Chapter-8

"What happened? You look stressed," Sam asked me as he closed the door after I entered inside.

On the way here I though to call Sam, and notify him, but then I remembered I didn't have his number. I was about to brief him when I was interrupted with a not so good, and unfamiliar voice singing, followed by an awful burnt smell, coming from the kitchen.

"Urgh...not again" Sam groaned and went to the direction of the kitchen. I followed behind him. As I get a clear view of the kitchen, I saw a guy around Sam's age dancing around the kitchen with a spatula in his hand and singing, but the most surprising element was John was dancing with him too.

They were oblivious to their surroundings and of the annoyance rolling off from Sam. They were also not aware that whatever they were trying to make was no longer edible to eat for anyone.

"For god sake, James just shut up" Sam shouted making them paused at their places. The guy turned off the stove and first looked at Sam, then me. Suddenly his eyes glinted in excitement.

He completely ignored Sam and stood in front of me.

"Oh, you must be Tessa, I have heard so much about you from John," James told me with such joyfulness that I couldn't help but smile.

Huh? John did so? When?

"Thank you for saving Crystal, it means a lot to us" he held my hands and shook them while keep repeating his thank you's.

"Well, your welcome," I said to him,

and I still don't know who are you.

I bit back my words, not wanting to be rude when he was so friendly to me. The guy just had this fascinating vibe in him that a smile automatically cane to my face at his antics, but still, I didn't know his identity. He sensed my confusion as he introduced himself.

"Oh, sorry I didn't introduce myself I am James, this idiot's and Crystal's best friend" he smiled while pointing to Sam, who rolled his eyes back at James.

"And here comes my partner in crime, Kylie" James said and pointed towards my back.

I turned around and saw a girl coming our way. The girl was a bit composed. She knew how to carry herself, and had a stern look on her face, but as she heard James, a grin formed on her lips.

She came up to me with a smile on her face, "Hi, I am Kylie"

I shook hands with her, "I am Tessa,"

"Oh, we know and just like James said thanks for what you did" Kylie said with gratefulness.

She looked tough, but there was a softness in her voice which not at all matched with her personality.

"Well, there's one more person who right now is not here as he fought with Sam. So he went back." James taps his chin as he voices out his thoughts. "Although they fought on a completely senseless topic, I mean, I don't know why Aiden would think something like that about.." James was going to say something, but Sam stopped him.

"God James, I told you to shut up, so why don't you do it for once" Sam all but yelled at James.

I didn't understand what made him so angry. Sam turned towards me with a stern look and said,

"Let's go upstairs where we can talk about what you wanted to tell me,"

Oh ya, it completely slipped from my mind.

I nodded at him as he went upstairs.

"It was nice meeting you guys, but right now, I have something important to do," I said, pointing towards the direction of Sam. "I'll talk to you guys later and you too" I narrowed my eyes at John, sending a message to him through my eyes. He waved me off and continued to chat with James.

I shook my head at him and went upstairs. Sam stopped outside a guest room which I assumed was where he was staying. I followed him inside.

"So what you wanted to say?" Sam asked after closing the door behind him. I stood in between the room and tried to think of a way to tell him about what I saw. He leaned by the door waiting for me to speak something.

"When I was coming here from home, I think I saw a car following me" I told Sam. He jolted up straight in shock.

"WHAT????" he shrieked. I gulped as I saw his eyes get darker from anger.

"Although I made sure they didn't follow me till here" I told him, unsured.

Sam ran up to me and held me by my shoulder. He looked at with me concern in his eyes, with anger still in them which I could tell, was not directed towards me, "You are okay, right? They didn't do anything do you did they?"

"Ya, I am fine, but I am worried what if they followed me anyway, or what if they are the same people who..." I couldn't complete my words. it was hard for me to say it, but he still got my message.

"We can't risk them knowing that Crystal's here" I told him as he huffed in exasperation. Sam moved towards his bed and sat on it. I looked at him, lost in his thoughts.

"Don't worry about it. I'll make sure they will never be ale to know about it," he sounded determined in his words. I feel assured, but still there was an unsettling feeling in me.

Sam also looked disturbed, I went and sat beside him.

"Then what are you still fretting on?" I asked him, he turned to looks at me. It looked like he was about to say something but decided against it. Sam stood up and went to stand by the window

"It's nothing," he said in a neutral tone, that is when I knew he had shut down himself. No matter how much I would have tried, he wouldn't have filled in anything.

"Okay, then I guess I'll leave" I moved to leave,

"Are you staying here tonight?" he asked, that reminded me I forgot my luggage in my car.

"Ya, I have decided to stay here for few days" I answered. He nodded and mumbled something under his breath.

