The soft smell of cologne woke Nook up from her slumber. She blinked a couple of times before she was able to see that she was nestled in Oil�s embrace. His face was close to hers and she felt his breath on her face. She tried to move but found that her body wasn�t cooperating. Nook felt too weak to even get up, she wanted to push Oil�s arms off her but she couldn�t. This caused Oil to stir and wake up to the sight of Nook trying to push him away from her. He squeezed her closer and whispered,

"Awake already?� He touched her face but she moved it away from him.

Nook didn�t reply and proceeded to move away from him. She didn�t feel like being close to him, let alone look at him after what he did to her. She knew her body was sick but tried everyway she could to push him away.

Oil refused to let go of her, so Nook gave up and slumped back down in the bed. She turned her head in the opposite direction so at least she wouldn�t have to look at him. Oil held her tighter and tried to feel her forehead. Nook jerked her head away from him and gave him an annoyed look.

"Come�on Nook,� Oil spoke gently, �I want to see if your temperature went down.� He felt her forehead again and saw that the fever had reduced slightly.

"Aren�t you going to say anything?� Oil asked nicely as he leaned his face in closer to hers.

"I want a divorce�� Nook spoke apathetically.

"This again�� Oil said as he scooted off the bed and stood in front of her, �I told you�unless Tanya comes back to me�there won�t be a divorce�� He smiled cunningly.

Nook remained silent as Oil continued, �I�ll be right back.� He walked out to the room and went downstairs.

Nook wrapped the blanket around her and stared blankly at the wall.

"Why�� she whispered, �why won�t you let me go?�

A few minutes later Oil walked in with a bowl of steaming hot porridge. As the aroma of the porridge reached her nose, Nook�s stomach growled so loudly that Oil laughed at her. She gave him a displeased look and wrapped her arms around her stomach.

"From the looks of it, seems like you�re really hungry yeah?� Oil sat down on the bed next to her and set the bowl on the nightstand. Nook didn�t respond; she simply shuffled the linen around.

"No answer eh? So from now on, I�ll take your silence as no objections,� Oil sat down on the bed and scooped up a spoonful of porridge to feed her.

Nook jerked her head back and looked in the other direction.

"So hungry�� Nook thought as tried to keep up her cold exterior.

Oil tried again but she kept avoiding him.

"Come�on Nook,� Oil spoke while he set the bowl down on the nightstand, �the doctor says you have to take food with the medicine, and if you won�t take the food, you can�t take the medicine and then you�ll never recover.�

"I don�t care if I ever get better� Nook spoke harshly, �Just let me go already, what more do I have to lose to get my freedom?� She glared at Oil.

"If you want it that way,� Oil ignored her question and took a spoonful of the soup and put it in his mouth.

"What the heck?� Nook thought, �He�s gonna punish me by eating my food!�

Before she knew it, Oil was leaning in towards her face trying to kiss her. Nook pushed him away and scooted to the other side of the bed.

"What the heck you do think you�re doing!?� She looked disgusted. Oil on the other hand was laughing.

"Well,� He swallowed the soup, �If you�re not gonna let me feed you nicely, I guess I�ll have to do it mouth to mouth!�

"That�s disgusting!� Nook yelled at him.

"Well, it�s the only way I can get you to eat,� while he was talking he was already scooping up another spoonful, "Nook�this way or the other way.� He smirked and was ready to put the soup into his mouth.

"Okay, okay�� Nook gave in unwillingly. She didn�t want to have him feed her, but she sure didn�t want to have him feed her mouth to mouth. Besides, she was too weary from the fever that she couldn�t even focus the bowl to feed herself.

"Now open wide�here comes the airplane�� Oil joked with her, Nook gave him a look that she wasn�t amused.

While he was feeding her, Oil couldn�t help but fall more in love with her. Why hadn�t she been the one he fell for first? And why was he so stupid to have stayed with Tanya for so long when all the time, his feelings were shifting towards Nook? He knew he couldn�t change Nook�s image of him based on what he did to her in the past, but he was really trying hard to make it work this time around. He finally knew what he wanted all along.

Nook avoided eye contact with Oil, she couldn�t stand to see the man she hated so much, yet loved dearly at the same time. Her place wasn�t here beside him, something else was calling her. He wasn�t the one, her mind told her�so why was she feeling the weakest around him, as if she wanted to be with him, ever since she first saw him. She knew it wasn�t right, he belonged to Tanya, and her number one rule was that she would never fall for anyone who dated her friends. Nook felt she had lost her chance a long time ago, she was too shy to admit it, even before Oil went out with Tanya�there was a time where she had her chance to tell him her feelings�but she chickened out, like always. It had happened so many times before that Nook felt she was doomed to unrequited love. So she tried to make her feelings for Oil disappear for friendship�s sake, but every moment she saw him, the glass she was desperately trying to shatter, would piece back together, shard by shard.

Nook felt better after she had eaten and taken her medicine. The medicine however was the drowsy type so not long after she had taken it did she fall sound asleep.

Throughout the time Nook laid in bed, Oil never left her side. He even tried to go into the bathroom with her to make sure she wouldn�t collapse. Nook remained adamant, so Oil was left to standing outside the door to wait for her to finish.

The whole week, Nook felt herself connect with Oil on a much personal level than she ever thought possible. He confessed his love to her on multiple occasions, but Nook learned from what his �love� meant by his actions in the past and refused to accept it. Oil, however, was determined to show Nook that she was the one he loved all along, no matter how hard it would be for her to regain his trust again, he didn�t want to give up on her like he had done before. So instead of trying to win her over with words again, he began doing things for her, even the littlest things that may have seemed insignificant to others began to take a toll on Nook�s heart. Oil respected her space and didn�t push her to do things anymore, he became more considerate of her, and respected her like he had never done before.

It was true, even small droplets of water falling onto a gigantic rock�over time�will eventually cut into it.

A couple of days later Nook received a call from her mother.

"Nook dear�I have good news!�

Nook almost dropped the receiver when her mother told her the good, no, wonderful news�

Rose Main       Home       Back 28       Next 30