Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

I stood in front of the sink trying to think and figure out a way out of this without embarrassing myself.

My purse! Yes, my purse must have something-  and I left it outside the bathroom, in the living room.

I heard a knock on the door and my heartbeat accelerated. It’s Xavier.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Ah…yeah, I’m fine..”

Just tell him bitch.

It’ll be too embarrassing.

“No, you’re not. What is the problem?”

My heart calmed down at his words and I decided to let go of my pride.

“I...I started my period.”

There was silence. Is he the type of guy to be grossed out by periods?

“10 minutes, I’ll be back.”

                                                                                 -Xavier

I hurriedly strutted into a convenience store next to the apartment building. All heads turned in my direction but I couldn’t care less. I looked through the isles until I landed on the women’s sanitary tools part.

There was an attendant seated at the corner. Immediately her eyes met mine, I could tell not even by her scent that she was both confused and intimidated.

I decided to talk to her since I’m not well vast on the topic of monthly periods.

“Excuse me, miss. What’s your best recommendation?” I asked and she was confused.

“It depends…are you looking for period cups, pads, or tampons?” she held a smile trying to be polite.

“What’s the safest and most effective?”

Once again, she was tongue-tied.

“Um, I’d say all of them are safe but comfort is mostly for pads, depending on your flow rate as well, you may prefer different things. May I ask what...your, I mean the flow rate of the person is?”

“They’re for my wife, I think she has a medium or high flow rate.”

Judging from the scent of blood coming from the bathroom, it seemed to be quite a lot so I’m guessing she bleeds a lot. I better hurry up, she might be in pain right now.

“I see.” She said and stood up then searched the aisle. “These ones are really good for a high flow and comfortable, they also give a cooling sensation and are environmentally safe.” She showed me a packet of what seemed to be sanitary pads.

“They’re a bit pricy though.” She added.

“I’ll take three.”

She returned to the corner where she sat and picked up a shopping basket then placed them in for me. “Is there specific underwear for periods?” I asked.

“Not really but the most recommended is boy shorts since they are comfortable and periods can cause a lot of pain. Would you like it if I showed you some?” She asked nicely and I nodded once.

There was a section where underwear was hung in rows.

I passed my hand along the rows looking for one with comfortable material.

“Sir, if you’d like me to interest you in these ones. They’re elastane and cotton which makes them comfortable and stretchy. May I ask if your wife has a size?” She said holding up a few pairs of underwear.

Sierra does have wide hips so I think she wouldn’t wear exactly small or large.

“Medium.”

She showed me a series of underwear and in the end, I chose about 5 of them.

“Is there any specific food for a woman during menstruation?”

She showed me a few things that I added to the basket as well.

She offered to carry my basket but I declined and tipped her then headed to the cashier’s table. I used my credit card to make the payment and left hurriedly.

By the time I reached the apartment, the smell of blood had only intensified, and worry built up in the pit of my stomach.

I made my way to the bathroom and knocked on the door softly.

“Yeah.” She answered softly.

“I’ve got you sanitary pads and a few other things, may I open the door to help you?”

She replied within a split second.

“No, no it’s okay, you don’t have to. I can deal with it from here on.” She said and I could tell she was embarrassed which made my chest fall. Why is she….making me so confused?

“I’ll leave it here. When you’re done, you can tell me so I can get you something comfortable to wear, okay?”

I  put the bag down at the foot of the door and removed the food before I left. From the kitchen, I heard the bathroom door open and close.

When she was done changing, she informed me and I got a pair of pajamas from the hotel in the closet and sent them to her.

I went to the kitchen and started making her some of the food that the lady at the store recommended. It consisted of green beans, fish, liver, and some porridge.

I wrapped the black apron on the hanger around my waist and secured it behind my back. I picked a medium-sized pan from a hanging pin on the wall below the shelves and turned the heat up to medium to warm the pan up as chopped up the onion, garlic, and every other vegetable or fruit I was going to use.

I wasn’t an exceptional cook to any extent but I did learn a thing or two about culinary arts in my youth.

I fried the fish first in some olive oil, onions, garlic, and black pepper then added tomatoes, bell peppers, turmeric, and coriander after it cooked for about 10 minutes.

As the food simmered in the pan, the scent flooded the room and I barely noticed Sierra’s scent until she poked her head from behind the wall.

When I looked at her, she went back. It seemed that she was still embarrassed. I held my wrist up and looked at my watch. It read 14:08.

I walked in the direction where she was and she was looking at the floor holding her hand together in front of her. She looked guilty.

“Sierra, don’t worry about it,” I said and she still refused to look at me so I walked towards her, and scooped her in my arms which obviously got her by surprise and got her talking.

