Like Oil and Water (2)

"Hello, how are you today?" Matthew asked, as he placed the flowers with the others, while taking away the ones that were no longer as fresh as they should have been.

"Very well, thank you. Are you going to do this every day?" Lorence asked, pointing at the flowers.

"Oh yes, I have strict instructions to do this every day till you leave this place." Matthew answered.

"I really need to know who gave you the instructions, because I am very certain the person does not know I'm not keen on flowers though, and so that person does not know me." Lorence explained. Matthew was taken aback by what she said, as he was not expecting that there was a lady who actually was not keen on receiving flowers.

"You really do not like flowers as much?" Matthew asked.

"I just want to see them in a beautiful garden, and that's all." Lorence answered. Matthew looked from her to the flowers and back at her.

"I'll pass the message on to the sender." Matthew answered.

"So, you are not going to tell me who this anonymous sender is?" Lorence asked.

"I am afraid, I can't." Matthew asked.

"I think I find it creepy that a stranger is sending me flowers though." Lorence added, and she noticed Matthew was uneasy.

"I'll just be on my way now. Have a nice day." Matthew said and left the room hurriedly. "Good riddance to the flowers." Lorence thought to herself, a smile playing across her face as she watched Matthew leave. She looked at the flowers again, and wondered if she was overreacting by rejecting them. "No! Why receive something that I do not want and did not ask for? I did the right thing. It will save the person the pain and costs involved. In the end, I'm just a nice and principled young woman." She told herself.

Lorence's mind wandered back to the short conversation she had with the nurse; to the part about her second chance at life, and she wondered if she had made the right choices before the accident, "Maybe I should make myself be available for love again." She thought to herself, but one problem she had was she felt that her ex was the only man in the world that understood her, and she did not think she had it in her to go through the process of falling in love, and opening up to another man again. "Not many people get a second opportunity to fix their lives and find happiness." She remembered what the nurse said, and she was grateful that she did not lose her life in the accident, but felt sad that other occupants of the vehicle may not have been as lucky as she was, and for some strange reason she felt even more saddened by the fact that the man who offered his seat may not have made it. She remembered the last image of him was when they looked at each other while being wheeled into the ambulance, before she passed out. Something about the way he looked at her made her think he breathed a sigh of relief that she was alive, and so she thought to herself, that if indeed she was the only one that made it out of the bus alive, then she owed it to the other occupants to live a better life, and the first thing she wanted to do when she left the hospital was to process her insurance, and then get on with a better version of her life.

"Mister Jaden Keybridge, I'm afraid, the lady in the next room doesn't want the flowers sire." Matthew reported to Jaden.

"Oh! So we are not doing flowers anymore. I'm just so glad we survived the crash." Jaden said, although he did not like the fact that he could not have flowers sent to the lady's room. He wished he could just walk to the room, just to see her face again.

"If I may ask sire, have you developed some sort of affection for the lady?" Matthew asked.

"Oh no! oh well, maybe a little, but it's only normal, considering we had our moment on the bus, and here we are as the only survivors of that accident. Maybe fate has something waiting for us." Jaden explained, and Matthew could see the excitement on his face.

"Very well then. Have you considered getting a mechanized wheelchair? Maybe you should ask the doctor so we can get you one immediately." Matthew suggested.

"Oh Matthew! What would I do without you? Thank you for always being so thoughtful. I'll ask the doctor when he comes in again." Jaden said.

That night, Jaden had nightmares again, and it left him more shaken than ever before, so shaken that the shots he was given did not take effect until hours later, and during that period there was a significant spike in his heart rate and blood pressure as he struggled violently on the bed.

"He's going into shock!" The doctor yelled, and everyone available scampered around to prevent Jaden from going into a state of shock. His condition stabilized after a while, and then he was finally put to sleep. The next morning, he woke up to find the doctor and nurses staring at him.

"What did I miss?" Jaden asked as he looked around and wondered why they were there staring at him, but soon began to recollect what happened to him earlier.

"You gave us quite a scare there." the doctor answered, as he checked Jaden to ascertain that he was okay.

