A long way to go

Chapter 11

Derek had an idea. He took out his wallet and took out a business card. Then he called the florist and ordered a dozen red roses to be delivered at his office.

When he ended his day's work, he left the office and bought some dinner. He was confused in deciding about the dinner. So he bought some Chinese takeout.

The moment he reached his lane, he saw a red car parked in front of Emily's house.

He parked his car in his own driveway and changed his work attire into a black t-shirt and dark pair of jeans. He was setting the things on the table. He was just setting the plates on the table when he heard a loud sound. The sound of breaking something. He ran towards her house. He was worried that something might have happened to Emily and he couldn't save her from whatever happened.

When he reached her house, the red car was nowhere to be seen. He knocked on the door but nobody answered. Derek got worried now. He didn't want anything to harm Emily.

Derek turned the knob to find the door unlocked. He stepped inside the house and it was all messed up. There were broken vases and smashed flowers strewn across the floor. There were broken pieces of glass and China everywhere. But there was a trail of something red. Maybe blood. Derek was scared.

He was sure that whoever was in that car was the reason for this. He had to search for Emily. He had to make sure she was alright. He called out her name but no reply came. At last, Derek heard water running in her bathroom. He knocked once but only faint sounds of crying came from behind the door. He tried opening the door. It was locked. No luck.

"Emily, are you in there?" Derek asked with a voice full of concern.

The only sounds that came from behind the door were water running and someone sobbing. He knocked on the door again. No reply.

"Emily, it's me, Derek. Please open the door. I know you're in there. If you don't open the door, I have no choice but to take it down. You hear me?" He said

Emily was listening to him but she didn't want him to see her like this... a bleeding mess. She didn't want him to break the door either so she opened the door.

Derek was shocked to see the state she was in. Her beautiful hair was all scattered and disheveled. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. Her lips were swollen and there was a cut on the end of her bottom lip but there was a mark of a hand across her cheek. He scanned her from head to toe to see any more damage and found a deep cut on the underside of her right foot.

"What happened here, Emily?" He asked with a stern expression. He just couldn't wait to know who did this.

He came closer to her. Her head hung low in embarrassment and shame. This was the last thing she wanted Derek to see. She came to this place to start fresh. To start her life anew. But now it looked like her past would never stop haunting her.

Derek took a step closer to her but she took two steps back to avoid his touch. Derek was hurt to see her like this.

"Emily, it's just me. You don't need to be afraid of me. It's just me. I won't hurt you. You know that, right?" He said.
Emily still kept taking steps backward until her back hit the wall of the shower.

"Come on Emily. Let's get you cleaned up. Then we can talk about this later. Okay?" He said as he took one of her small hands and led her inside her bedroom. He made her sit on the bed and brought a chair from the corner of the room to sit in front of her.
"Do you have a first aid kit?" He asked.
"Bathroom cabinet." She said in a weak voice.

He brought the kit and started doing his work. He propped her bleeding foot on a towel in his lap and inspected the wound.

There was a glass shard stuck in there. He sanitized the tweezers with some alcohol and looked at her directly in the eyes. Her eyes were pleading her not to do this but he had to do it to save her life.

"I promise I won't hurt you." He said as he asked her to stay still. He plucked the glass shards out of her foot and by the time he was done, Emily was holding onto his shoulder like her life depended on it. Tears were running down her face because it was excruciatingly painful.

Then Derek put some more alcohol on a thick cotton ball and cleaned the wound. Emily screamed with the intense feeling of burning.

"Derek!!!! No!!" She almost yelled between tears.

"It's okay, Emily. Just once more and you'll be fine." He said as he concentrated on the task at hand.
After cleaning all her wounds and scratches, Derek patched her up. He looked around the room for anything to wear but the room was too messed up to find anything. So he picked her up bridal style and walked to his house. He wasn't letting her stay in the messed up house. It was just not acceptable to him.

But Emily's just a friend, right Derek? Why are you so protective of her? Have you fallen for her?