Reece's Haven

50

"I can't drown you out..."
– Nautica

❀❀❀

~ D O R O T H Y ~

January 1998

Kissing in the rain with the one you truly love...

One would naturally expect that to be one of the most exhilarating and romantic things to experience, given how it has been glorified for centuries through poems, novels, plays and films. Having experienced it last night, I can attest to that. It was bold, electrifying and wild. I found it intriguing how the sound of the rain dissolved away and how the freezing sensation of the raindrops hitting my bare skin was overshadowed by the warmth exuding from Reece's body.

But it's funny, really. How at the time, I felt alive. Happy. Oh, so happy. Fulfilled. Comfortable. Just right.

But now...

"A... A... ACHOO!"

"Bless you," mother says, sitting next to me on my bed with a soaked towel in hand.

"Gosh... I feel like I'm dying," I groan, before snatching a tissue out of its box and blowing my nose into it rather ungracefully.

I then lean back against the headboard of my bed and sigh. I woke up about an hour ago with a bad headache, fever and a runny nose. When mother noticed that I hadn't come down for breakfast, her concern brought her into my dark bedroom. She found me sprawled underneath my thick duvet with a high fever and surrounded by at least a dozen tissues.

"You should have kept an umbrella," she admonishes, gently dabbing the towel on my forehead.

I nod silently, knowing fully well that even if I had taken an umbrella, I'd still be completely drenched. But she doesn't need to know that. No mother needs to know that about their daughter.

My mind immediately drifts to Reece. I hope he's not sick. Gosh, I really hope he's not sick.

"The soup is simmering at the moment," she informs, snapping me from my thoughts. "It'll take another 45 minutes for it to get ready, but in the meantime, drink plenty of fluids."

The moment mother found out that I was sick, she decided to make me tomato soup. I nod again and she picks up a mug of warm breakfast tea from my bedside table and hands it to me.

When I take a sip, I hear the front door shut followed by faint footsteps which grow louder and louder.

"...Do you hear that or is it just me?" I whisper, wary.

My bedroom door is thrown open before a massive handwoven basket carrying blood red roses comes into view. And the person carrying it is panting heavily at the doorway. But what strikes me about this person is that he is formally dressed, with his black trousers, white button-up shirt and a pair of polished black leather shoes. His hair, however, is all over the place.

"Reece?" I croak out before I look at mother. "You told him?"

"I only told Linda," she replies innocently, before standing up. "I need to check on the soup. I'll let you two be."

Then, she walks out of my bedroom, patting Reece on his shoulder affectionately as she does so. Once the two of us are left alone, Reece, staring at me with worry clear in his dark eyes, leaves the basket on the floor and strides towards me. I can't help but admire how handsome he looks.

Gosh, how on earth did I manage to get him to fall for me?

"Ree–"

He interrupts me by holding one side of my face with his left hand and pressing the back of his right hand on my forehead.