Cold.

When I woke up this morning, I had this lousy feeling of tiredness, my whole body ached, and I was experiencing this dry persistent cough. Despite being terribly sick, I had to force myself to come to work today because I had a huge pitch that could either break or make my career, I couldn't miss it.

I felt a hand brush against my shoulder, waking me up from a deep slumber on my office table only to see Mr Spencer looking down at me. My eyes widened in panic and I slowly dragged myself up to stand on my two feet. I don't know when I feel asleep. I remember closing my eyes for a few seconds because I needed a power nap to give me all the strength I could possibly gather for the pitch.

My entire body felt weak, my knees were trembling so hard, I couldn't hold my body up any longer to be able to walk myself to the conference room. I looked up to see Mr Spencer still looking at me, but it was different this time, his features were a lot softer than they are usually as he helped me seat back on my chair.

“I can see you're not well Ms Davis, I suggest you take the rest of the week off”, his voice was soft, laced with genuine compassion

“I appreciate the offer sir, but I had to be in the Demeanour meeting in an hour, this is our only shot of securing this account”, my throat was a little scratchy and my nose was blocked, so I definitely sounded really weird

“I've already asked Ms Hendrix to reschedule the meeting to sometime next week, just until you get better”, he poured me a glass of water when I started coughing and handed it to me

“Thank you, Sir”, I took a sip before learning back on my chair

“I should probably get going”, he stood by the doorway and called out for Anna, she quickly appeared in sight

“Yes Sir?”

“Ms Hendrix, can you see to it that Ms Davis gets home safely?”

“Certainly sir”

“Thank you”, he walked past her, and she walked inside, titling her head to the side in sympathy before she helped me pack up my stuff

“Don't worry Liv, I'll get you home, and you're going to be okay, okay?”

“Okay”, I smiled weakly as she helped me up and walked alongside me, holding me steadily that I don't lose my balance

When we got to my apartment, she helped me onto the bed, firmly tucking me in before quickly dashing to the pharmacy to get me a few treatments for the cold and the high fever. When she returned, she made me chicken soup to keep me warm, it also helped to have something solid in my system because I last ate cereal in the morning.

“If you're not better tomorrow, I'm taking you to the hospital”, she said while gently stroking my hair, with her other hand wrapped around me, making sure I was covered with the blankets up to my neck

“I'm so lucky to have you in my life”, I said quietly, barely as a whisper because the sleeping effects of the medication was slowly kicking in, and I was drifting to sleep

“Thank you, Ann”

“Anytime Liv”

“Liv?”, I felt Anna's soft hand brushing against temple and my eyes opened to see her kneeling next to me

“Hey”, I mumbled sleepily. “What's up?”

“Listen honey, I have to go”, she said, and I looked outside the window to see the sun has set, and it was starting to get dark

“I'll be back bright and early tomorrow morning to check up on you, okay?”

“Okay”, I covered myself with the blankets again, leaning on the headboard, and she placed her hand on my forehead

“The burning as gone down, how are you feeling?”

“Much better than this morning”

“Good honey”, she air kissed me on the cheek. “I've warmed up the soup for you in case you are hungry and remember to take these before you sleep tonight”, she pointed at the flu pack bottle and I gave a thumbs up.

“Thank you, Ann, for everything”

“It's only a pleasure Hun”, she stood to her feet. “I'll see you tomorrow”

“Hey Ann?”, I called out to her just when she was about to walk out of my room, and she quickly turned to look at me

“Yeah?”

“I love you”

“I love you too”, she smiled warmly at me. “I'll lock the door on my way out”, I gave a nod, and she blew me a kiss.

“Good night”

“Good night”, I watched her walk out and soon heard the sound of the front door closing softly. I laid back on the bed but must have passed out again because I was woken up by someone's knocks on the door. I groaned before getting up from the bed to see who it was. When I pulled the door open, I got to see Nathan standing tall across me.

“Hey Liv”

“Hi”

“I thought I should come and check up on you because you're not answering any of my calls or texts, and we had plans tonig-”, he watched me lean on the door because I needed to hold onto something to support my weight

“You don't look so good. What's wrong?”

“I have a cold”

“That's terrible”, he cooed while walking inside, inviting himself in and took his jacket off. I closed the door behind him.

“Is there anything I can get or do for you? Anything at all?”

“I really like it when you hold me in your arms, so I would really appreciate that tonight”

He seemed surprised as he cracked a side smile. “Are you usually this open about your feelings when you're sick?”

