"I call it magic when I am with you."—Coldplay.

Kelly cannot understand how a vessel made out of ligaments and bones could feel this soft and cushiony, even more so than the most expensive bed a person could lay on.

His arms are like an enshroud, a covering, protecting her from the cold late air coursing through the semi-lit hospital room

Mr. Todd seldom exercises such gentle affection toward her. It is rare and feels heavenly. If only time could stop here, she would gladly give up the remaining events of her life to live a lifetime in this current moment.

It is not the first time that she is being shown this affection by the opposite sex. Derrick, Kevin, her dad hugs her on numerous occasions, but there is just something about her teacher's hold that makes the experience different. His touch feels intimate to her, though that isn't his intention.

However, the cordial serenity doesn't last too long. As soon as her crying comes to an end and the room has resumed its stillness, Nikolai gently holds her small arm and pulls her back, staring down at her with a calmness compassing his face.

This expression. She has never seen him wear it before.

She stretches her neck to look up at him, her body still jerking from the occasional hiccups erupting from her. Even though they are both seated, she is still faced with a struggle to be on eye level with him.

He studies her for a while. Her face appears chubbier than usual, and her skin is flushed from her segment of sobs and also from how comforting it was to be wrapped in his embrace.

He elevates his chin and puts his hands in his lap. "Are you alright now?"

She nods her head, rubbing at her eyes. "Yes. But are you okay?" Her voice is a tad hoarse, and this worries him.

"Mm, I'm alright. Did you eat something?"

"What happened to you?" She asks, sniffing right after.

He emits a light sigh. "Nothing serious. What did you eat?"

"I didn't eat anything. How are you feeling now?"

"I'm okay. Are you hungry?"

"No." She shakes her head, but then her stomach decides otherwise and roars thunderously in the quiet room.

She purses her lips bashfully, and Mr. Todd smiles a little, just one of his dimples unveiling in the center of his cheek.

She stares at him in a trance, mesmerized by his facial beauty. She wants him to smile at her more often; the sight is much too beguiling.

"Translation; yes. You need to eat something. It's a lucky thing I have one of my wallets on me." He leans to the side and reaches into his black sweatpants for the brown notecase. "Walk to the end of the hallway. Then look right. You'll see a lobby with snack machines and a canteen. Buy yourself something to eat."

He dodges several credit cards and slips out a wad of cash from the billfold, extending it to her. Kelly accepts it hesitantly then stares at the collection of notes in her hand. It's a lot, surely the food here couldn't be this expensive.

"This is too much, sir." She tells him.

"Is it? Buy something with the change then." He repositions himself so that he can lie down, fixing his head against the white pillows. "I am staying here for the night because my doctor will need to ensure I am still stable in the morning. So when you're through eating, head home."

"But I don't want to go home." She objects, and he pulls the covers up to his chest.

"It's not a question, Kelly. It's getting late. Don't be out when the night falls."

She stands up with a small scowl. She isn't ready to leave yet. What will she do when she gets home? Binge-watch Asian dramas. Although that's something she enjoys doing, she finds being around Mr. Todd a bit more tempting these days.

He closes his eyes in finality, and her shoulders sag as she makes her way out of the room, closing the door after her.

She walks to the lobby and purchases a small can of coke, a bag of chips, and some other snacks. She sits and eats while watching two kids play with their toy cars on the plastic chairs lining the lobby. A part of her subconscious is worrying about her teacher.

She hopes he's alright. Based on what she observed, it seems as though he prefers to keep the reason behind his ill-health a secret, and though it's bothering her, she has no choice but to respect that. He will talk about it when he is ready if he wants to, that is. Or maybe he hasn't developed that level of trust with her yet. That notion makes her feel dejected, seeing that she sees him as someone she can confide in. He has a mature aura to him, and he seems like a good listener. She wouldn't mind having him as her mentor.

However, she despises the idea of leaving here and heading home, knowing that he'll be here alone tonight. She prefers to stay here. Only then will her mind and soul be at ease.

When she's through eating, she sucks the residual cheese from her fingers before grabbing her cellphone from her pocket, dialing Derrick's number. He picks up fast in an anxious tone.

"Is he alright, Kelly?"

She sighs and crosses an ankle over her leg. "No. He was unconscious on the floor of his room."

"Shit! So what happened? Where are you now?"

"I am at the hospital. Hey, is Caroline there yet?" She pulls at the end of her sock, biting her lip.

"Yeah, she just arrived. She's feeding Kayla."

"Okay. I don't think I will be coming home tonight...could you tell them that I am staying at a friend's or something?"

"Uh..." Derrick thinks on the line for a while, and Kelly can imagine him rubbing his head. It's what he would usually do when he's thinking hard. "Alright, alright. Don't worry about it; I'll tell them something."

"Thank you, Derrick."

"Yeah. I hope he feels better, and stay safe." He says.

She nods even though he's unable to see her. "Yeah. I'll keep you posted."

