Chapter 24: Chapter 24

"Now, I am scared to go home," Nick mindlessly uttered.

Kate was silenced by what Nick had just said, but she was unaware of what he really meant. She was looking at her mom when Nick reacted in surprise, she just heard his voice. Kate thought he was still in his playful acts. She winked at him, but that was too quick before she looked back at her mom again.

Nick was scared, playfully and honestly.

He did not mean his thoughts to be said out loud, and so when Kate turned her head to look at him with a playful smirk, he was like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Let's go, Nick, honey," Kate giggled as she walked away from her mom's bed but not before kissing her forehead again. She gathered her backpack from the foot end of Kelly's bed.

She was feeling bold. She did not want to feel sad leaving her mom for the night, so she kept her light-hearted manner. She even wanted to add the sillier words of, "Let's make my mom a grandma, maybe she is waiting for a grandchild's cry to wake her up," but she bit her tongue. She did not want to go overboard. She can increase her playful threats if Kelly doesn't make it to wake up until tomorrow.

Kate was already by the door when she noticed Nick was not moving. He was still standing next to her mom's bed. She did not want to say anything that would contradict her joke earlier, so she grabbed Nick by his arm and dragged him out of Kelly's ward.

"Hey, I was just joking earlier," Kate glared at Nick. "Why do I feel like my mom might wake up as a result of my silly antics, but you might replace her being unresponsive?" Kate sighed grumpily. "You started the joke, remember?"

Nick was awakened by Kate's angry comment. He did start the silly idea about sleeping with her to provoke his stepmom to wake up from her coma state. But he was too brave to say those words because he knew Kate would not play along with his tongue-in-cheek hilarity. But when she turned the table around, Nick was tortured by his mad and corybantic, wild and frenzied imaginations. He was not prepared to hear Kate say those words in front of her mom, whom she was too scared to offend. And he lost his strength to walk when Kate called him "honey" before leaving her mom for the night.

But when Kate said she was just joking, Nick released a deep breath. He didn't even notice he was holding one for too long till now.

"Kate, warn me next time, okay?" Nick defeatedly spoke as he weakly pressed on the elevator button to take them to the basement parking lot of the hospital where he parked his car.

"You didn't warn me, too, remember?" Kate defended, still annoyed.

Apparently, to Kate, Nick's reaction was disappointing that it seemed like he would rather stay in the hospital than go home to sleep with her. She even had to pull and drag him out of her mom's ward. Kate was really annoyed. It appeared to her that all his words of wanting her were superficial, and none of them were true.

She felt hurt. She felt her heart stung intensely that she was pissed.

The more she thinks about Nick, his spoken jokes, reactions, and pretty much every little thing about him, she feels deeply irritated. She did not want to talk anymore as she feared her voice would prove her raging emotion right now.

Nick did not notice her sudden mood change as he was still busy collecting his jumbled thoughts and sanity. He had to calm himself and never let his lustful thoughts swamp his mind. He was purely joking when he said he was willing to prove his words as much as he dared to say them. Besides, it never crossed his mind that Kate would also want to use the same strategy he pulled to stimulate Kelly to wake up. Had they agreed about doing so beforehand, Nick would not be as dumbstruck as he appeared to have been earlier.

The two have their minds preoccupied with different thoughts. Silly thoughts, ostensibly. Nothing a good conversation wouldn't manage to deal with, but with one annoyed and refusing to speak and the other still dazed in his own thoughts, talking was out of the view.

The elevator came. Kate walked in, stood on the corner side of the door, facing the wall. She had her bag snuggled up front. She was holding it tight as if she was afraid Nick would get it from her as he would usually do when they walk together with Kate having the heavy bag on her back. Kate did not want to bother him about anything if only possible. She was annoyed, hurt, and offended. But she did not want him away either. She was still scared to be alone. She cannot sleep without her mom or Nick in the big house they are living in.

