Our Second Life

Chapter- 18

Ian's POV

Winter's lasagna was hands down the best lasagna I have ever had in my life.

She is undoubtedly soooo fucking good at cooking that my once dead tastebuds literally savoured every bit of her food.

I repeat it was sooo good.

It has been a long time since somebody cooked a 'real meal' for me other than my mom who did it occasionally (which was also once in a rare while). Hence since the past few years all what I have been eating is either the two ingredient dishes that I could only make or most of the times I was forced to have the horrible hospital canteen food which tastes nothing better than unsalted puke. It was soo blant that my tastebuds had almost died and forgot to recognize real flavours. And in a way me being a doctor neither helped this entire case. I subconsciously kept on believing in my mind that however blant it tastes, hospital food is very nutritious and is the best for my body. And as I was terrible at cooking so neither could I make healthy 'tasty' homemade meals for myself. So I kept on gulping down the same hospital porridge every single day.
As for the kids, Adam barely ate at home. He strongly showcased his dislike towards the foods that I made and always either ate at his school cafeteria or somewhere outside.
But for Aiden, he ate whatever I made or whatever I gave him to eat since childhood. He has been a nice kid and never even complained once about my terrible cooking skills. Also as I was never a fan of eating out because it was all unhealthy shit that one could stuff into their body, so I barely took him out to eat or let him snack on.
But now that I think of it, I highly doubt if Aiden even ever developed his tastebuds or not !!.....Afterall he has been eating blant food all his life since he was a kid.

All because of me and my incompetence...
I literally felt so bad for him....

But on the brighter side, now I finally get the reason why Aiden always rushes to Winter's house whenever its meal time.

Infact if I could, I would do the same😌😌...

Aiden probably has already fallen in love with Winter's cooking. Though I have heard him ramble a few times about the tasty dishes Winter made, I never really got a real chance till today to actually try them.

Winter is a genius...
She is an angel....

Currently I was seating on one end of the sofa with her bestfriend Irene on the other end. Irene looked very shy in general but whenever she was near Winter she looked very jolly. Infact in a way both of them opened up to each other whenever they were close. They had this weird spark in their friendship that lit up only when they were with each other. Infact if I didn't know that they were friends, I would have easily mistaken them to be sisters. They shared a bond that ran even deeper than blood bonds. In a way they were so similar yet so different from one another. I don't know much about Irene but I could sense a strong personality from her. She was like the older sister who would do anything for her little sister.

Irene was typing something on her phone in a fast pace while sitting on the sofa. She barely spoke anything with me since the lunch time. She asked me a few general questions while we were having lunch like what I did, where I worked and etc. But since then she barely showed any interest in initiating a conversation with me.

Meanwhile Winter was washing the dishes with Aiden sitting near the sink clinging to her like a monkey. I offered to help her in doing the dishes but she politely rejected me in a calm tone and said she could handle it all by herself. So finding nothing to do, I sat back on the sofa and anxiously tapped my barefoot on the floor carpet.
I was trying to steal a few glances at Winter while she washed the dishes when my eyes suddenly fell on Irene who was doing the same on me!!
Irene looked at me quickly and looked away in no time. Infact I have seen her doing the same thing while we were having lunch. Irene occasionally kept on stealing glances at me and then Winter once in a while while everyone was happily munching on their food.

I don't really know what Irene's actions mean but in a way they feel protective to me. It was more like she was trying to assure that I was a nice guy and won't do any harm to Winter.... which I obviously won't. But still she had this protective aura towards Winter and seemed like that she genuinely cared for her.

I was contemplating all these things in my mind when my phone suddenly rang out loudly. It was my off day and neither was I supposed to meet anyone.
So then who could it be??...
Hearing my phone, everybody immediately turned their gazes towards me and I had to quickly excuse myself outside to receive the call.

It was from the hospital.

*************************************

Winter's POV

I was drying off the dishes when Ian's phone suddenly rang out loudly and his expression changed in no time. It was a Sunday and I have noticed that he usually didn't work on sundays....so then what suddenly bothered him?!

As soon as Ian left throught the door to receive the call, I looked back at Irene and saw her doing the same. She was also looking at me cluelessly at the same time.

I shrugged off casually and went back to work while Aiden ran into the bedroom to play with his toy cars on the bed.

Probably five minutes later, a flustered Ian opened the door with a bang and rushed towards me. He was breathing heavily and he looked like he was in a hurry. He was also sweating like anything and the veins on his forehead popped out. It seemed like he was under immense stress.

I was very much perplexed and frightened at the same time by his sudden change in emotion and was about to ask him what happened when he cut me off.

"...Winter please keep Aiden with you... I might be late tonight... I have an emergency at the hospital and it is really serious... so I have to rush now.. Please take care of Aiden...Please..thankyou and bye..", Ian literally finished of the entire sentence in a single breath and stormed out in a flash of moment even before I could form a response.

Irene immediately stood up from the sofa and walked towards me, "..Heyy what happened to him...why did he rush out like that..??"

"H-He s-said h-he had s-some emergency at t-the h-hospital and s-so he l-left," I somehow spoke back recovering from everything that just happened a few seconds ago.

"Oh my god....and here I thought something serious happened from the way he rushed out..", Irene literally let out a breath of relief..."But Winter why are YOU fumbling like this?"
Irene gave me a concerning look.

My throat had become dry and I gulped down once before answering her, "I-I d-don't know Irene...but I have never seen Ian worked up like this.. he never looked this much flustered anytime before and I don't know but I could feel it in my guts that something is really wrong and the worried look on Ian's face clearly says the same."

Suddenly a pair of arms engulfed me in.
Irene hugged me...

"Hey it's gonna be okay you know...Ian is a doctor and he handles emergencies every day dear....it is the only normal thing for him", Irene spoke as she patted my head.

"B-but Irene I am really scared by the look on Ian's face before he left...what if something really goes wrong?", I looked back at my bestfriend still feeling every bit of the anxiousness run through my heart.

"Sshh it's gonna be fine...everything is gonna be fine...let's go back and play with Aiden now...he is literally waiting for you to join him..", Irene tried her best to calm me down.

But my heart was still not feeling at peace... I could not get over the look on Ian's face before ge left through the door.

"Winter....pwease come let's playy...Where are you Winterrrr...", Aiden shouted from the bedroom at the top of his voice.

"Come let's go..."

Irene took my hand and let me into the bedroom while my mind was still stuck at the thought of Ian. I don't really know what happened but I really pray that everything goes well. I have never seen Ian this worried before... he has been always so calm and composed and seeing him this anxious was something new to me. It genuinely worries me to see this side of him. But all I want is everything to be alright.

I really hope it is...and I really hope Ian returns as soon as possible....