'Ten...nine...eight...seven...six...five...four...three...two...one!!! I'm free!!!'
Aaron screamed excitedly in his head as he grabbed his bag and excused himself for the day. "Boss, Miss. Gu. It's five, so I'll take my leave. Enjoy your dinner."
Selina waved him goodbye, "Okay, Aaron. By the way, you could call me by my first name since I'm calling you by your first as well. Drive safely and get a good rest at home!"
Jason turned around with a lopsided smile. "Good night Aaron. I'll see you tomorrow. Thank you for your hard work."
"Hahah, then I'll leave now." He rushed to the elevator after getting out of the room. Patting his chest, he felt grateful for not getting a mountain stack of work for the night.
After Aaron had left, nurses brought Jason and Selina their hospital meals. Everything looked plain and tasteless. Taking the utensils from the wrapped cloth, he handed it to Selina. She looked at the meal in front of her and then at the utensils on his hands with a slight pout.
"Here. Your spoon and fork. I know you probably don't want to eat these bland meals, but it's for a week or two. After all examination reports come out and indicates that your body is ready to be discharged; I'll treat you to as many meals as you would like."
Since she didn't take the utensils from him, he picked up the bowl of porridge and stirred it with the spoon. After blowing on it, he scooped a spoonful of porridge and brought it close to her lips. Shocked, she parted her lips to ask him to let her eat it by herself.
Before she could say anything, the spoonful of porridge slid into her mouth. Squinting her eyes slightly, she forced the burning content down her throat. "Hot!" She sucked her lips inwardly.
"It's still hot? Maybe I didn't let it cool enough. Let me see if it burned your lips. Come here." Instead of her moving closer, he placed the bowl down and leaned forward. With his fingers lifting her face slightly upwards, he whispered, "Relax your lips. I can't see properly if you press your lips inwards like this."
Slowly, her chin relaxed and rosy lips blossomed out like two rose petals. With the pad of this thumb, he gently grazed her lips while his other fingers delicately caressed her jawline. At first, her eyes would avoid looking at his direction, but somehow it ended up wandering back to his face.
On a closer look, his features were quite sharp. His eyes were neither too big nor small; it was just the right size. He has a high nose bridge and almost poreless skin. Then came his lips.....
As she began to float away in her thoughts, his voice rung in her ears and distracted her from staring at him. Moving slightly backwards, she heard him ask, "Still hot?"
When he asked this question, the bowl of porridge magically poofed out in her mind. She nodded, "Still hot."
"Then I'll blow on it for you." Inching closer to her once again, his eyes laid on her slightly reddened lips. With his pursed lips, he inhaled a deep breath and slowly released it through his lips. As he blew on her lips, his head would shift sideways repeatedly.
"i..I..I meant for you to blow on the porridge! I mean, I'm fine now. I can eat the porridge myself!" She quickly snapped out of her daze. If she continued letting him, blow cold air to her lips, she might end up doing something else to him. Beauty is such a sin!
After dinner, Jason had an important meeting to attend, so they sat separately in their own beds. Once in a while, he would steal a few peeks at her direction to see what she was doing. Earlier, he asked Aaron to help him purchase a new cellphone, memory card and an iPad. From the documents he had skimmed about her background, she loved creating art.
Therefore, he purchased an iPad and installed art apps for her to play with. Along with the iPad, he also bought the Apple Pencil for her to draw with. Earphones and Headphones were also prepared for her in case she wanted to listen to music.
Finally, his long, dull board meeting had finished. He closed his laptop and stretched his limbs out. When he turned his head to see what she was doing, the curve on his lips showed off his white teeth. 'She's asleep with headphones on?'
Quietly, he got off the bed and paused the music video on the iPad. One by one, he pried her fingers from the device, unplugged the headphones and took both items away from her. Using one hand to support the back of her head, he used the other hand to adjust the pillows to a more comfortable position for her to sleep on.
"Phew" he whispered as he looked at the girl's smiling face.
"Good night." He smiled and switched off the lights. Even though it was dark after the lights turned off, he rotated his body to face her direction. Bit by bit, his eyelids weighed down to cover his sight as he fell into deep slumber.
As a light sleeper, any noises could disrupt his sleep. The sounds of bed sheets rustling and blanket wrinkling on the floor woke him up. Thinking that Selina had woken up, he rubbed his tired eyes to get a better view. Then, he noticed something was not right and ran to switch on the lights.
His eyes widened as he saw the ghastly expression on her face. Large droplets of perspiration spread over her face and neck like the cover piece of a pot with boiling water inside of it. More oval shaped sweat formed as the old ones slid down her forehead. She twists and turned her head as if she was trapped in her own nightmare.
Holding her clenched fists tightly, he started chanting her name by her ears and whispering words to sooth her tension. "Shh...Selina, it's okay. Everything is alright. This is just a nightmare. Everything is fine. I'm right here for you."
Her heavy breathing began to steady as his words took an effective turn in her condition. He wiped away her sweat and continued comforting her until her breathing went back to normal. Just when he thought his mission had been completed for the night, he realized another problem.
His hand was stuck in hers! She was holding onto him! Slowly prying her fingers opened once again, he gently retracted his hand from her grasp.
"Mm? Jason?" Her raspy voice alarmed him. Instinctively, every strand of his hair raised for no reason.
"S..Selina. You're awake...."