"Oh I'm sorry! The nightmare was so vivid." Jaden added. The doctor made a gesture for the nurses to excuse both of them.

"Was it about the accident?" The doctor asked Jaden.

"It has always been about the accident, but this time it took a new dimension. Everyone died, became zombies, and were gnawing at my flesh." Jaden explained.

"Before the accident, how often did you have nightmares?" The doctor asked.

"Never." Jaden answered.

"The people that became zombies, were they all occupants of the bus, or some were people you know?" The doctor asked.

"All from the bus, including the other survivor." Jaden answered.

"The lady in the next ward? I should check on her too." The doctor said, He stayed with Jaden for a short while, and then excused himself. Jaden thought about everything, and was not happy with the fact that there was little he could do about anything. He let out a sigh, because he missed his life before the accident. A light knock on the door brought him back to reality. He looked up as the door opened, and found the doctor wheeling in someone on a wheelchair. When he looked closely, he recognized her immediately. Her large eyes and delicate structure were not features he could forget so easily. Jaden was so happy to see her that he almost rolled off the bed, while Lorence looked like she was torn between laughing and crying. The doctor smiled at their reactions; he decided to leave them alone for some time.

Both of them were silent for a while, as they just stared at each other, perhaps with different thoughts coursing through their minds.

"You're pretty knocked up though." Lorence said, finally breaking the silence.

"I see that. I tried to get out of this bed a couple of times, and let's just say I may have broken a few ribs in the process." Jaden said. A smile played across Lorence's face as he spoke.

"You could have requested a wheelchair, you know?" Lorence asked.

"I could? The doctor never gave me that option." Jaden answered.

"Oh well, he had his reasons I guess." Lorence added.

"Not if he knew I really wanted to be able to move around." Jaden answered with a scowl.

"Again, he had his reasons." Lorence said, with a smile. "He looks so cute, so vulnerable." Lorence thought.

"That was one hell of a day. It had to be the day I decided to do something different" Jaden said with a chuckle.

"I don't understand, do something different?" Lorence asked. Jaden explained how he had changed his mind about what he wanted to wear, and how he had decided to use the bus instead of driving or being driven by his chauffeur. Lorence listened attentively; something about the way he talked reminded her of her ex, and so she caught herself smiling as he spoke. He mentioned how on that day he felt like he was forgetting something or something was not connecting, but he just could not figure out what it was. Lorence also narrated her issue with the watch and her friend's gift that she forgot at home.

"Maybe something was trying to tell us to wait a while longer so we would miss the bus." Lorence said, like she had gotten an epiphany.

"That is a possibility, and maybe God actually wanted us to be there." Jaden added, and there was silence as both of them looked at each other.

"God? Your God left only both of us alive? Why did He have to take the lives of others?" Lorence asked, she did not like having such discussions with people who were religious, because had come to realize that it was a sensitive subject for them.

"There are many mysteries to this universe and our existence here on earth that we will never be able to solve, and fate is one of them. Fate is one of God's mysterious ways He uses to change our plans." Jaden answered. Lorence sat back, staring at Jaden and pondering on what he had just said. "He sure sounds like my ex, but without the God part." she thought to herself. As they spoke, she noticed there were other similarities between Jaden and her ex, and so it made it easy for her to feel a little relaxed as they had their conversations. However, she did not believe in God, but she did not want to burst his bubble since they were not talking about religion.

"I remember you told me your name on the bus, I'm sorry I can't remember the name." Lorrence said, wanting to take the discussion away from religion.

"It's Jaden Keybridge." Jaden answered.

"Yes! You are that billionaire philanthropist. I remember you now. You sponsored a couple of my friends' scholarships some years ago." Lorence said.

"Oh!" Jaden was about to say something when they heard a tap on the door, the door opened and Matthew stepped into the room. There was a look of bewilderment on Lorence's face as she looked from Matthew to Jaden.

"What's going on here? Do you two know each other?" Lorence asked.

"Well, Matthew's my assistant, and since we are all here and I don't want it to get more awkward than this, I asked him to send you flowers because I heard it helps people heal faster." Jaden answered.

