"Awesome." Emma grumbled when, the moment she stepped outside the building, rain started pouring again. Hugging herself to fend off the cold brought by rain – in spite of the warmish Spring that had made an appearance the past couple of weeks –, she contemplated her choices. The next metro stop was 10 minutes away and she had no umbrella. She could wait there until the bad weather relented, but she was fairly certain Daniel was or would be keeping an eye on her from the security cameras at the entrance.
Heaving yet another deep sigh, Emma decided that pouring rain was better than spending one more minute withing her ex-boyfriend's reach. Hence, she took a deep breath and, having hiked her bag over her shoulder, she took off her heels, and started running barefooted towards left. She could hardly see anything, heavy rain and speed fogged her sight, and she was fairly certain she'd stepped her feet on several unpleasant things – ah, the beauty of New York streets.
Halfway through her destination, Emma slipped and crashed against something, which was followed by a cascade of boxes scattering all around her.
"I'm so sorry!" A female voice screeched, immediately grabbing her hand to help her up. "I didn't see you! Are you okay?!"
"It's alright, I'm fine." Emma half smiled.
"But you're soaked!" The young woman gasped in horror, then glanced at Emma's bare feet. "Oh, my God, don't tell me you ran in the rain like that!" She almost made her lose balance by lifting her foot, then she screeched. "Oh! There's a cut! Oh, no!"
Emma slowly retrieved her foot, furrowing her brows. As far as weirdness went, New Yorkers beat every record, sure, but she'd never met someone like this girl. Who grabs a stranger's foot out of the blue? "Don't worry about it," she simply said, wanting to leave – especially because they were still standing in the middle of the sidewalk, in the pouring rain.
The young woman shook her head instead, and pushed Emma to the wall, giving her an open umbrella. "Wait here." She ordered, which the other obeyed mostly out of confusion. The stranger grabbed all of her soaked boxes, grimacing when she noticed at least a couple had broken, and placed them at Emma's feet. Luckily the umbrella was big enough for both of them and the boxes to take cover from the rain.
"I'm fine," Emma said, wanting to get away from this girl that could possibly be a maniac, even though her left foot did hurt a little – maybe she'd stepped on a broken glass.
"No." The other held up a finger. She fished her phone in her purse, and quickly dialed a number. "I'm calling my brother," the girl said, "he's waiting for me nearby."
"I ..."
"You need to get that foot checked out, he can drive us to the nearest hospital."
Emma frowned. Had anyone ever been that kind with her? Nice enough to stop whatever she was doing and decide she ought to help her? Sure, she'd met a lot of 'nice' men, but their gentleness was always aimed at a reward. She pursed her lips, her mind immediately traveling to one man in particular. Truth was, there was one person that had showed her kindness without a secondary reason, someone that, despite her resistances, had tried to be more than just ...
"Alex?"
Emma gulped when she heard the name. No, that couldn't be ...
The other girl sighed, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, Alexander ..." she corrected, which caused Emma's heart to skip a few beats. "Listen, you need to come pick me up ... yes, I know, you're around the corner, but you need to drive here. There's ..." when she turned to Emma, she saw the umbrella dropping to the floor. In the distance, the soaked silhouette of a girl running away barefooted.
✧✧ ✧ ✧ ✧
"So, you met Delilah, huh?" Alexander mused as a manner of greeting the moment she opened the door.
Emma gave him a dirty look, inching her blanket closer over her shoulders. "What are you doing here?" She coughed loudly into her tissue. "And how did you know where to find me?"
He rolled his eyes, pushing past her. "You're sick." He stated matter-of-factly, handing her a small tupperware bowl containing what looked like chicken broth. "Delilah sends you this."
Emma furrowed her brows. Her bones ached all over, even breathing felt painful. "How did you know?" She wondered, her voice somewhat raspy.
"You ran in the pouring rain, silly girl." Alexander flicked her forehead. "Of course you got sick. I told my sister I'd come check up on you and she made chicken broth."
"I didn't know you had a sister," Emma asked in a murmur, feeling weaker. Maybe she needed to sit down for a minute.
"And I didn't know you lived in a hovel." He looked around. "Do you even have enough room to turn around?"
She placed the bowl on the small table beside the couch/bed. "Some of us can't afford to live in comfy large apartments. And you didn't answer, how did you find me?"
Alexander grinned cheekily, going to sit on the couch. "I'm smarter than I look."
"Are you stalking me?" She frowned.
He coughed, feigning embarrassment. "I may or may not have tracked your GPS signal."
"So you're indeed stalking me."
He shrugged. "Maybe. So, was it worth it?" He wondered, stretching his legs over the lunch table. He was so tall that they fell out, so he retrieved them, not wanting to break anything. He knew she had money problems, but he'd never thought it was that bad.