She hangs up the call and conjures up from her seat, her butt feeling sore from the hard chair she had been occupying for almost an hour. She turns her head to the window at the left side of the lobby, and outside is now blanketed with a blueish hue. The sun has finally set, yet she is still here. Sir will be mad.

Making her way back to the hospital room, she passes by the petite nurse who had busted on her earlier, telling the tale of her desperate mewls to the reason behind them. Kelly curls her lips slightly. The lady can talk.

"Hey, honey. Will you be staying here tonight?" Her blue eyes light up pleasantly.

She reads the woman's name tag, discovering that her name is Sue. "Yeah, am I allowed to?"

"Yes, dear. But where would you sleep? His room doesn't have a couch, and the hospital bed is pretty small." She jams her hands in the pockets of her light green uniform.

"Mm. I will think of something." Kelly tells her, looking down to hide the sudden redness in her face. She prays the lady didn't notice. She wouldn't want her transmitting even that to Mr. Todd once the sun rises tomorrow.

"Okay, sweetie. I need to get back to work; if you need any assistance, call the nurses, alright?"

Kelly nods her head, and the nurse smiles again before sauntering away.

She strolls up to Mr. Todd's door but chooses not to go inside, knowing that he would rebuke her about still being here.

She sits on the outside and begins to play Candy Crush on her cellphone to burn some time.

••

Kelly looks at the ribbon at the top of her cellphone and realizes that the time is now 8:20 pm. She has been sitting here for two hours, playing games and watching videos from the hospital's free Wi-Fi. Now her neck hurts, and the public health facilities' inability to offer comforting chairs is starting to be of great concern to her.

She stands up and grimaces at the sore in her legs and other places. She cracks her muscles and stretches her limbs a little before approaching Mr. Todd's room door. She feels so sleepy and tired, and she prays that he has already fallen asleep. She wants to take at least five minutes of rest and then wake up before he does.

Taking a risk, she slides the door open and peeks into the room. Mr. Todd is now lying on his side, his body facing the window, and his head rested on one of his arms. His figure is motionless, and she can hear his steady breathing sweeping through the room. He's asleep.

Sighing in relief, she carefully enters the room and softly closes the door behind her. The lamp by the bedside is dimmed to its lowest luminosity, so the room is covered with a faint orange glow.

She carefully approaches him and goes around to the front of his body. The only spot available on the bed is where his face is position since he is occupying the right-hand side. She blows out a soft sigh, exhausted, and the cozy mattress appears too compelling for her to resist. Just five minutes of rest. Five.

She hesitantly looms closer and begins to climb up onto the small bed. It sinks with a slight creak, and she stills immediately, watching him in apprehension. He makes no reaction to the movements, and she silently exhales before fixing herself into the small, vacant spot next to him.

She lays her head in the flat of her palm, her face and body facing his. She chose to lie this way so that if he were to open his eyes, she would be able to escape fast.

When her mission is proven to be successful and her heart has relaxed in her chest just a little, she stares into his face quietly, his sleeping figure liquefying her heavily beating heart.

He's too perfect, too flawless. His red lips have sealed together, his forehead smoothed out like a man with no worries. Dark, long lashes shadow his eyelids, and the weight of his breath drifts against her lips.

Butterflies appear in her stomach at the fact that they are lying on one bed. Though it is one-sided, she has never shared a bed with a man before. It sends her nerves all over the place.

But then suddenly, his amber eyes easily open, as if he had not been sleeping this entire time. They appear sleepy and misty, and her breath catches in her throat as she stares back into the golden capacities.

Okay...

She gulps awkwardly while he calmly looks at her, not uttering a word.

Then her lashes flutter in embarrassment as she begins to scramble off the bed, almost falling backward when he quickly presses his hand in the center of her back, pushing her back up and causing their foreheads to collide.

She gasps at how close their faces have ended up, and Mr. Todd blinks his eyes, their hot breaths fusing.

Kelly's chest lifts and falls in uneven breaths, not only from her almost cracking her skull on the hospital's floor, but from the proximity between her and her teacher. His breathing is just as labored, and his hand is still pressing against the middle of her back.

She drops her gaze to his rosy lips, her cheeks adapting the color they hold. Mr. Todd can easily see the blushes on her tiny face, and this affects him a lot more than he'd like to admit. The air begins to get thick with tension, but he swallows hard and quickly gets off the bed.

Kelly leans up on her elbows, her face glowing red under the bed lamp. "S-sir?"

"Excuse me for a second." He walks away to the adjoined washroom and closes the door behind him.

She lies onto her back and covers her face with her hands. Her heart is beating erratically.

But she's not alone.

Nikolai presses his back against the cold door of the bathroom and closes his eyes. His face is flushed, but it isn't the only thing reacting to their close contact.

Blowing his cheeks out, he dips his gaze to the massive tent formed at the front of his pants.

Shit. He shuts his eyes and puts his palm over the bulge, clenching his jaw.

Go down; please go down.

He tries to think of other things. Cars. Boots. Rings. Chains.

"Sir?" Her soft voice flows through the narrow crevices of the door, breaking his meditation. "Are you alright, Mr. Todd?"

