His secret

Chapter 5

I look around, freaking out when I don't recognize the room that I open my eyes to find myself in. When I try to get up on my feet I feel strong pain in my head, making me fall back on the kingsized bed I woke up in. I try to recognize the bedroom, maybe it belongs to someone I know. 

The sunlight coming from the big window on the white walls blinds my eyes. On the second attempt, I manage to get up and close the arsenic-green-colored curtains. Whoever lives in this room is a very organized person; I can't even remember a time when my room has ever been this clean.

To be honest I even think this person has some OCD problems. Everything is so perfect, every piece of furniture in the room matches one another. The headboard is in a dark shade of gray, and the white satin bedsheets covered with a bedspread in a lighter grey complete the look of the high bed whit countless pillows. The color of the round-shaped mat matches the color of the curtains as well as some of the details on the mid-sized painting hanging above the bed.

I'm very certain that I've never seen this room before, so I walk out of it to find some clues about where I am. When I walk out I find myself in an empty living room. It's a small but good-looking one. The couches have a snowlike white color, the carpet is red and the coffee table is in luxurious black marble. Thanks to the walls which are very big windows, the room is filled with light. 

I walk to one of the windows and look outside. The view is immaculate, there are people everywhere, some on their phones, some holding a coffee in their hands, others hurrying somewhere, probably to work or school.  I'm guessing that this is a penthouse because we are at a very high level. I look back at one of the couches and notice that it has a pillow and a folded blanket on it. Someone has been sleeping in here and letting me sleep in their bedroom. A feeling of panic starts rising in me. I can't remember anything from last night, the last thing I know is that I was cleaning with Dani.

Leaving the living room I walk towards what looks like the kitchen. The first thing I spot is a tall shirtless boy, leaning against one of the walls, one of his hands in the pocket of his black shorts, looking outside the window with a cup of coffee in his other hand. I'm guessing he heard me coming because he turns to me. His blond hair is messy and his ocean-blue eyes look tired. He looks familiar. 

"Where am I?" is the first out of many questions that comes out of my mouth. Ignoring me, he takes another sip of his coffee. "Who are you and where I'm I? Could you please answer me?" I ask again while trying to hide the nervousness in my voice. His eyes meet mine as he puts his mug on the white marble kitchen island and walks toward me. With every step he takes my heartbeat speeds, and until he's only inches away from me I feel like my heart is going to burst out of my chest.

"You passed out and I couldn't find anything on you that could tell me anything about you so that I could return you home, leaving me with only one option, taking you home with me." I find it hard to maintain eye contact with him as he speaks, instead, my eyes travel down his full-heart-shaped lips. 

It seems that I lost focus while looking at the perfect features of his face because he snaps his fingers in front of my face to get my focus back. "Do you remember anything from last night?" My body temperature rises and I feel my cheeks turn red. What does he mean by 'last night, did we... I look down at my body, only to find myself in a big dark green T-shirt that goes down to my knees. "What I'm I wearing, where are my clothes? Why I'm I wearing this? What did we do?" I ask all the questions at once while gesturing with my hands, desperate for his answers. The stress is eating me up and I feel like I'm about to throw up.

He stops me from moving by holding my wrist with one of his hands and putting his hand on my mouth to stop me from asking questions. "Take a deep breath, inhale first then exhale, if by any chance you've lost your mind and forgotten how to breathe too. And no we didn't do anything" I can feel myself breathing after his answer. And as I breathe I get flashbacks from last night. 

I was on my way home, the boy died, the three men, my dress on the floor, a boy saved me. This boy saved me. The tears fill my eyes and start to run down my cheeks. Without thinking I hug the boy in front of me so hard that I feel like I could break his strong muscles. "Thank you, thank you thank you. I..I.. they was gonna.." my sobbing makes it almost impossible to talk. He returns the hug with one hand and strokes my head with the other. 

"It's okay, you're okay now. I don't wanna hear of what they tried to do to you, they have been taken care of. I advise you to forget about them too." He says as he breaks the hug and takes his mug and walks towards the window looking outside again. "I made some breakfast. Have some and then return to your home. I'm sure your parents are worried about you."

"Thank you but I don't feel like eating. I'll just go home, sorry for disturbing you and hugging you out of a sudden. I just couldn't hold my emotions back." Without looking at me he answers coldly "Learn to control them, not being able to control your own emotions makes you vulnerable and nobody wants to be an easy target." I don't understand any of the words that just came out of his mouth and I don't try to understand them either, instead, my curiosity takes over. "What is your name by the way?" It takes him a few seconds before he answers as if he is trying to remember his own name "Miles Sanders," he says. He doesn't ask about my name but I  decide to tell him anyways. "And I'm Nova, Nova Devis" 

"Nova," he says as if he is tasting my name on his tongue, trying to decide whether he likes it or not. "Like the star, Nova." He finishes our conversation as he walks towards his room.

A minute later he returns with my dress in his hand. "Here you go, you can change in the bathroom, it's inside my room." I hold up the dress wondering how I got into his t-shirt. "Did, did you change my clothes last night?" I ask, shy. "Don't flatter yourself, you're not the first girl I see naked," he answers unbothered, almost bored. Without embarrassing myself anymore I got to the bathroom, change into my dress and walk out, thank him for the last time, and leave.

When I got home I thought about what he told me, about forgetting about it and I know that would be hard to do if I told anybody about it, so I kept it to myself and acted like everything was alright. I told my parents that I slept at Daian's house, and Daiana thinks that I got home safe. 

Three weeks went by after that, but I couldn't stop thinking about Miles and how thankful I was that he saved me. I wished to bump into him somewhere so that I could talk to him again but that never seemed to happen. Desperation filled me, a need to see him again in order to fill the strange feeling of longing that had been growing inside me ever since that night. I didn't like the feeling, and I didn't like the idea that got into my head either, but I liked the first less so I went on with it; I went to his house and knocked on his door with flowers and chocolate in my hand with the excuse that I wanted to thank him once again. He was shocked to see me for the first time but he eventually let me in, or I might have let myself in, slipping underneath the arm that he rested on the doorframe, but he sure didn't tell me to leave. 

We sat down, and I did most of the talking while he preferred to listen to me. I started visiting him more often after that, and I remember his annoyed look every time I showed up at his door, but I kind of enjoyed it. After a while, he became used to me, and we started hanging out more frequently until we became close friends and he shared talking more to me than just listening.

And that's the story of how I got to know Miles, the story that I one day will tell my kids before going to bed. "Daydreaming again, Sunshine?" a voice interrupts my thoughts, making me jump up on my feet in fear. "Omg Miles! You can't just sneak up on people like that." I say with an irritated tone. "You're the one that gave me keys to your apartment, I'm I supposed to knock anyways? What's the point of giving me keys then?" he laughs. Now he really makes me regret giving him keys for emergency purposes.