"So it was you all along." Lorence said, with surprise written over her face.

"Matthew, can you give us a moment please." Jaden said to Matthew, because he had a hunch that Lorence may get upset.

"Hey Matthew, I appreciate all you did. Thank you." Lorence said, as Matthew stepped out of the room.

"Before you say anything, I know you are upset about the flowers and the fact that it came from me. I am really sorry, I was just happy that I wasn't the only one that survived the crash, and I didn't know how else to contribute to your speedy recovery." Jaden explained.

"Upset? Oh no I'm not upset. I'm just fascinated. Oh, and I appreciate the gesture, but why flowers though?" Lorence asked. Jaden knew he was getting into a tight spot, and from his previous experience with her on the bus, he had an inkling of the direction the conversation was headed.

"Okay, now that you have asked, I guess I didn't think that through. If I knew you, I would have asked what you liked and didn't like, so my only straw was to assume that you would love flowers. I grew up in a society where stereotypes became the norm, and so we unconsciously conformed to the societal conditioning that made us accept that flowers were a girly thing. Again, I'm sorry if my assumptions and gestures offended you." Jaden explained, and yet again Lorence felt defeated. "He sure knows how to throw me off balance." she thought to herself.

"It's fine. I understand the thing about stereotypes and societal conditioning, and we need to be deliberate about unlearning so many things we learned while growing. Lorence said.

They began to get along well, and after a while they were fit enough to leave the hospital and go back to living their lives. Lorence wasted no time in processing her insurance papers and getting set to resume work, but Jaden still had some recovery to do, because he still had the nightmares, however not as frequent as when he was at the hospital. He needed a therapist to help him with the anxiety and panic attacks that he was experiencing.

Jaden and Lorence maintained contact after they left the hospital, and they had gotten to the point where they could understand each other to some considerable extent. Jaden admired Lorence's strong will and character, and loved the fact that she was already up and doing; he loved her strength and admired some of her views about life. For a long while, Jaden had not developed a soft spot for any woman, but it felt like each time he communicated with Lorence, his affection for her deepened, and in no time he was falling for her and wanted their relationship to be more than just the platonic friendship that was between them.

Jaden noticed that he was always happier on the days when he spent some time with Lorence, and she also got more insight about her career and profession whenever she discussed with Jaden. It felt like they both needed each other to get through that recovery phase in order to bounce back to life, and Jaden thought it was a cue to take the step at winning Lorence's heart. As days passed, they became more fond of each other, but Jaden's affections were deeper, and every moment he looked forward to seeing her and hearing her speak.

"Any plans for the weekend?" Jaden asked Lorence over the phone.

"None that I cannot cancel for a good reason." Lorence answered.

"I was wondering if we could maybe hangout?" Jaden asked.

"I don't know how feasible that would be, because I have a hunch that your world is different from mine." Lorence answered.

"So let me show you my world then." Jaden said excitedly.

"If you will agree to also allow me to show you my world after you show me yours, then we have a deal." Lorence answered.

"Deal!" An elated Jaden said.

Lorence thought about Jaden, and she loved the steady pace that their friendship was going, but she was uncertain about the possibilities of them becoming an item. Different discussions had shown her that they had divergent views about some things, and in some cases he seemed to know how to make some divergent views become convergent. She loved the fact that he was always attentive and willing to listen to her, and he also never tried to downplay her views even on days when he did not agree with her perspective. Her friends were excited for her and were always eager to know if they had become an item, but they were always disappointed when she told them there was no likelihood of that happening. Deep down, Lorence wanted to be loved again, she wanted the feelings and emotions that came with being in love and in a relationship with someone that would love her in return. Her heart yearned to have someone that she could talk to about her day, someone she could rant to about her annoying boss or colleague, someone she could run to for strength, and someone who understood her and what she stood for. Interestingly, she found those traits in Jaden, but she just did not know if there was a possibility that both of them could end up together. She was not sure she knew him well enough to get into a serious relationship with, and she also was not ready to get into a relationship that could leave her with regrets and pain later; she was ready to take her time until she was very convinced that she had finally met the right one.

