Chapter XXI

Ryan finished his salad and tea before laying back down.

It was a frequent occurrence for Briella to move her gaze from her phone and to Ryan before asking him for anything else he'd want.

His answer would be a no, followed by him voicing his words of appreciation. "Thank you very much.".

Very soon, Ryan's steady breathing was, though being very quiet, audible. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep.

He faced Briella, his eyes sealed shut. From time to time, Briella found herself gazing at his face, taking a closer look at his facial features. Usually, she'd be on high guard that Ryan wouldn't catch her looking at him.

She didn't want to evoke a false signal.

But now, with him asleep, she didn't have to worry about that happening.

'He looks handsome when asleep...' Briella thought to herself, but immediately after that thought went through her mind, a frown formed on her lips. 'What am I thinking?'.

She stood up and took a few steps towards the door, away from Ryan. From there, she turned around and looked back his way. He was still under his comforter, so she didn't need to tuck him in.

'Would it be smart to go home now?... Should I stay with him for longer?'. Briella explored all the answers and their possible consequences.

'Maybe it'll be better for me to stay. Both for his and my sake. His sake being, I could help him with anything else. My sake being, I wouldn't be worrying about him at home,' she reflected.

From Ryan, her eyes moved to the window. Immediately, they widened in surprise.

Moving closer, she examined the weather outside. Snow.

'It's snowing so much...'.

---------

Hours passed.

After getting herself a glass of water, she returned back into Ryan's room where she fell asleep on the sofa across from Ryan.

While sleeping, she had a dream. A nightmare.

She twisted and turned in the chair, sweat accumulating on her forehead.

Then suddenly, a gasp.

Briella opened her eyes wide before wiping the sweat off her forehead with her shirt. She sighed with relief upon realising that it was all in her head.

It took her a mere second to realise that she was still in Ryan's apartment. It was dark in his room.

So she used her phone to shine some light on Ryan. He was still asleep. She could see the expanding and the contracting of his chest as he slept.

With that, she turned around and went into the hallway where she turned on the lights there.

From there, she entered back into the kitchen before taking her glass from the last time she used it for water. Using the drinkable tap water, she filled it up before downing it all.

Leaving the condensed, empty glass back by the sink, she made her way back to Ryan.

When she walked back into his room, she saw him on his back, stretching. He had his eyes barely open. He turned his head that bit more to his right and looked at Briella.

Briella let out a gentle smile. "How are you feeling now?".

At first. Ryan only nodded his head. Then, after he sat up, he voiced, "Better now. Thank you.".

He proceeded on wiping his eyes with both of his knuckles.

"That's good to hear," she replied.

Then, a moment of silence descended between them both.

It was shattered when Ryan cleared his throat. "What's the time?".

Taking a quick look at the time on her phone, she responded by saying, "23:30".

Ryan let out another groan as he stretched once more. "I think I'm going to go and have a shower.".

"Are you sure that's a wise idea? Do you still have a fever?".

"Mmmm, I don't think so...". Then he felt his forehead that glistened in sweat. "I don't feel like I have a fever.".

"Here..." Briella began, taking the thermometer into her hands. Doing the same procedure, she measured his temperature. "36.6," she read out the reading.

Then, a small smile grew on his lips. "See, I told you so.".

With that, Ryan stood up and got a new change of clothes and a towel before walking into the bathroom.

While he had a shower, Briella decided to help Ryan out a bit. She navigated a clean set of bedsheets to replace the dirty ones on his bed. She also opened the window in his room to help circulate the air.

Thanks to the cold outside, it didn't take long for his room the be refreshed.

Outside, the snow still fell, accumulating on the road and the sidewalk. But compared to earlier that day, the snowfall was noticeably weaker.

The sky had a pretty, orange glow from the snow clouds that reflected the intense city lights. It was this reflection that lit up the street. Making even the darkest streets now easier to be seen.

A few more minutes passed.

The water stopped running and Briella closed the window in Ryan's room.

Then. "Crap!" she heard Ryan voice. Seconds later, the door opened, and Ryan emerged with only his towel covering his torso. He walked into his room before looking through his wardrobe.

Briella widened her eyes when she laid her eyes on him. 'Ryan is half-naked, Ryan is half-naked. Ryan is half-naked!!!'.

"I am very sorry, I know it's not all too gentleman-y of me to walk in like this, but I forgot my underwear," he said, taking a few pairs of underwear into his hand. It took him a few moments to pick one out. In this time, despite Briella not wanting to, her eyes gravitated towards his body. She couldn't help but notice his very good physique that was usually hidden under his clothes. He had a defined chest and abs.

She felt her cheeks heat up and redden the more her eyes stayed on him.

"Alright, I'll be right back..." he says before looking at her. He noticed her rosed cheeks and saw the way her gaze steered elsewhere when his eyes looked into hers. But he disregarded this, then the rest of the room caught his gaze.

'Different bedsheets?...' he thought to himself. 'Briella did this, didn't she?'. He couldn't help but let out a small smile of appreciation.

"Did you do this?...". Briella looked up at him, causing her cheeks to become even more flustered. She damned herself for looking up at him.

"Well..." she began, once again, steering her gaze elsewhere. "I just wanted to be a good friend and help you out...".

Silence took over the room for a brief second.

"Go and get dressed.". A pause. "Otherwise, your temperature will sky-rocket.".

Ryan nodded to her words as though she was looking at him. "Okay, and thank you. Thank you so much.".

Before she could even construct another reply, he walked off and out of the room with a pair of clean underwear in his hand.

---------

Not even three minutes passed, Ryan had returned, fully dressed. He saw Briella on her phone.

She was sat on his bed and he took his seat right next to her.

"I am sorry if I made you uncomfortable," he said. "I know it wasn't too gentleman-y of me to walk in half-naked with a girl in the room.".

"Oh, I didn't feel uncomfortable. It would be more accurate to say that I was surprised. I don't remember the last time seeing a guy half-naked," she replied.

Then, they both looked at each other, into each other's eyes before breaking into gentle laughter.

It took mere seconds for them both to calm down, and when they did, Briella resumed looking at her phone, while Ryan looked at the ground before diverting his eyes to Briella.

Once more, silence ruled between them both.

And once again, Ryan was the one who broke it.

Even though he could see the time displayed on Briella's phone, he still went on to ask, "Briella, do you know what's the time?".

"Hm?... Mmm, yeah. It's midnight...". Then, her eyes widened ever so slightly. 'It's... midnight...'.

Ryan developed a smile on his lips.

"Merry Christmas, Briella.".