With moist eyes, I was standing on the bedside of Nathan with a blanket around my wet body. He was lying on the bed with his eyes still closed. Frank was the only other person in the room with us, and he was the one who had taken Nathan out of the bathtub and put him on his bed.
“Nathan!” I had screamed multiple times while shaking him in the tub. Everything I had done was to no avail, as not even a muscle in his body twitched from it. Without warning, he had passed out in the middle of such an intimate encounter that I partly blamed myself for his condition. His body couldn't endure that. His illness was so severe and rare that who knows what caused him to lose consciousness?
As I was naked with him in the tub, I had to put my clothes on before calling for help. In a hurry, I had put my dress on without patting myself dry, and now my clothes were partly soaked from all the water in my hair and body.
“It’s not your fault,” Frank reassured me while we waited for Doctor Williams and Nathan’s mother. “This has happened a lot before. He usually wakes up on his own.”
“But how?” I put my sleeve onto my eyes, trying to absorb the tears I was trying so hard to fight back. “There must be a reason or a trigger. The doctor said something about being concerned about how Nathan treated his sick body so harshly at the gym. Could it have something to do with that?”
“Possibly.” Frank seemed unsure. “It usually happens when he is shocked or extremely furious. It could have to do something with his body and mind not having the strength to tolerate powerful emotions.”
I dropped my gaze. Nathan was having sex with me. Sexual arousal is one of the strongest emotions. It could very well be the culprit. I was to blame, after all. But how could I have known? Nathan claimed to be well aware of his condition. Was it one reason he had been rejecting girls and refraining himself from sexual relationships?
Only time and Doctor Williams could provide me with an obvious answer.
I turned around to the sound of the door being violently opened. A distraught Mrs. Sinclair ran inside, only to stop close to Nathan. She held his hand and cried hysterically.
“It’s all my fault. I should have never caused you this much pain. I am a terrible mother,” she spoke while kissing her son’s unmoving hand.
“What is she on about?” I asked the doctor, standing next to me.
The doctor lowered his neck in shame. “He knows about the affair. Nathan must have seen the tape of his mother and me engaging in an unspeakable activity,” he replied in the faintest whisper. It was barely audible to me, let alone anyone else. “He is now traumatized for life. It shocked him beyond measure, and he lost consciousness.”
“That is not true!” I said out loud, drawing the attention of Frank to us. I brought my volume down to a whisper. “He didn’t see it,” My voice got buried under the earsplitting noises Mrs. Sinclair created by shouting and sobbing.
I had no choice but to write the truth on an unsent text and show it to Doctor Williams. Once I did that, his eyes almost popped out of his sockets. Then he sighed with relief.
Doctor Williams nodded at me while mouthing a thank you before walking up to Mrs. Sinclair. He whispered the truth into the sorrowful mother’s ear without caring about Frank’s presence. Telling her the truth was more important than anything else because words were just mindlessly pouring out of her mouth. She was very close to mentioning her secret out loud.
Mary Sinclair stopped her exaggerated emotions as soon as he finished speaking. “Oh, I see. So it was nothing I or anyone else did. Nathan was with you,” she said to me.
“I am afraid that’s the truth,” I accepted.
She quickly studied me from head to toe. “You’re all wet and in a very short dress. By any chance, were you and Nathan having sex in the bathroom?” she bluntly asked.
I vomited inside. How could she ask such a strange question about her son so comfortably?
“I wasn’t aware of his condition, and he didn’t say anything about it. He was the one who suggested it,” I said.
My response was met with awkward silence and judgemental stares, especially from the doctor, who had no right to judge anyone.
“That’s not your fault,” Mrs. Sinclair brushed it off. She laughed weirdly to cover up the awkwardness of the situation. “My son will wake up soon. Let’s wait for that to happen.”
We all waited roughly for an hour in that room in uncomfortable silence before that happened.
Nathan slowly opened his eyes. “Amelia,” he faintly called my name. “Where is Amelia?”
