10. His Confession

"You look happy." Nicole said as she entered into Nicholas's ward to see him smiling and chatting happily with Darcy. He turned his attention to her and waved.

"He woke up this morning, very excited. I have no idea why but it's good; been a long time since I saw him this way. I will leave you two." Darcy smiled as she proceeded to give them the room.

She sat on a chair and held Nicholas's hand in hers, "How are you today?"

He shrugged, "Surviving."

"We will get through this, okay? I brought you blueberries and sushi."

His eyes lit up at the sound of sushi, "Thank you, Nics." He said as she began unpacking her food bag.

She arranged a plate of sushi and handed it to him just as someone entered. She was about to scold the person who didn't find it necessary to knock before entering but stopped when she saw it was Georgia.

"Oh, you're here!" Georgia exclaimed. She also brought food and her kid, Dylan was with her.

Nicole smiled at the kid, "Come here, you big boy!" She spread her arms wide and he ran into it. Nicholas also reached out to ruffle his hair a bit.

"Been a long time you both came together." Nicholas said, his eyes lighting in joy as he looked at both his sisters.

Georgia smiled, "I didn't know she would be here so, it's a good thing."

"What did you bring?" Nicole moved to look into Georgia's bag.

"Home cooked food, sister dearest." Georgia answered sarcastically as she brought out mashed potatoes and gravy in a transparent vaccum flask from inside her tote bag.

Nicole could already feel herself salivating but this was her brother's time so she would relax.

"I may not know how to cook but I am good at other things like babysitting." She shrugged playfully.

Georgia nodded, "That's an undeniable truth." She admitted just as Nicholas laughed.

Nicole watched her sister chat away with Nicholas and she couldn't help but let it warm her heart. Family was all that mattered at the end of the day.

Nicholas had fallen asleep. Nicole had Dylan on her lap and hummed as the little boy played quietly with his Optimum prime toy.

"Came around your house one time and you were not around. Where did you go?" Georgia asked.

She sighed. It was time she came out with it.

"I got a new job."

Georgia squealed lowly so she would not wake up Nicholas, "That's great! What job?"

Nicole inhaled deeply before answering, "As a nanny."

"Nanny? Who are you working as a nanny for?" Georgia asked with raised eyebrows.

"Alexander Roth." She answered.

Georgia looked up and when Nicole thought she was about to go bonkers, she started laughing too loudly for comfort.

"Keep your voice down. Do you want to wake Nicholas?"

She wheezed in between laughter, "I am sorry but you are working as a nanny for Roth, the human being you hate the most on Earth? How?"

Nicole groaned in frustration, "He offered me the job and moreover, the pay is good. A grand per week plus my days off; it's like doing nothing and getting paid for it."

"So you guys till got talking, huh?"

"Yeah. We went on another date and he begged me to come work for him."

Georgia gasped in mock-hurt with her hand on her chest, "See you keeping out all the juicy details from me. Is that how we are now?"

Nicole chuckled, "You know that's not it. I just didn't know how to tell you."

Georgia put on her thoughtful face, "You're right though. The job offer's actually pretty good and I'm glad you took it."

This was why she loved Georgia. She could see things from her perspective most times and was not blinded by sentiments. Money was top priority to Georgia, any other thing was insignificant as far as she was concerned.

Then, Nicholas's health was in line too.

"Doesn't make it less funny though..." She laughed again.

Nicole pushed her playfully, "Whatever."

The next day, Nicole went to Alexander's home. Violet hadn't come back from school yet and she entered with the spare key Alexander had given her some days back.

For a while, she had been avoiding him and they hadn't talked to each other since their slight altercation the other day. She was glad he was not around because then, they would be alone together in this big house and it would have been very awkward.

She sat down on the sofa to wait for Violet. While she waited, she searched for the remote control and put on the TV. She then switched the channel to a reality TV show and got up to go get some popcorn from the fridge.

She was heating it up in the microwave when she heard footsteps.

"Trevor?" She called out.

"It's me." Alexander came into sight and he wore only shorts. His full chest was on full display and she gulped nervously - he was ripped in all the right places even down to the V whose actual length, the shorts hid from her eyes.

"I...I... didn't know...you were around." Her heart beat unsteadily in her chest and she couldn't stop her eyes from trailing the drop of water that slid down his jaw to his neck. He had just taken his bath and he looked very distracting with his chest opened up like that.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you had come in already, I will go put on a shirt." He said and turned to leave.

As soon as he left, Nicole held her hand to her chest and tried to get herself together. Her popcorn was burning and with an unhappy groan, she moved to remove it. She was a bit negligent and burned her thumb while taking it out.

"Shit!" She exclaimed as the pain hit her.

"Are you okay?" Alexander came into the kitchen and rushed towards her. Without her consent, he dragged her towards the kitchen sink and turned on the faucet.

Nicole sighed in relief as the water ran down her thumb. She was glad he had worn a shirt for her sanity.

"It was because I liked you." He said suddenly.

She looked at him in confusion, "What?"

"You asked why I chose to bully just you in high school. It was because I liked you."

Her confused look turned to that of shock, "You liked me?"

"Yes...and I still do."

Her mouth ran dry and no word could come out of it. He held her gaze intensely and she dared not break it off.

"My father despite being wealthy, lacked in emotional intelligence and didn't know how to treat women right. He always told me to make a girl like you and stay with you forever, you had to treat her like trash. He said girls loved rich bad boys who treated them like they were nothing."

"I liked you ever since I saw you arguing and standing your ground against one of my friends who bullied Theo one day. You seemed like a tough nut to crack. You didn't care about boys or wealth, all you did was study and play with Theo. I was mad and angry that you didn't look at me like the way the other girls whom I didn't care about did so, I resorted to following my father's bad advice." He continued.

Nicole was still speechless as the words "...and I still do" kept resonating in her head. He still liked her? What did he mean by that?

"Say something." His deep brown eyes shone with a silent plea.

"I...I..." She stammered but was cut short by Alexander's soft lips on hers.