Brave Enough To Love Again

Chapter 28

Eden

"Now we can be friends. If you want."

"I'd love that," I smiled at him.

"So," he began, "What will you do now? Do you have anything to do?" His bare chest was beginning to distract me, so I turned around and went back to the kitchen, "I don't really know what to do with myself. I will look into your father's room later, but his vitals are very good, so there is really no need to worry." He followed me, sat on a barstool and watched me while I busied myself with making coffee.

"Do you want a cup too?" I asked, "I mean, probably not. You're going back to sleep, right?"

"Nah. I'm wide awake now, thanks to you," he winked at me, "And yes please. I would love a cup."

"I'm sorry about that again," I said pointing at his naked torso with my lips.

"Don't worry about it."

"So what did the other nurses do at night here?" I asked.

"Oh, I don't know. I told them they can do whatever they want if they're not busy with my monitoring father."

"I see." I turned around, thinking about what I could do to keep myself busy. "What do you want to do now?" I heard him from behind me while I was activating the coffee machine. "I don't really know. Nothing much, I just don't want to fall asleep again. I'm still so embarrassed about what happened."

"Please! Don't worry about it! There was no harm done," he tried to reassure me, "I could keep you company, if you want, friend?" He grinned at me, and it was such a heartwarming sight, I couldn't help but smile back. "I would love that. What could we do?"

"We could talk?" He suggested questioningly, "If you want? There is no way you could fall asleep while talking. I think. I mean, I'll give my best not to bore you and thereby causing your lids to shut mid conversation." I liked his easygoing charm. "Sure, my friend. Let's do that!" I replied before moving over to the barstool next to him. I didn't want to stand the whole time as I was already tired as it was.

Before I could ask him about himself, however, he wanted to know if I had ever seen him before our meeting at the hospital, which I denied, as I never did. My reply initially surprised him, but then conjured an infectious grin on his face, "I guess you don't read gossip magazines and such?" I shook my head in the negative, despite his statement being a rhetorical question.

He began talking about himself voluntarily without me having to ask, and only if I wanted to know something specific did I interrupt him. Before talking about himself in particular, he mentioned his parents first.

Mr. and Mrs. Holloway's marriage had been an arranged one between two families of two companies back in the days. The union couldn't have been called loveless per se, as it had produced a son, Levi, after all. However, the initial physical attraction between the two adults had faded soon. All that was left was a friendly companionship between two people, who occupied the same house every once in a while since they owned several properties, and neither of them had felt any longing to spend time together for too long.

"I grew up with everything I wanted and wished for," Levi began in a subdued voice, "But I think what really longed for was a family, with parents who loved each other. I mean, don't get me wrong. There are people out there who have to live with far worse things. So, I learned to live with what I had."