C3 Episode-3||“Recklessness “

Pieces of glass had fallen near the sofa's leg. A bottle of whisky, in a half-broken state, lay two feet away on the floor. The bottle emptied, bit by bit, as the liquid leaked through the crevices on its shattered body.

David, with his wireless headphones wrapped around his ears and covering his head, descended the stairs, sighing and concealing his tears as he swallowed them. He frowned at Grace ailing, sitting down by the sofa and holding the furniture's fat wooden leg firmly. He noticed her feet bleeding and rushed downstairs.

He removed his headphones and placed them on the teapoy. He sat down beside her and extended his hand towards her foot. He observed a tiny piece of glass protruding.

"Fuck!", said he, shrinking his eyes and sighing at her bruise.

"What the hell is all of this mess?", shouted Grace. As tears rolled down her cheeks, she confronted him, "Would any sensible person discard whisky bottles like that? You moron!"

"I am very sorry…", he apologized.

"What will I do with your sorry, David? How will it help cure this? Ouch! My food. I am scared! OH no! What if I die?", she yelled.

He stood up and carried her in his arms. His eyes felt sorry for hers, which continued to remain troubled. He ran towards his black Inova car parked outside his gate. He laid her on the back seat, took his driver's seat, quickly wore his seat belt, and began driving.

"Where the hell are you taking me now?", enquired Grace.

"Don't worry.", he consoled, taking a right turn and driving on the main road, "I am driving you to the Michael clinic. It's around fifteen minutes away from here. You will be alright…I am sorry, again."

"Wait, what? Why clinic? I will take out the glass piece myself, wait…", she declared.

"Hey, don't do that. How can you be so stupid? It will harm you", he refused.

As she extended her right hand to take the glass piece off, he turned back and held her hand with his while continuing to drive with the other hand.

"Hey! I am scared. Drive carefully. You are such an idiot.", she screamed.

"We almost reached", he convinced, parking his car in front of the one-storeyed building occupying a handful of acres at the end of Kate's Street. "Michael Clinic", said the board, with bright bold white lights almost illuminating the entire street more than that of the moon. He got down and opened the back door. Packing her tightly in his arms, he rushed inside, calling out for the nurse.

"Ouch! It's really very painful…You idiot, what if something happened to me? Who would shoulder the responsibility, then?", shouted she, as she continued scolding him while the nurse escorted him into the second room. He walked through the light blue curtains and sat on the white bed, as the simple and plain curtains flew behind.

As he made her sit comfortably on the bed, with her back resting on the wooden backrest, the nurse observed the glass piece and threw her mouth open. She hurried to get a medium-sized white bowl. She opened the pipe of the little boiler on the slab and filled it with warm water. She added a few spoons of table salt to the bowl. She soaked Grace's foot in the bowl and used a pair of tweezers to remove the piece of glass.

She smiled at her patient and nodded, pointing at the bowl as the glass piece came out and fell inside the bowl successfully.

"You could have done it at your home itself, sir", suggested she.

David smiled, admitting, "Thank you for the timely help, nurse. But I don't know home remedies for removing glass pieces! Haha! It's an advanced topic to the best of my knowledge!"

"Yes, of course! You only know how to break a big whisky bottle. Moron!", scolded Grace, throwing her angry face with bulging eyes and frowning lips at him.

"I need your details now", diverted the nurse.

As Grace nodded, she asked her, "Your sweet name, please?"

"Grace", said she.

"You age?", asked the nurse, noting down on the white paper with the clinic's logo on the top left corner clipped to the old-fashioned brown cardboard and a blue ballpoint pen in her left hand.

Grace frowned at David, who continued looking at her with his eyes feeling sorry. He turned away and headed towards the door, as she replied, "Twenty-eight."

"Same here!", chuckled he, turning back and looking at her, as he stood beside the door.

"Madam, you need to take a TT injection", informed the nurse, leaving her notepad on the desk beside her. As she filled the tube of a new injection with a liquid, Grace bulged her eyes and turned at David, who glanced at the injection and then at her. He chuckled, remarking, "OH I see! Someone is scared of injections!"

Putting his hands in his bermuda's pockets, he walked towards her.

"Why should I agree to an injection because of you, a stupid stranger? No way!", she refused, trying to get out of bed. He held her shoulders tightly and neared her face. She looked into his eyes, which grew engrossed in her rosy lips.

