Chapter 50 - I Need Your Body Tonight.

Lewis only nodded in reply with her determined declaration, "You can count on me!" and remained silent the entire time. It was good that Devon didn't continue the matter, as she read a bit more before they went to sleep.

'She really falls asleep fast,' He muttered as he turned to her, sleeping soundlessly. 'Big sister?'

A ridiculing chuckle slipped past his lips as he stared at the ceiling. Actually, that wasn't important to him right now.

It was how the old Devon sees him. Lewis was always known as someone who had everything. Even those people who knew about his difficulty in sleeping never sympathized with him. Not that he wanted anyone's sympathy.

'But the way she worded it sounds… hit a spot no one ever reached.' He clicked his tongue faintly, realizing this side of Devon he never thought she had. Well, he knew little about her in the first place.

To think she cared for his well-being and someone who saw him — not as a friend or someone who saw him as a man — but as a little child, gave him a strange of mixed emotions. Lewis had always thought, even as a child, he needed to grow up to protect everyone dear to him.

The question of, 'how about him?' regarding this matter never crossed his mind until now.

"Is that why you proposed this setup?" He asked as he rolled to his side, staring at her. "To be someone the old you can count on?"

Wasn't she a little deep? To consider him as the old Devon who never had someone to rely on. 

'Aren't we both a little similar?' He muttered as his eyes softened. 

Devon, whose family never cared for her and lived in a house that was supposed to be her home, not a constant battlefield. And Lewis, who seemed to have everything in place, but often felt empty.

Their situation was different, but also similar. Just like how a coin had two sides, they dealt with different circumstances but struggled with the same emptiness.

'How about them?' was the question that was so simple to ask, but also the words which rarely left their lips. 

A question most strong people who had too much to give always struggled with the same question. How about them?

"You really have a way to make other people feel depressed," He mumbled as he closed his eyes, mentally shrugging his thoughts away as he slept.

****

"No…" Lewis whispered in his sleep, breaking out in sweats as his body trembled while clasping on the sheets tightly. "Please… someone… help…"

Devon weakly opened her eyes at the constant movements on the bed. Her eyes fell on his side profile, furrowing her brows as she propped her elbow up.

"My friend?" She called out softly, noticing how he was drenched in sweat while mumbling. "My friend!" Shaking him to wake up but to no avail.

"My friend! Wake up!" She yelled, panicking as she rocked him until he snapped his eyes opened.

Lewis gasped for air as his distraught gaze noticed the pair of eyes hovering over him. "Uh…" He let out a sharp exhale as he covered his eyes with his arm, realizing he had another nightmare.

"Are you alright?" She asked worriedly. "You're sweating too much!"

"Sorry if that woke you up." His breath rasped in his throat as he spoke.

Devon's eyes softened as she let out a faint sigh. "You don't have to. I'll get you a drink and clothes to change to." She said, as she lifted the sheet and was about to fling her legs out of the bed before he grabbed her wrist.

"I'm alright," He said, peeking an eye under his arm. "Just go to sleep. I'll be fine."

She frowned. "Even if you will be, you need to change since you've sweat a lot."

Lewis didn't answer and watched her pull her wrist away. When she stood out of the bed, she huffed.

"Behave yourself, my friend. I'll be back." And she immediately dashed towards the kitchen and went back with a glass of water. 

By the time she returned, Lewis was already sitting up with his back against the headboard. 

"Thank you," he said as he received the glass of water. "I will…" Trailing off as Devon bolted towards his walk-in closet to find him a change of clothes.

"Hah…" A defeated chuckle escaped his mouth as he shook his head. "Whatever."

"My friend, here!" Devon exclaimed as she tossed him a shirt that landed on his lap. 

Lewis gazed at her before picking up the shirt. He said, "Thanks," before taking off his shirt.

"Wai — wait!" She panicked as she instinctively raised her hand to stop him. 

Lewis tilted his head to the side. "Hmm?"

"Why are you undressing?"

"To change," Lewis replied flatly. "Since you want to treat me as a sick person, I might as well play the part."

"I mean! Right! You can count on me!" Devon panicked and turned around so as not to see ogle on his body.

Lewis shook his head as he took off his shirt and mumbled. "Should I just sleep shirtless?"

"No!" 

"Geez. You shamelessly groped my body just hours ago. Why are you acting so shy?" He asked, purposely being shameless just so she could notice him as a man.

How could she counter that? "Ah, that…" 

"I'm kidding." Lewis tossed his drenched shirt out of the bed and immediately wore the new one. "You can turn around now."

Devon cleared her throat and swallowed the saliva left in her before she turned around. She smiled when she saw he was fully dressed and seemed to have calmed down.

"Do you need anything?" asked Devon, as she returned to her side of the bed. She watched him gazed at her in silence.

"Will you do it?"

"I will do anything!" Devon exclaimed in confidence, determined to be useful to him.

Lewis nodded and patted the space beside him. "Come here.. I need your body tonight."