RED

Gardenia (part 2)

Enrico drank down some water after putting the pills in his mouth. Afterwards, he sat there, almost like a zombie, staring out into space. His mind was ever so divided on what to do next. He knew he hurt her. He very well knew what he should do to rectify it, but at the same time, he just couldn't. It felt so complicated. Enrico really didn't want the past repeating itself. That was the main reason he became this way in the first place. After all, who exactly was Kiana to me? An old acquaintance? Just his first love? His assistant? His maid? Who exactly could he say she was to him? Why did she have so much effect on him? With her, he was always wary of his words. With her, every pain was noticeable. It wasn't like that with the women he had been with. Kiana was different and he truly accepted that fact. The only problem was how to stop her from being the different one.

* * *

Kiana let out a sigh after she was done wiping the counter clean. She stood still for a moment before turning her head and looking up to Enrico's room. She eventually looked away, then lightly bit her lower lip, as several thoughts ran through her mind.

Kiana stood quietly before taking in a deep breath, while she shut her eyes for a moment. Right after she opened her eyes, she took gentle steps into the room and only came to a halt when she noticed Enrico seemingly asleep on his bed. Slowly, she let out a sigh. A part of her grateful that he was now asleep. She had thought of several ways to deal with his harsh comments or their awkward situations. Thankfully, she wouldn't have to deal with any of that. Therefore, she took bold, but careful steps further and only stopped when she was in front of him. Slightly, she turned her head to the tray on the bedside table. She stared at the bowl of soup she had brought. A closer look and she realised, it had gone down a little. A brief smile formed on her lips. Taking a look at the cup of water, she could see he had drunk it down, hopefully, with his medication.

She let out another sigh as she shifted her eyes back to him. Kiana couldn't help but notice he looked so different whenever he was asleep. She raised her right hand to her hair and pushed it behind her ear, before slightly bending to take a closer look at him. She gently placed a hand on his forehead to feel his temperature. Another brief smile formed her lips when she realised it had subsided a little. He was getting better and that was good. She slowly withdrew her hand away from his forehead. She should walk away, right? But Kiana just couldn't. Once more, her eyes felt glued to his face. Thinking about it, she seemed a little relieved there was one thing about him from the past that stayed on. His eyesight. Kiana couldn't understand why she has to be the one to always take off his glasses when he's asleep during situations like this. She wasn't exactly complaining. She just wondered.

She gently took the glasses off him and left them on the bedside table. Staring back down at his face, Kiana couldn't help but wonder what could have happened if she had said yes in the past. What, then, would be their present? Could things have seemed a little better between them? She stretched her hand in an attempt to lightly touch his hair, but suddenly stopped halfway through, her hand hung in the air.

What am I doing?

Kiana asked herself quite unable to comprehend her actions anymore. One part, she yearned to run her hand through his hair and on the other part, she told herself she just can't. Why? Because of several reasons such as, the past needs to stay in the past, he's her boss and she doesn't deserve him, especially after what she did to him in the past, something he has no idea about. That was it. She needed to end this right here, at least for her own safety. With that thought, Kiana immediately stood straight then quickly attempted to walk away, only to be grabbed on the wrist, pulled thereby forcing her to make an immediate turn, which causes her to lose her balance and fall right on the space recently created on the bed.

Her heart raced really fast as her eyes widened in surprise. For some reason, she felt frozen, unable to move as she laid there on the bed, his arms wrapped around her. Her eyes looked anywhere else, but at the face of the owner of the arms around her. It all happened so fast. One moment, he was asleep and she was about to walk away then suddenly, she found herself there.