“Are you hungry?”, Sarah asked Aiden.

His smile became mischievous and expression suggestive.

Sarah blushed, “For food! We didn’t have lunch!”

“I could eat”, he licked his lips and glanced at her body.

Sarah was speechless. ‘Can this man think of anything else? Actually, I have impure thoughts about him also, so who am I to judge?’ Sarah picked up phone from the wall and asked kitchen staff to prepare a light meal.

“Let’s go and eat something, lunch time passed, but it’s still few hours until dinner”, she stood up to head out.

As she started walking, Aiden pulled her to sit into his lap. “I want to see your room”, he whispered in her ear.

Sarah felt shivers down her back. Being this close to him made her heart race. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”, she whispered back.

“I think that your sister knows that we are more than friends”, Aiden said suddenly changing the topic.

Sarah felt like someone poured cold water on her. She stood up abruptly. “I suspect that also.”

“Do you think she will do something?”, Aiden observed Sarah’s expression.

“I’m not sure. But there is a score to settle between us, and she is not the one to let it slide.” Sarah thought for some time before looking at Aiden. “Anna is not a bad person, and she will not hurt anyone on purpose.” Sarah took a deep breath and said with resolve in her voice. “I will handle it.”

…

Sarah and Aiden had their late lunch and were in family room chatting with Sophia. JoAnna entered family room and signaled to Sarah to step out. They went into one of the side rooms and JoAnna closed the doors behind them.

JoAnna observed Sarah for some time before speaking with a serious expression, “I used my contacts for this. It was not easy. I owe some favors now.”

“I understand”, Sarah said calmly.

JoAnna looked at Sarah suspiciously before continuing, “GHC has a patient Gabriel Long. He was admitted on morning on December 12. Room 715. He suffered injuries from a car accident and had three surgeries. He is stable and his life is not in danger. However, he still didn’t wake up.”

Sarah was processing the information. “Is he in a coma?”

“I don’t know the details. This is already a lot considering that it’s from GHC branch. I don’t need to remind you that patient info is confidential. Don’t go telling this to anyone.”, JoAnna reminded.

Sarah nodded.

JoAnna was about to head out of the room.

“Anna, wait…”

JoAnna stopped without turning towards Sarah. “Yes?”

Sarah hesitated for a second before reaching out and taking JoAnna’s hand in hers. “Let’s sit.”

Two of them sat on the sofa facing each other.

Sarah took a deep breath. “You know that Aiden and I are more than friends, right?”

JoAnna just lifted one eyebrow and smirked as a response.

Sarah was anxious, her voice was not steady. “We are dating, and he is very important to me. Please, don’t tell mom and dad.”

“If he is so important, why not tell them?” JoAnna lifted her head slightly.

“I don’t know how they will react. And I don’t want to mess it up. Honestly, I don’t know how to tell them. I need your help” Sarah looked JoAnna in the eyes, her eyes pleading for understanding.

JoAnna’s expression softened. After some time, she spoke, “We should get Sophia in the loop also. I’m sure she can help.”

“Thank you.” Sarah was relieved. “Can you tell me how you found out?”

“I saw you last night, on the dance floor” JoAnna said.

“We were just dancing!” Sarah protested.

“Ah, you were looking at each other like no one else exists in the world!” JoAnna said gleefully. “Let me tell you, if you look at each other like that in front of mom and dad, there will be no need to say anything.”

Sarah was a bit embarrassed.

JoAnna smiled and took Sarah’s hand in hers. “I’m really happy for you.”

Sarah looked at JoAnna gratefully. She is happy that she got herself an ally in this quest of telling parents about a boyfriend.

…

When two sisters returned to family room, they found that Edward joined Sophia and Aiden.

“Hey, my baby girl!”, Edward greeted Sarah. “I’ve met your friend Aiden. I see he is a fine young man!”, he said cheerfully.

“Yes, he is.” Sarah responded with a smile. She turned towards Aiden, avoiding to look into his eyes. “Let me show you to your room.”

“Hey, we are talking here!” Edward protested. “I don’t get a chance to talk to fellow men in this house. I’m surrounded with women!”

“You will get your chance to talk later.” Sarah responded. “Your fellow men here probably wants to freshen up and rest before dinner.”

“They were out all day. Let him be, dad”, JoAnna added.

Sarah looked at JoAnna and slightly nodded expressing her thanks.

“Fine!” Edward sulked. “I look forward to continue our chat during dinner”, he said to Aiden.

“Same here”, Aiden responded politely and followed Sarah out of the room.

…

Sarah showed Aiden around and took him to the guest room.

“Let me know if you need anything. Or you can tell any of the staff.”, she told him. “My room is four doors down the hall. But don’t get any funny ideas.”, Sarah warned.

“It seems you patched up stuff with your sister”, Aiden observed.

“Yes. We are on good terms, for now”, Sarah confirmed.

Sarah paused and took a deep breath. “Gabriel was involved in a car accident on 11th. He is in the GHC. He had three surgeries, and is stable now, but he still didn’t wake up.”

Aiden observed her. “Do you want to go and visit him?”

“Even if I do, there is nothing I can do with airports closed.”, Sarah sighed.

“When you go, I will join you”

Sarah smiled and appreciated his thoughtfulness. “I will let Vivian know. You settle in.” Sarah left the room.

When Sarah reached her room, she pulled out her phone and texted Vivian telling her about Gabriel.

[Sarah]: “We would go and visit him, but airports are closed due to snow”

[Vivian]: “Same here. Da*n snow. Whole PNW* is paralyzed”

[Sarah]: “At least you know that he is not avoiding you”

[Vivian]: “You have a gift to find a silver lining, don’t you?”

[Vivian]: “??? What is that WE would go?”

[Sarah]: “Aiden is here”

[Vivian]: “Here? Where?”

[Sarah]: “My house”

[Vivian]: “??? !!!”

[Sarah]: “Lots of things happened”

[Vivian]: “I saw you only two days ago!”

[Sarah]: “We will talk when we meet”

[Sarah]: “When airports open, we can go and visit Gabriel together. Yes?”

[Vivian]: “Yes, thank you”

Sarah put her phone down and could not help but to think about Gabriel. ‘His family must be worried about him. And Vivian also…’ Her thoughts shifted to how she would feel if Aiden is in hospital, and that she is not able to go and be by his side. With this thought, painful knot formed in her chest and she found it difficult to breathe. ‘Vivian must feel horrible now!’

Sarah’s attention got toward boxes arranged on the coffee table. She recognized them as boxes from the mall, clothes they got for Aiden earlier. Sarah stood up and took the boxes to move them to Aiden’s room.

She knocked on the door of the guest room. There was no response. She waited a bit before knocking again. Still no response. Sarah decided to go inside.

He was not in the room, and she can hear sound of the shower from the bathroom. Sarah placed boxes on the side table and looked towards the bathroom door. Her mind started thinking about a man taking a shower behind that door, his perfect body exposed and covered in waterfall of drops reflecting the light. Sarah swallowed hard, and her breathing got shallow. Her thoughts shifted to how it feels to touch his chest, abdominal muscles; how it feels to hug him, and to be held by his toned arms. As her thoughts wondered towards Aiden, everything around her faded away. She could feel his touch, lingering on her body. His kiss on her lips. Sarah could hear her heartbeat in her ears. She bit her lower lip, and pain made her snap out of her daze. ‘What am I doing?’, she asked herself. ‘I’m all heated up, and I didn’t even see him. I need to get out of here.’

She headed towards the door to leave guest room, not able to believe that she has such impure thoughts.