MELTING A FROZEN HEART

Chapter 5

"Then how do you plan on wrapping it with your left hand?", she commented flatly.

Before I could retort, she turned to the waitress and started speaking.

"Could you please get me a chair and another bowl of fresh water?", I heard her asking the waitress.

"Yes, mam.", the waitress answered, walking away.

Before I could look up, she took the bandage from my left hand. Snatched, precisely speaking.

Why isn't she leaving?

And why is everyone still staring?

"It's a serious burn, Mr. Marino, don't treat it substantially.", Ms. Baker said, sitting on the chair given to her, right beside me.

I looked at her calmly and she adjusted herself on the chair, placing her wallet and phone on her lap.

She extended her hand, her palm open, as if asking for something.

I looked at her hand and back at her face, raising a brow.

"Your hand.", she said, gesturing with her eyes.

"I can do it, Ms. Baker. It's fine. Everyone can leave.", I said calmly.

"Look, Mr. Marino, I am a very selfish person. In one way or the other, the reason for this fiasco is me too. Until I see your hand getting treated by my own eyes, I tend to get extremely anxious from guilt. And anxiety is the one feeling I loathe the most.", she said seriously, looking at me.

"Yes, Vince, anyway, she was the one who dropped the coffee, so let her at least do this to make up for it.", Dylan said, looking at us.

"Excuse me, kid, I'm doing your brother a favor, so don't think so high and mighty.", she replied, her tone holding a subtle scoff, turning to him.

"You were the one who dropped it, lady.", he said, scowling.

"It was just an accident, boy.", she retorted, stressing on the word 'boy'.

Before Dylan could argue, the kid's mother beat him to it.

"I'm very sorry, this is all my fault. I was checking a few messages and my son thought his father had come seeing someone else's car and he hastily tried to rush out. I'm sorry I should've been alert. I-", she was anxious.

"It's okay, mam.", I replied calmly to ease her fear.

The kid was peeking out from his mother's back, his big eyes looking at me, scared.

The waitress brought fresh water just then, interrupting the tense conversation.

Having no other way out, I slowly removed my signet ring and placed my hand in Ms. Baker's extended palm.

"Why would you wear such an expensive and heavy ring!", she muttered.

"I don't owe you an answer.", I replied.

"It wasn't a question. It was an exclamation.", she retorted.

Dipping the bandage in the water mildly, she started to wrap it gently around my palm, her cold fingers grazing the burns slightly.

I looked at her, her eyes cast down in concentration, her long eyelashes grazing her cheek, her lips faintly puckered out in a daze, a peaceful silence prevailing for the first time since we walked in.

After wrapping the water soaked bandage, she looked for a plaster to stick it in place, but there was none in the box.

"There's no plaster. We cannot tie it either, the knot might get pressed against the skin.", she said, looking at the waitress.