A great Start
Hillary POV
I smiled at the new living room of Loukas and squealed. All three of us stood beside one another and stared at the living room. Rotimi had his face covered with paintings while I had paintings in my hand, and Loukas was completely free of anything.
Why won’t he be freed when he didn’t do anything and instead watched us as we arranged the house? He also made sure to give orders as if we were his maids. I don’t blame him; I blame his egotistical self. The curtains in the living room were replaced with brown ones. The old curtains were darker than the devil’s soul, just like the curtains in Loukas’s room. “Isn’t this amazing?” I first pointed at the curtains, then I pointed at the white paintings on the wall that was completely free from the aquarium. The white color lightened up the whole place, giving it a great look, unlike when I first arrived at the place and it gave me the creepy ghost vibes.
“Amazing in the fact that a lot of my money went into this living room,” Loukas said and snorted. Taking a seat on the new brown couches, he spreads his left hand and whistles at me. “Now that we’ve done all of this, when is the next therapy?” He demanded
I heaved a sigh and rubbed my forehead. A few parts of my hands were still wet from the paintings, which shows that we finished redecorating the living room a few minutes ago. I knew he wanted to get better, but I needed a break and Loukas seemed like a workaholic to someone who couldn’t move freely on his own. “Don’t you want to have a look at the living room anymore?” I asked him.
“I’ve been staring at this living room for years now. What’s so special about what you just did? ” He chuckled. ” I want you to make sure that I am fine and not to ask questions about how I’m feeling. “I only agreed to re-decorate this living room to make me feel better,” he explained.
I bit my lip and moved closer to him. At least he agreed to make himself feel better, which was a great response. “How do you feel now?” I asked him.
“I feel like this is a complete waste of time and I wasted a lot of my money. Instead of you making me feel better, You only succeeded in making me feel worthless and I still can’t lift a finger! ”
Each word he threw at me was an invisible arrow that punctured my chest, making it hard to breathe. “Are you okay?” Rotimi asked as he walked towards me. He must have seen me touching my chest and probably thought I was under attack.
Who wouldn’t get an attack from Loukas’s words?
“I’m okay, Rotimi,” I told him, and I removed my hands from my chest. “I apologize, Mr. Whitemore, for wasting your time. If you want, we can start the therapy now. ”
“If I want? Is that you giving me orders here? ” Loukas laughed.” Don’t ask me if I wanted that because I’m paying you and also, you are staying here for free. ” Now he sounded like an asshole and although his words didn’t mean anything to me, I’ve heard him say something much worse.
“That’s not a great thing to say, Loukas,” Rotimi told him and sat beside him on the couch. “Hillary tried her best to try to make this place homely. You should be grateful to her for that, ” Rotimi spoke on my behalf, like he always does, and just like how Loukas used to be, he responded by throwing another shade at me.
“I’m not paying her for that, Rotimi, and you know that.”
I cleared my throat for him to know that I was still in the living room with him.”I’ll go prepare for the therapy sessions, sir,” I told him and walked down the stairs, heading into my room. When I got to my room, I muffled a scream and jumped on my bed. “How can someone have no emotions? How can his heart be filled up with nothing but hatred toward someone else? ” I wanted to scream, but I knew he’d hear me, so I muttered incoherent words I couldn’t understand. Heading into the bathroom door, I undressed and stood under the shower, letting the cold water glide down my skin. All I could think of was Loukas and his annoying face, which I found attractive.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.
How is that possible? I screamed out loud. How can I find him attractive when all he ever did was question my work and if I was real or not? “Don’t even think about it!” I warned myself as I grabbed a towel and rushed out of the bathroom. I cleaned myself dry with the towel, and when I was done, I changed my clothes into cleaner ones. My hands were free from the paintings after the bath, which was a good thing because I thought I washed the anger that surged through me away when I took my bath.
When I arrived at the therapy room, Loukas was already moving on his own with the wheeled walker. He looked determined and didn’t notice me as I walked into the room. He was so engrossed in wheeling himself around that he didn’t bother to acknowledge it. Instead, he counted his steps as he walked back and forth.
“It’s really good to see you walking all on your own,” I commented.
“At least I didn’t lazy around,” he retorted.
He always finds the words to say. That’s how annoying Loukas was. Ignoring him, I grabbed the electronic stimulator from one of the boxes and carried it toward the couch. “We’ll be using the Estim today,” I informed him.
“Hmmmmm,” was all he responded with at first, until he continued. “Do you have any idea what this is used for?” he wheeled himself towards me and sat on the couch facing me. “A mistake from this and I could die,” he stated and pointed at the machine.