"Well, thanks for informing me, I'll try to look into it," Sam said and turned back to look out of the window.

I stood up to leave but my ankle twisted and I cried out in pain, slumping down on the floor. I looked down at my swollen feet, which turned into a ugly purple shade. Sam quickly came to my aid, sitting beside me and held my feet under his clasp.

"How did this happen?" Sam asked anxiously, rubbing very gently on the swollen part. I flinched at the foreign touch, but he didn't seem to notice it as he pulled me up by my arm, helping me in sitting up on the edge of bed comfortably.

"I slipped on stairs this morning," I told him after settling down on bed.

He went to the cupboard and opened it before taking out a medical box and came back, sitting on floor in front of me. I instantly pulled my legs up and shifted backwards.

"You don't need to. I can do it myself," I said holding my knees securely, but he yanked it back."You had the whole day to do it, but you didn't so now let me do it," Sam tightly gripped on my knee, so I wouldn't move again. I felt highly weird for letting him do it but he looked unaffected.

He took out pain reliever spray and spritz it on the swollen area, cooling it down into a numbness, then bandages the painful area tightly to limit the swelling. I gazed down on his face when he focused intently on his task, his eyebrows in v shape. Once done, he smiled slightly and looked up at sternly.

"Now you need to rest your feet for at least one hour, you can't move at all," Sam strictly ordered me.

"But I am hungry," I whined.

It's true, I am hungry as a wolf.

He sighed and till the time I could notice what Sam was up to, he leaned down and hooked his arms under my knees, lifting me up in a bridal style. I gawked at him in astonishment.

"What are you doing? Put me down," I wriggled under his hold but he looked away and kept moving forward till he was out of his room and made his way to the end of the corridor, in the direction of my room.

"Sam please put me down. I can walk by myself," I pleaded to him, but he turned deaf ear and opened the door to my room and walked inside.

He gently placed me on my bed and kept a pillow on my sprained ankle. "You will rest here. I will tell somebody to bring you dinner to you room,"

I smiled inwardly, at this new - caring - side of him. I wanted to tell him that I am doctor and I knew how to handle it but that cuteness of him stopped me from ruining it. "Thank you,"

He nodded sharply and said. "You don't need to worry about other matters. I'll take care of it,"

"Goodnight then," I said as he opened the door to leave.

I heard a faint 'goodnight' as Sam closed the door behind him.

Why is he so bipolar? One minute he would be so nice and then next minute he turns into a closed book.

I knew he was hiding too many secrets from me and it was no use of asking him, but still, some part of me wanted to know it all.

Half an hour later Tom came into the room with a tray filled with food and placed it carefully beside me. I thanked and told him to bring my suitcase upstairs. After having food, I went to the washroom to clean up myself. I had rested my leg for an hour, so it was okay to have a bath now.

I removed the bandage and got inside the bathtub. The hot running water washes away all clogged up thoughts in my head and gives me instant relief. I stayed inside the bathtub for at least twenty minutes, to also cure the swelling in my ankle. When I came out, I found my suitcase lying on my bed.

I changed into my night clothes. Taking out the medical box from the cupboard, I sat on the bed and wrapped a new bandage tightly around the swollen ankle. I kept the box aside and lied back on bed, gazing at the ceiling. Whenever I would close my eyes, the fear of those nightmares coming again, would crawl in my mind.

For the next hour, I tried to sleep, but my restlessness wouldn't let me do it. Finally, I gave up and decided to go to Tom's room. Due to keeping the feet under hot water for long, it stopped paining when I walked. Like always Tom kept his bedroom door unlocked, once entered inside I found him already sleeping.

Good then he won't tease me about it.

I slowly moved towards the bed and sneaked inside the blanket. Once I was sure he didn't woke up, I lied down and closed my eyes.

"Couldn't sleep" I shrieked and almost fell as I suddenly heard his voice over my ears.

"God, you scared me" I placed my hand over my heart, as it was beating rapidly while that stupid fellow grinned at me sheepishly.

"Sorry, didn't mean it" he turned towards my side, "Why are you still up?"

"Couldn't sleep, yesterday I had a nightmare" I sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

"Again? Are they the same ones?" Tom asked.

I nodded. He frowned at this and rubbed my arms.

When I was a kid, I had lots of night-stays here and I used to sleep with Tom only. We both were really close as he was the only brother I had. I also had nightmares that time. During late night when I would wake up from them, he would always console me. Although he was younger than me, during those times he would act like my big brother.

"Come on, sleep now, don't worry, I am here" he wrapped his arms around me comfortingly. I sighed in content and soon I felt myself drifting away in sleep.

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