He blows his cheeks out and turns around, gripping the knob and opening the door. But his lower half stays behind it.

Kelly stands there with concern on her face, tilting her head to the side. "Are you feeling sick?"

He clears his throat. "Mm. Just give me a minute. I'll be out soon."

She bites on her lips, lowering her head. "Are you mad that I am still here, Sir?"

"No. No, I am not mad." He shakes his head. "Go lay down."

"Okay..."

He closes the door, and she chews on the inside of her cheek as she turns away and heads toward the bed. She lies onto her back and stares up at a single bug crawling in the ceiling.

••

When Nikolai manages to lessen the protrusion in his clothes by washing his face and redirecting his mind, he exits the bathroom and switches the lights off before shutting the door.

Kelly twists her neck to look over at him, and as soon as he approaches the bed, she sits up to get off. "I will stay on that chair."

"No, it's alright. Aren't you tired?" He pulls the covers back, and she nods silently.

"Yes, sir."

"So, stay." He grabs a pillow and places it in the middle of the bed. "That side is yours, this side is mine. Alright?"

"Okay." She lays down behind the partition he created while he gets under the duvet on the other side, the small bed dipping as it accommodates both their weights.

But then it is much too dense for them to lie onto their backs, so Mr. Todd turns onto his side, perching his head on his curved bicep. "The bed is small, so you'll need to lie like this."

"Oh. Okay." She shifts onto her side as well, so they are now facing each other. She purses her lips and glides her eyeballs up to the ceiling. Anything to stop herself from staring directly into his eyes. They are much too close.

A silence sweeps throughout the room, just the sound of distant beeping machines on the outside. Nikolai glances down at her arm which is now covered with small chill bumps. She isn't under the duvet and appears to be freezing.

"Aren't you cold?" He asks.

She meets his eyes and her heart leaps at the beauty of them. His body is blocking out most of the lamplight, but the yellow streaks in them are quite hard to miss. "Yes, sir, but..."

"Get under the duvet, then."

She blushes. "I wouldn't want to—"

"Wouldn't want to what? Not freeze to death?" He raises his eyebrows.

She presses her lips together and gathers some of the quilts, putting her body underneath them. Her foot brushes against his, and she stiffens, pulling it away quickly and looking up to see if he felt it.

He stares at her. He did.

She clears her throat and looks down.

Silence again. But it is not long before he speaks.

"What about your parents? Do they know you're here?"

She gazes up at him. Nikolai cannot deny how big and bright her eyes appear in the dark. They resemble round lightbulbs.

"I asked Derrick to talk to them for me." She says, folding her lips after.

A strange look crosses over his face, but it erases as swift as it came. "Okay."

"He's a family friend. They know him well."

"I see." He pokes the corner of his mouth with his tongue.

"We have been friends for a while. I met him in ninth grade at a concert. I used to have this female friend at the time. She graduated, and we have grown apart, but she knew him, and that's how we became aquatinted." Kelly enthusiastically shares, her comfort in confiding in this man revealing itself.

"Oh. You guys seem to be good friends," he half-heartedly inputs, and she smiles broadly.

"Yeah. He's my best friend, I would say." She shifts comfortably against the bed, loosening up. "He's a cool guy. At first, my dad thought we were dating and gave him a super hard time when he first came over. He almost chased him down with a knife." She giggles and Mr. Todd smiles a bit, shaking his head.

Her laugh is contagious, the type that makes you want to laugh even if you didn't find the story hilarious.

"Well, that was when he cared, though..." Her smile settles into a line. "He doesn't care anymore."

"What do you mean?" Nikolai asks.

She sighs. "He's been acting distant lately. He and my mom quarrel a lot. I fear that they are going to get divorced. Isn't that what normally happens when a couple isn't happy together anymore?"

"Not all the time." He tries to amend her feelings, but it isn't entirely a lie. His parents quarrel often, but they are still married regardless. "Wish for the best."

She nods her head, dropping her gaze between them.

"Don't start crying again." He states, and she looks up, a wide grin stretching her lips.

"I won't."

"Good." His lips lightly tug.

Something comes to her mind, something that has been bothering her a bit. She wants to bring it up, but she hopes it won't be too weird. Tightly groping the duvet in her palm, she smacks her lips.

"So, um, you and Ms. Smith seem like great friends."

Shit! It didn't come out right.

"Repeat?" He narrows his eyes.

She clears her throat. "Um...I just see you guys hang out a lot. I-I was just wondering if you both have been friends for a long time, you know."

Nikolai says nothing for a while, and she prays he'll say something instead of staring at her. It's making her feel embarrassed. And transparent. Like he's seeing straight through her.

"Oh, she's one of the few acquaintances I have at Camber High. Why'd you bring that up?"

"Mm?" She heard but just buying time to answer.

"Why'd you bring that up?"

"Nothing." She shakes her head, strengthening her hold on the quilts. "Conversational purposes." As a nervous reaction, she begins to bite down hard on her lip.

Nikolai's vigilant gaze slumps to the anxious habit, and amusement appears in his eyes.