I blinked, rubbed my eyes a million times to conceal gawking at him, but I simply couldn't.

I turned the other side.

"Do you have a spare shirt? my dress is a little torn and bloodstained" he Informed.

I turned to him in concern, the shyness forgotten. and asked

"Are you hurt?" I walked towards him examined for a wound or a cut.

Aiden turned the other side and there is a huge cut on his left shoulder that I didn't notice before. I ran my hands along the lines, tears welled in my eyes, all these wounds and fight are because of me.

Aidens ragged breathing brought me out of my thoughts and the shyness returned. Is Aiden responding to my touch? No, I'm hallucinating. I took my hands from his body and rushed to my mom's room.

I walked towards my mom's vanity mirror and gave myself a slight slap.
I pointed my hands to my mirror version and asked "what the hell are you doing idiot, he's your friend and friends don't share romantic feelings. Get a grip, you idiot!"

I opened my mother's cupboard and took the first aid box and a few wet tissues and went back to the kitchen.

Aiden was seated on the kitchen built-in counters chair and fiddling with his phone. The scene just fits perfectly, it feels so natural. Like he belonged here all his life.

I marvelled over the sight for a few more minutes and walked to him. He glimpsed at my arrival and went back to his phone, rude!

I purposefully dabbed the wet tissue on his wound hard, he hissed and turned to a most convenient position, good!

Now I carefully cleaned his cut and gently applied the antiseptic on it and plastered it.

He looked straight in my eyes and brought his hands towards my face and wiped my tears. I didn't realize I was crying, but I hate to see people hurting.

"You dab on my wound hard to get my attention and then you cry for my pain, what are you Ele, you are a mystery for me" he confessed.

so he knows that I'm purposefully dabbing hard, but I'm never called as a mystery before. The people who knows me called me an open book. Even Cole regards me as an open book. I didn't understand why Aiden mentioned me like that.

"I don't like to see people in hurt, excuse me I'll get you a shirt," I said to him and went to my bedroom quickly.

I got him my black hoodie and went down to him and gave him my hoodie, he looked at my hoodie and asked: "it's yours?"

"Yeah, oversized hoodies are a blessing and gender-friendly," I told him and made a sighing gesture in emphasises.

He looked at the hoodie and smiled softly and wore it. black suits aiden well.

"It's a perfect fit," I said him.

"It's comfortable", he took a whiff and continued " and it smells great" and smiled at me.

I reciprocated the smile and said
"You can keep it if you like it so much, it's quite new". He smiled at me, I noticed how close we were standing. I never understood how we always end up in this position, I cleared my throat and walked away.

I brought a blanket from my mom's room and wrapped it around Cole, he had a huge smile plastered over his face while he slumbered.

"I'm hungry!" I heard Aiden mumble, he looked at me and asked "do you want pizza? I'm going to place an order"

"No thanks for the both of us, just check inside the refrigerator. There will be something for you to eat " I notified him.

"Leftovers?" He asked

"Yeah, or I can make you a sandwich. What do you want?" I informed him,

He opened the fridge and took out a bowl of the leftover pasta, I wondered if mom made it home while I'm gone? We had pancakes this morning. Where did pasta come from?.

I signalled to the microwave. He heated the pasta and split it into two plates and served me one, that's truly a sweet gesticulation.

"Ele, eat! " he said to me.

"This is my house, right? I'm the one supposed to play the host" I told him.

"You're not a good host," he told me jokingly and shrugged and started eating.

I gave him a fake shocked look and started eating, I didn't recognise that I'm hungry too, actually, I was starving. I finished my plate in a matter of seconds.

Aiden glanced at me mockingly. I cleaned my plate and placed it on the rack. I heard a knock on the door.
Aiden looked at me and offered
" I can check".

"It's my mom," I told him. " Your mom comes home at 2 a.m ?" He asked

"Yep" I answered and went towards the door and opened it. It's my mom!

"Hey Ele, did I wake you up? I didn't have a key, I'm sorry. It's high time we get ourself a spare key, right?" My mom spoke casually and looked at the sleeping Cole and staring Aiden and raised her eyebrows at me questioningly.

She pointed at Cole and asked sceptically "who is this and why is that boy wearing your hoodie?" and pointed at Aiden.

"We had a threesome, don't mind us". Aidens reaction was more comical than my mothers.

My mother glanced at my struggled straight face and looked at Aiden's horror-struck reaction and started laughing.

I couldn't control my laughter anymore. I fell on the floor and started laughing. Aiden still gave confused shocking looks to me and my mother.

" Aiden, this is my mother Jenna. She's a nurse, so she has unusual shifts at the hospital" I introduced

"Duty calls!" My mother informed Aiden and shrugged.

"Mom, this is Aiden and that one is Cole. Remember, I told you about cole. This is his elder brother" I informed and they both smiled at each other.

"Okay, and why is he wearing your hoodie?" She's sharp.

"Actually, we went to a party and I got drunk, yeah don't look at me like that. We got ourself into a fight and he got hurt and his dress got torn and bloodstained so I gave him my hoodie. And I'm a funny drunk and I threw punches!" I exclaimed and gave her explanation of everything that happened from the cafe and party.

