to think she knows the reason why he hides it all: Gundham is dedicated to portraying himself as strong, bold and important, and he doesn’t want to admit to weakness.
Regardless of the reason, however, she knows he’ll never change. So, instead, Sonia works towards being able to read Gundham well enough she can spot things he’s trying to hide.
And, on day forty of their island trip, she notices something so subtle that none of the others see: Gundham keeping his left arm in his pocket. Again, she doesn’t claim to be an expert, but in these forty days, she has never seen him do that. So she approaches her boyfriend after breakfast, and holds out her hand.
Gundham stares at her, and she notices something else: his jaw is tense and his cheeks are ever-so-slightly redder than usual. Is he getting sick? It takes him a few seconds to work up the courage, but Gundham gives a slight smile and clasps her hand with his right one.
“Good morning, Lady Sonia,” he says.
“Good morning,” Sonia replies. She squeezes his hand as she leads them away from the hotel. Once out of earshot of the others, she says, “Gundham, are you feeling quite all right today?”
“Of course,” he says, but he can’t quite perfect a cocky smile, so his words fall flat.
“I see. Gundham, would you like to come to my cottage?”
“O-Oh.” He clears his throat. “I mean, yes, I would like that.”
Sonia smiles and leads him to her cottage. Once they are inside with the door shut, she turns around and says, “Gundham, I think you are lying to me. I think there is something wrong with your hand. Please, you do not have to feel like you must hide things around me.”
Gundham flinches, staring at her. “I, I have no idea... what you…” His hand goes up to his ear, stimming by rubbing his earring.
“Gundham,” she whispers, and he cracks under her gaze.
“Fine, you are correct,” he says, sighing. “One of the bites I received from Cham-P got infected.”
“Thank you for telling me. May I see?”
When Gundham nods, closing his eyes, Sonia takes his arm and slowly, carefully removes the bandages, making Gundham wince several times. And when she removes it, she finds herself staring at red, swollen skin around a puffy, infected puncture wound, veins bulging beneath his skin and pus leaking from the wound.
“Oh, Gundham…” she says. “May I bring Mikan here to treat it?”
Gundham nods, shame written across his face. Sonia reaches up and kisses his red cheek.
“There is no need to be embarrassed,” Sonia says. “I just want you to feel better.”