The Man Next Door

Chapter 15: Stay

They were walking back from their short jog, it was comfortably silent between them as they enjoyed the presence of each other. The trail they were taking was lonely and narrow, it was one of Patrick's favorite routes back home, through the lively path with a silent stream passing right next to it, running in the opposite direction of where they were headed.

Vera curiously looks up, she sees nothing but trees with maybe a little bit of light peeping through the gaps of the branches, she takes in some air and looks at the man beside her instinctively, noticing the red fluid he had running from his nose. "Your nose is bleeding," Vera points out.

"Is it?" Patrick asks in shock, gently tapping the area under his nose, "Yeah... guess your right."

"What's it from?" Vera asks as she digs in her pockets for a napkin of some kind, "do you have tissues?"

"It's probably just from the cold air," Patrick nods, holding a sleeve at his nose as he walks over to the small river, spooning some of the crystal-clear water and using it to wash away the blood, "and no... I don't."

"Oh," Vera nods as she looks down at the ground, the sky was growing darker but both of them were too subconscious to notice it. "I thought it might've been from me when I bumped into you."

"You hit my shoulder," Patrick says almost inaudibly with a smile, "you were nowhere near my face."

Vera chuckles to herself as she unseemingly takes long glances at him. Patrick holding a sleeve up to his gushing nose was a hysterical sight to see, "don't you laugh at me," Patrick mumbles, getting back to the trail.

"I'm not laughing," Vera laughs.

"Sure," he says with a laugh as he closely examines his nose, which fortunately stopped bleeding as much.

Before Vera got to say anything she notices a rustle in the trees above, and then out of nowhere, raindrops began to ponder down on the ground around them. She starts to chuckle as Patrick began to pick up the pace, "oh my gosh come on!" Patrick laughs, looking back to find Vera carelessly facing up at the cloudy sky with her eyes closed, holding her arms out.

"I love the rain," Vera grins as she focuses her attention back on Patrick, running up beside him she throws her hood back on.

"Well, let's get going maybe," Patrick smiles gingerly, taking a soft tone with her as he holds out his hand, "we don't want to get sick... it's cold."

"Fine," Vera says with a scoff as she clasps her cold hand in his, jogging alongside him up until they got to the closest house only a minute later.

"You want a cup of tea maybe?" Patrick asks as they stumble into his warm house. Vera takes her shoes off and watches Patrick dash to his kitchen counter, grasping a paper towel and holding it up to his nose.

"That sounds great but I probably shouldn't stay long," Vera shrugs, walking into the depth of his cozy house as she pulls off her drenched sweater.

"Why's that?" Patrick asks silently, wiping his face one final time before peeling off his hoodie, having nothing under it, "I can throw that into the dryer if you'd like."

Vera analyzes Patrick as he slowly walks up to her, his right hand out as his other hand was already carrying his own garment of clothing. Vera's entire body froze other than her hands which seemed to be unaffected and instinctive, handing her sweater to the tall man with the dampened hair. As Patrick brushes past her she quickly gains control over herself again... spending her wait at the table just thinking about how it must be... being touched and treated by a man like Wilson.

He walks out with his hair almost completely dry and some kind of shirt thrown over his shoulder. Patrick smiles at Vera as he goes over to the stove, turning it up before going over to fill the kettle with just enough water.

Patrick neatly places the kettle onto the stove and immediately goes to grab two mugs from his cabinet just moments after, "so you don't know where Sebastian is?" he asks, attempting to break the unsettling silence, "he doesn't tell you?"

"Oh no he tells me," Vera says, looking at Patrick as he keeps a close eye on the kettle.

"You don't have to lie to me," Patrick says, going over to another cabinet, retrieving the tea packets. "I know what he's like."

Vera sighs deeply as she looks down. Tears start to build up in her eyes and one manages to escape but she was quick to wipe it away. "I'm the only one working since Sebastian is technically still recovering, so he won't be at work."

"You know... you never talk about your work," Patrick says, "what do you do?"

"I work from home, from my laptop for now," Vera nods in response, her voice growing quieter, "I'm a restaurant manager, and I write articles here and there... Nothing exciting."

"That's kinda cool," Patrick smiles as he proceeds to set the cup of sugar on the table, "never knew you were still working."

Vera sits there up until her eyes grew blurry again, she couldn't hold back her emotions, not anymore. "I-I don't think I should stay," Vera finally admits, her lips just beginning to quiver, "I-I better go."

Patrick takes his eyes off of the kettle and looks over at Vera with surprise, watching tears rapidly start to form in her eyes, eventually rolling down her cheeks. "What do you mean?" he asks, his voice showing clear concern as he slowly starts to go over to her.

"I need to go," Vera says, getting up carefully and harshly making her way to the front door, "I'm sorry I'm just worried about Sebastian and I've got a lot to do."

"Wait." Patrick says, getting to the door before her, his eyes dilating at the sight of her upset face, "Vera, wait. Just... let me lend you a jacket or something. Don't go... don't do this-"

"I don't need a jacket," Vera says sternly with her arms crossed, "I'll be fine."

She tries ducking past his arms but fails as he grabs her before she even got the chance to touch the handle, rapidly pinning her up against the wall of the hall next to the door. "No," Patrick says calmly as his eyes stood fixed on her, holding her tighter as she tries to squirm out, "you're not going anywhere, not until you tell me what's going on... please?"

"Patrick-"

"Was it something I said?" Patrick breathes, "look at me, Vera. Please look at me-"

"No of course not!"

"Then what is it?" Patrick questions, raising his voice a little, forcing her to look into his eyes, "why are you doing this?"

"It's Sebastian, Patrick, now let me go!" Vera says angrily, tears still uncontrollably falling down.

"Sebastian," Patrick nods, his solemn, blue eyes swallowing her whole, "it's always been Sebastian." Vera grows speechless and starts to sob all over again, she closes her eyes and looks down as she feels Patrick loosen his hold against her.

Vera looks back up at Patrick and watches him slowly maneuver closer... so close that she could feel his intoxicating breath smooth against her skin, eventually mixing in with her own. The house was dim and dead silent, and all they could hear was the heavy rain. Moments passed as Patrick moved closer and closer, only centimeters apart he stops and looks deeply into her orbs, looking for some kind of confirmation, she already knew him far too well.

Vera looks into his eyes and doesn't hesitate to lean in completely, finally connecting their awaiting lips, kissing him as if the world was suddenly going in slow motion.

Patrick's eyes widen at the sudden shock, eagerly kissing her back. Patrick soon starts to let go of her arms and goes on to cup her face, wiping away the last fallen tear with his thumb. They both breathe heavily as they part for a second, hungrily looking into each other's eyes before anxiously diving back in.