Milena (COMPLETE)

CHAPTER XVI: Nurse Wife

I wanted to say I miss you. But I can’t.

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The next morning, I woke up with someone’s arms around me. I paused. Recalling what happened the night before. Azil. She’s with me. Oh goodness! Please take this temptation away from me! I recoiled and removed her arms around me causing her to wake up.

“Hey, Eliza! what are you doing here!”

I shouted at her then I felt a throbbing pain in my head. Frigging migraine! I closed my eyes and started massaging my neck and temples.

Azil hurriedly went outside. She got back with a glass of water and an ibuprofen. “Here, drink this. It will help ease the pain. You need to drink more water. It will help you to get rehydrated. Alcohol prevents hormones that retains water on your body.”

I took the medicine and the water from her.

“So, this is how a nurse treats their patients. It’s nice to have a nurse like this. I would hire an on-call nurse. I want to marry a nurse someday. He or she could be a great partner and a great parent to our children.”

I jokingly added, “I will start posting a ‘For Hire’ sign later.”

Her forehead creased, “You still hate hospitals? Yeah, you’re right about us. Nurses are smart, compassionate, and caring. But not all is gorgeous like me! You don’t need to hire someone! You already have me, and I will be the best wife and the best mom of our children!”

I ignored her witty remark and rest my head on her lap, so she could start massaging my head. I stared at her beautiful face while I savor her hand’s slow gentle strokes, making circular motions across my head. She’s smiling at me, but her eyes were so puffy from her crying last night. I lifted my hand to reach her cheeks, then gently touched the bags under her eyes.

I laughed and made a joke, “Your eyes look tired and puffy, Miss Ugly Ellie!”

She pressed her fingers deeply unto my scalp.

“Ouch! Stop it! Okay, okay! I get it! You are not Miss Ugly! You’re Miss Puffy Eyes!”

She gave a quick flick on my nose and continued her massage.

I slowly rubbed my thumb on her right cheek. “Hey, Azil. I am sorry if I made you cry.”

She held my hand on her cheek and kissed it, “I am the one who should say sorry. I’m sorry, Mimi. You were right about everything you said last night. You tried several times to win me back while I gave up on first try.”

I sat up and held both of her shoulders, “I want us to have a new fresh start. Let us start being friends again.”

She muttered in protest, “Mi, I don't want to be just your friend. I want to be your girlfriend again.”

I looked straight in her eyes, “The truth is, I still care for you Eliza and a little part of me is telling me that there’s still love left. But I also feel hate towards you. I’m not ready to start a relationship with you again.”

I sensed sadness in her voice, when she said, “I’ll wait for you, Mimi.”

I carefully asked, “How about our families?”

She said in a hopeful voice, “Maybe this time we can fight for our love. To tell them that love has no gender and if they love us, they should accept us.”

“I know that my parents are open minded. I am not sure about yours. And I know your family is important to you. We can start being friends and we’ll see.”

“I’ll start courting you again.”

“I am happily single now and I don’t want a commitment at this time.”

“I have so many ways to change your mind! Just wait and see! We’ll be back together in no time!”

She’s so stubborn! My feelings for her never changed but should we start again like this? I think we’re taking this too fast again.

“We will start as friends. Do not argue with me on that. Go shower. I’ll make us breakfast then I’ll drive you back home. Take a quick bath. I need to be home early in Makati to start my work projects.”

I did not wait for her to answer. I went to the kitchen and start prepping.

I am preparing our plates when my phone started vibrating again. Canada’s persistent boy is calling me again today! I accepted his call.

“Yes? Hello?”

“Hi Millie! How are you? I kept calling and messaging you yesterday. I miss you! I have another song for you!”

” Oh, I am sorry! I am so busy yesterday. I didn’t notice all your messages and calls. How sweet of you to miss me! Oh, you have another song for me? Alright, let me hear it.”

He started singing. I bit my lip, trying to hold the laughter slowly escaping my mouth. His voice is good but his composed lyrics about how much he loves me, makes me laugh.

Then he proceeded to narrate how his day was after his short performance. I interrupted him and said, “Hey I’m sorry but I got to go. I have so much work to do. Thanks for singing for me today.”

“I have a gift for you Millie. I sent it yesterday, so it will be there before your birthday!”

“Wow! Thanks for the advance birthday gift! You don’t need to do that! A simple birthday message is enough!”

“I love you, Millie! Bye!”

“Well, talk to you soon! Bye!”

I can’t stop but to giggle after we ended the call. He’s like a small child seeking for attention. How adorable!

I’m still smiling and twirling my phone in my hand when I turned around and caught Azil staring at me with her famous Cyclops Laser Eyes!

Wow! Her eyes were still beautiful as I remembered! Those chocolatey eyes would make you fall in love with her even more!

“Oh, there you are! Come and sit here. Enjoy my breakfast a la carte!”

I pulled a chair out for her and placed two slices of vanilla soaked French Toast on one plate. I topped it with sliced strawberries, whipped cream and powdered sugar. On the other plate, I placed two sunny side up eggs, with bacon strips and some sausages on the side.

“Who are you talking too? Why are you smiling like you have been possessed by a flirty soul? Your voice is too girly! And you bit your lip while listening to that caller!”

“Oh, shut up! It’s none of your business! Go finish your breakfast and we’ll go home!”

I was confused when her face shifted from angry to happy in a second! This girl is unbelievable!

“Really? We’ll go home? As in you and me? All alone again! You and I will go home together to your other house! Happy Yippee Yehey! Milena and Azil driving all the way! Hey!”

Oh, my goodness! I fell in love with a child!

“What? Stop singing like that! I swear, you still act like a child! You are so crazy! What I meant was, we’ll head back to Manila together then I’ll drive you back to your home. And I’ll go back in mine! And please finish your food quickly so we can get going!”

She pouted her lips and mumbled “Yeah I am crazy. Crazy in love with you, Mimi” and proceeded to finish her meal. She washed the dishes while I took a shower.

After shower, I went back to the living room and saw her sitting prettily on the couch while scrolling through my phone. MY PHONE!!! I grabbed my phone from her hands and put it inside my pockets.

“Hey Eliza! That’s mine! Don’t you know how to respect someone’s privacy?”

“I just checked if you’re still using the same password to unlock your phone. And I’m glad that you are still using our special day as your pin. Oh, I also saved my new number. I was about to send a message to my phone, so I could save your number too, but you grabbed it! You should learn how to not be rude! Send a message okay? I need to know your number.”

I forgot that I am still using our old pin code. I did not change it because I’m used to it.

“I thought you have many reliable sources? So, why are you asking for my number”

“Meh, they are too scared you will kill them if they gave me your new number.”

We reached her home and before she got out of my car, she stole a quick kiss from my lips. She wanted to hug me too, but I pushed her out and drove back to my place in Makati.

Such a tease!

When I got home, I opened my laptop and started doing my projects due this week.

After a while, I checked my phone. The wallpaper caught me off guard. It was a picture from last night. Azil’s arms were wrapped around my waist and her head on my chest while I slept like a log! I checked my phone’s gallery and was shocked to see hundreds of her selfies!

I searched for the contact number she saved. Her contact name is “Baby”. I renamed it to “Stranger”. I sent a text message to her, “Hey crazy! You downloaded a virus on my phone! I needed to delete all the infected images from my gallery.”

“Hi, baby! I’m so happy you sent me a text! But you’re still mean! It was hard thinking different poses just to give you wonderful selfies of me! I’ll soon tame your wild heart.”

I just laughed and turned my phone to silent mode. I will reply to her text messages later. But first, I needed to focus on my work projects.