Her smell

24

She couldn't believe her eyes.

Chris was looking even worse than last time. His clothes were dirty and his hair was nothing but a mess. There's no way she could leave him there all alone.

Lily carefully looked out from the bag and gasped at the sight of him.

"What do we do?" She asked Cassy with a concerned look on her face.

But Cassy couldn't hear anything her. She was feeling conflicted but deep down she knew leaving Chris in the rain wasn't the right thing to do. If things were to ever get better between them, she'd have to take the first step.

And right now was the best moment to do so.

Without any second thoughts, she put down her bag and ran towards Chris, embracing him tightly. She knew that reassurance was what he needed the most.

"Chris, let's get you inside." She grabbed his arm and kind of pulled him inside since he didn't seem to have any strength left. She grabbed the bag and took him to a room on the first floor.

Chris had yet not said a word, keeping the same expression that of a small abandoned puppy, as if everything was hopeless.

"Chris. Please take a shower. I'll find you extra clothes to put on. Stay here for tonight. Leave the payment to me. I want us to talk tomorrow. Will you do that for me?" Cassy held his hands and tried to look at his face that was lowered.

"Please?"

She asked one more time. Chris nodded with a more empty look this time. He was feeling guilty once again, as if he was unworthy of her sweet actions.

She slowly let go of his hands to avoid any more awkwardness and left the room to give him some privacy.

On her way out the door, she sighed.

"Lily.. what am I supposed to do now? I took him in but I have no idea what to do or say."

Cassy covered her face and fell to the floor, supporting her back against the wall. She was thinking deep about the situation, trying to come up with possible topics to mention tomorrow.

"Don't think too much about it. Just say what's on your mind and heart and how you wish to fix things. Now let's go find a new pair of clothes for him so he doesn't catch a cold."

Lily reassured her and both of them made their way to the storage room. They found a decent set of clothing and speed-walked back to Chris.

Cassy made sure to knock before she entered and called out his name to which he responded back with a hum. Thankfully he was still inside but wasn't on the bed so she assumed he was somewhere else inside. She stepped further in and looked to her right.

There was Chris, in the bathroom with the door open, half naked.

Without muttering a word out of pure shock, Cassy ever so slowly turned around to act like she didn't see anything. Before she had the chance to move away, Chris noticed her.

He let out a small "oh" sound, surprised to see her standing there. He was so deep in his own thoughts before that he never noticed anyone entering. He had a hard time figuring out why she was just standing there but quickly caught up when he looked at himself and realized his chest was exposed.

"Ah! I'm sorry! I'll cover up!" But all he could use as a cover was the towel that was hanging beside the door.

"It's fine! I'll just leave the clothes on the bed, you just take your shower and change clothes. I'll take my leave." She stuttered a little bit out of embarrassment and waved her hand at him as in telling him to just go do his business.

She left the clothes on the bed and slowly sprinted out of the room, yelling a goodnight as the door clothed behind her.

She let out a deep breath and felt her heart was bumping like crazy as she put her hand against it. Things were already awkward between them and the situation just now didn't ease it much. Although, she did get to see Chris show some emotions again.

It was time to go back down to the reception and start the night shift so she had no time to worry about her heart. And of course she made sure to go get Lily who had stayed behind in the storage room.

She tried to lay down in the middle of a neck pillow and told Cassy she'd just wait there.

———————

"Alright Lily, no disturbance. If you happen to see a bug, tug at the ends of my pants."

Lily nodded and laid down on the soft pillow that they had brought from home. It was Lily's favorite and sleeping was her favorite hobby so it was only the right timing for her to rest as much as she wanted.

It was such a sight for Cassy to see her rest so comfortably.

A few guests came in and it felt like the night was just starting.

"Good afternoon! Do you have rooms booked or do you want to book one now?"

The greetings and the bookings went on smoothly. Some guests were a bit of a hassle but the hotel had a guard and they made sure nothing got out of hands.

Soon enough the arrivals came to a stop to which Cassy took the opportunity to go through some of the bookings for tomorrow.

While organizing some paperwork, the doors opened and a familiar figure stepped inside. Cassy jumped up to greet the guest with a smile but cut off herself when she got a clearer view of the figures face.

It was him. No doubt about it. It was the same man who had given her that weird bottle that contained god knows what exactly.

They exchanged looks but said nothing. It made Cassy feel a bit uncomfortable yet not so scared.

"Can I help you with anything, sir?" She asked, acting like she didn't know him at all to avoid any unnecessary chitchat.

The man took a deep breath and and looked directly into Cassy's eyes. A friendly smiled suddenly planted on his face and he lightly chuckled.

"C'mon Cassy. There's no need to be awkward. The powder did come in handy, didn't it?"

—————
N/A - [PLEASE READ] hi again. It's been forever, hasn't it? I'd like to apologize for my lack of priority and activity towards this book. I know I made promises about better updates but to be honest with you guys I really haven't been feeling well mentally. I've also delayed a lot of homework because of that and the stress is more than I can take. I really can't promise you another update soon and I'm sorry if that makes you lose interest in HER SMELL. But one promise I know I can keep is that the book will be completed. Even if it takes awhile. I refuse to leave it half done especially when I've got most of the future events laid out. So once it's completed I hope you can come back and reread it without having to wait. Besides I will edit some of the first chapters since they're written differently. Once the book is officially completed

I'd like to thank every single person who is still supporting the book, whether you're an old or new reader. I'm really thankful and knowing how it's still getting likes makes me feel like people are hoping to read it til the end. I love you all.