2

Sofia.

After, I had successfully brought him in as in dragged the stranger to my home and put him on the fairly small couch that can barely contain his bulking and muscly frame.

I ran to my bathroom to retrieve the first aid kit to see to his wounds. My hands shook as the familiar scent of the crimson liquid tainted and stuck to my hands and clothes from having too much contact with the injured male.

The feel of blood on my hands was triggering but I needed to help the green eyed spicemen heal in any way that I could.

Slowly taking his tattered, dirty, bloody suit jacket off and his no longer white shirt, I began attending to the small cuts on his abdomen, chest, and arms and stitching up the deep gash on his torso. It bled so much and it freaked me out but I somehow managed to disinfect and stitch it up to have it finally warped in a thick layer of gauze.

I worked in silence and tried to shut down my racing mind as it started to conjure dangerous thoughts and doubts considering the stranger laying numbly in my couch.

The only sign of him being alive was the soft rise and fall of his chest, it was so scary knowing how he could've bled to death if I didn't wake up at the right time.

Having someone's life withering before my eyes wasn't something I was used to but wasn't something I haven't experienced either. I just... didn't want to experience it ever again.

The trauma that came with it made it so much harder with the constant nightmares and grim thoughts clouding a person's head, it was the perfect mixup to make one lose their mind but I thankfully managed to keep the last bit of sanity I had locked.

So, after an hour of treating the undoubtedly knife cuts on his body, I slumped back against the armrest of my chair and checked his temperature, thankful that color began to return to the stranger's face. No longer looking that scaly, deathly pale color.

I opted on putting the bruising ointment on the small bruises that adorned his beautiful face. Blushing over the thought that I thought that he was beautiful.

I facepalmed and cringed at my girly behavior, walking over to the closet to get one of my oversized hoodies to dress the stranger in and a heavy blanket to warm him up.

After getting the hoodie and struggling to dress him in it, I let out a long breath of relief and brought a clean white slightly damp washcloth, then, began to wipe his face just to be caught under his spell, instantly.

His perfectly sculpted face, full pink pouty lips that were cracked at the corner due to an apparent punch or a multitude of them. High and shaped cheekbones. A sharp jawline and a nose slightly crooked as if it had been broken before but he still, managed to look perfect.

Realizing that I was been admiring the gorgeous stranger for a few seconds, I found my hand wanting to caress the slight stubble adorning his jaw.

Damn, I felt like a creep even thinking about.

No longer fighting the sudden urge to touch the fallen angel, I slightly ran the tips of my fingers over the unshaved five o'clock shadow that his perfect jaw adorned, and only to be interrupted by the buzzing of a phone.

That definitely wasn't mine.

Buzz..

Buzz..

After I looked in his jacket pockets not to find the phone, so I reached my hand to one of his pants pockets. Nothing?

Maneuvering my way to the backside of the couch to reach for his other pocket to retrieve the phone and his wallet since I didn't want to lean over him to reach for his phone, and possibly freak him out by doing so if he woke up and found himself in that weird position.

Seeing that his phone was thankfully without a code and constantly buzzing with texts and calls mostly from a person named Nikolai.

I decided to answer him if he called and let him know about the condition of the stranger that was still knocked out cold on my sofa.

Buzz..

I can do this. I chanted this mantra in my head and prepared myself to answer the phone call. As I pressed the green button I heard multiple voices yelling at the same time making me flinch violently.

Loud noises were nobody's friend and especially not mine.

"Where the fuck are you?!"

"It's been a week?!"

"You scared the shit out of us?!"

"We thought you'd be dead!"

Cowering away from the phone and the booming crude words that this Nikolai person and his companions were shouting was the only thing I managed to do as they continued bantering not noticing that no one was talking on this side.

I took the safest way by putting it on the speaker to not damage my poor ears any further.

"Brother?"

Silence.

I heard heavy breathing on the other side and some murmurs in a foreign language that I thought might be Russian. Then, deciding to let myself be known and get this call over with.

"Hello?" I said, softly hoping for the best out of the weird interaction.

"Who is this? And why do you have Nadei's phone on you?" the other man on the other line murmured rudely, and quite skeptically and I exhaled in frustration and anxiousness.

At least I'd learned the stranger's name.

Nadei, it suited him perfectly.

I heard a throat clearing on the other line showing the man's impatience.

