11 Baby Henry and his enemy:the flu

Henry's POV

I was awakened by the sound of plates and pans moving around into the kitchen. I tried to raise up, but my head was overwhelmed with a vicious headache so I laid back down, slowly massaging my temples with the index fingers to ease the pain. I looked at the watch and saw it was 6:00 A.M. My body felt sore. I cleared my throat, trying to get rid of the itchy sensation I was having, but in vain. I felt my eyes and nose becoming watery when all of the sudden "achoo, achoo, achoo!" a symphony of sneezes invaded my nostrils.

"Jenna!" I shouted, snots filling up my nose as I was struggling to breathe.

"Yes, Mr. Strauss! I'm coming!" My sinuses were swollen and I felt a discomfort in my jaw. I realized that I've got a flu and I have to stay home for a couple of days, but that didn't mean I couldn't work from home since I had to start looking over the prototype for the suit. "Where is that girl?" I said irked that she took so much time.

"Jenna, for crying out loud, you're 10 meters away from me. What takes you so long?" I called out to her and she finally came to the living room dressed as usual with a black loose t-shirt and blue shorts. As soon as she saw me, a gasp came out of her mouth as she brought both her hands to cover it.

"What?" I asked baffled by her reaction.

"Your face..." she muttered. I tried to raise up from the couch, but my feet could barely hold me. Sometime had passed since my last flu a few years ago so I guess the universe decided it was time to get my share of the pain and I must admit I actually forgot how it felt to have a cold. I went to the closest mirror which was a few meters away to watch my reflection. My face was pale with dark circles under my red swollen eyes and dry lips that gave the impression I haven't had water in days.

"Fuck, this can't be happening right now." I said with a runny nose, turning my face to her. I expected she would keep the distance, instead she came and checked my temperature, putting her small cold hand on my forehead to check how warm I was. She kept it for a couple of seconds and said:

"You have temperature. You shouldn't go anywhere! I will prepare a warm cup of tea with some butter and jam. It won't take long! "she told me and went rushing into the kitchen. Soon after she was gone, I noticed I felt cold although the thermostat showed 25 deg. Celsius. "Now I have chills! "I mumbled to myself annoyed that my heath state was getting worse. While Jenna prepared breakfast, I went upstairs to take a quick shower and call my secretary to let her know that I wasn't going to show up for work for a couple of days. I dressed in a loose white t-shirt and some joggers alongside a grey comfy robe to keep me warm which I usually wore only after showering. When I got into the kitchen, Jenna already prepared the breakfast plate and washed a couple of dishes, probably left from last night. Her gold skin was glowing and her hair was falling off her shoulders in curly waves. I was itching to touch her and smell her sweet strawberry aroma, but unfortunately my stuffy nose wouldn't allow me.

"Achoo" A powerful sneeze came out and I saw poor Jenna flinching. She turned to look at me and smirked while analyzing my robe.

"What? I like fluffy things. Do I look sexy?" I asked waggling my eyebrows. She chuckled and I noticed how beautiful her smile was. She looked radiant even if she was tired, half asleep and skinnier than before.

"When was the last time you eat?" I asked.

"Yesterday." she answered briefly turning around to arrange the glasses in the kitchen counter.

"After you finish with those, I want you...achoo!" I sneezed again loudly.

"Jesus Christ!" she uttered in surprise.

"I want you to have breakfast with me!" I spelled out the words quickly, afraid I'm going to have another episode.

She guffawed with delight as if enjoying my pain and turned to face me. I couldn't be mad at her, not because I didn't want to but because I could barely speak properly and felt drained of energy. I was happy to see her preparing another plate and joining me at the table.

"Why didn't you wake me up last night?" I asked, knowing she was still awake when my mother and I had the conversation.

"I didn't think it was necessary plus your mother asked me not to." she answered and took a bite from the toast.

"When did she leave?"

"I think it was around two. She was talking to someone on the phone when I finished cleaning and after five minutes, she left without saying a word." I was too tired last night and have fallen asleep thinking of my life and how would it be like with Christine by my side. The thought scared me as I remembered the first time we met. I was somehow attracted by her shyness and delicate way of handling things and talking to people. She seemed fragile which got me intrigued up until the point when we began spending time together. That woman didn't have an opinion but I wasn't aware of that back then. I was continuously trying to figure out her actual desires, but the woman simply wouldn't cooperate with me. It's like she was sabotaging herself.

"Christine, should we order Chinese or would you prefer something else? "

"Whatever you like, Henry!" she answered softly.

"Ok, I'll order Chinese. You want something with crab, chicken or duck?"

"I'll let you choose."

"But what do you want?" I asked with hope in my little heart that she would finally decide on something.

"Whatever you want." she said dreamy.

"Fine, I'll take the chicken. Do you like chicken?"

"Yes." she said smiling as she came towards me, grabbing my arm and holding it tightly at her chest. I filtered the search and browsed through the various chicken dishes. I chose three of them to give the girl a little variety. Four or more were already a crowd for the poor woman's brain since her taste was based mostly on my choices.

