Mistakenly Eaten

52. Efforts Matter - Little or Big

Althea laid still in utter terror as someone slowly whispered closer to her ear.

“Stay quiet! Don’t make a move.”

She didn’t know what exactly was she supposed to do.

Was the intruder, who was holding her down against the bed, with his hand covering her mouth, also holding a sharp object, that he could use to hurt her as well.

She tried to fly her hand up in the air and reach out for Fiona but the intruder was faster than a flashlight and immediately grabbed Althea’s hand, in the middle of the air and prevented her from reaching out for Fiona.

As the intruder extended his body forward to grab Althea’s hand, the dim light from the lampposts from outside the mansion, right next to the bedroom window, reached inside the room, falling in a particular angle and it ended up illuminating the man’s face, as the man stepped in to the angle of the light.

Suddenly Althea’s nerves calmed down and her heart beat also felt normal, as she recognized that rugged face at once.

She gently relaxed and the man, who was holding her back, also sensed her stiff muscles, relaxing.

At first, he gently let go off her mouth, not wanting to squeeze the skin on her face or even remotely hurt her but somehow, he still maintained his hold on her wrist, something inside him telling him that he didn’t want to let go off her, just yet.

“Nicholas…”

Althea whispered the name softly, as soon as the said man, let go off her face.

Nicholas gently nodded, affirmingly. That it was indeed him, who was present there.

She shook her head at once, trying to grasp the reality and understand whether she was merely dreaming or if Nicholas was actually there.

“What are you…?”

She whispered softly but Nicholas immediately held a finger on his lips and prevented her from speaking any further.

He pointed towards Fiona, who laid deep asleep on the other side of the bed.

Nicholas chuckled softly, knowing that even though Fiona was a deep sleeper, yet at times, she could wake up by even the slightest stir.

Althea nodded, understanding what he meant by his gestures.

Nicholas took a small pack out of the back pocket of his jeans and sat down by the edge of the bed.

Althea also straightened up and sat against the headboard.

Nicholas brought the small square packet to the front and extended it towards Althea.

She looked at the packet for a moment, trying to assess it in the dark and assimilate the fact, what it possibly could be.

Nicholas waved the packet, urging Althea to take it and understanding his actions, she grabbed the other end of the square box.

She was too curious to even care for Nicholas to ask her to open it up and decided to open the lid of the box.

She gasped loudly, seeing the tiny yellow packs inside the box. Excited surfaced on her face, as she smiled widely and looked at Nicholas, with her eyes twinkling even in the dark.

Nicholas could clearly tell how happy the girl was, seeing the small yellow pods, lying inside the box.

“It’s…” she began, a little loud at first but then bit her tongue, realizing that she needed to get a hold of her energy and tone her voice down, since Fiona was also present inside the room and somehow, Nicholas’s concern regarding Fiona, told Althea that he didn’t want anyone else seeing the two together at that darkly hour.

She then began whispering slowly, “It’s the herbal turmeric pods from Gragnano. We take it whenever we are injured. They help cure any kind of pain in the body. Where did you get it from?”

Nicholas smirked, glad to see that his little trick to cheer Althea worked well.

“Well, you said it yourself that, these are from Gragnano, so I got it from there. I had actually ordered them a week ago but they arrived just now. So…” he shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck and Althea fell in to complete silence, simply admiring the gift of pain in her hands.

“But why would you get these?” she asked in a completely bewildered tone.

Nicholas pressed his lips tightly, as he spoke, “Umm, I guess I figured that you don’t like taking western medicine, so this might be something that you might be inclined towards.”

She couldn’t believed that Nicholas would pull such a personal yet such a sweet gesture for her, especially when she was in sickness.

Her eyes filled with tears, not knowing the exact reason to that moisture in her orbs.

Maybe, it was because no one had ever gone beyond their means to do something so over the top for her, or maybe she was just homesick, missing her mother and friends and having someone, bring something in from her town, actually made her feel that she had found something that would help her stay connected to her home.

“Well, you should use it, however it is meant to be used.” Nicholas chuckled and got up from the bed.

“I’ll see you in the morning.”

With that Nicholas, was about to leave But Althea held his wrist and pulled him down towards her.

He went stumbling down but immediately gained his balance, grabbing the headboard of the bed and preventing himself from falling right on to Althea.

Althea looked in to his eyes for a moment, the blue so sharp and bright that even the dark, she was easily able to tell that something so precarious and intoxicating existed in that man’s body and mind. And that very thought, enticed her and enthralled her.

That curiosity and the explorativity of the man’s entire presence, just made Althea more and more attracted towards him.

She was losing her sanity by threads, with every passing second that she spent in that guy’s presence.

What was there about his personality that just made her lose her mind and wanted to simply look in to his endearingly beautiful eyes.

When she first met him, he was the most loathsome, most irritating and arrogant man that she had ever met but then, he had suddenly became this extremely caring, affectionate and even the most attentive guy, who would take risks beyond his means to help her and make her feel at home.

He must’ve at least researched to see, what people in Gragnano used as medicines, in order for him to discover about the turmeric pods. Althea didn’t know if it was a big or a small effort but it was an effort and for that she was thankful.

She also didn’t care if all of that was merely a dream and if those pods would disappeared when she would open her eyes in the morning but she just wanted to seal the moment and for once, actually do what her heart truly desired.

She leaned forward and tilted her head, softly reaching for Nicholas’s cheek and planted a soft peck over on his cheek.

Nicholas’s eyes widened at the little soft move that Althea made and all he heard was the sound of a great glacier collapsing down somewhere in the back of his mind, as he found his heart melting right away.

Before she straightened up or moved back, Althea extended her neck ahead and gently whispered in to Nicholas’s ear.

“The beard is a little irritating but I didn’t mind.”

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How cute do you think, these two are?

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