"I-I'm Sofia. Nadei is- Um, he's h-hurt," I stuttered feeling my stomach twist with nervousness, testing the foreign name of the jade eyed stranger.

This Nikolai guy seriously needed to step back and stop being so.. mean.

"I'm Nikolai but Can you tell me where Nadei is now, sweetheart?" Nikolai uttered, softly as if trying not to scare me off, Which was weird and suspicious as hell. He practically barking at me a few seconds ago.

Whatever, moody dumbarse, I rolled my eyes.

"S-sure, he's asleep on my couch now after I treated him," I stated, quietly hoping that he heard me so that I wouldn't have to repeat it because I was still tired, a bit disoriented from my lack of sleep. And I was fifty percent sure that I wouldn't even remember this by a few hours.

"Okay, Lyubov'. Thank you for helping my brother out, but can you tell me where you live so that I can pick him up, let's say, tomorrow at eleven?" Nikolai cautiously murmured in that husky deep soothing voice of his.

Shit.. I shouldn't be so trusting, I should have known better. I didn't think I could afford to tell him where I lived but did I have to? Yes.

The unending what ifs and buts were all too confusing but justified. What kind of person told someone that they hadn't even seen before their address? I was sane enough to know what to do and not to do but this was something I couldn't stop.

So I decided to take a leap of faith and probably of what would be my demise and told him anyways.

Deep breaths, Sofia.

Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale.

'Not everybody is like them and him, relax'

I hesitated at first on telling him where I lived and as if sensing my enter turmoil he reassured me that no harm will befall me especially after helping his brother. He said that he was more than grateful that I helped him.

"My address is XXX-XXX," I said, slightly reassured but cautious.

"Alright, I'll be there at Eleven am sharp and thank you for taking care of Nadei, sweetheart," Nikolai chirped gratefully and somewhat excitedly, my confusion rose at that.

"You're welcome, I'll see you tomorrow," I mumbled, hurriedly cutting off the call before hearing his reply to get my unsteady breathing in control.

Talk about weird people and I shall appear.

I felt as if I was going to pass out, since I wasn't used to talking to other people except Carter who was my friend and a few more people in our town when I had to.

Looking at my phone I saw that it was almost six am making me groan since I was still tired, but had to get to Mrs. Galahar's house before ten am to water her plants and tidy up her place a bit.

She was sweet woman that lived nearby and asked me to take care of her house and plants till she came back from her trip. So, I had to neaten the house before Nikolai came to pick up his brother at eleven.

-

9:20 am.

Beep.

Beep.

Rolling out of bed to rub my eyes, and stretch up a bit before heading to the bathroom and go through my morning routine.

I came out of the bathroom to look for an outfit basing it on how my mood was. I wore high waisted black pants with a soft dark grey sweater and my black and white vans.

After getting dressed I headed downstairs to check on him and get started on making breakfast. I head to my small kitchen, pull out the ingredients to make some chocolate chip pancakes, coffee, orange juice and an omelet for myself and the stranger-Nadei.

Also taking note to put some painkillers and water next to him in case he woke up while I was at Mrs. Galahar's house.

I finished cooking and settled Nadei's breakfast in a tray along with the painkillers, water, and some orange juice instead of coffee and covered all of it up.

Later on, when I had breakfast I brushed my teeth again, washing the dirty dishes and pans I had used.

I decided to take my leave, steering to the Galahar residence to do my chores to hurriedly come back home.

Not even an hour later, I had finished my tasks, so I returned back home to wait for Nikolai to come and take his brother that was starting to freak me out since he hadn't been awake for seven hours straight.

Laying on my bed thinking of how I was going to deal with the knocked out stranger and his brother-Nikolai.

My eyes wandered to scan his knocked out form. I didn't even know what made me feel for him, I couldn't seem to not want to help him out even if he might turn out to be a psychopath and kill me in my home even after the help I provided.

Overthinking was absolute crap but I couldn't seem to stop doing it.

So, I sat across from Nadei watching his chest rise and fall steadily and decided to try waking him up. Just as I put my hand on his shoulder to nudge him slightly, his hand had caught my wrist in a loose grip as he started blinking his eyes to adjust to the lighting in the living room and suddenly grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers.

I tensed not used to be touched so intimately, my parched throat and scared nature kicking in, he brought my palm to his cheek and murmured one word that had my mouth gaping and blushing red like a fish.

Oh my heart. What the hell was he doing to me?