Thomas was holding her as they entered the house. He was by her side the whole time. He had given her as much time as she needed while he held her in his arms in the car. He wanted to take away all the pain. Seeing her in misery sparked some new feelings of empathy in him. He felt like he was the one who was hurt. He kept on caressing her hair and back until she calmed down a little. It had been a little over an hour when she raised her face from his chest looking a little embarrassed. She had stopped crying, but he could sense how much trauma she was going through at that moment. “Are you okay?” He asked tucking her hair gently behind her ear. Her bun had loosened up a bit and her strands were plucking out of the previously neat bun. He cursed at himself in his mind for not being able to remove his eyes from her. “Yeah.” She said with a hoarse voice. Putting her hands on the seat, she got up from his lap not meeting his eyes. She could not believe she had been sitting on his lap for

He was coming so close. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears. He was breathing on her face. She was nervous to no end. Surprisingly, it was not the kind of nervousness she would run from. She looked forward instead. Her thoughts even surprised her. He stopped when his lips were almost two inches away from her lips. He looked at her with an expression she had not seen in his eyes before. It was so intense that she had to look away for a second to catch her breath. He saw her looking away from his eyes. He was debating whether it was a good idea to show such advances at such a time when she was not stable and had gone through an ugly experience. God knows how much he wanted to close the distance between them. Once again, he stopped himself though. “Sleep.” He said softly putting some distance between them. He was afraid he would not be able to control himself if he was that close to her. Her hands, which were still clutching his shirt tightly, loosened as he distanced himself. S

“Where are you going?” Olivia asked as she came to the kitchen to find him all dressed up. He was wearing a beige shirt with black jeans. He turned his head to look at her.She was dressed in a white shirt and jeans. She had got up to find him absent from the couch. She did not want to talk to him, but she had no choice. She had to know since she was still scared to be alone. The thoughts of Leo appearing before her again were enough to push her to talk to Thomas despite the awkwardness. She even waited for a few minutes before entering the kitchen.The previous night was so heavy on her. First, she had to go through all that, and second, she had to face such awkwardness with Thomas. She had no control over her actions. She still could not understand why she responded. She always thought she would not do anything to go against the contract terms, but she had done just that. She also believed that she had a lot of self-control.“I have some matters to take care of.” He said briefly. He

“No need to thank me. I did what anyone else would have done.” He said after thinking and staring at her for a while. He just gave her a little smile as he had a bite of his burger.Something did not sit right with her. Saying that anyone else would also have done what he did was not something wrong. Everyone should help the victim in such cases, but he said it so normally—like she was no different from any other girl for him.They surely did not have a special relationship nor was she expecting something else. She just thought that it was a little different. They were neither a couple nor a friend. She did not want to change that, but the fact was that the way he took care of her the other night and acted so gently with her, she had grown a special spot for him in her heart. She did not want to name it because she did not know what it was, but that was how it was. The annoyance and irritation she felt whenever he was in front of her did not exist anymore. Rather, she felt comfortable

“I was so sad when I heard about your mom’s condition. Thank God, her surgery went smoothly.” Sana said hugging Olivia. Olivia had stopped crying now. She was so scared when her mom was in the operating theatre. She was praying the whole time. Thankfully, the surgery was done with no complications. The doctors were of different states which Thomas had consulted. They took her to the biggest hospital in town where they operated on her. The doctors had given them hope as the surgery was successful as they removed her ovary with so much risk and difficulty, but still, there was no guarantee that she would be alright. It was the fourth stage after all. She just wanted to try every way possible to make her live for some time. And she wanted her to live a less painful life.Sana was on her trip when she came to know that Amelia was having her surgery. She left for LA to come and see her. She felt so bad that her friend was alone on her own. But she did not expect Thomas to be there and take