Purposefully Coincidental ✓

32. Cut

Josephine

The sizzling sound of onions caramelizing is very pleasing to my ears.

I have a long weekend as I had Monday and today free. I made the most of these four free days in a row.

I went shopping with my mama. Candy, Anya and I had a beach day. And I managed to have a day all to myself. Yup, no interruption whatsoever. Only the phone call of Leo, but I was going to call him anyway.

I invited him over today. I'm making him chicken curry, the recipe of Anaya's grandma.

Three o'clock on the dot, there's a knock at my door. I love how punctual Leo is. Sometimes to a fault. It's a quality I definitely admire.

He's standing in front of me, wearing a white shirt that accentuates his defined body and jean shorts. His hair is unruly on top of his head and his smile matches mine.

"Smells yummy." He says as a greeting before dipping down to kiss my forehead.

The ghost of his lips on my cheek from a few nights ago makes my entire body tingle.

When I woke up, I wasn't sure if I dreamt that or if it was real. But it most definitely is real.

The next day, I called him to thank him for locking my front door and cleaning the mess my brothers and their friends left behind. And as a token of thanks, I invited him over for dinner.

"When can we eat?" He jokes as he takes off his shoes. I walk to the pan on the stove and stir the sauce.

"There's still so much to do." I grab a small spoon and dip it in the sauce. "Come taste this first."

He comes and stands next to me and leans forward. He keeps his eyes on me while I feed him the small bite.

The intense eye contact and the way his tongue drags across his lips for the remnants of the sauce are doing things to my body.

"Mmm." He nods. "Amazing."

"Yeah?" I break our eye contact and continue stirring. "It doesn't need more salt?"

"No, it's perfect as it is."

"Good." I nod proudly. It's the first time I'm attempting this recipe. "Hand me the whipped cream from the fridge, please?"

We work in unison for a while in silence. His arms brushing mine. His fingers touching mine every time he hands me something. He takes up a lot of space in my tiny kitchen.

"So," he starts. I glance at him, and he's smiling sheepishly. "I bought a truck the other day."

My mouth goes slack and I gape at him. "You did? But you love your blue truck."

"I do." He crosses his arm and leans against the counter. "I saw it while driving. It was only two hundred bucks. It needs a lot of repairs, but I enjoy doing it."

"Wow." I nod. "And here I thought it was because I had trouble climbing up that monster truck." I nudge his shoulder.

"Nope." He pinches my waist and I side step him while letting out a laugh. "Never getting rid of my blue baby, no matter how difficult it is for you to get into."

I give him a mock glare. "So you'll fix it, then sell it?"

"Maybe." He shrugs.

I grab the bell peppers and wash them as he keeps talking. "I enjoyed fixing my current truck. And I'm good at it. And when I saw this new truck on the side of the road, I just bought it without thinking too hard about it."

"Maybe you'll open your own car garage one day." I muse.

He chuckles. "Here, I'll cut them." He takes the bell peppers from my hands and grabs a knife and a cutting board. He's getting familiar with where everything is in my kitchen. And we make a good cooking team. I sometimes don't even have to tell him to hand me something, he just does it like he has the ability to read my mind.

Which would be bad because then he'll hear my thoughts about how hot his hands look while cutting vegetables.

These hands that held guns and probably grenades as well.

He's cutting the vegetables in such delicacy in long strips. How can these strong masculine hands be so gentle? He always holds my head very tenderly when he kisses my forehead. And the way he left a barely there kiss on my cheek the other night when I was in half slumber.

But is he always this gentle when he touches me? Or can he get a bit more rough?

"Fuck." He curses and my eyes flash in alarm. Did he actually hear my thoughts?

He raises his hand and I see a trickle of blood.

"Leo!" I grab his hand to assess how deep the cut is. "Does it hurt?"

Instinct takes over and I grab a paper towel from nearby to wrap it around his middle finger to stop the bleeding.

"I can barely feel it." He tells me.

"It's definitely deeper than a regular cut." I say out loud and lift the tissue up a little to see if it's still actively bleeding. "Let me rinse it with water. It might sting a little." I extend his arm so his hand is under the faucet and run water on his cut.

"It doesn't hurt, Josephine."

"Maybe not now, but it will hurt if I don't put a bandaid on it." I frantically look around my kitchen for the first aid kit. "Keep your hand under the stream." I direct and crouch so I can grab the kit.

Opening it, I put on gloves before grabbing gauze and disinfectant.

"Josephine." Leo says.

"What? It's still bleeding?" I inspect his finger. It's not bleeding. Thank god.

"It's just a cut. There's no need for all this."

"It could get infected if I don't tend to it." I tell him. I see some crazy things at the hospital. A little lifted nail gets infected and leads to amputation. Something as simple as that leading to something fatal.

"I've had open wounds before. Bigger than this." He tries to take his hand back, but I firmly hold it in mine.

"I'm gonna spray some alcohol." I tell him. "It's going to burn."

I apply the tiniest amount of alcohol on the cut, and he doesn't even flinch.

"Josephine."

"Hold still." I direct.

"Josephine." His other hand gently frames my cheek and he turns my face to him. "It's just a cut. I get them all the time." He's soothing me when it should be my job. I'm the nurse! Not him.

"Still," I weakly defend.

He shakes his head. "Still nothing. I don't feel anything. It's alright."

"Okay." I inhale a deep breath. He's right. It's just a tiny insignificant cut. I overreacted.

But the thought of him hurting...it hurts me.

He said he's had open wounds that were bigger than this before. And I don't want to think of him in pain. Laying on his side, a gunshot wound bleeding and crying for help.

My heart squeezes at the thought. It's something he'll probably have to experience again.

I don't want him to get hurt.

Leo dips his head down so he can peer into my eyes better. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just..." I shake my head to clear my thoughts. "Instinct." I chuckle to mask the emotions my body's going through.

His thumb moves across my cheek, the pad of his finger rough and textured. But it's soothing.

His eyes darken as he looks at me, assessing me.

I grip onto his wrist as I try to fight off what my body wants.

And my heart.

My feelings for Leo go beyond those of a friendship. I'm definitely falling for him. Hard and fast.

The lingering kiss he leaves on my forehead confirms he is, too.

• ••• •

A/N:

👀