"Wow! Your lips are beautiful, Grace", said he, blushing at her.

"Are you joking?", she asked, suspiciously.

He turned back and winked at the nurse, who smiled in return. He faced Grace and nodded, as his white cheeks turned pinkish.

"Grace, hasn't anyone ever told you this to date? OH, I'm surprised!", he chuckled.

She smiled, informing him, "Yes, my ex." A drop of medicine popped from the syringe and the nurse slowly began to move toward her patient who was spellbound in David's face.

David slowly released her right shoulder and patted her cheek." Rosy, little fat, neither too wide nor too narrow, smooth and moisturized and very natural are your lips. Grace is truly graceful!", complimented he, at which she blushed.

"Ouch!", she pierced a small cry, as trivial as hunting for a raincoat on a sunny noon.

"Done!", announced the nurse, nodding and laughing. "Sir, I must agree that you are damn smart", concluded the nurse, as she finished bandaging Grace's foot.

As David bowed, the angry Grace got up and frowned at him, as she limped towards the door. "So, it was all a lie to divert me. Such a moron you are, David", confronted she, making her way out of the clinic.

He followed her, denying," No, you are beautiful indeed! Besides, your beauty touches the sky when your rage grows. But it doesn't mean that you should always keep screwing me! "She turned back to look at him. She blushed a bit as he stared at her lips. They were then lost in each other's eyes.

She raised her eyebrows and shrank her eyes at him. "I have left your courier on your couch. Go and take it…That's all I wanted to tell you and had to visit you and see you now. Pity my poor foot! Ouch!", concluded she, walking forward, leaving him behind.

"Wait! Don't strain, please! I will drop you at home. Listen!", offered he, running behind her. She could only limp a few feet and he managed to easily catch up with her. He came in front of her and blocked her way, stretching out both of his hands.

"Come on, Grace! We live in the same locality…in fact, opposite houses. I shall drop you!", he suggested.

"Oh, please! I am done with your gentlemanliness. That's why my foot is injured at present!", she refused, continuing to limp away from him.

"What the fuck? How will you return home from here? It would be very tiresome. Trust me!", he highlighted.

She turned back at him and concluded, "David, please stop. The great heavens have gifted me two legs, two hands, two ears, and two eyes. I will manage! You leave right away…", replied she, pointing her finger at him and threatening, "Dare not follow me. I won't spare you anymore!"

He walked back to his car, grabbed the door and opened it, sat inside, and drove behind her. While she stopped, he too stopped his car and gestured for her to come inside. He chuckled and smiled while she frowned and continued limping although it was a tough decision. He drove the car slowly and followed her along.

She ignored it until he honked a longhorn prolonging for the entire next minute and loud enough to compete with the loudspeakers at the aerodrome. She closed her ears and yelled at him. It was then followed by the howl of a crowd of dogs, emerging from quite far yet being quite audible.

She looked at him and smiled, as he laughed at her. She sat under a tree and stretched her legs forward. He got down from his car and jogged towards her. He sat beside her. She shrugged while he blushed for a moment and looked away.

"Hey, are you trying to flirt with me?", asked her, frowning at him.

He giggled as she shook his head.

"What do you want from me?", asked Grace.

He leaned closer to her, touched her lips, and ran his fingers through them slowly. He smiled as she shrugged again at his unexpected act. "I need a kiss", he demanded.

"What? You are really such a moron", remarked she.

He withdrew his fingers and chuckled, concluding, "Chill Grace, chill! I was just joking. I want you to let me drop you back home..."

She shook her head and was about to interrupt him when he caught her hand and continued, "See, I know that modern and young girls like you hate to accept when someone, especially a guy, offers help, but I feel guilty that you are hurt because of my recklessness. It would be great if you…"

As he continued, she was busy getting lost in his pleading light brown eyes and staring at his hand holding hers. She smiled and nodded.

"Thanks a ton!", exclaimed he.

As she was about to stand up, he wrapped his arms around her waist. She again shrugged at him. He smiled, shrinking his eyes and she blushed, nodding. As they walked towards his car, Grace's mobile began ringing. She took it out of her pant pocket. The screen said "Alice" in bold white on a dark blue background. She accepted the call.

"Hello! Umm…Oh no! Thanks for the info. I will be there right now", she cut the call.

She looked back at David and asked, "Can you please take me somewhere I need to go now? I must leave right away. It's an emergency…Please…I hope you understand, David."