Love, Amor, Amour

《Chapter 14》

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Xavier walked in right on time for his weekly dose of maple bars as the bell shimmed signaling his arrival. She spotted him when coming from the back, a tray in her hands ready to stock up display shelves. He slid over the counter to catch her attention and greeted her with his usual complimented comparison to sweets. She chuckled and waved him over after she finished setting up the display shelves. He asked if she knew where he could find anti-cold medication as a precaution to what his friend was currently fighting off. Mina had known of the reasons Elijah hadn't gone to work these two days and meant to check in on him today, but was too preoccupied with work herself.

"It's that bad?"

He nods and winces at the mention of catching a cold, he hadn't the need to waste those sick days from his work schedule if he wanted to use them as freebies to laze around or go out and get laid.

She told him not to worry that she'd buy the medicine and they would meet here tomorrow, so she'd be able to tail him back to his shared flat. It was fairly simple to identify and purchase seeing as she had studied in the medical field and wanted to apply her skills in real life before she had changed all direction of her life. Pursuing the field on medicine would have required her to move out of town when she had gotten the offer of nursing at a very well-known hospital just in the center of the city away from home, she turned the offer down of course.

Around six or so the very next day, she walked with Xavier to the elevator and up to the third floor where they found themselves a teary-eyed Elijah. Mina jogged over to him taking a closer look at how ill he had gotten himself just days after their weekend out together. His usually pale skin was sallow and his nose looked raw from the over amount of tissues he'd used for the never-ending mucous coming out of it. He was cover from top to bottom in clothing; hat, sweater, pajamas, socks, and house slippers, all that was missing was a scarf. She touched his cheeks and frowned at the warmth, it was the first time the warmth of his body was unappealing to her. He pecked her palm and smiled at how good her presence made him. She asked how he'd been holding his own since she last saw him.

"I feel a little better today, at least I can get up now. Yesterday I felt like I was glued to my bed."

"Glued or chained?"

She tried lightening the mood with her witty comment, something that Xavier heard from the kitchen and laughed along with them. It came to a stop when trying to laugh lead to a coughing fit for Elijah. She waited until he was okay to start talking, she felt his forehead and sighed in discontent. Then went to touch his chest, but he backed away telling her he wouldn't let her fall ill as well. A moment later he was coughing again and in a flash was in the bathroom leaning over the sink. Once seated on his bed they brought up the conversation again.

"I don't get sick, my mom made sure of that," she shook her head in reminiscence of he mother's orders.

"How so?"

"Every week I take two cod liver oil pills for my immune system, I can't even remember the last time I was sick." At his quizzical look, she cleared the confusion with her reply.

"Cod, as in?"

"Fish, a whole lot of vitamin A and D added to those meds which is exactly what you need."

Elijah made a face of repugnance at the idea of taking the oil of a fish's liver for the wellness of his immune system. "And it's safe?"

"Yeah, its over the counter and they're small so they don't even have a taste to them," Mina let a little giggle slip at the face he pulled from her previous answer.

"..Maybe I should try those," he said not sounding convincing enough to her ears much less his own.

A chicken noodle soup really made a difference when Mina dragged him out to sit on a barstool to guide her in his kitchen as she got to cooking. The aroma of dinner being served made Xavier peek out of his cave. She had made enough for three but warned Xavier that the rest was dinner for Elijah tomorrow. He surrendered his second serving with longing and got up for some juice instead.