Author's disclaimer: Things are going to heat up between Louisa and Will as the chapters progress. I am going to change the rating of the story from T to M when that happens. I hope all my patient readers are going to enjoy the ride. I would like to thank rapunzel for her review on my last chapter.

Louisa's point of view

Chapter 12

I might be crazy enough to delude myself into thinking that the workaholic Will Traynor had gotten so engrossed in familiarizing me with all the duties that he left the main door open. I rushed to the door-way and shut the door. When he saw me doing this, he kind of got awkward. He shook his head as if he shouldn't have left it open and told me,

"Thank you."

"It was silly of me to not notice that I left the main door open," he admitted , scratching the back of his head in such an adorable fashion that a grin escaped my lips.

"No problem, " I answered him, shrugging my shoulders.

"Can I make you some coffee?" I inquired, raising my eyebrows.

"Sure," he replied.

"You can get everything there in that left cabinet, " he instructed, pointing towards the kitchen pantry located just before the dining room.

As I approached the pantry, I didn't know why I felt Will's blue-green pair of eyes boring into my back. It might have been my figment of imagination. When I opened the left cabinet, I reminded myself that I was just his ordinary employee who had no business getting so unnerved around him. I started boiling water and brought out the jars of sugar and milk. As the water was boiling, I saw a lone black mug sitting atop the counter and asked him, "Will, is this black mug yours?"

He answered with a resounding yes. I brought the brown porcelain jar with Nescafe written in capital letters out of the left cabinet. I put just the right amount of coffee in the black mug. I added just about two spoons of sugar with little milk just like he told me. He was very health conscious which would explain why he took such little amount of milk in his coffee. His lean physique bore clear testimony to this fact.

As the water got hot, I poured it into the black mug. I stirred it properly until the liquid turned a perfect creamy brownish color. I cradled it carefully and brought it to him carefully watching my steps since I happened to be really clumsy especially when I was carrying things no matter how small they were.

I didn't know why it happened. As I was about to hand him the coffee, scorching brown liquid spilled all over his right hand.

"Ouch!" he cried out in pain at the hot coffee caused him, covering his right hand with his left hand.

"I am so sorry, " I apologized, immediately regretting my action.

"I am going to get the ointment for you, " I told him hurriedly with a really worried expression.

"Right cabinet in the pantry, " he told me, again pointing to the spot where he kept the first-aid kit materials.

I rushed there as fast as my feet could carry me. I opened it and my eyes landed on a white box with the red cross. I grabbed it and brought it to him, practically skipping.

As I opened it, he instructed me with his good left hand which ointment was used to treat heavy burns. When I took dollops of white cream, I felt really guilty for committing such a grave error on the very first day of my official job. Not being able to meet his eyes, I put the cream on the burnt portion of his right hand.

Some alien foreign emotion coursed through my entire body, running at the speed of a Mercedes car awakening every living cell in my body. The very action of tracing circles on the burnt area of his right hand felt strangely very intimate even though it might seem like a very innocuous act to an outsider at first sight.

Will's all- knowing intelligent stare gave me the courage to treat his burn. It wasn't intimidating like I assumed it would be. On the contrary, it was very encouraging. It meant a lot for me because it was the very first day of my work. I would completely lose it he had shouted or yelled at me for being incompetent at work.

I applied a good measure of the ointment until he nodded and said that it was enough. For some unfathomable reason, the distance between the two of us; sitting apart from each other seemed very minuscule.