There was a knock on his bedroom door and Ace who was beginning to drive into his utopia groaned in annoyance as he ruffled out of bed to his intruder. "Must it always be you?" he left his guest and plunged back into bed. "Shut up. It's one pm and you're here slacking." "Is there something else I should be doing on a Saturday afternoon besides sleeping?" he muffled into his pillow. "You hurt my feelings, brother," Eloise feigned hurt, "as a sister you haven't seen in so long you ought to spend more time with me especially considering the fact that I'll be returning to the states in less than twelve hours." "Fuck off. Don't use your departure as an excuse." Eloise stomped to his bedside like a provoked honeybee, usurped the second pillow on the bed, and hit her brother on the head to consciousness. "What the fuck are you doing?" he coaxed, with his elbow curbing his face from physical pillow damage. "I am hitting some sense and attention into your dummy old head, isn't that obv

'Is her condition critical?' Young man, it's not in my place to tell you that,' The doctor, who was busy documenting some lab results presumably, retorted.Ace sighed in devastation. 'At least you can tell me how I can help, can't you?''Love and attention,' he refrained from his duty. As a doctor, he wasn't limited to health attention, he saw beyond that and if he wasn't mistaken, the girl who captured his inquisition was an unfortunate. 'But as we speak, she needs to eat healthily. I don't really know who you are to this young lady but y--' 'A friend. A good friend.' 'Then you should definitely open up her field of communication, in fact, that is the only thing that can cure her right now.' Ace incessantly sighted Nora from his peripheral view. She hadn't stitched her vision away from the side window since the start of the drive. She looked extremely sad...as always, since he had known her, that is. Why he was getting worried about her all of a sudden? He couldn't tell. Two n

After thinking about all that Ace had said, Nora finally believed she needed someone to pour out to. She had carried the burden for way too long that she couldn't think, walk, and talk properly and dawn wasn't the convenient time for that. That day she listened to him talk meticulously even though she never really found a reason to or why, she realized that it required a lot of trust to air out personal information to someone you barely knew, to someone who kept pushing you away and sometimes, even to one you knew so well. If he could do that to her, then she definitely could do so to him too. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. There were possibilities that he would use it against her. He was that type of person, but then, what did she fear if he ever did so or what would he gain for making a laughing stock out of her, for she already was one even without advertisement. "Akwara. It's 4 am and you're still sleeping? Come on, get—get up from that place before I do it myself

She hadn't been able to seduce sleep half of the night. She wondered about Martha's next action; what she would tell her father, the number of whips she must have fetched from the nearby mango tree, the days of starvation and jackass work ahead. She didn't plan on returning but she didn't plan on being an inconvenience either. "What's wrong with you?" Ace kicked her into reality. To say she didn't feel uncomfortable with him walking around half-naked. He was alright physically hot and penetrating like the blazing sawdust fireside at the same time emotionally cold as the midnight concrete floor she slept on. But then, did he see her an inch attractive like he did Rose? Could he ever want her like he did other girls? She wanted him to even though there were no chances ever. "I'm leaving." She avoided his gaze but sensed his drilling holes into her system as he abruptly refrained from drying his hair with a towel. Nora knew not whether to return home or join the street kids in combat

"You're happy," Ace remarked. "Yeah," without thinking, she rushed to hug him. "Thank you. Thank you so much for being there," He didn't hug her back but she didn't care so much about it. The most essential thing is, he was there with her and cared. "We're going out today." "Where to?" He didn't answer back. He just grabbed his towel and walked to the bathroom. It felt like she was in paradise with nothing to worry about. Ace was a little temperamental sometimes but he made her happy. Now, what had life to offer them? Will they keep living together till further notice or will he have enough of her at some point in time and kick her out? Ace's phone began to ring. She knew not which button to press or whether to touch it at all so she simply called out for him but he seemed to not have heard. The phone stopped for a while and only when she wanted to thank God did it set on blowing her ears again. Nora held up the sophisticated gadget, battling on whether to tap on the green or r