“Telling someone why you love them is like explaining what water tastes like!”
……
“How do you feel now, sweetheart?”, the lady asked Kathleen and sat on the bed. She was pleasingly beautiful with those luring brown eyes and her neck length jet black hair was neatly combed. She looked pretty and her face resemblance was quite familiar.
“Sweety, is anything wrong?”, she questioned again, looking at Kathleen’s weary expression.
“Ahmm, no!!”, she said nervously.
“I placed that damp towel on your forehead when you were sound asleep. It’ll reduce your temperature”, she said pointing out the towel.
“Thanks”, said kathleen. The lady chuckles softly when she said thanks.
“Take it!! This porridge will make you feel better”, she suggested giving her the cup of porridge.
Kathleen blinked and nodded at her, getting the porridge from her. Kathleen couldn’t guess who she was but she understood that the lady sitting right before her has the kindest heart or who else will feed a sick person and let them stay in their house, also taking care of her. She was affectionate and charitable as well.
“Do you like it?”, she asked Kathleen, who was busy gulping the porridge and wondering who this amiable lady was.
“It’s great! Thank you…. Ms??”, said Kathleen doubtfully.
“Oh!! Sorry dear!! I forgot to introduce myself!! I’m Sarah Jones, mother of Ethan Jones”, she introduces herself with a smile.
Kathleen spit out her porridge in shock. She couldn’t believe her eyes and she couldn’t accept the fact that he has such a wonderful mother for God’s sake.
“What happened?”, questioned Sarah.
“Nothing!! It’s just Nothing”, Kathleen laughs nervously. She was astonished on hearing Sarah’s words, she looked young for her age, but Kathleen could now see it clearly that EJ and his mom shared the same facial features.
“After completing the porridge, take these medications, it’ll make you feel much better”, stated Sarah, giving her 2 tablets to have after finishing her porridge.
“Umm, I don’t know how to thank you for all this!!”, confessed Kathleen. She was sick and her mind was filled with so many questions that needs an answer immediately.
‘Oh my goodness, she is so sweet and she takes good care of me. What did i do to deserve all this!. Wait a minute!! What time is it?? Where am I actually !! This is all different!!
Is it my dream or something. Yeah!! Just because I’m sick and drowsy, I started to loose my mind. Maybe I would go back to reality after a nap’, Kathleen thought to herself. She couldn’t believe that this is happening for real and confused herself. She can’t remember how she ended up in EJ’S house.
“No dear, it’s nothing!! Take these medicines and have a short nap and I’ll be back with new towels”, insisted Sarah, taking the damp towel and the empty bowl out of the room. Kathleen dozed off after taking those tablets.
………….
She wakes up after having a sound sleep. To her surprise, she was still in the same bedroom. So she understood that it wasn’t a dream. Her temperature had to come to normal, she no longer had fever. Her mind was clear, she wasn’t dizzy anymore.
But she couldn’t understand how she ended up in EJ’S house. The last thing she remembered was practicing dance in the studio and everything that happened after it was a blur.
She sits up and looks around to find what time it was. Sarah enters the room with a tray which had breakfast in them.
“Morning sweetheart! How are you now”, greeted Sarah with a bright smile.
‘What the hell!! Morning?? How can it be morning!? When did I come here’, Kathleen was perplexed and couldn’t come to an conclusion.
“Morning Ms. Jones!! Feeling great!!”, she said.
“Don’t be formal, sweetie!! You can call me Sarah”, she said.
“If you don’t mind can I ask you something?”, kathleen asked doubtfully.
“Shoot!! You can ask me anything!”, announced Sarah.
“How did I end up here?”, she asked her, hoping to connect the dots in her mind.
“Last evening, EJ carried you here, saying that you were sick and you needed some care. It was 5 in the evening, when he brought you home”, said Sarah.
“It was surprising to find EJ bringing his friend here and especially it happens to be a girl”, she added with a chuckle.