"What?" Emma forced herself to remain conscious, but her eyelids felt droopy, she needed to lie down and sleep.
"Running in the rain to get away from me, was it worth it?" He laughed. "Delilah said you ran off the moment you heard my name. She couldn't understand why." He eyed her closely.
"You need to leave." Emma murmured, feeling out of breath. Her sight was blurring so much that she could barely tell the difference between him and the couch he was sitting on.
"How rude," he joked, "I just arrived."
"Alexander ..." she sighed, wobbly taking a step forward, "I need to ..." she collapsed onto the couch, her head spinning. Her ribcage hurt at every intake of air.
"Emma?"
"Go away." She said, slurring her words, yet crawled next to him, her head on his lap.
He brushed her forehead, worried. "You're burning."
"I'm sick." She inched her blanket closer, so that it would cover her whole body.
"Do you have medicines?"
"I think ... uh ... yes? No ... uh ... I don't know."
He rolled his eyes. "Where's your bed? You need to lie down properly."
"This is the bed ... it's convenable ... uh, convincible, no ... conve ... what's the word?" She mumbled.
Alexander stared at her, beginning to feel anxious. Her head on his lap, she was sprawled all over the couch. Her forehead was burning, she was sweating. "Do you have anything to measure your temperature with?" She didn't answer. "I need to call your doctor, what's their number?"
"I don't have a doctor." She mumbled, barely audible.
"Let's go to the hospital then."
"No ..." she tried to sit up, but her head spun too fast, so she was barely able to rotate enough to look right at him, "I just need rest." She murmured. "Hold me?"
Albeit taken off guard, Alexander instinctively grabbed her hand to squeeze it, and with the other he pulled her closer, so that he could hoist her onto his lap fully. "I'm here." He murmured, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. "I'm here, baby, I'm here." A small smile crept up on her lips as she clung onto him, leaving her head against his chest. She fell asleep soon after.
Alexander took a deep breath and caressed her scalp, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead after having pulled back her damp hair. She needed medical attention. Trying hard not to wake her up, he fished his phone out of his pocket, and called his sister. "Delilah?" He whispered. "I'm gonna text you an address, you need to come over."
"What happened?"
"Just come."
✧✧ ✧ ✧ ✧
"She'll be fine, she just needs some rest." Delilah concluded, eyes on Emma's sleeping figure. Alexander's sister didn't miss the sigh of relief that escaped his lips. "So, who is she?" She asked, turning to him.
"You met her, she ..."
"No, who is she to you?"
He cleared his throat, embarrassed. "Uh ... a friend."
"What kind of friend?" Delilah inquired, wiggling her eyebrows.
"Just a friend." Alexander muttered.
"Right." His sister rolled her eyes, convinced he was lying. "Well, anyway, she'll be fine. I can't prescribe medicines yet, but any pharmacist can give you paracetamol or ibuprofen. If she takes one or two pills a day and rests she'll be up and about in no time, don't worry."
"Thanks." He nodded, eyes on Emma.
"But this ..." Delilah went on, pointing at the mold in the corners of the walls, "the humidity and the mold she breaths in this place won't do her any good."
"She didn't want to go to the hospital."
"No wonder." Delilah chuckled, gaining her brother's puzzled look. "She doesn't have a social security number." The medical student explained. "I asked a friend in administration at the hospital to run a search on an Emma Hudson." Noticing his frown, she held up her hands in mock surrender. "I needed her medical history, okay? I couldn't give advice without knowing if she has allergies or something."
"Sure, it totally wasn't my baby sis making sure I don't hang out with some crazy chick that might end up stalking me." Alexander laughed.
"Hey, you can't blame me, this is the first girl you ever introduce me to." Delilah stuck out her tongue, so they both laughed. When the laughter died down, the young doctor nodded. "But yeah, so, he found a few Emma Hudson, but none of them look like her." She pointed at the girl lying on the convertible bed.
"Maybe the database isn't updated." Alexander suggested.
Delilah shrugged. "Maybe. Or maybe she's not who she says she is."
"Come on, now," her brother chuckled, "don't get paranoid. I'm sure there's an explanation for it." He glanced at the sleeping beauty, and unconsciously smiled. "And even if there isn't, who are we to judge?"
Delilah smiled as well, shaking her head, well aware that he'd definitely understated the nature of his relationship with the stranger that was still resting peacefully. "Right. Well, I gotta go. Call me if there's any problem, but I'm sure she'll be fine ... especially if you manage to get her out of this place." Without waiting for an answer, the young doctor left.
Alexander went to sit beside Emma. He smiled faintly when he noticed her light snore. Caressing her forehead, he pulled back her damp hair and then adjusted the blanket over her sleeping frame. Heaving a deep sigh, he wondered: "What are you doing to me, Hudson?"