CHAPTER 3

Anna stood there, staring at the pair of wide eyes in front of her as her grandmother appeared shocked to see the man clingy onto Anna's neck. The atmosphere grew colder than the breeze gushing outside.

"Granu I will explain everything , just let me get him inside. He is heavy." Anna said, panting, her knee ready to give up.

The old lady's eyes travelled from Anna to the unconscious man and back to Anna as she closed her mouth which was hanging open from long. The poor driver, whose presence was fully forgotten just stood there awkwardly until he decided to break the silence.

"Actually- he is really heavy" he tried to smile.

Both the females looked at the him in unison and the old lady heaved a heavy breath before nodding reluctantly and stepping aside to let them bring him, or precisely saying, drag him inside the house. Her eyes followed their movement in as they struggled with the unconscious man. Anna thanked the man who had helped her and he left as she closed the door, finally sighing as she was inside her warm house. Did she necessarily had to bring all this on herself?

Anna turned around and walked into the living room where they had laid down the man on the couch which was noticably small for his huge structure. When Anna came to the couch, the old lady was already there, hands on her hips, brows furrowed and mouth slightly open as she stared down at the unconscious man. Anna cleared her throat catching the ladies attention. Her Grandmother turned fully towards Anna to face her and she knew it would be a long talk.

"Would you care to explain who is this and what is he doing in my house?" she raised an eyebrow.

Anna just sighed and plopped down to the single couch next to the main one as her body was aching from all the heavy push and pulls. She looked at the man and then at the lady standing in front of her with hands crossed against her chest.

Anna took a deep breath and started explaining about everything, how she rescued the man and the struggles she went through to get him here. Her Grandmother closely listened to everything then turned around and went inside the kitchen as Anna stood up and approached the man to check where he was hurt.

She slowly shifted the left collar of his shirt to see for any wounds but there was none and unwillingly her eyes travelled across his protruding veins on the neck. Anna shook her head, erasing the inappropriate thoughts and looked around. There was a lot of blood on his right shoulder and the fabric there was torn. Anna gulped looking at the stains. They were dry, and unknowingly she wondered for how long he was bleeding inside the car. Not to mention, upside down.

Anna kneeled beside the couch, slowly shifting him to his side, just enough to discover the wound that ran down from his shoulder to the mid of his back. That looked really bad. She quickly got up and dialed a number on the landline as she pressed the receiver to her ear.

"Hello. Uncle John? I am sorry to call you at this hour but it's an emergency. Could you please come over?" She said.

Dr. John Martin was the best friend of her father and also their family doctor.

"What is it Anna? Why do you sound so scared?"

"It's- just could you come home Uncle. Please."

"Anna my dear, the roads are all jammed due to the storm. I can't come there even if I want to."

"Oh, Jesus"

"Anna what is it? Could you at least tell me what happened?"

She stabled her breathing and explained everything to him. Her voice was trembling, afraid of what she had got herself into. There was an injured man, lying unconscious on her couch with no guarantee of waking up.

"Okay. Although you can't take him to hospital, his wounds have to be cleaned or else there can be an infection. Do you remember the first aid training I gave you some years back?"

"Yeah. A little." He always used to brief Anna about medical stuffs whenever he visited her Dad. He even took her to a medical camp where they trained teenagers about emergency first aid but she never thought she would use it in such a situation. As he was instructing Anna on how to go about in this situation, Her grandmother arrived with two towels , a first aid kit and a warm coffee as she handed it over to Anna.

"First, take off his shirt but be careful not to rub against his wounds."

She gulped and placed the coffee on the table beside the couch and put the landline on speaker as she placed the receiver down. She made her way to the man who was still unconscious and knelt by his side as she slowly unbuttoned his shirt. She had to open just three of them as other buttons were either missing or already open.

Anna tried not to look anywhere other than her fingers working over his clothes. It was a really bad situation to check out a man. She slid the shirt off his shoulders without touching his wounds as her Grandmother helped her do so.

What the hell? Her subconscious mind was drooling at the sight.

He was all muscles and popping veins. For a moment, Anna froze but quickly snapped out of the trance when her Grandmother called out to her.

Dr. John was going on speaking as she replied to him in between with an 'okay' and 'done'. With the help of her Grandmother she once again shifted him to his side as she saw the wound clearly. She took the cotton balls as her hands started shivering. Her Grandmother understood her hesitation and took the cotton from her as she started cleaning it herself.

Anna gently turned his face up and started cleaning the little scratches and blood stain on his face. She peeled a bandaid and glued it across his temple. The old lady was still dressing his back wound as Anna found a moment to look at the face she rescued but before she could do so, her grandmother called her for help.

After an hour and half, they both were able to dress the wound and also checked there wasn't any other severe ones. She Thanked Dr. John and he asked her to bring him to the hospital the next day when the roads clear out. She hung up and placed the receiver back.

"Annie, you should get changed. Go take a shower. I will be here don't worry." She said.

As much as she wanted to stay and look after him, she was also tired. So, she nodded and took her purse from the couch and turned around to quickly to change the clothes which were now crumbled and sticky.

Before she could move past the couch, she heard a soft cry. Her eyes went wide as the old lady stood up as well confirming she heard the same. Anna turned around, her gaze down at the man. He shifted slightly and spoke again but very softly. Anna knitted her brows together.

She knelt beside the couch as he was turned onto one side and faced him. His lips moved again and she leaned her ear forward to his face.

"Don't leave me please!" He cried again.