~Red as a tomato

Placing his right hand on the girl next to him, Alexander gently shook Esmene awake. "Hey Esmene, we are here. If you want, you can go back to sleep once we get upstairs."

"Hmm?" she asked. "We're here already?"

'"Yeah." he replied.

"Ok." Making her seat straight she unbuckled her seatbelt as Alexander got out of the car with Esmene's backpack in hand, he opened the car door for her. "Thanks," she said graciously.

"Are you awake enough for the tour, or do you want to go back to sleep when we get upstairs?" he asked.

"I would like the 'tour' first and then I will go back to sleep."

"Ok, how about we go inside."

Leading her inside the downstairs restaurant, Esmene noticed it was cute and spacious. It was also very aesthetically pleasing. There were about ten or so small tables in the room, and in front of the big window area that went out, was a nice seating area. The grey and pink walls were decorated lots of different artwork and polaroids of happy customers and friends. "How cute." Because of the cute design, it must bring in lots of female customers.

"I take it you like this kind of style?" he asked.

"Of course," she replied. "Where did you get the inspiration for it?"

"Speaking honestly, hours and hours on Instagram and the internet. I wanted something cute and inviting that was really Aesthetically pleasing. I also wanted it to be picture worthy. When people post pictures here on the internet, it brings in quite a bit of business. Luckily my investment in paying itself off."

"Nice."

"Let's go upstairs now. There are stairs leading up here on the outside of the building, but I typically use the ones behind the kitchen. Its much easier this way. And you don't have to worry about the old lady tenant using them. They only lead to my apartment. Esmene acknowledged him by nodding and followed him through the restaurant's kitchen and up the stairs. Luckily getting up stairs wasnt too hard.

"Here we are," Alexander said. "home sweet home." he spoke as he unlocked the front door with his key. "Tomorrow I will go out and get you a key of your own and a spare to put under the mat. This key also unlocks the restaurant door, so you don't have to worry about that."

"Alright," she replied while he opened the door for her. Walking inside, she could see the kitchen and the living room. It was quite empty and clean.

"Do you want me to help you with your shoes?" Alex asked as he took off his own.

"Y...Yeah." she shyly admitted. She could barely manage to get them on herself at the hospital. It hurt bending down to tie her sneakers.

"Here. Come sit down on the couch and I will help you." Following him over to the living room, Esmene noticed his own personal style was totally different from the restaurant downstairs. The restaurant and the actual apartment were practically polar opposites. There weren't any pictures on the walls and they were all painted white. The couch was modern and grey. The only colorful things in the room were two pillows on the couch. One yellow and the other blue.

As Alex started to help her with her shoes she decided to ask him about it. "Alex?"

"Yes?"

"How come it is so bland up here? The only colorful things in here are these pillows. Downstairs was so cute and interesting and up here is just....meh."

"Oh...um. I guess because I spend most of my time downstairs. I never bothered with upstairs. Pretty much all I really do up here is shower and sleep."

"I see.." She could fix that.

Putting Esmenes shoes by the front door Alex asked, "Do you want something to drink?"

"No, I'm fine." she replied.

"Then how about we continue the tour?"

"Ok." Esmene picked up her crutches and followed Alex throughout the house.

"So, this is the bathroom. There is only one, but it should do." Esmene suddenly pictured Alex coming out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist.

'Ahh! What am I thinking?!'

Noticing how red Esmene had suddenly turned, he placed the back of his hand on Esmene's forehead and asked, "Why are you suddenly so red? Are you ok?"

Esmene was surprised by his touch and quickly turned red as a tomato. "I think so." Alexander knew the real reason she was blushing and smiled inwardly. 'So cute.' he thought

"Ok. Well, let's continue. I will be quick so you can go back to sleep. This door leads to my bedroom and this one is the office. You can go in here whenever you like. And right here will be your room."

Inside, the room was a nice size and had the same modern theme as the rest of the house. It took Esmene all the control she had left in her to not jump on the bed and go crazy. It looked so comfortable! Instead, she hauled herself over to it and carefully lied down.

"It's really comfy!" she said excitedly. "I'm telling you, this is absolute luxury compared to that rock posing as a hospital bed."

Alex couldn't help but laugh at what she said and handed her her backpack. It seemed she was already getting comfortable. "Well, I'm going to let you get settled. You can hang your clothes here and extra blankets are in the chest. Just let me know if you need anything. I'm going to start dinner. It's almost four." he said walking to the door.

Before he walked out of the room, Esmene got up off the bed and called him name. "Alex?"

"Yes?" he asked turning around to face her.

"Um...I just wanted to thank you again. You really didn't have to do any of this for me, but yet you did. I really appreciate it."

"Yes I did. Where would you have gone?"

"I don't know, and that's why I am really thankful. What can I do to repay you?"

Walking over to her he said, "I will have to come up with something. For now, just rest. I will wake you up when dinner is ready."

"Thank you again." she said looking down.

Patting her on the head he said, "Of course" and then left the room. He left so quickly that he didn't even get to see Esmene's blushing face. That upset him. She was just too cute when she was blushing. Heading downstairs, he began to prepare dinner.

'Am I a little puppy to him?' Esmene asked herself. Placing her crutches next to the bed, she got under the covers and fell asleep under the fluffy duvet.