“WHAT?? HE CARRIED ME??”, yelled Kathleen in panic. She froze on hearing Sarah’s narration.
“Yeah!! Is anything bothering you??”, Sarah looked confused.
“No, no. It’s fine. What time is it, Ms. Jones?”, enquired Kathleen.
“It’s 6 AM and EJ will be here in a few minutes”, replied Sarah expecting his arrival.
“You finish up your breakfast and freshen up using this washroom”, affirmed Sarah and she leaves her alone in the room.
‘Oh, god!! Only EJ could give me the answers that I need!! What the fuck has happened to me!! Did I faint?? Fuck, it’s a great humiliation.
Fainting in front of EJ, is like leaving my head inside the mouth of crocodile with consciousness. He will tease me and make me feel bad. He will make a great show out of it’, Kathleen cried herself and ate up her breakfast of milk and? corn flakes.
After some time, she moved out of the room in search of Sarah. The living room was wide and immense. It was well furnitured and the infrastructure was breathtakingly attractive.
She was admiring the beauty of the place, while Sarah walked out the kitchen in the left.
“Can I look around, Ms. Jones?”, Kathleen’s eyes widened on seeing something behind Sarah.
“Of course, dear!! And please call me Sarah or anything other than Ms. Jones”, she made a request. Kathleen nodded and ran towards the library that was present in the living room.
“God!! This is amazing!!”, exclaimed Kathleen examining the collection of books they had.
“Janice will go crazy if she sees this”, giggled Kathleen.
“Janice? Who”, she asked curiously.
“She is my friend and she loves book”, beamed Kathleen.
“EJ and Myself, we are fond of books!! He read a lot”, stated Sarah.
“What?? EJ reads?? Seriously?”, kathleen was surprised to hear this.
“Yeah, he does!! You know something,? you are the first friend that he has ever brought home !!”, announced Sarah, caressing her cheeks.
Kathleen didn’t know how to react to her statement.
“You live here all alone? It’s beautiful but actually very big”, mumbled Kathleen. Sarah let’s out a laugh.
“Yeah!! EJ and Robert would crash here for the weekend!!”, concludes Sarah.
“Robert?”, she asked doubtfully.
“EJ and Robert are like brothers!! He has always been around EJ ever since they were little kids and he treats this as his home”, said Sarah.
“Yeah, I can see that!! And thank you Ms…. jo… no Sarah for taking care of me!! I don’t know how to thank you!! I feel great!!”, claimed Kathleen.
“Hey, dear!! It’s nothing. I was happy he brought someone home finally, I always tell him to make as many friends as he can and bring them home for a party!! But he never does it”, finishes Sarah.
“Can I ask you a favor.?”, Sarah asked Kathleen.
“Of course, you can ask me anything!!”, announced Kathleen.
“Will you come to his birthday celebration?? Every year it’s just me,? Robert and EJ. I wanted him to do a party on his birthday but he never liked it. Maybe you could join us this time”, conceded Sarah.
“Actually, we are kinda of frenemies”, stammered Kathleen with a nervous chuckle.
” But I’ll accompany you for sure!! I’ll do this for you”, assured Kathleen.
“What?? Frenemies!!”, Sarah laughed out hard. Kathleen laughed as well.
“His birthday is on 15 of the next week”, said Sarah.
“Noted!! And Ms. Jones can we keep this us a secret between us?? Let’s not take it to EJ’s knowledge!!”, she shrugged.
“Yes, kathleen! I get it!”, she assured.
“We can’t leave two females alone for a long time, because you start gossiping on our absence!! What secret?? What’s going on??”, enquired EJ entering the living room. He wore a white tee and a black jacket over it and blue jeans which made him look taller than usual.
“It’s nothing!! Can I bring you breakfast??”, questioned Sarah looking at his son. Kathleen had to ask a lot of questions to EJ
“No, mom!! I’m not hungry!!”, said EJ, walking towards the chair.