Jaden could not contain his excitement at the thought of Lorence coming to spend the weekend with him, and he planned the opportunity to find his way to her heart and win her over. As he looked forward to the weekend, he thought about how deep their conversations would be, considering that their conversations were always insightful, and Jaden thought she was the best person to help him unlearn some stereotypes society had made him conform to. He loved it when both of them had divergent opinions about a subject, he loved how she talked so passionately while defending what she was saying. He admired her intelligence and her vast knowledge about different things from art to classical music, and from cars to architecture; she seemed to know so many things, and so it was not difficult for them to talk about so many things. However, he noticed that she seemed to be torn between wanting to open up and holding back so much of herself, and so he wondered what her past was like; he wanted to know what she had been through, and he also wanted to show her that he understood where she was coming from and was ready to stand by her through good and bad times.

Jaden reflected upon his previous relationship, and each time he thought about it, he wished he could go back in time to prevent himself from getting into that relationship. He wondered how he allowed himself to be so blinded by lust, that he got involved with a lady that could not hold a good conversation for a few minutes without being totally engrossed with her phone and giggling away at whatever it was that she was always watching on her phone. Jaden felt bad for himself for going to great lengths to make her happy, when she did not deserve whatever he was doing for her. He remembered how he had walked in on her and another man in a compromising situation, but rather than react violently, he smiled, apologized for disturbing them, urged them to continue, and stepped out of the place; he knew that was the end of the relationship between both of them, and because she knew he hated scandals she decided she was going to blackmail him if he did not meet her demands, but he was smart enough to see that coming, and so he covered whatever loopholes existed in the relationship, and created illusions for her to hold on to. In the end she lost more than she bargained for. Jaden had learned his lessons and decided he was not going to get into another relationship for a long while; he lost interest in relationships until his friendship with Lorence began.

The weekend came, and Jaden was really glad to see Lorence, and as usual she looked beautiful, calm, and reserved. Lorence was glad to see him too, and she felt he looked good, but she refused to show her emotions. "I am not going to let my guard down." She thought to herself.

Jaden used the opportunity to show her the sporty side of him by performing some extreme sports; he urged her to join him, but she declined. They had a nice time together; from relaxing on the beach, to enjoying some moments at sea on his yacht, from seeing movies with his friends to having dinner together at one of the most expensive restaurants. Lorence noticed that Jaden had a huge appetite, and felt that he just loved big and expensive meals, while she preferred to just eat something normal and efficient like her usual chicken salad. She was quick to notice that both of them had divergent meals and meal styles. While she loved to eat something light, Jaden's huge appetite could not make him conform to her meal standards even if he wanted to, and in fact he tried to live on her meal style for a day, but could not continue within the next hour of taking the meal.

Through the weekend they did different activities, but the weekend was not enough for him to show her his world, and so he made a difficult request;

"I have a proposition to make." Jaden said.

"What's that?" Lorence asked.

"Can you take a few days off work?" Jaden asked.

"Why on earth would I want to do that? Lorence asked.

"I still have a lot to show you in my world." Jaden answered.

"Oh well, I think I've seen enough to know what your world is like, and if you tell me to take a few days off work because you want to show me more of your world, then you would be trying hard to impress me, and that would be really pointless." Lorence added. This time, Jaden was the defeated one, but he did not allow it to steal his smile away.

"I'm sorry. I haven't felt this way in ages. There's a good vibe about you that I find really attractive, plus you are so intelligent and there's so much to learn from you. These few days with you, made me feel more alive than I have been in a long while." Jaden explained. Lorence looked at him with intent and a smirk, but inside she was bursting with joy "Glad to know that I am having a pleasant effect on him." she thought to herself.

"You flatter me. Thank you. I find you interesting, and your world is beautiful; I mean you have a nice life and all these nice things at your disposal, but now I want you to allow me to show you my world, which is also beautiful in its own way. We had a deal, remember?" Lorence said, and Jaden's face lit up with excitement.

"Oh yes, we had a deal, so when is this going to happen?" Jaden asked.

