บท 22: The Nap
Sebastian had finished showering and getting dressed when he heard someone whimpering, so he went to investigate.
Clara was dreaming and thrashing around like she was fighting someone. ‘No, no.. she said, whimpering... Celine... hide... Celine…,’ tears were coming from her eyes.
The minute she started whimpering, he rubbed her arms and her back, comforting her like a child, ‘Shhh.. shhh..,’ He said, ‘It’s okay…. Shhh…. It’s okay…,’ she started quieting down, and when he had his arms wrapped around her. She went back to sleep.
Clara’s secretary called her brothers to come up for lunch as she laid the food on the table, but nobody was in the office, and she did not know if Clara had come back from her bike ride, so she left. Her brothers came in laughing. They were teasing each other and betting again on where they would find Clara and Sebastian. Yeah, it was mean for them to bet on her, but they had nothing else to do at the moment, and her love life was the hottest news right now.
Their plan was to catch them, ‘making out,’ they both said in unison as they barged into her bedroom.
When they saw Sebastian had his arms wrapped around Clara, they high-fived. But looking closely, it did not look like they were making out. Sebastian had his finger on his lips, telling them to quiet down.
They were confused. Then they realized she was taking a nap. Naps and Clara were always an unpleasant combination. Her nightmares never gave her an option to choose when they would appear, and when left alone, she always woke up screaming.
Ever since she remembered her sister’s name, she’d been dreaming about her more and more, the dreams becoming more graphic and more brutal. She would always call out to her, but today something was different. Clara was asleep, like a very peaceful baby.
Max stood on her side of the bed and frowned. ‘What is happening here?’ he felt dumbfounded. She never slept like this. Even when they had hugged her or shushed her to sleep.
They let her sleep a few more minutes when she started stirring. Either she knew they were there or got a whiff of the food when the guys came in. She started twitching and opening her eyes, stretching while wrapped up in someone’s arms, whom she thought was Max.
She kissed his cheek and tucked her head in his shoulder, ‘Thanks Max,’ she said, ‘I had this dream, but..,’ she stopped and looked up. He smelled like her body wash, yet he felt different. More muscular, more defined? She pushed him away and sat up. With her hair covering her face, she looked at him accusingly. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ she asked.
-=-
Max and Jeremy were sitting on her sofa whispering to each other when Clara sat upright, barked at Sebastian, and then at them. ‘What are you two doing over there? Why is he the one beside me?’ she was frowning as she laid her eyes on them, not enjoying that they were scheming against her.
Sebastian said, ‘Don’t get mad. I heard you whimpering after my shower, and tried to console you, then you wrapped yourself around me like an octopus. I didn’t want to wake you, so I just laid there and waited,’ he smiled. ‘I had a delightful time sniffing your hair and hugging you. That’s for sure,’ he said to himself as he smiled. ‘I wouldn’t mind doing it again.’
Clara glared at Sebastian for smiling. ‘These two came in here because lunch is ready,’ he explained as he stood up, knowing his welcome was worn out. To appear unaffected, he straightened his shirt, took his jacket from the closet, and put on his shoes.
She stood up and started straightening the bed. Clearing her throat, ‘Ehem.. well, I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to grab you like that.’
Looking into her eyes with the naughty smile on his face, he said, ‘I wasn’t complaining.’
She blushed and ran to the bathroom. From there, she screamed, ‘You guys, go ahead and eat. I’ll be out in a moment.’ She dried her hair and fixed her face as long as she possibly could to stall.
When she came out to join them, it felt like they’d all been long-time friends. Laughing and joking around. What she didn’t know was that her brothers had warned Sebastian not to ask what happened. Just for him to act normal and pretend everything was okay. They said this was a rare occurrence that Clara woke up refreshed and not more stressed than before.
It fueled his need to investigate further. He knew he heard Celine’s name being called out when she was taking a nap and wondered why. When he did his investigation earlier, there was a news article that talked about Celine’s sister dying. He tried to look for pictures and thought he was stretching it too much, thinking the girl might have looked like Clara when she was younger.
The thing that baffled him was that the article said she had died. But if she was Celine’s sister, why was Clara in an orphanage for the last 20 years?
His heart ached for her. To be away from her sister and her parents that long would put a scar on anyone. She probably thought they abandoned her. No wonder she had nightmares.
The more he spent time with them, the more he enjoyed their company. It was like living in a house with very obnoxious brothers. He can’t even remember if he had this type of relationship with his own brother. They were close, but not like these three. It was like growing up in an orphanage made their relationship more special.
They were having sushi on this low table in Clara’s office, and even though it looked like they ordered enough food for an army, the siblings were still stealing food from each other’s plates.
‘Stop it!’ she yells. She wanted so hard to maintain a business relationship with Sebastian, but it was so hard with her brothers around. So instead of fighting it, she let her control slip, just for today.
‘These are mine, stop stealing them,’ she had her arms encircling her plate, and she was kicking Max. She had a smile on her face, and she was laughing. It was refreshing to see her like this after her nightmare. It was like whatever plagued her never existed.
Sebastian sat there, relishing this moment. He sat beside her and gave her the dishes she seemed to like, and for a minute, she forgot she was trying to keep her distance from him. She noticed his gesture and announced, ‘Sebastian’s on my team. Let’s see you mess with him,’ she laughed, sticking out her tongue at her brothers.
It was a lot of food, and Sebastian, together with her brothers, eventually polished it all off. They do not believe in wasting food, so with all their tummies full, they collapsed on the couch, giving off the feeling that they were in a college dorm with their best friends, just hanging out.
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