“Hey, put me down, Xavier! This is embarrassing!” she rebelled and I disregarded it.

“You’re hungry, frustrated, and tired. Calm down so I can feed you.” I said simply and she stopped struggling and rested her head on my shoulder.

I placed her on the counter and got a bowl from the shelves. Served the fish soup and a few pieces, sprinkled some chopped coriander leaves, and turned to her. She was almost drooling judging from the expression on her face and the fact that she was staring only at the plate. It was an enthralling facial expression coming from someone who is almost always in a bad mood.

A low amused huff escaped my lips. I placed the bowl in her hands and dipped a spoon in.

“Enjoy.”

.

.

                                                                                        -Sierra

I stared at the board on the wall with a smoothie between my hands. I read the words in white chalk over and over until I lost interest in them. My attention switched to the blonde in front of me not shifting his gaze from my eyes.

What happened last time? You ask? Well, because of the embarrassment, I couldn’t look Xavier in the eye most of the time, he was more patient and understanding than I anticipated.

I initially thought he was an asshole but he can be cool sometimes. Aside from that, after eating, he let me take a nap and leave freely after I woke up.

Initially, I thought he would get bummed out by the fact that I was on my period. I know there are many ways someone can react to that situation, they can either be disgusted, scared, or take care of you. I didn’t expect him to actually care though.

By the time I left, I was thankful for him and now I feel like I owe him. He told me to be at his place by noon tomorrow so I called Viola to rearrange the plans tomorrow to 12 noon – 6 pm.

Fast forward to 8 pm of the same day and I’m here with Aaron and Courtney is home with Viola. I’m paying her extra for the extra hours.

A few days ago, I promised Aaron that I would treat him so here we are.

"Aaron, are you sure he's okay with you meeting me? I wanted to get off work early last time to come here but some unfortunate events happened." I said rubbing the back of my neck with guilt.

"I don't mind the outcome, I don't want to be in that house," he said plainly looking at his vanilla smoothie.

I sighed and took a sip through my straw as well.

"Is there really nothing I can do," I asked eagerly looking back into his hazel eyes. "You keep asking that and getting the same answer every time," he said and took a sip from his smoothie.

He was indeed a beautiful man, he had soft golden like blond hair, long eyelashes, skin as smooth as silk, lips so pink and peach, and a V-shaped body which is well built.

But the issue is that when you look into those hazel eyes, they are deprived of every emotion. It's almost as if they are dead but alive simultaneously.

"How is your little sister though?" he asked as he stirred his smoothie with a straw. "She's okay," I said and my thoughts filled with her and Xavier slipped in somehow.

I looked to the floor trying to hide the slight blush on my cheeks.

"Did you perhaps find a lover?" he asked making eye contact. No curiosity, no surprise, nothing of the sort in his voice. The words were like they were in a vacuum.

"No, I told you I'm not interested in anything of that sort," I said simply. Xavier had other plans though. Why can't that annoying guy just leave me alone? Oh yes, it’s that whole mate thing where I’m supposed to be head over heels in love. If it’d make him feel better, I do feel something else that starts with ‘L’ around him.

He’s too hard to understand in my opinion, the lights were off when we were doing it... why does he want to hide his face from me so much? I'm sure even when he's texting he's in a black mask because when he was cooking he was in a mask too.

"You seem to have got one though," he said simply and I lifted an eyebrow. "I'm... there is someone who is trying to convince me to reconsider being in a relationship but I don't plan on accepting him," I said firmly and sipped my smoothie.

Aaron is unreadable but he is very good at reading people because he's studying to become a psychotherapist. He falls short because he has traumatic problems himself that he tries to fix but seems to never get anywhere.

I met him on my first day on the job. He piqued my interest because of his lack of scent no matter the facial expression he made. He used to avoid me but soon he let me stick around and over the two years I've been with him, he opened up a few times about his problems. I can count the number of times he’s told me about his problems on one hand.

He started college at fifteen and got his bachelor's degree in therapy at 19 then got his doctoral degree at 25 so he was fully fledged for the job, the only obstacle was his trauma which only worsens day by day making him unable to feel emotion.

In conclusion, Aaron is dead inside.

"Good luck," he said and I scrunched my eyebrows together in confusion. “At this rate, there is a high chance that you’ll be in an exclusive relationship by next month.” He said somberly and I felt attacked. I’ve come to accept that Aaron is always right but not this time. I sipped my smoothie as I looked at him through squinted eyes.

“There’s no way in hell I’ll let that happen,” I said pensively and he gave me a look before answering.

“Tread lightly then.” What did he mean by that?