Chapter 6

"Caring, about people, about things, about life is an act of maturity."

-Tracy McMillan-

***

That morning Damian woke up with a throbbing head, his body was shaking, freezing, he was feeling unwell for some reason without any idea why. The night before he was completely fine, though he was having more fatigue than usual, but he did not feel any symptoms of illness.

Yes, he did remove his winter hat yesterday a few times because they were scratching his head, but he never thought the cold he felt for only a few minutes could make such an impact on his body.

As he slowly tried to open his eyes, he took a seat on the edge of his bed and felt his body burning up, he touched his forehead and found his temperature rising. His nose was slightly clogged and his throat was dry.

"Dammit!" he stood up and walked to the bathroom and walked to the mirror. He was flushing. His cheek and nose was red, but the rest of his face was pale.  His lips was slightly blue and his eyes looked puffy.

Out of all time, why now?

He already had everything planned for the day, he had imagined the places he wanted to visit, beside Lana would be coming too, even with all his insensitivity, he was not one to really cancel or alter plans that have been made. He could not afford to be sick.

His pride was too high for it. But often misfortune comes when you least expect it, the cold came completely out of the blue. Even when he was sick, he still thought of ways to deal with it by himself. He had lived independently for years, he thought there was no way he could not deal with a minor cold.

The first thing that came into his mind was shower. He decided to take a warm bath, hoping it would make him feel better, but it did not.  Once he was out, he only felt worse. Then the air around him had become even colder.

He had to lean on the wall to walk because his legs were wobbly. The thoughts of a fun travel day completely vanished from his mind. At that point he knew he would have no choice but to stay inside. The least he could do for himself was to get dressed and rest.

He walked toward the wardrobe and tried to find something to wear, per usual, it did not stray further than thick cotton t-shirt and warm pair of pants with heater patched on it. After that, he needed to eat, so he went to the kitchen to make himself some hot water when he heard a knock on the door.

He dragged his feet to pick up the door to be greeted by Lana's smiling face, but  her smile disappeared in an instant when she noticed the difference in his face. She quickly placed her hand on his forehead as a rush of concern overwhelmed her.

"You're sick." she stated. Duh.

"I'm fine." He denied as his arms leaned on the wall for additional support, he tried to put on a relaxed face to show her that he was completely okay, but as expected, it did not work. If he was going to be stubborn, she was going to be even more stubborn.

She placed one of her arm on his chest as she welcomed herself into his room.

"No, you need to get back inside right now, I-" before she could finish her sentence, he suddenly tumbled back and she swiftly caught him, her eyes met his half closed ones. he was still half conscious, but he was breathing shortly, a puff of smoke formed whenever he breathed from the contrast of the heat and cold air despite being indoor.

"I'm fine."  he did not want to make her worried, he was just a stranger to her and he would feel like a burden if she had to take care of him, even his own family had always taught him the importance of being self sufficient and self aid, but Lana was a headstrong woman, worse than he was.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulder and helped him get on the bed, she could hear the sound of water boiling in the kitchen and ran outside to turn it off, she poured a bit of hot water from the kettle and mixed it with a bit of honey to add sweetness and lime for that extra something before adding room temperature water and ran back to the bedroom.

She should have brought some flu shot along with her but she rarely ever caught flu she did not have one in stock. Therefore, she needed to make use of what was available.

When she returned back to the bedroom, he was laying down on the bed with his eyes closed, moaning lowly from the pain he felt from within, contemplating about the fact he had rarely ever gotten sick since he was little so whenever he did, it was always quite painful and unpleasant.

She slowly helped him sit and placed the edge of the glass on his lips. He took the liquid in and felt the warmth from the water in his stomach. It helped a bit with the freezing of his body. After drinking, he laid back on the bed, his eyes could not help but wander toward hers.

"Have you eaten something? You need to eat before you can take the medicine, I am going to make you a warm bowl of soup." Lana went to the kitchen and made some chicken soup. She made sure he had all the nutrition he needed to recover. She did not understand why but she was so darn worried for him, it was the first time she felt so concerned with a stranger. It made her question her own reasoning.

Once the soup was done, she came back to his room, he was nearly asleep when she  gently tapped his shoulder to wake him up.

However her attention was slightly distracted in the wrong place. Though it was a minor thing,  she noticed how hard his shoulder and upper arms were, it did make her wonder what sort of workout routine he had to maintain such physique?

It almost made her want to see him naked, but she quickly shook the thought off her mind. It was not the time for it.

"Come, let's eat." he was not feeling hungry, but he knew he she had put a decent amount of effort on it, he had no choice but to eat, like usual, her cooking did taste pretty good, it only took him less than fifteen minutes to finish everything before she handed him over a cold medicine. He took the pill and closed his eyes while she pulled over the blanket and tucked him in.

"Get some rest, I'll be here when you wake up." he could no longer remain awake, as  his vision became more and more blurry, he succumbed to his own body  and went into a deep state of sleep.

It was the sound of the strong wind outside that woke him up. He was sweating like crazy, his mind was in a state between dream and reality, that strange moment of haze he had every time he went through a fever.

Like the world is frozen and moving so quickly at the same time. The first thing he did was searching for the clock. It was nearly seven P.M. The sky had  turned dark outside, which meant that he had been sleeping for over twelve hours.

Though he was still dizzy, he was not feeling as bad as he did in the morning, he  stood up and walked outside to find Lana in the kitchen preparing some  dinner. He was surprised she was still there, he had expected her to go back, but it seems she had been in his place the whole time. He took a seat on the dining table while she poured over the meal to the plate.

"I see you are awake, how are you feeling?" she asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Better, thank you for helping me." He did not know what he would do if he was sick and she was not around, he would probably still take the medicine without eating, which might lead to worse symptoms.

"No worries. I think you caught a cold because your body is not well adjusted to our climate, you decided to come here on the peak of winter, not everyone can handle Russian's winter. But don't worry, you should be fine  tomorrow." She placed the plates on the table and took a seat herself.

It was the second time they were having meals together in his place. He had to admit having her around was quite pleasant after a while, she was attentive and always had the right response to everything. She was intelligent, beautiful, charming, and a great cook.

He had not realized it yet but he was deeply captivated by her. Something about her roused a spark within him he had never felt before, as he was eating his dinner, he stole a few glances at her. He was not sure if it was due to the fever he was feeling, but he was feeling all warm and fuzzy all over. The craziest part is the fact that they had only known each other for two days.

Two Days

Yet he had felt like she had known him better than some of his friends and had done more to him than most people in his life ever did, at first he did not fully trust her, but after seeing the look in her face earlier, he could tell she was sincere.

As she sat by his side, their eyes met each other, at that moment, Damian felt something thumping in his chest, she smiled at him, showing her straight, pearly white teeth, her cheek was blushing, she did not seem shy around him at all, but she also did not reek desperation.

She always looked bright and cheerful, almost as if she had never known pain or suffering, the way her emerald green eyes stared at him left a strong impact in his mind, which he did not think was possible. He did not understand what it was, but whatever it was, he did not like it, because in his heart was feeling something, a feeling he wanted absolutely nothing to do with.

Not good. Not good.

She is dangerous.