“Can we head back to the dormitory ?”, he asked, looking at Kathleen. Kathleen nodded and said a yes.
“I’ll get you something to eat!!”, said Sarah and rushed towards the kitchen leaving them alone.
“Hey, Ethan!! Can you tell me what’s happening here?? Why did you bring me here?”, she asked him, standing right in front of him while he sat on the sette.
“Last evening, you just fainted off after the practice session. I thought of taking you to the dormitory but that? would create a show of me carrying you to the room( which i don’t know actually) , and that might create rumors.
I thought of taking you to the clinic but that would create unnecessary drama as well!! I didn’t have your friend’s contact as well!! I don’t want to tell the others that you were sick and that would get me into trouble!! I can’t leave you there just like that!! So, I brought you home”, he confessed.
That was so thoughtful of him. Kathleen was left dumbfolded, she was surprised and she was unaware that he could act this wisely.
“Thank you!!”, Kathleen couldn’t find anymore words to say. She turns around and started walking towards the kitchen in search of Sarah.
“Hey, I got this for you!!”, he gave a box.
Kathleen opened it to find a brand new phone. This surprise flabbergasted her.
“What?? Is this for me??”, she mumbled, examining the phone carefully. She knew she can’t accept this but she got delighted.
“No, it’s for my mom!! Then, What?? Who else would I give this to!! You ask me questions though you knew the answer already”, he smirked.
Kathleen glared at him and continued examining the phone.
“Mmmm, thanks”, she beamed. She loved the phone!! Her joyous face showed her excitement. He chuckled at her.
“I have never seen people getting excited for something like this”, he laughs at her. She rolled her eyes. Sarah joins them.
“You like it??”, she asked Kathleen. Kathleen’s eyes widened in surprise.
“I asked him to get you a phone when he said you don’t have one since he broke it few days back!! I asked him to inform your dorm through your phone but he said you don’t have one”, spoke Sarah. Kathleen was astonished in knowing EJ sharing everything with his mom. Kathleen had never experienced this kind of bond with her mother.
“Thank you, Ms. Jones”, kathleen thanked her.
“Kathy, it’s Sarah!! No more Jones”, affirmed Sarah and Kathleen smiled at her.
“Enough!! Let’s head back to the campus”, suggested EJ and they agreed upon it since it was getting late for the classes.
“See you, boy!! See you kath”, Sarah waved them a bye.
“See you, Sarah mom”, kathleen hugged her out of the blue. Kathleen was feeling blissful. She left the house and got into his car. The drive back to the campus was silent and peaceful. They didn’t talk much. It took 15 minutes to reach the campus. EJ stopped in front of her dorm. She got down and shut the door.
“Hey, take care!!”, he said before she could leave.
“Yes, I will and thank you Ethan for everything”, she grinned. He smiled back. It was the first time that Kathleen has smiled at him for real.
………………….
Kathleen enters the room to find Janice and Laura in worry. They look at her in shock.
“Where the hell were you?”, yelled Laura.
“Screw you, kath!! What were you doing this whole time!! You were missing for a whole night!! Don’t you know we would be worried?!”, shouted Janice.
“Guys!! Calm down. Let me explain!!”, responded Kathleen.
“Go to hell, kath!! We were literally losing our mind!! We didn’t know what to do when you went missing out of the blue”, snapped Laura.
“We were searching you everywhere we could!! We reached out to all your classmates. And we came to know that you left the dance session with EJ through Ava, your dance tutor”, chided Janice. They were very furious at the moment.
Kathleen hugged them tight though they pushed her away. She narrates the whole story to her friends.
“Thank God! You are alright”, said Janice.
“But still I’m vexed up at your actions”, claimed Laura. She consoled Laura by saying she was sorry and she was not in the right mind state to inform them that she was fine last night.
Kathleen showed them her new phone and Janice was teasing her.
……………….
Hey guys hope it was fun reading all my chapters so far!! Hope you like it. Keep reading and feel free to comment anything!