Seeing Wu light up with a grin made Nolan realize it was probably not the most proper thing to say about his colleagues. Wu had something about her that made him feel incredibly comfortable in her presence. It was a strange feeling he realized as he studied the veins of white in her black hair. Her face had it"s crow"s lines and wrinkles but her eyes still had the light of youth as her emotions would sway from pity to disgust. Nolan knew from the depth of his heart that he would always be in deep debt to her.He looked down at the spring role she had sliced in half and decided not to eat. Nolan"s words bubbled out of his mouth as he gestured towards the uneaten food, "Are you full?"
She seemed a bit surprised that he asked, but she smoothly slid the plate over to where he could easily reach it, "It brings me a lot of joy to see that you"re apet.i.te has returned. You are a lot thinner than you should be for a young man in college."
The idea that she had been looking at his stomach while they had been eating made him feel self conscious as he shoved the food into his mouth. He then realized that he would like Wu to see him more as a man who could take care of her. To be reduced to the byproduct of a patient surgery was strangely emasculating to him. He stopped the thought in his head and reasoned that the b.u.t.terflies in his stomach were more due to it being such a long time since he has shared a meal with a beautiful woman in such intimate quarters. In the whole of his college experience, he had always been pa.s.sed over by women he liked as a good friend. Wu strangely did not feel like this had happened.
Although he supposed, he was still the lightweight who was the college student related to her patient. He had poked holes in her beautiful image of the perfect man that Henry was. The honestly was she probably thought he was jealous and not worthy of . . . He felt his stomach drop as he realized he had eaten all the food from the table. He got up and gestured that he had finished. "I"d better head to the lab to check on my samples."
"Sure, that"s a great call. I should probably be heading off to bed myself. It"s been a long day."
Wu stood as well and Nolan could see that she had mentally checked off all the tasks she had set out to accomplish. The taunt quality that had permeated her melted away. She was finally relaxed.
Wu paid the check before Nolan had time to take another breathe. The friend of hers who owned the shop raised an eyebrow as he fumbled with his wallet.
"There"s always next time," Wu reminded him with a wink.
He didn"t have a response so he nodded before leaving quickly. From his vantage point Wu waved at him from inside the restaurant and Nolan sheepishly waved back. He felt like an idiot. She deserved much better than to end a day with someone like him. She had performed a miracle today, but as he took the stairs two by two to his lab. He sighed, today was a fine day. He would have no nightmare and neither would Ellie.