Listening to the Heart

Chapter 26

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Third Person POV

Kaownah had just dropped off Kao at their landlady's driveway after they had lunch and dinner at the mall, when his phone started to ring.

He saw on his screen that it was the Rehab Company where he was working as a part time employee.

Kaownah had studied for two years as a physical therapist and had received his license recently but he wanted to be more than just that so he was taking a four year bachelors course in Business Management at the university.

He was working part time to support his educational expenses and his cost of living expenses because ever since his parents had divorced he moved away from them and decided to live on his own.

He swiped his phone screen to take the call. It was Veronica, the rehab company manager.

"Kaownah, keep your Sunday afternoon free," said Veronica without any preliminary greetings.

"Yes," Kaownah replied and waited for Veronica to elaborate on her request.

"We have a new client who injured both knees and suffered from a whiplash after his car accident," Veronica said, "He is being discharged from the hospital tomorrow noon. I have scheduled him for a physical therapy session this coming Sunday afternoon. Will you be able to meet up with him the day after tomorrow?"

"Sure," Kaownah said, mentally saying goodbye to his Sunday afternoon plans. He couldn't say no to Veronica. He needed to pay his dormitory rental fee to Mrs. N. It was coming due the first day of next month and this month was already ending.

Well anyway, he still had tomorrow, Saturday, to study for his Monday exams at university.

"Let me give you the client's home address and contact number," said Veronica.

Kaownah was happily surprised to note that the address was only a few blocks away from his dormitory. In fact it was within walking distance. His client's name was Title Puangmalee.

He placed the contact number that Veronica gave him into his list of contacts. He was going to call him tomorrow afternoon.

Kaownah spent the whole of Saturday morning poring through his textbooks and his notes. If he was going to be busy on Sunday, he might not have enough time left to review for his exams on Monday.

By afternoon, he decided to call his client.

Kaownah introduced himself as a physical therapist to his client, Title, on the phone.

"Are you still at the hospital?" Kaownah asked him.

"No," Title replied, "I'm at home now. In fact I just got home. The discharge process took some time. There were so many papers to sign and so many after-discharge instructions to be given."

"I will be coming to see you tomorrow," Kaownah informed Title. "Is two in the afternoon convenient for you to have your therapy session?"

Title was fine with the session being scheduled at around two in the afternoon instead of right after lunch.

"I'll see you tomorrow then," Kaownah said. "Don't forget to take your pain pills an hour before our therapy session."

Kaownah confirmed with Title the address that Veronica gave him before ending the call.

After studying all morning Kaownah started feeling the pangs of hunger. He wasn't surprised because he hadn't eaten lunch yet and his breakfast had consisted only of a small bowl of ramen.

He looked at the time on his phone. It was almost one in the afternoon. He decided to text Kao and then remembered, damn, he had forgotten to exchange numbers with him.

He closed his textbook and put it away together with his notebooks on the shelf just above his study table.

Then he left his dorm and made his way to the corner food store which offered assorted dishes from behind a glass counter. It was not an eatery. Everything was being sold for take out purposes only.

He told the staff behind the counter to give him one order of spicy beef with string beans and strips of red bell peppers and a medium size carton of jasmine rice.

After he paid for the food, he walked back to his dorm.

He felt lonely as he transferred the food he bought into a bowl and a plate and gathered some utensils from the small kitchen drawer inside his unit. He wished that he was eating lunch with Kao.

He felt drowsy after lunch and so he decided to lie on his single bed and soon he fell asleep. When he awakened it was close to evening. He only had a few hours left to finish reviewing for his exam because tomorrow he was sure that he wouldn't be inclined to study anymore.

He went to his study desk and concentrated on his review notes, stopping only after two hours to make himself a quick bowl of ramen before studying once more.

The next day, Kaowmah wanted to rest his tired mind by just spending the morning lazing in bed and alternating between playing games on his phone and listening to music of his choice.

Promptly at two o'clock in the afternoon, he was buzzing on the front door of Title's house.

Kaownah introduced himself to Mrs. Puangmalee who met him at the front door.

Mrs. Puangmalee led him to the living room where Title was waiting for him in his wheelchair.

After introductions were made, Title motioned Kaownah to sit on the couch facing his wheelchair.

"The physical therapy sessions that I will be giving you are just a continuation of the ones that you had already started at the hospital," Kaownah explained to Title.

Title nodded.

"The hospital informed me that I still have thirty days of physical therapy authorized by my insurance company," Title said.

"That's right," Kaownah confirmed. "I will be giving you daily physical therapy for the next thirty days except Mondays and Thursdays."

"Why is that?" Title wanted to know.

"I'm not available on those days," Kaownah replied.

Kaownah felt that it was not necessary to give Title the specifics. The truth was Mondays and Fridays were his rigid exam days and he wanted to be free on Thursday to review for his exam. He didn't have classes on the weekends so he had enough time to study before Monday.

"Shall we get started on your therapy?" Kaownah asked, standing up from the couch.

"Sure," Title replied.

Kaownah walked over to Title's wheelchair. He placed himself between Title's legs and bent to hold him around the waist.

"Place your arms around my neck and put your weight on my shoulders," he instructed Title.

As Title did so, Title suddenly became aware of Kaownah's pleasantly musky cologne and the fragrant smell of shampoo in his hair.

As Kaownah helped Title to his feet, Title felt his knees buckling and he sagged his whole weight against Kaownah's chest.

"Easy, easy," Kaownah said, holding his client very tightly around the waist, their chests pressed against each other, their lips dangerously less than an inch apart.