Adore You | ✔

Chapter 41

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Chapter 41

"I'm ready," I said, and he came back in and sat at the edge of the bed.

"How's your leg feeling?"

"Throbbing, but nothing too bad."

"Do you want some water?"

"Sure," I said, and he left downstairs to get me water.

I laid down on his bed and looked up at his ceiling.

His room smelled so strongly of him; it was so different from Maria's cool-toned and modern taste. I looked around and noticed the walls were just bookcases placed one after the other. He had books everywhere. By his computer, on his chair, his nightstand, the bed. There was a fire going in his brick fireplace; it was nice, cozy even.

I picked up the book at arm's reach on his nightstand. I remembered it was the book I saw him with on the plane that first day I came here, Pablo Neruda's: Love Poems. I opened it up to a page he had marked with a paper. I recognized his bookmark as the note he passed me in chemistry—the one where I drew a funny face.

The poem in the book read:

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,

or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,

in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms

but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;

thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,

Risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.

I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;

so I love you because I know no other way than this:

where I do not exist, nor you,

so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,

so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

He had underlined the last stanza, and I wondered if it was because he just liked the way it sounded or if it reminded him of someone. I felt my stomach drop at the thought of it being the latter.

Suddenly I felt confused. Why did it bother me? I quickly surmised that it didn't actually bother me and that I was just obviously rattled from the fall. Maybe I did hit my head.  I heard a noise from down the hallway and I quickly closed the book and placed it back on the nightstand. Robbie came back into the room with the doctor, they rolled in a machine that I assumed was to give me an x-ray.

"Lia, this is Anna," He said, introducing us.

"Hi," I said and felt my cheeks become warm as I became suddenly embarrassed she came over due to my clumsiness.

"Alright, sweetheart, let's look at your leg," The doctor said. She was an older woman with her grey hair in a braid that went down to the middle of her back.

The whole process took around 20 minutes. In the end, my leg was not broken but very badly bruised, and I was at risk of getting a hairline fracture on my shin. The doctor said I had to keep my leg up for a few days and no running for at least four weeks. I groaned at that last part but was thankful that was the worst of it.