What the –
Tristan
was totally gobsmacked as he stared open-mouthed at his doorway. Millions of
thoughts and possibilities were running through his head, all at once.
Who did this?!
In
a trance, he walked into his office. Or what remained of it; everything seemed to be in rubble. Pieces of his
legal papers were on the floor, littered practically everywhere. Even his mahogany desk was upturned, and his lampshade
obviously beyond repair.
In
the haze of confusion, he suddenly remembered his most valued possession in the
room.
“No!”
he moaned as he tiptoed towards his fish bowl. It was now in splinters and the
pebbles and algae were on a wet area of the floor. With his features crumpled
in concern, he carefully knelt down, tried not to slip and scooped up his two
goldfishes.
He
didn’t even mind the rest of the mess in the room. He promptly grabbed a
plastic bag and ran to the sink. When it was filled with enough water, he put
Harry and Ron inside.
“What
the hell…” he wondered to himself. His eyes swept the room once again. Who would do something like this?
He
licked his lips and turned his gaze back to the fishes. No one, no one, messes with Harry and Ron and
gets away with it.
Relief
flooded him once again as he saw both of them swimming inside the cramped
space. But as he squinted and leaned closer, he saw there was something wrong
with Ron’s fin.
“Son
of a b – ” Tristan fumed, his hands turning to fists. His mind was a complete
mess – Ron, his office, his papers, the possessions and money now wasted, ice
creams –
His
topaz eyes nearly went out of their sockets.
“Jesus
Christ,” he muttered under his breath. Reeya was waiting for him, he just knew it.
He
drew in an agitated breath to calm himself. Okay,
first things first.
Fix
the mess. Truth be told, Tristan didn’t want anyone to be involved in this. He
had a really bad feeling about it. The less people, the better. He had to know
who was on the root of this before he could tell anyone. He snapped his fingers
when the perfect person popped into his mind.
He
fetched his phone from his pocket and started dialling. Then it picked up.
“Hello?”
“Nika,”
he hesitated, “can you do me a favor?”
Laughter
met his ears and for a moment, he forgot all that’s bothering him. It’s really
good to have friends.
“What
is it? And should I call you rainbow now?” she asked. Tristan groaned inwardly
at the word. He’ll worry about that later.
“Listen.
I have to get ice creams at the hospital cafeteria and I really can’t leave
with my office…”
“In
a mess?”
He
took a second to have a quick look around and responded to her on the phone,
“Well, yes. Something like that.”
“Oh,
okay. That’s a piece of cake. I’ll come by in a minute – ”
“No,
actually you should know – ”
“It’s
fine! Go get the ice creams for Reeya and don’t worry ‘bout your office. I’ll
take care of it.”
He
slowed down, “How did you know it’s for her?”
Again,
she laughed, “It was pretty obvious. I’ll ask for your keys from maintenance.”
Biting
his lip, he relentlessly thanked the nurse before hanging up and locating his
white coat. The pockets where shoved out, but thankfully, he found his wallet
under the cabinet, open. At least the money
was still in it. His credit cards, insurance cards and everything else were
all gone. Even the receipts that he kept were nowhere to be found.
Rolling
his eyes, he donned his coat and went to the door, leaving Harry and Ron on top
of his makeshift table with a note for Nika. Bless that girl, Tristan thought, he owed her an awful lot.
Doctor
Tristan Devon was nearly flying through the ward and still, he couldn’t get to
572 fast enough. He’d left her alone more than he’d initially intended.
At
last, he skidded to a stop in front of her door. Tristan was about to come in,
but his hand froze in surprise when he saw Reeya. His eyes widened in wonder
and incredulity.
Reeya
was reading. And it’s not just that –
goodness, it’s not just that – sje was also braiding her hair. Braiding her
hair.
His
jaw was on the ground as he twisted the doorknob and opened the door. He forgot
about the whole credit cards fiasco.
She
was already three-fourths through, and he noted, with a little disgruntlement,
that she didn’t even have something to tie it with.
But
still, she looked really pretty.
A
very timid smile was on his lips as he stepped towards her. The calm façade actually
hid his panic and the fact that his very molecules were stirring like crazy.
“Reeya?”
She
raised her eyes to him, and then came her smile. “I had nothing else to do.”
“It’s
fine! Just fine,” more than fine, he
wanted to say, “are you ready to go to – ” Tristan suddenly stopped. With his
eyes wide, he just realized he’s the biggest idiot ever in this facility.
He
forgot the ice creams.
“I
– er – ” Tristan stuttered, as Reeya fixed her gaze on him. She seemed amused
and concerned at the same time, but most of all, she looked utterly normal that it was almost scary.
Doctor
Devon wasn’t scared at all. He was just cursing his stupidity. In a voice
barely above a whisper, he said, “I forgot your ice cream.”
After
a single heartbeat, Reeya laughed a little bit, let go of her hair and said, “I’ll
just wait until you come back.”
With
a quick glance on the book on her lap, he nodded soundlessly, too amazed to say
anything more. “I’ll only be a minute.” And for the second time this day,
Tristan walked out of the room, tongue-tied.
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