บท 32: That night with her - 3

She could hear his breath quicken the moment her fingers landed on his skin.

Hesitation hovered in her mind for a second, but in the next, her hands were tracing along the lines of his scar. Her breath was hitched, for she didn't dare to breathe, afraid that he might turn any second and stop her hands from touching him.

But he didn't.

He stood there, his lips slightly parted, and she could see him close his eyes momentarily from the reflection on the window pane. Even though it was her touching him, her own body had goosebumps raising all over her skin.

"How could someone hurt you like this, Morpheous?" Her voice was almost choking.

"It was my father!" He replied with a voice thickened with a strange emotion that she couldn't understand.

"Did he brandish you with something?" She asked as the scars looked like a mirror copy of each other.

"It was all my fault." He said with head hung low, and she couldn't understand which father could have the heart to punish his own son this way. And why Morpheous didn't have an ounce of grudge against him?

She had no idea what was going on in her mind, but she just couldn't stop. Not knowing why her fingers traced along the lines of his spine and trailed down to the point where his trousers were beginning.

"Dr. Caroline! What are you doing?" And she found him glaring at her as he huffed and turned.

She got up from her daze and tore her eyes away from him, praying that he didn't see her almost about to drool.

'What the hell is wrong with me? How can I drool over a stranger and that to a one with a twisted life?'

"I am sorry. I didn't mean to touch you in any other way. Just that there was blood on your shirt…and then these scar marks."

His face drooped slightly, but he gave her an understanding smile.

"Must be the blood of some patient from the hospital!" He said and picked up his wet shirt from the floor.

"I don't think so… I didn't see it when we came home."

"Maybe you were too distracted because of your anger," and saying that, he tried to button himself up.

Her mouth fell open, hearing him still holding onto the grudge. But her already wounded ego wasn't ready to take NO for an answer.

"Fine, if I couldn't see it right, your best friend would have seen it right. Why didn't she see anything?"

"My best friend?" He asked, all puzzled.

"Yeah, your best friend who is on a mission of bad-mouthing me because I questioned you."

"You are taking this way too far, Dr. Caroline. First, let us think about how to amp up your security system rather than figuring out who saw what." His voice was warm this time, and it softened her expressions

"Erm… wait. Don't wear that. It's wet," and getting down from the couch, she moved to the same cupboard from where Benjamin had picked up the clothes.

Standing on her toes, she tried to pull something from the top shelf, and in that attempt, she realized that her t-shit had risen well above her thighs. Embarrassed, she turned back but saw him looking outside through the window.

She placed the shirt on the table and sat on the couch while forcing her eyes to stare at the ceiling, counting every breath of hers, restraining her eyes not to look at him. But her restraint didn't even last for five breaths, and she found herself looking at him again.

Not marveling at his body was equivalent to disrespecting it.

"There is a t-shirt on the table. Wear that." She cleared her throat as she admired how the muscles of his body moved as he walked ahead and picked up the t-shirt she had kept on the table for him.

Her intent gaze wanted to know him more, and perhaps so did his, because when he saw her looking at him, he didn't look away.

"I think I should go back to my room," She was about to pull the rug and walk, but he stalled her.

"I don't think it is safe. The window is broken. Go to your grandfather's room instead."

"Erm… maybe I will take the couch then. You can sleep in my grandfather's room." She suggested.

"What about that room or your guest room?" Morpheous asked, pointing in the direction of the rooms next to her grandfather's room.

"We don't use them anymore!" She said and lowered her eyes.

"Oh!" was all he uttered before walking towards the window again, craning his neck and trying to look outside.

"You can take that chair then," she said, bringing her knees close to her chin underneath the rug. In the silence, it was then that it hit her that there were so many things mysterious about him that she could never understand.

And the reasons that he gave never sufficed. Looking at him, she couldn't understand why she was so intensely drawn toward him, despite the lies and danger signs. As he slowly walked towards the chair in front of her, she asked, "What if I give you a timeout? What if I give you a peace zone and promise you that I will not react? Would you tell me the truth?"

"I have never lied to you!"

"But not telling anything and staying silent under the shadows of circumstances is not considered as the truth."

She saw him swallowing and asked, "People at the hospital aren't stupid. There are surveillance cameras everywhere. If you are up to something, then they would know."

And she saw his face suddenly turn with an expression that she could no longer read. He leaned ahead in her direction, his chin resting on the bridge between his palms, and asked,

"But what if the cameras don't work? What about then?"