“Can’t you be positive for once?” I asked him, and instead of replying, he beckoned to me to help him lie on the bed. “Help me,” he said.
I stood up from my chair opposite the couch and helped him rest on the couch. I placed his hands beside him and helped him straighten his leg. As my hands made contact with his body, I heard him muttering, and when I turned to face him, wondering if he was trying to tell me something, he avoided eye contact with me. “That is good,” I stated as I made sure his whole body was ready for the stimulator. “Estim isn’t supposed to hurt, but since we are working on your muscles, make sure you contract your muscles!” I instructed him.
I said, “If you weren’t so daft, you’d know that I can’t move my right side, so there is no need for that,” He pointed that out again, and I felt like strangling him, but I couldn’t do that. I just had to ignore his stupid remarks.
“You know that you could explain things without making awful remakes, right?” I applied the electrodes to his right legs, and while I was done, I moved to his hands. His eyes were on me, making it hard to work around him as my body reacted to just his gaze. My heart thumped in my chest, and I had forgotten that I had attached the last electrode until he reminded me.
“Are we going to proceed or what?” He asked, and I quickly blinked, realizing that he was waiting for my next action.
“I’m so sorry,” I turned on the machine. I said, “Tell me how you feel so I’ll know if I’m doing it right.” I told him, and all I got was a nod. “Proper words will communicate better,” I told him as I sat in front of him. “Instead of nodding, why not reply with words?”
“You are not the one to teach me what to say, Hillary. I’ll reply when I want to, “There goes his husky voice again.” Her hands trembled at the sound of it.
I cleared my throat to remove any unwanted thoughts in my head and focused on my patients instead. “The machine had been timed for fifteen minutes. Since you can’t move your right hand, I’ll help you squeeze so it can stimulate it pretty well. ” I told him. “Just tell me how you feel,” I grabbed his hand. I held it in mine and squeezed it pretty tight. “How do you feel?”
“A tingling sensation,” he answered and squeezed his eyes. “It’s getting stronger.”
“Are you comfortable?” I asked him, and he nodded in response. “I am going to need you to squeeze your right hand on your own now,” I instructed him.
His eyes fluttered open and he glared hard at me as if I had done something wrong. “You are aware that I am unable to move my right hand, Hillary. How can I squeeze my right hand? ” He yelled.
I smiled at him.” If you are going to feel better, Loukas, then there are certain things you’ll have to do on your own. Just make sure you don’t force yourself too much. Believe in yourself, Loukas,” I told him, and then moved to his leg. I pressed on his knees, helping him to squeeze, letting the machine do its job.
“You are squeezing me too hard,” Loukas shouted. The way he said it made me think of something else. It was not as if I was squeezing his balls.
“This is me trying to let the muscles in your leg react to the stimulator.” ”
“By letting you make myself uncomfortable!” He yelled yet again, but I didn’t let him go. I held onto his legs. “Are you crazy, Hillary?”
“It’s almost over, Mr. Whitemore.” I smiled at him.
“Let’s go off my leg!” He yelled at me and I was kicked backward with his leg.
With his right leg! I landed on the ground and hit my elbow on the marble floor, but I didn’t care about myself. I jumped to my feet and rushed towards Loukas. The timer had stopped and Loukas was trying so hard to stand up from the couch. He supported himself with his left hand until he was seated. “You almost killed me!” He shouted at me. “So much for a therapist!”
“You just moved your leg, Loukas,” I said, removing the electrodes from his leg and hand.
“What did you say?” Loukas narrowed his brows at me. “I don’t understand a thing you are saying,” he said.
I heaved a sigh and sat in front of him. “When I squeezed your leg for better stimulation,” I tried explaining, but he interrupted me.
“And you almost had me killed,” he added.
I palmed my forehead and cleared my throat. “You kicked me while I held onto your leg,” I announced and clapped my hands. “You just moved, Loukas!”
His eyes widened, and he started laughing. “I kicked you?” He asked, and I nodded in response. “Goodness! That sounds like a great start! ” He laughed again.
I had never seen him laugh so much. I joined in his laughter, and just then, the door opened and Rotimi walked into the room with boxes in his hands. When he saw us laughing, he dropped the boxes on the ground beside us and walked toward us. “What’s going on here?” He asked as he placed his hands on his waist. “What did I miss?” He looked from Loukas to me, and just as I was about to answer him, Loukas beat me to it.
“Could you believe it, Rotimi? My right leg moved,” he announced happily.
Rotimi stared at him with his face brightened and a huge smile on his face. “This is great!” He clapped his hands. “A great start!”
A great start indeed, because I was able to make Loukas laugh ever since I arrived.