C3 Chapter 3

Days passed by and it felt like it had been ages since he last saw Rachel. He just wanted to make sure she was doing fine and that her wound was completely healed. It was like she was deliberately avoiding him. She had worked her magic and was able to bring in a new set of workers. Twice now he had come out of his building just to go over to her place to check on her but had finally changed his mind halfway through the journey. He was supposed to look out for her like a sister. "A sister?" We both know you do not see her as a sister. His inner voice had said. It was too early for all this besides he had work to do. He was happy that he was starting to control his anger. Not that he had completely stopped smashing things but he had reduced the level at which he did. He still lashed out at some of the staff's actions. He was trying his best. He was never the type to get angry at the slightest of fault but circumstances had changed him.

It was weekend and all the staffs had retired for the day. He wasn't feeling too well. Just maybe he had overdone it at the gym yesterday. He was sore all over and his knuckles were busted. All he needed was a good rest. If there were no changes in a day or two, he would call his doctor. A knock on the door brought him back from his train of thoughts. He had specifically told them that he didn't want to be disturbed and he thought they were all gone. He quickly threw on his bathroom robe to hide the massive scar from the fire accident and went ahead to check who was at the door.

'I thought I made it clear that I did not want to be disturbed. Do you want to lose your job--" he stopped mid-sentence when he saw Rachel standing in front of the door looking like someone who was about to go for an event. She was indeed a paragon of beauty. She was the type of woman that caused heads to turn when she entered into a room. But what was she doing here dressed to kill?

"Good evening sir. I was told you weren't feeling too well and that you didn't touch your breakfast, lunch and dinner which is why I decided to stop by and drop my special homemade Rigatoni and Bolognese sauce."

"Thanks. I appreciate the kind gesture but you didn't have to go out of your way to prepare anything for me or check up me. Let me have that so I wouldn't delay you from where you are going to." He was about to stretch out his arms when he felt a burning sensation around his arm which caused a little hesitation. He quickly tried to cover the whole scene with a brief smile but it was too late. She was already staring at his busted knuckles. Damn! He forgot to cover it up. She pushed her way in with the food in her hands.

"Aiden please can you just tell me you didn't intentionally inflict those wounds on yourself. I mean Mr James."

"Enough with the formalities! You will call me Aiden and that's that. That's an order! Sorry I didn't mean to yell. I think I went hard on yesterday's training section at the gym."

"Ok. Aiden I want to believe you. What happened to your boxing gloves?"

"I may have forgotten to wear them." He said as he staggered slightly. She reached to steady him and noticed he was burning up. She just never understood why he had to hurt himself. He wasn't to be blamed for the fire. He did try to save them. To think that she once couldn't stop thinking about him not until he married Sabrina. Aiden had quit several women in his bed not that she cared. She was just an inexperienced college girl "waiting for Aiden to teach her the tips and tricks to being a pro in that field'. Her inner voice said. That was never going to happen because he had never looked at her in such a way. She was going to die a virgin because he probably sees her as his sister. Not even Brian made her feel this way and she hated him for this. She thought she had moved on since he got married but it feels like all the feelings she once buried had surfaced in the twinkle of an eye. She quickly dropped her hands to her side. Touching him alone was sending electric waves through her body and that was bad for her mental health and her relationship.

" Can you come sit on the bed let me deep a towel into a bowl of water?" She was back with both items in a jiffy. She mopped his forehead and was dabbing his neck for too long because she didn't know how to ask him to take off his robe. After what seemed like forever, she summoned the courage and asked him.

"Do you mind if I take off your robe? I want to mop your chest region."

"Is that necessary? Do I have to take off my robe?"

"You don't have to if you don't want to. It's okay if you feel uncomfortable, you can just untie it. I'll dab it with your robes on." He slightly loosened the robe so that just a little part of his torso was exposed. She dipped her hands into the robe and mopped her way through to his chest with shivering hands. Just as she was about to remove the towel, her hand hit the robe causing it to open, revealing what looked like the start of a healed scar from a burn. Out of curiosity, she started tracing the scar to find out the end.

Her heart was literally out of her chest because she could hear her heart thumping so fast. She traced the scar with her fingers like an artist appreciating his work of art. She was treading on dangerous grounds with a mixture of fear and confidence. Before she knew what was happening, her other hand was taking off his robes. This was the part he was supposed to stop her and probably push her away but he was still like a frozen fish. The only reason she could tell he was still breathing was because of the rise and fall of his chest. She tried her best to avoid his gaze during the whole time but she didn't know how long she could continue.

"What are you doing Rachel?" he whispered. She couldn't even tell if the sound of his voice was laced with pain or pleasure. She was that inexperienced.

"I honestly don't know. Please tell me to stop if you hate it. I want to see all of it." She said in a shaking tone.

"Nobody has seen them except for the doctor that treated me. What if you see it and never want to come close to me?"

"Aiden it's a scar. It's not leprosy." She replied. He slowly took off his robe leaving him in his grey sweatpants.

"Scars or no scars, you are handsome. You of all people should know this." She was one second away from trailing kisses on the scar when her phone beeped and brought her out of whatever trouble she was about to land herself into. It was Brian calling. She quickly tried to catch her breath before picking the call. She cleaned the beads of sweat that had formed on her head and excused herself to receive her call in his bathroom.

"Hey, babe. Sorry I couldn't call you. My boss came down with a bad fever and all the staffs had retired for the night. We can always schedule another dinner. I love you too. Take care of yourself. Good night baby." She ended the call and was about to pick up his first aid box when she saw that he had broken his bathroom mirror and that one could only see from their face to their neck region in it. How much was he hurting? He couldn't even look at himself in a full mirror.

"Not that I planned to eavesdrop but I just heard your conversation and the person on the other end didn't sound very happy which is why you don't have to stay." He said.

"Aiden I already told him I wasn't coming over anymore." She said as she pulled off her red bottoms heels. He remembered clearly that that was one of the collections of things he had gotten for her. It fit so well he would have done her the favour of slowly taking it off. As quick as his thoughts wandered into the gutter, he took them out almost immediately. She was like family to him and she had a boyfriend. His mother trained him better than that.

She noticed he had put on his robe back. He had even tightened it twice. What was she thinking that she was about to start trailing kisses on his scar? Harlequin novels and Aiden will be the death of her. It was high time she started reading inspirational books and other books like "How to move on" or "How to bury strong feelings" and so on.

She had given him some pain killers, and a drug for his fever after he had taken a few spoons of the food she prepared. In no time he was fast asleep. She quickly went over to her place to wipe off her makeup and change into a big sweater that was almost swallowing her up which she paired with her pyjamas. She dragged her duvet and her Harlequin novel alongside her and locked up her apartment. She entered his room and found out he was still fast asleep.

She placed her pieces of stuff on the soft couch in the small living room situated in his room and went downstairs to prepare herself a cup of fruit juice to go alongside her novel. It was going to be a long night. She switched off his room light and that of the living room and comfortably sat on the couch. She was deep into her novel, expecting Brian's call she didn't know when she drifted off to dreamland.