"Ok..." I mumbled. " Here! We can have crispy sesame chicken, garlic chicken or orange chicken." I said to her showing one at a time the pictures that were mouthwatering. The sesame chicken looked nice, but I still waited for her confirmation. She took the phone and looked at each one of them one more time. I was hoping for the best.

"What do you prefer?" she inquired like a little kid.

"I prefer what you prefer!" I replied cheeky, waiting for her response. She gulped and made a face like her life depended on the dish choice, but I was patient. After a couple of minutes humming and scratching her head she said:

"You choose! I think they're all great."

Now you see what I was dealing with? How many of you would like to spend time with such a woman?

"Are you ok?" Jenna asked, frowning her eyebrows as she watched me struggling with my own thoughts. Now, even if she was a thief, this woman had more personality than all the others I had relationships with in my miserable life and I had to give her credit for that.

"I'm just thinking...achoo!!" I felt my eyes watering and my nose itching, prepared for another sneeze "achoo! achoo! achoo!". My vegetative state got Jenna worried. I see her standing up and asking:

"Where do you keep your pills? "

"In the bathroom, top drawer on the right." I replied, sounding like a broken trumpet.

"I'll go grab them!" she said and came back soon after with some ibuprofen and a throat syrup for the sore sensation. She handed me the pills and I took them with the rest of the tea that was left in my cup. Meanwhile, she poured some syrup into a small spoon and brought it to my mouth. I felt like a child in that moment so I tried to grab the spoon from her hand.

"Take your hands off the spoon! You're going to spill it!" she said firmly, moving my hand aside and waiting for me to "put it into my mouth". For some reason, I wasn't bothered by her words, in fact I was amused by her caring attitude as I knew an asshole like me didn't deserve it. I opened my mouth and left the sweet liquid going down my throat, alleviating the scratchy sensation.

"I'm going to make you a soup today and hopefully you'll be better in no time." she stated after which she began taking out some vegetables from the fridge and filling a big pot with water, placing it on the stove.

"I hope so, otherwise you're stuck with me for another week. I'm actually enjoying this..."

"Enjoying what?"

"Spending time home, with you. It gives us the opportunity to...achoo!!" I quickly grabbed a paper towel to blow my nose. My health state was getting worse and I could literally feel it in my bones as my flesh hurt every time I moved my body.

"To get to know each other better?" she continued, raising one eyebrow.

"Yes, exactly!"

"That's not going to happen!" she cut me off instantly. "You are a selfish, arrogant man with psychopathic tendencies who treats women like trash, or at least me. If I help you, it is because I'm bound to do so and because you look like shit. Unlike others, I have a conscience." she said icily while cutting a carrot and I couldn't help but feel even more pain than before.

"I hate it when you do this!" I told her annoyed without hiding my grimace. " I treat you exactly the way you deserve. Someone else would have done much worse..."I didn't have the time to finish my sentence because she interrupted me.

"How do you know that?" she snapped, turning to face me with the vegetable knife in her hand. " Did you ask me why I do this? Did you ever bother to ask about my past? No! Because all you do it's think about yourself without taking into consideration how your actions might affect the others around you." she shouted, her face turning red and her chest pumping rapidly. I stood up and was on the point to snap at the insolent little thief, but all I could say was:

"Achoo!"

"Bless you!" she said, her eyes watching me now with pity as mine became watery again from the sneeze.

"Well, you're stuck with me for three more weeks so deal with it!" I said coldly and rose up to go to my office upstairs.

"You said it right! I'm stuck with you because no woman in her right mind would want to spend her life with a man like you. Lucky me I'm only working for you. I feel bad for the woman that actually gets to marry you." she spit out the words harshly, making me turn around. Anger raised inside me and I approached her, trying to ignore the pain in my body and focus on teaching her a lesson. She sensed what I was about to do and turned around pointing the knife at me.

"What are you doing?" she asked raising her eyebrows and taunting me with the knife, stabbing the air in a demonstration of strength. She looked even more beautiful now, raising her chin and gazing at me with confidence while I stopped inches away from her, taking the hand in which she had the knife, and pointing its sharp end to my chest.

"You want to stab me? You're also a murderer beside being a thief? It's like a part time job or something? Come on...do it!" I encouraged the furious woman who was now looking at me perplexed. I knew based on her expression that I had the upper hand even though I felt like shit. After all, I was trying to make a point. Instead, my gesture of strength went down the drain as the cold became her ally.

"Achoo!" I sneezed right in her face, little saliva droplets touching her soft skin.

"Fucking hell! Are you serious?" she asked irritated, dropping the knife on the kitchen counter and taking a paper towel to wipe them off. I couldn't hold the urge to laugh and watched her rushing furiously to the bathroom to clean her face. I made my way to the stairs, but not before shouting:

"I guess we're going to be flu buddies now!" loud enough for her to hear.