A waterfall of emotion passed through my moms face, but she didn't accuse me of anything.

Aiden quickly said to my mother " I think she's still a bit drunk, please don't mind her "

My mom looked at Aiden approvingly, but I wondered why Aiden is trying to convince my mother. It's not like she's going to tell anything bad about it.

My mom wanted me to be social. Go out and enjoy and appreciate life. She was a social butterfly during her school life.

"I know my daughter, she never lies to me and thank you for trying to take a stand for her at the party," my mom said to Aiden.

"She's my friend" he justified and said, " I think we'll leave now, it's too late" he informed us and got up from the chair.

"You guys can stay, we have a spare room upstairs. Let Cole sleep on the couch, don't wake him up. He looks like a baby while sleeping" my mom informed and smiled in cole's direction.

See, I and my mom have the same wavelength. I thought

Aiden thought deep, " don't think too much, just stay. Moreover, your car is at the cafe and you can't carry Cole all the way, save yourself" I tried to convince Aiden and he agreed.

"Guys, I'm exhausted. I'm going to sleep. Please don't wake me in the morning" my mom told us and suppressed a yawn. She is exhausted!

"Good night kids," she said and kissed my forehead and placed a kiss on Aidens forehead too and went to her room.

Aiden gave me a blank stare, so I said

"Yeah. she's too motherly, I'm sorry. She got carried away. And anyway if you're going to be my friend, then get used to it. Good night, wake me up if you need anything. Your room is just next to my bedroom, follow me".

I showed him the spare room and gave him a set of the blanket and went to sleep.

I settled in a comfortable position and texted with Liz. I narrated today's events to her, she updated me on grams health.

Liz is happy and contented to live with her grandparents. She says that it's a very different experience. grams health is getting better and she got a few cousins to spend time with and she's having fun.

She's a little jealous over my new friends and I'm a little jealous over her 'fun' cousins.

We texted for a few minutes and I started falling asleep.

The ocean shone bright, glimmered like thousands of brilliant diamonds spluttered all around. The soft waves that hit my legs and the sandy shore had a soothing feeling.

Strong arms clasped me in a one-armed hug, on the other hand, he had a glass of cocktail.

" there you go", he handed the drink to me and settled on the sand next to me, placing an arm over my shoulder.

We drank our drinks, he took his arm suddenly that my drink spilt on my neck.

"I'm sorry, I can clean it" he suggested. I raised my eyebrows in question.

He pulled me on top of his lap and started licking my neck. The heat from his touch spread throughout my body and I started reacting to his touch.

I ran my hands through his hair and brought his body more closely to mine.

"Ele", he moaned, I raised his face to look at him.

Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! I woke up with a start and checked my wall clock, it reads 4:18 a.m. I wondered who is screaming at this time.

No, no, nooo!!!
I heard the voice scream again.

I got up from my bed and went out of my bedroom to check. I went down, Cole slept peacefully, and the house remained eerily silent.

I went back to my room frustrated at my once more missed chance at discovering my dream loves face.

As I opened my bedroom door I heard a loud guttural voice scream. It's coming from Aiden's room. I knocked on the room but I didn't get any response.

I heard him scream again. I burst the door open, It wasn't locked. I saw Aiden twist in his sleep. I went closer to him and observed his painful expression, he's asleep but his tears said it otherwise.

I tried to speak with him " Aiden, Aiden are you awake?", no response. He's experiencing a nightmare, I decided and shook him to wake him up.

He didn't wake up but his ragged breath slowed into a slow rhythm. He relaxed and caught my left hand that shook him, placed it under his cheek and fell into a comfortable sleep.

Great!! Now I'm stuck here, God!!! I'm so tired to play nice today. I decided to take my hands away slowly. That's when I saw Aiden smiling in his sleep. I didn't dare to disturb his peaceful slumber, so I settled my head lightly on the headboard and tried to sleep.

***

The sun shone bright, rays irritated my eyes. usually, I love to see the sun rising. It's beautiful, sort of eerie. But not today, today I want to keep sleeping but I hate sleeping to a violent irritating sun.

I woke up to close the blinds and realised I'm next to Aiden, on the bed!
I wondered how I came to sleep next to Aiden, his arms safely wrapped around my waist. I carefully took his arms off of me and got up from the bed, i looked at the peacefully sleeping Aiden. My body leaned a little closer to his without my permission, I placed a small kiss on his forehead and my realization shocked me. I wondered why I acted like that? This couldn't happen, I muttered to myself and hastily closed the blinds and left the room.

I went to my room to sleep but the clock read it's 9:38 a.m. so I decided to make breakfast to the four of us.

I hit the showers quickly and ran towards the kitchen. Cole is still sleeping peacefully, so is my mom and Aiden. I started preparing the Ingredients to cook as noiselessly as possible.

I made pancakes and blueberry syrup, my favourites! and arranged it neatly on the dining table.

I heard a knock coming from the door, I opened to check but there's no one at sight but there's a bouquet of red roses and a letter neatly kept on a basket on the doormat.

***