Chapter - 42 - Spotless

Gianna was distracted by the nightmare and knew she would go crazy if she kept on thinking about it. She freshened up and sent an email to Dr.Henry requesting for a full day leave and sent a message to Victor notifying her absence for the whole day. She initially wanted a half day off but after the nightmare she wanted to have a proper rest.

Meanwhile in the hospital, Victor was baffled reading Dr.G's text message. He knew Dr.G never took a leave as far as he could recall. He relayed the message to the others who were assembled in the room who thought Dr.G would join them later. Ralph and others were confused. "Did something happen to Dr.G?" Stanley asked, looking at others with concern. "Should we call her?" asked Alice.

Victor shook his head and said, "Whatever the reason it is, it should be something important if Dr.G decided to take a leave. So, let's not disturb her and wait for her to return." The group nodded at him and Victor texted Gianna back saying, 'Okay Dr.G. Don't worry about anything here. We will take care of everything. Take care.'

Dr.Henry was also more concerned than surprised reading Gianna's mail because Gianna has never taken a leave. He didn't have any reason to reject her request and mailed her back accepting her request and also told her to take care of her health thinking she was unwell.

Gianna decided to go to the grocery store to buy some ingredients for breakfast as she had to feed her patients once he woke up from his deep sleep and also it would keep her mind away from thinking about the nightmare.

She had a sudden urge to eat Risotto so she purchased the ingredients from the store and realized on her way back that the man didn't have anything to wear. She came back to her apartment without alerting Mrs.Rogers and placed the ingredients on the kitchen counter top.

Gianna entered the room with light steps and found the man still sleeping. She opened her cupboard and searched for the t-shirt and pants left behind by Lorenzo a few months back when the group came to celebrate Roberto's birthday. She found the pair and placed them at the end of the bed with a new toothbrush before exiting the bedroom. She reached the kitchen, silently hoping she could find if the tall man is a Velarish or not by cooking him Risotto.

She started cooking as it was already 8 am and the tall man would wake up any moment from his sleep. She cleaned the ingredients and started cooking. First she placed the chicken in a pot to get it cooked. Meanwhile, she placed a large straight-sided skillet over high flame, and added 2 tablespoons of butter to melt.

She added onion and garlic to the butter which was melted and stirred occasionally, for about 5 minutes until the onion was softened and the garlic was fragrant. The chicken was cooked by then and she transferred the chicken broth into another bowl while shredding the cooked chicken.

She added rice and shredded chicken into the onion mixture and seasoned it with salt. She made sure the rice was only lightly toasted as she stirred the mixture. She added lemon juice into the rice mixture and brought the mixture to boiling until it was blended well. Usually, white wine was added but as the tall man cannot intake alcohol, she added lemon juice instead.

She reduced the flame to medium and poured a few ladlefuls of warm chicken broth into the skillet and stirred gently until the broth was absorbed by the rice. She continued adding a few ladlefuls of broth and stirring until the broth was absorbed by the rice before adding more of the broth until the rice was cooked well.

Meanwhile, the man opened his eyes and looked around frantically, having no idea where he was. He quickly tried to get up from the bed but dropped back to the bed as the pain shot from his waist. He groaned lightly and took a look around calmly.

A medium sized bedroom which was amazingly spotless. Neatly arranged furniture and the dressing table was so clean which really didn't look like it belonged to a woman. The sheets and blanket were so soft and he couldn't find any of her clothes out of place. This made the tall man think, he was the only dirt in the room.

He tried to recall what happened last night and remembered how the pair of beautiful dark hazel eyes were staring at him. He then realized that he blacked out, right after threatening the woman. He felt so embarrassed and cursed himself under his breath.

He then slowly sat up even though the pain was unbearable. He removed the blanket and saw he was almost naked but also his wounds were neatly bandaged. He grazed the bandage lightly with his fingers and wondered if the woman treated him herself but he was really grateful even though she didn't do it by herself.

He drank the water from the glass and noticed a thermometer, spoon, a towel and a container filled with water resting on the side table. He was sure that he had a fever and the woman nursed him, looking at the things on the side table. He sniffed the spoon and it smelled of chicken. A warm smile appeared on his face but disappeared when he noticed his gun and phone was missing.

He quickly stood on his feet and walked slowly to the bedroom door but realized he was almost naked. His jacket was also not around and didn't want to go in front of the woman with his bare body. He turned around to return to bed to cover himself with the blanket but saw neatly folded clothing and a toothbrush placed on the edge of the bed.