Nick did not notice he let Kate bring her bag all the way down even until they reached the car at the parking lot. They usually do not talk much when they are with each other, but the air between them became too heavy. But none of them noticed anything of the sort. It was like they felt silence was helping them calm their nerves down.

Well, Nick felt it that way. He was relieved that Kate wasn't saying anything as even her voice seemed to tickle his outrageous and unacceptable-at-the-moment desires. Every time she would speak, the words she said in front of Kelly played back in Nick's mind, and he could not avoid feeling aroused. But with her silence, Nick could drive carefully without any distraction. He could numb his lustful mind and focus on making themselves arrive home safely despite the tension he felt earlier.

But it was different with the other party seated on the passenger's seat.

Kate was feeling her fury intensify as Nick kept his silence. In her understanding, Nick did not even want to clarify anything with her. It would be useless for her to say anything when the other person didn't even want to explain at all. Kate hurriedly got off the car and slammed its door as she closed it when she got out.

"Kate?!" Nick was startled by how loud the car door was shut while he was still inside of the vehicle.

Kate heard Nick call her name, but she did not bother looking back. Her pace even quickened as she did not want to see him nor catch up with her on their way into the house.

Nick had to gather some of his things from the trunk of the car, so he was still behind a few steps from Kate, no matter how fast he tried to catch up with her. He last saw her back walking into the house while he was still next to the car hood. His sling bag was barely hanging on his shoulder, a few folders in his right arm, and his jeans jacket on his left hand. He still called out.

"Kate!"

Nick was puzzled. He tried to recall what had happened.

"Is she mad?" Nick asked himself.

He panicked.

"But why? What did I do?"

Nick was so lost in his thoughts earlier that he did not notice how Kate reacted to his reactions. He even forgot what she could possibly be mad about. He has heard people say men are dumb when it comes to reading women, but Nick does not seem to realize he is exactly that man right now. He did not notice how Kate was mad because she thought Nick's words were all nothing but jokes. Now the poor girl is having doubts of which among his words could be trusted and counted on.

Kate has learned to develop her feelings for Nick as he would always show her his support. She feels strong and brave with his motivations. She was convinced to believe that they both respected her mom, who was still lying in the hospital in her coma state, that they did not dare cross any lines that would disappoint Kelly.

But now, Kate is having doubts if the real reason Nick would not step on the line was that he had changed his mind and thoughts about her. Kate was too blinded by hurt feelings that she neglected to realize the other possible reasons for Nick's reactions. Her heart was feeling broken without realizing that her overwhelming disappointment just blinded her over something she shouldn't even worry about because her thoughts were totally opposite to the actual emotions that the other person was feeling for her.

She was hurt to think that Nick didn't like her the way she thought he did.

She did not know that Nick was bothered to calm his emotions to keep the lines they have invisibly created until they get Kelly's blessing on their relationship.

"Kate?" Nick called her name cautiously as soon as he got inside the house.

Silence answered his call.

Nick started to feel worried. He had never seen Kate angry or annoyed. With how she heavily closed the car door earlier, Nick could not help feeling nervous. He definitely did something wrong, and he has no clue of what!

"Kate, baby?" Nick knocked on Kate's door.

Still no answer.

"Please talk to me. Kate?" Nick turned the knob, and it was not locked. "Kate, I'm coming in."

Nick waited for a response, but when he got nothing, he slowly turned the knob and carefully opened the door. He kept his eyes down. He was looking at the floor. He was worried he would see her in an indecent view. They just arrived home. She might be changing her clothes or something. He did not want to get in, but as she kept ignoring his calls to talk to her, Nick had to bite the bullet and, as gently as he could, barged into her room.

Nick did not see Kate's feet anywhere on the floor. He thought she was in the bathroom, so he released his breath and walked in. To his shock, he found Kate flopped down on her bed with her face buried into the pillow. Nick walked over to check on her. As he got closer, he heard her sobbing.

"Kate...?!" Nick kneeled on the side of her bed and patted her back softly.

"Baby, what's wrong...?"