Xavier was engrossed in his mobile game when he heard Norah's voice. He quickly grabbed the quilt, slung it around his waist to cover his privates, and turned to look at Norah. "Why are you here? Where's Damian?"
Norah had already turned her back to him, her face flushing red, stuttering, "Damian is downstairs settling the bills for the delivery, he asked me to change your dressing."
"No need! You go do your thing, I'll have someone else come up later."
"Have you, um, covered yourself properly?” Norah asked.
"All covered."
Norah took a quiet breath, turned around, placed the food box on the bedside table, and fetched the new dressing.
"You should pull the quilt down a bit, to expose the wound."
"I told you, it's really not necessary!"
"Everyone's busy downstairs, they won’t be up for a while!" Norah spoke casually, trying to lighten the mood. "Don't be so nervous, you are a man, what are you afraid of?"
Xavier grinned at Norah. "Don't say things like that to a man. You never know what kind of beast hides under a straight-laced exterior!"
He lectured her in a patronizing tone.
Norah raised an eyebrow. "What about you?"
"I'm not interested in women!" Xavier replied nonchalantly, reaching for his cigarette on the bedside table.
Norah's eyes widened in disbelief. "You, you’re into guys?"
Xavier gave her a glare. "Not being into women means I’m into men?"
Norah muttered, "You're not into women or men. Are you into trans people?"
"Cough!" Xavier choked on his smoke, coughing violently on the bed.
She took some iodine to clean the wound, "If it hurts, tell me, I'll be gentler!"
"It's fine, it doesn't hurt!" Xavier dismissed her.
Norah thought to herself, how could such a serious wound not hurt?
She dabbed at the wound with a cotton ball, her arm unconsciously tense, her heart fluttering, and her movements became increasingly gentle.
"You've never done this before, have you?" Xavier suddenly asked.
"What?" Norah looked up in surprise.
"I mean, you've never taken care of someone like this before, right? You don’t have to be so careful, it's really fine." Xavier felt a bit uncomfortable being treated so tenderly and hoped she would just finish quickly.
Norah lowered her eyes. "I'm not as delicate as you think, I've done volunteer work in disaster areas before, the Lamont girl isn't as pampered as you think!"

Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Find me in your labyrinth (Stella and Jonathan)
Finally some storyline on Gab... Will he reach on time for Sylvia? Thank you for the updates....
Please fix chapter 2553…we’re missing the total encounter of Sylvia entering the fight that began in chapter 2552. BTW, thanks for the updates....
Thanks for the updates....
Thank you for the updates. Glad that Gabriel is coming back....
It’s time for Gabriel to make his way back to Sylvia so that they can become a couple and not give Eugene false hope that he has a chance with Sylvia....
Thank you for the updates....
Thank you for the updates...
Up...
Thanks for the updates....
Thank you for the updates....