1 Chapter 1

"Shit, I should've listened to Cathy."

Chapter 1

"But Mrs. Gardener, I could-"

"No Rosie, go home." I pouted as my pleas fell on deaf ears, I just wanted to stay at the library a bit longer.

"Fine Mrs. Gardener, you win tonight." I sighed giving into the elderly lady, there was just no winning against her. Mrs. Gardener and my nonna would've definitely been best friends.

I watched as Mrs. Gardener disappeared into her apartment upstairs the small library before making my way towards my house. I quickly checked the time and noticed it was 11:30, no wonder Mrs. Gardener wanted to go. Now I felt bad for keeping her out so late since the library usually closes at 10pm.

Lukas, Mrs. Gardener's grandson had bought her the building for her sixty-fifth birthday three years ago. Since working there for the past six months I had only had a glance at his back once. He seemed relatively tall and had blonde hair.

I froze when I heard something that sounded like a crash, was I hearing things?" No, there was a distinct sound of clanking in the small alley.

"Hello?" I called out. It probably wasn't the smartest idea and nonno would've definitely been angry, but what if they were seriously injured?

"Hello?" I called again, stepping a bit deeper into the alleyway not caring at the dirty trash cans that brushed against my dress.

Maybe I was just hearing things. I sighed in semi relief there wasn't any 'creep' as nonno would describe them.

"Hauuu."

I whipped around to the direction of the voice and jogged towards it. I really hope nonno isn't secretly testing me.

"Over here." a voice groaned out.

Next to a large bin was a relatively tall looking man. It was hard to tell since he was hunched over. "Sir, do you need help? I can take you to my house." That was not smart, Rosie, why did you say that? I wanted to hit myself.

It didn't seem like I was going to get a response so I decided to try lifting him up in an attempt to get him to lean on me. Thankfully it worked and we were only two houses away from mine.

It took us around six minutes to arrive since he was leaning on me and I was tall and skinny, not built for carrying weight as nonno would always remind me.

I fished my keys out my pocket and opened the door. I have never been happier that nonna forced me to get leather couches. I, as gently as I could, placed the man on the couch before going to the bathroom for a rag and first aid kit to patch him up.

Twenty minutes later and I'm finally done patching him up, he was sleeping and I felt happy with myself. I helped someone today and that was going in my good deeds book. "Time for my shower." I smiled bringing things back to the bathroom.

I went to my room to grab my nightie and underwear before going back to the bathroom. My shower was quick as I suddenly felt the exhaustion of carrying a man way heavier than me sit in.

As I exited the bathroom, I glanced in the man's direction deciding to grab some of my nonno's clothes and a blanket in case he woke up in the middle of the night and wanted to get out of his dirty clothes. When I was done I muttered a silent goodnight before heading to bed.

˗ˏˋ The Man I Saved'ˎ˗

I brought my hands to cover my eyes as I felt the sun peeking in through the window. I leaned over closing the blinds suddenly feeling like I was forgetting something, I just couldn't put my finger on it.

I continued laying in bed for another maybe ten minutes before feeling awake enough to move. Making a beeline, I headed straight for the bathroom to do my business and freshen up. Nonna always said the first stop after waking up was the bathroom and my nonna was always right.

Feeling even more awake I headed into the kitchen only to see a man sitting at my island. That's what I was forgetting, the man from last night!!!

"Thank you for helping me." his voice was deep, it sounded weird. "Is something wrong with your voice? Did you hurt your throat?" I was concerned, that did not sound normal.

The man stared at me for a while before smiling. He had a nice smile. "No, my throat is okay. My side on the other hand isn't. Thank you for patching me up."

"No problem, all in a days work. My name's Elizabeth but everyone calls me Rosie." I introduced holding out my hand. "Damien McKnight, people either call me Damien or Mr. McKnight." he replied, shaking my hand. Wow, his hands were soft.

"You have soft hands." I told him feeling his hand with both of mine. Our fingers were almost the same length, his were fatter though.

"Why-"

Damien was cut off my the sound of my stomach. I could feel the blood rushing to my face. I heard him covering his laugh with a cough and decided to ignore it. "What would you like to eat?" I asked, ignoring his stare.

"Whatever you want to make."

"I'll make the best egg sandwich you ever had."

"We'll see about that my best friend is a professional chef." he smiled. His smile was beautiful, I felt dazed.

"Yes we will." I challenged with a smile headed towards the stove. Nonna always told me to stay away from the kitchen but that's impossible when I live alone. I always like to think she's just jealous of my awesome cooking skills.

"Nonna said I should always give a disclaimer to whoever I cook for, she said 'Elizabeth isn't responsible for any damage to your stomach after willingly ingesting what was made.', whatever she means by that." I shrugged and cracked two eggs into the heated frying pan. There was complete silence before I heard a response.

"Would you like me to cook for you instead? As a way for me to say thanks?" he offered, sounding nervous. I whipped around to face him. "You're injured I couldn't possibly let you do that, besides I'm a great chef." he didn't seem convinced but gave up. I smiled in victory.

I continued making the omelet, adding the veggies nonna pre chopped for me in the mixture along with milk. Now I had left to add the salt and black pepper.

"Wait!" Damien yelled out, startling me and causing me to jump. "Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you. That's the sugar not salt."

I looked down at the container in my hand to see that it indeed marked sugar and not salt. "Sorry about that, I saw the s and immediately assumed it was the salt." I giggled. By the time I stopped giggling Damien was plating the omelet.

"When did you-"

"You were having a good laugh and I didn't want the eggs to burn."

"Oh." I could feel my face getting red again as I simply took a seat at the counter. "Don't feel bad you still made my omelet." he reminded me. I could tell he was trying to make me feel better and it was working.

"You're welcome." I smiled while taking a bite of my sandwich.

"Is your boyfriend okay with me staying here? I don't want to cause any problems." What boyfriend?

"What boyfriend?" I was confused, I didn't even have any male friends, except the security Mr. John who kept trying to hit on Mrs. Gardener.

"Oh I thought you had a boyfriend since you had male clothes." he replied taking a bite of his sandwich, he even washed up the dishes. I felt bad.

"Those are my grandpa's clothes." I giggled while finishing my sandwich. I watched his ears turn red as he muttered out a simple 'oh'. "Feel free to stay until you get better, I'll feel bad if you leave like that." I told him with pleading eyes.

"Only if you-"

"Deal." I smiled. "You don't even know what I was about to say, how did you survive by yourself for so long?" he asked, though it sounded like he was really talking to himself.

"Nonna and nonno always check in on me." I replied getting up. I needed to start getting ready for work. "I'm going to get ready for work. I don't want to be late." Damien nodded as I left the kitchen to head to my room.

I should take out some more clothes for him. I picked myself an outfit before grabbing him some more of nonno's clothes and heading to the bathroom. Once I was done I handed him the clothes, packed my bag, pulled on my boots and waved him a goodbye as he walked me out.

"See you later." he smiled, I could feel the blood rushing to my face as I ran off.