"We begin tomorrow, if that's fine by you." Lorence answered.

"It is perfect." Jaden answered excitedly.

"So, I'm curious, how are you so wealthy and there's no woman in your life? I mean, being a wealthy young man is usually synonymous with having women at your beck and call." Lorence said.

"You just said something based on a stereotype though." Jaden said with a smile

"Oh, what's the stereotype?" Lorence asked.

"That being a wealthy young man is synonymous with having women at my beck and call. If we break that statement further, you would also be stereotyping the women as being something like slaves." Jaden explained. Lorence looked at him with her mouth slightly opened, because she realized he was right and anything she may have wanted to say would put her in a tight corner.

"Yes. I just realized you are right." Lorence said. Lorence liked Jaden's analytical mind, and again it reminded her about her ex; she liked the feeling, even though she was holding back a lot from Jaden. She wanted to be sure he was the right person that she could open up to, but she needed to clear a few doubts about him. She wanted to see him in his elements and what he was like when exposed to a different life than he was used to.

"It's alright. These things can be tricky sometimes; I understand." Jaden answered.

"Thanks for understanding. I also figured I may be prying into your private life, and I totally understand if you do not want to answer the question though." Lorence added.

"On the contrary, I have nothing to hide or keep away from you, so I'll tell you why I chose to remain single." Jaden said, and then went into details about his previous relationship; about how it started and what led to calling it off. He also talked about previous relationships, and from his stories Lorence could deduce that he had been getting involved with the same type of flashy women who barely had anything tangible to offer. She found herself pitying him, because she realized he had been heartbroken a couple of times.

Lorence introduced Jaden to her world, the life she lived everyday from the moment she stepped out of her apartment, till she got to work and closed for the day. She showed him how she took care of the elderly and went to local stores to get supplies, and then she took him to the restaurants and diners she visited everyday. She thought Jaden would feel disgusted or too uncomfortable to be found with people like that in that area, but to her surprise, Jaden mingled well with everyone they came across, and he even made people laugh. She did not expect that type of warm reception from him; there was no sign of him being proud or looking down on the locals they met, rather he was even more friendly with them than she was, and it warmed her heart dearly. She found herself falling in love with him, because she realized he was in touch with his human side, and she loved him for that.

"So, what's your verdict about my world?" Lorence asked.

"I want to be a part of your world. I love your world; I love the realness of it, I love the feel of humanity in its purest form. I want that. I want you with all of that." Jaden said, as he reached out to hold Lorence's hands; she let him hold her hands, and that was the first time they ever touched. Lorence did not know why, but her heart skipped several beats as he held her hands."Pull yourself together young lady." she told herself, and sought for the right words to say to Jaden.

"Why Jaden? Why? Why me? Why do you want to be a part of my world? My world is broken but beautiful, not rich but content. My world is filled with fights for equity, justice and fairness. Tell me why Jaden. I want to hear it." Lorence said, looking into Jaden's eyes like she was searching for the answers there.

"Love Lorence, it's nothing but love for the entirety of you; who you are, what you are, who you are going to be, and what you are going to do." Jaden answered.

"Wow! That's so deep and futuristic, but why me? I'm nothing like the pretty women you've been with. Well I know I'm pretty in my own way, but you know what I'm talking about." Lorence said.

"You're not just beautiful, you're so smart, intelligent, and you're knowledgeable about so many things. You're strong willed, a go-getter that is a non-conformist, an empath and that's barely touching the surface of who you are Lorence, what's there not to love about you?" Jaden explained.

"You're the second man who has successfully beaten all my defense systems, the first being my ex. I have no idea how you both did it, but here we are. Jaden, my heart is delicate, and so I need all the assurance I can get. Do you really want to do this?" Lorence asked.

"I have never been more certain about wanting something. I love you Lorence. I believe God spared both of us for this. I will…" Jaden was talking when Lorence kissed him. It was a long passionate kiss, one filled with longing and the desire to get lost in each other's embrace. At that moment, Lorence just wanted to get lost in the moment, and so she refused to listen to the still voice in her head that reminded her that she did not believe in God.