Until July *COMPLETED*

Chapter XIX

The next morning came around. 24th of December.

Ryan shook himself awake. Immediately, he sat up and found himself alone.

He fell asleep with Briella watching over him.

Last night, his temperature rose up to 39. That mixed with his sudden rush of exhaustion caused him to pass out.

He turned, looking around himself. He found his phone on the coffee table, along with a note on top of it.

He took the note into his hands before reading through it.

'Whenever you read this, I'll most likely be gone home. Unless this piece of paper falls somewhere under the sofa or something and doesn't see the light of day for a good few months. Either way, I charged your phone, its not fully charged but it will last you for a bit. So now you wouldn't have the excuse that your phone died and you weren't able to text me nor see my messages. Kidding. But really, all jokes aside, if you begin to feel worse or are in need of assistance, call me. Okay?... Okay. Well, I hope you begin to feel better very soon!'

"From Briella..." he whispered under his breath. A small smile, that grew continuously, took its place on his lips.

Subconsciously, he lowers the note on the bed right beside him.

Once more, he looked around himself. He couldn't help but ask himself, 'How long did she say here? Here, by my side?'.

A brief moment of silence passed before he ruptured it by muttering out, "what are you trying to do, Briella? What are you trying to do?". His words mimicked the exact ones from last night.

---------

Minutes passed and Ryan was up and about, wandering around his home. So far, his fever hasn't returned... yet.

So, taking this to his advantage, he proceeded to cook himself a soup. Along with that, he brewed himself some tea.

He placed some water into his kettle. Then, placing the kettle back onto its stand, he turned it on, allowing it to heat up and boil.

While he waited for the water to get ready, he poured some water into a saucepan before turning on a hob on his cooker, placing the saucepan above one of the four hobs that was turned on.

He was getting ready to rip open the sachet for his soup when his phone began ringing. An incoming call.

Dropping everything, he rushed over to his phone, which was in his bedroom. He grabbed it.

It was Briella. He answered the call.

"Hey," Ryan began.

"Hey..." Briella replied softly. "How are you feeling now? I hope you are better.".

"Yeah, I am good.". Silence followed but was broken soon after when Ryan took a deep breath. "How are you?".

"Me? I-I am good. Thank you. But I am more worried for you," Briella responded. Once again, a brief moment of silence. "You sure you are okay?".

"Yep. As I said, I am fine. Thank you for your concern.".

"Alright..." Briella voiced, he noticed slight relief in her voice. "You know that if and whenever you feel worse, just give me a ring or send me a message, okay?".

At first, as if Briella could see him through the phone, he nodded. "Yes. Thank you, really, thank you so mu-" he suddenly stopped.

Sniff.

Smoke. He also saw small strands of smoke as they lingered around him.

Widening his eyes, he turned around just to see all the smoke coming from the hob.