One

Chapter 15

As soon as they reached Stephen's house, the tall man immediately announced that he was going to take a bath.

"Okay, let me help you." Ali started to follow Stephen.

Stephen paused his journey to his downstairs bathroom. "Is that your excuse to see me naked?" He raised an eyebrow at Ali. "'Cause Ali, all you really have to do is ask. You don't have to use this as an excuse."

Ali rolled her eyes. "No, I'm not using this as an excuse to see you naked. I only want to make sure you don't hurt yourself getting in the tub," she said.

"Sure," he said with a overacted suspicion tone.

"Go on! Head to the bathroom already," she ordered the tall man as she turned on her phone, which she shut off when they were at the hospital.

"Okay, but first, can you get me a change of clothes upstairs? My bedroom is the first door off the stairs." He resumed to make his way to the bathroom. "Oh and I know it may be tempting, but please don't nick one of my pants as a souvenir!" Stephen shouted over his shoulder.

"Shut up!" She giggled. Ali pocketed her phone before she ran up the stairs fetched him his clothes. When she came back downstairs, she went to the bathroom and found Stephen sitting on edge of an already prepared bath tub, toeing off his left sock.

"Just in time! You get to see strip off my clothes." Stephen got up and placed all his weight on his uninjured leg. To the best of his abilities, Stephen started to "dance" for Ali. He slowly took off his shirt and flung it at Ali. When he did so, he almost lost his balance but Ali ran up to him to keep him from falling. "Thanks," he laughed at himself.

"I think you should stick to being a TV presenter," Ali said as she helped Stephen sit back down on the edge of the bath tub. "Here, let's get this knee brace of you." She crouched in front Stephen and pulled on the velcro straps of the brace and took it off, making Stephen grimace in pain. "Now what?" She asked as she stared at Stephen's shorts.

Understanding what she meant, Stephen replied, "I think I can take my shorts and pants off by myself. It's the getting in and out of the tub that may be difficult." He carefully stood up and hooked his fingers on the elastic band of his shorts and pants. "Um, Ali..."

"Oh, right." Ali turned around as Stephen discarded the rest of his clothes. 

"Okay, I'm ready." 

Ali faced Stephen once more to assist him. She just held on to him and made sure he doesn't fall over as he stepped into the tub.  It wasn't an easy task as she kept her eyes trained on the wall, but they did it and Stephen was already relaxing in his warm bubble bath.

"Thanks, Ali."

Knowing Stephen is fully submerged in the water, Ali looked at Stephen. "You're wel-" She stopped mid-sentence when she saw him playing with his hair, styling it to a faux mohawk. Ali smiled at the man's adorableness.

"What?" Stephen asked. He ceased playing with his hair.

"Nothing." Ali looked fondly at him. "Just holler when you're done and I'll help you out. I'll be in the kitchen fixing us something to eat." She started to walk out the bathroom

"Just order takeaway! There's several menus on the fridge. Choose whichever you want," he distractedly said as he blew bubbles off his hand.

"Why do you have takeaway menus?" Ali asked from the doorway.

"I'm a single man, sometimes I'm too lazy to cook so I just order in," he answered. "How d'you think I got my one-pack abs?"

She chuckled at his comment before heading to the kitchen. She found the menus and quickly decided on having some Chinese food for their late lunch. Ali pulled out her phone and finally saw she had numerous calls and text messages from Dec. Among all the missed calls from Dec was one recent one from Lisa. She clicked on Lisa's contact and returned the call.