“Your mother is here, my love.” Mrs. Sinclair kissed her son’s forehead. “Amelia is here too. Don’t worry about anything. Rest and get better. There is no need to hurry.”
Ignoring his mother’s words, Nathan sat up, panting and sweating. I was worried about something else happening to him. His eyes landed on me, and his lips spread into a gleeful smile. He pointed his shaky finger at me, and I stepped back in fear. “She is the one mother. She is the one who saved me.”
Mrs. Sinclair brushed her son’s hair with her fingers. “Yes, we are very thankful to her for calling for help on time and to make sure you didn’t hit your head on the floor or something else.”
“No. That’s not what I meant.” Nathan gave his mother the side eye. “She has done more than that for me, mother.”
“What did she do?” Mrs. Sinclair asked excitedly. “We are here to listen, my love. Why don’t you rest your back against the headboard? Relax and then tell us everything.”
“I am perfectly fine, mother. And I can’t possibly sit in one place,” said Nathan. “Your son hasn’t felt like this in ages. She is the one who helped me feel the way I just did.” His excitement had begun to scare me. All we did was have dirty sex in the tub. What feeling was he talking about? I was afraid he was about to talk about having an erection after a long time. It would only multiply the awkwardness in the room by a thousand.
“Whatever it is, I am so happy for you,” Mrs. Sinclair said, hugging her son tightly and warmly. “What is it, Amelia?” She turned to me. “Nathan just regained consciousness and is too excited to speak properly. Why don’t you tell us what happened?”
“Um, um,” I was at a loss for words. Why did he need to tell everyone that? You’re not supposed to share that with your mother. “What can I say? Nathan is the one experiencing a new emotion. Ask him.” I glared at him, hoping he would take the hint to stop.
“Don’t act so innocent.” Nathan narrowed his eyes at me. “You achieved something great, and now you are acting humbly. A lot has happened in a single day, and you know what you have done to me. What I said to you in the bathtub, I have not said that to anyone in years. Admit to it, Amelia.”
All eyes were on me. And Nathan was embarrassing me immeasurably. I was not going to admit to giving someone an erection in front of their mother. At that point, I wanted the ground to crack open beneath me and consume me.
Since my first wish wasn’t possible, I darted for the door but found it locked. I had planned the perfect escape. However, with it being locked, I now looked plain stupid.
I nervously met the gaze of all the others with a forced smile. “I was only leaving to change my clothes. What I am wearing now is not suitable for the good news,” I excused.
“No one leaves the room until I finish speaking,” said Nathan, getting off the bed. Mrs. Sinclair tried to stop him, but he approached me anyway.
“Amelia.” He stared intently into my eyes. “You have made me happy again. What little interaction we had has given me hope for improvement. After getting sick, I have felt no emotion, be it sexual or romantic, for any other woman. You’re the only one who has awakened my sleeping heart and_” he paused, but I and everyone else knew what he meant. “Thank you. You have officially passed.” He extended his arm to his right. “Mother, give me grandmother’s ring that you are wearing.”
“Alright.” His mother gave it to him without a single question.
I had a hint about what he was about to do. However, it was too crazy and hasty even for his standards. He was only bluffing. I knew he wouldn’t do anything more than that. He would probably ask everybody else to leave before telling me what else I needed to do to get that giant diamond ring.
Everyone’s jaw dropped when Nathan got down on one knee. He once again proved that he wasn’t ordinary.
He took my hand and kissed it before proceeding. “I know everyone will say that I am rushing into this, but I am a man of my word. You did exactly what I said. Now, it’s my turn to do my part. Amelia Walter, will you marry me?”
He did it. He did exactly what I never imagined him to do, and he did it in front of three other people. His requirements for a fiancé were low. All he wanted was an erection. His disease must be really unforgiving for him to be that desperate.
Nathan flashed the gigantic diamond ring before me like a prize. He was expecting an answer soon, and I was too stunned to say anything.