“It's mainly the drugs talking, so this openness won't last long”, I shurgged, and he put out his hands, slowly pulling me to him as soon as I placed my hands in his and wrapped his arms around me. I instantly found satisfaction in inhaling his intoxicating smell and being covered with the warmth of this body.

“Listen, I'm not sure whether this cold is contagious or not”, I whispered, with me still wrapped around his warm embrace

“It doesn't matter”, he kissed my cheek. “If I do get sick then I guess it will be a perfect excuse to be around you, so that you can take care of me”

“Just a friendly warning, I can get a little needy and whine a lot when I'm sick so-”

“Are you telling me you're about to get worse than you already are with the whining?”, he grasped, faking being shocked, and I laughed before waving my finger playfully at him

“I'm not too sick to kick your butt, you know?”

“I'd love to see you try”, he bent and picked me up bridal style while walking us to the bedroom where he gently laid me on the bed and got inside besides me soon afterwards.

“Can I ask you something?”, I cuddled close to his chest, getting comfortable with him trailing his fingertips softly on my arm

“Shoot”

“If you were to go back in time, what's the one piece of advice you'd give your younger self?”

“Hmm, interesting question”, he breathed in and sighed

“That one is easy because I'd tell my younger self to never grow up because adulting comes with bills to pay, stress, stress and more stress”, I laughed before hitting him playfully on the arm

“Nathan, I'm serious”

“Okay, okay”, he laughed before clearing this throat. “I'm being serious now”

“Good”

“I'd tell my younger self that it's okay to be different and that everything in life happened for a reason”

“Why is that?”

“You know how when we are young were afraid to being ourselves in fear of the perception that, 'what will people think?'. The truth is people will always talk, good or bad things all the time, that shouldn't stop you from doing the things you want to do.....just do you”

“That's a very good point”

“Another thing is that in life, everything always happens for a reason. We go through a lot of shit, people walk in and out of our lives to either to stay or teach us a valuable lesson, but those kinds of lessons actually make us stronger than before. When one door closes, the other one opens”

“You've put it in a way that I actually understand it”

“I'm glad to hear that”, he wrapped his hand tightly around me. “What about you? What advices would you give your younger self?”

“I'd tell my younger self that two naps a day are mandatory”

“Liv, be serious”, he laughed

“I am being serious”, I chuckled before resting my chin on my arms on his chest

“I'd probably tell myself to stop overthinking, it's okay not to know all the answers sometimes”

“You're an overthinker?”

“A little”, I pinched my thump and index fingers together to emphasize the severity of my overthinking, which was a lie because I'm a massive overthinker. I make up scenarios in my head and end up believing things that are not there by actually convincing myself that I'm not seeing things because I'm always right.

“You're a red flag with that overthinking thing”, he joked, and I threw him a glare, only for him to laugh

“What else would you tell your younger self?”

I paused to think. “I'd probably tell my younger self that it's best to wait for boys to be men before starting to date them”

“Really?”, he laughed before rolling his eyes

“I'm really not kidding”, I saw him give me a look before shrugging and mouthed a not so convincing, okay

“Last advice I'd give myself would be to love myself first before I choose to love another person and stop worrying about how I look and what other people think of me”

“I think you turned up pretty good actually”, he stroked my cheek. “You're a strong, beautiful, independent young woman, and you should be proud of yourself”

“Thank you”, I bit my lower lip nervously, and he trailed his finger on my bottom lip before he leaned and kissed me on my forehead and I couldn't stop looking at him, he noticed when realizing I've gone quiet and smiled at me

“What is it?”

“I just like looking at you”

“What kind of cold mediation are you on exactly?”, he chuckled. “because they are really cracking that shell you trapped yourself in”

“It's only for a while though, so don't get used to it”

“Bummer”, he muttered under his breath and I giggled

“Listen, are you doing anything on Sunday?”

“Not that I'm aware of, why?”

“I'm moving into my new apartment, so I need someone to help me with unpacking the boxes”

“And that someone is me?”

“Yeah and please don't make me beg”, he pouted his bottom lip and I rolled my eyes because that's one look I couldn't resist

“Fine”, I breathed out. “I'll help you”

“Thanks”, he grinned. “"Don't worry though, I've already ticked this apartment block off my list so you and I won't be neighbors anytime soon because I'm not really a fan of the dark, so these power cuts don't work in my favour”, he joked, and I fake laughed while pinching him on the arm, and he winced in pain

“Meathead”