Feel your heartbeat

Why can't you say my name?

.

... Three days later ...

.

It was a long and exhausting ride to Seattle, so at one point Ana had fallen asleep in the bus. At first she sat up straight while sleeping, but all of a sudden Christian felt how she slowly began to lean onto him.

That really startled him... She still was a stranger to him. He didn't know her... at all! All he knew was that for four days he had taken care of her injuries, made sure that she was properly fed and that she had all the stuff she needed.

So yeah, the woman was still a stranger to Christian.

When he talked to Ana, he still called her Miss, and sometimes when she glared at him in response, he would call her by her first name.

He just met her four nights ago you know...

And yet, Christian felt as if he knew Ana longer than that. Well, that's how it seemed. She was the most stubborn person he had ever met in his life, but in the short time that they interacted, he discovered other things about her. Ana could read people, she was extremely empathetic, and obviously a very talented artist too. And not to forget feisty... she was very feisty indeed.

When Ana had made that drawing of him, he was really pissed off at her.

He didn't understand why she would even want to immortalize his face.

"I want to thank you for saving my life" she had said.

However, he still hated that drawing she made of him. No matter what Ana had said, he dismissed all of it.

"Do not EVER draw me again" he had warned.

Anyone would have been afraid of his words, and the look he had given her... yes, anyone. But not Ana!

"I don't understand you, Christian... it's my way of thanking you for taking care of me." she explained to him." Help me understand why you're so angry about it?"

However, he decided that he no longer wanted to discuss the matter.

She finally let it go, and they both hadn't talked about it since. That didn't mean that Christian stopped thinking about the drawing. Ana hadn't just drawn his face... no, she had put onto paper what she saw in him, the way she perceived him and that terrified Christian a lot...

He was taken out of his thoughts though by Ana's weight on him. Right now her head was fully rested on his upper arm, and he also could hear her snore lightly.

Christian instantly froze at the contact, his heart pounding inside his chest. He wasn't used to human contact anymore... he'd forgotten what it felt like to be held or touched by someone.

So to him it felt strange to feel her head on his upper arm. He didn't like strange feelings. He didn't like them at all!

And he didn't like Ana... Of course he did not like this feisty, stubborn young woman. She's such a handful.

'Plus, she's an absolute stranger... don't get attached' he scolded himself.' Drop her off at her home, make sure her dad knows that she's back and then go back to Oregon... Leave Seattle ASAP!'

(Christian obviously didn't want to run into his mom, brother or sister while back in Seattle)

Just a simple task, right? Yes, it seemed so.

But little did he know that it's never simple with Ana...

'Breathe in, breathe out... in, out' were the words that swirled around in Christian's head, as the place came into view where he had lived most of his life.