“Tristan?”
A hand tapped the sleeping doctor on the arm, urging him to open his eyes,
“Hey, wake up already!”
“Huh
– what – ” Tristan groaned sleepily as he opened one eye and fixed the topaz
color on his friend, Gab, who was carrying a clipboard and a frown of concern.
“Heartthrob,
you okay?”
“Hmm.
Dunno. Sleeping.” he closed his eye again, but Gabriel shook him harder and
almost hollered, “Hey! Wake the hell up. You’re supposed to be home by now –
it’s not your shift.”
“Go
away.”
“Tristan,”
Gabriel said sternly. But the younger doctor didn’t give any reply as he slowly
went back to his peaceful sleep. Gabriel rolled his eyes and said casually, “If
you don’t get up, I’ll honestly tear that book of yours to pieces.”
The
effect was immediate. Tristan bolted upright in his seat and whipped his head
to the right, his eyes landing on the tattered book on his desk and then, he
stuffed it inside his drawer, out of sight. It probably took no more than three
seconds.
Gabriel
gaped at him.
“You
need coffee. Serious coffee.”
Tristan
just groaned and rubbed his eyes. He didn’t really recall falling asleep in his
office or any particulars preceding that. All he remembered as reading as his
eyelids were getting heavier by the second and then…
“Kate
said she saw you inside your patient’s room sound asleep in a chair and she
panicked. Everyone panicked, actually. Then she brought you out back here and
said you just crashed right back.” When he finished speaking, he shrugged his
shoulders and tried to hide how worried he was about the whole thing. But the
next words spilled from his mouth before he can stop it;
“Tristan,
what were you thinking? Sleeping inside a patient’s room – are you crazy? She
could’ve chocked you like the others, or worse. That was pretty stupid of you –
”
“Calm
down, Gab. Reeya won’t do that.” As his friend continued on his rant, Tristan
tried to sort out his thoughts. He did remember
Kate speaking to him, but it’s faint. All he wanted to do at that moment was
sleep.
“…good
thing we found you before anything happened. Good God, you’re taking her too
seriously.”
“I’m
not.” He automatically protested with a slight scowl on his face. “She won’t
hurt anyone.” Gab almost laughed at what he said and muttered something like
“two-page casualties.”
Tristan
was numb to all this. True, there were a lot of incidents that had done some
damage to the people who tended to Reeya, but they were all temporary. And no
one ever thought about giving her special attention before; he was the first.
That ought to count for something.
“It’s
true. Just take a look at her, Gab. You’ll know what I’m talking about.”
“I
had my look, all right. And then the tranquilizer was in my hand at the time.”
Tristan
almost cursed for the thousandth time today. He forgot about that.
“Now
now, heartthrob. Just have a coffee, hop in your car, and go home like the good
boy that you are.” Gabriel said, putting his clipboard down at the desk.
Tristan had every piece of his mind set on doing just that but he wanted to
make sense of what really happened first before anything else.
“Wait.
Just wait.”
“What
do you mean ‘wait’?” his friend demanded incredulously, “You just look like
you’ve been to hell and just came back – but no offense, really.”
He
chuckled lightly, the amusement sending back some energy to his tired body. He
fixed his eyes on his friend as he stretched his arms and legs as much as he
can and asked in a determined voice, “So, after I dozed off, Kate found me,
right? What exactly did she say?”
“Nothing
of importance. Do you want the specifics?”
“If
you can.”
Gab
walked over to the sofa and relaxed his back against the cushions, saying,
“That little book you’re hiding was on the floor earlier, when you were
sleeping extremely comfortably on the
girl’s room like everything’s okay with the world and Kate said that Hamilton
was looking at you while you were in dreamland – ”
“She
was looking at me?” Tristan asked as
fast as a bullet. He hoped his ears weren’t deceiving him.
“Yes,
genius. Why do you sound as if that’s good news?”
“Because
it is!” he exclaimed gleefully. He tried to process this and felt a good sense
of small accomplishment.
“Er,
can I ask why?” Gabriel asked perplexedly.
“She’s
finally acknowledging my existence!” Tristan replied, all smiles, his fatigue
forgotten. Finally, he thought. “What
did Kate say? How was Reeya looking at me?” he asked, eager for more and very
much excited on the turn of things.
“Well,”
Gab shifted uncomfortably, “she told me the girl was looking at you like…like
she’s wondering why you’re even there. Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s what she
said.”
Tristan
nodded slowly, and in his mind’s eye, he could clearly see the scene and it
gave him overwhelming delight. So much, in fact, that he became unaware of the
huge smile on his face. His friend saw it, though.
“Tristan,
I think you need more sleep.”
“No,”
he replied, turning his glowing face to his, “I feel fine – perfect, really.”
Then on a sudden inspiration, he checked his watch and stood up like lightning
and almost ran to the door.
“Whoa,
wait a minute. Hold up.” Gabriel blocked his path just as Tristan was halfway
across the room and gazed at him worriedly, “I have a weird bromantic feeling
that you’re going to go to– ”
“To
Reeya,” he said, with energy.
“One
word – no.”
Tristan’s
jaw dropped and he stared at Gabriel. Gabriel stared back.
“But
why not?” he complained.
“First
of all – it’s 2am. She’s sleeping. And honestly, you look beat. You need to
rest, Tristan. I think you’re taking this little experiment too seriously.”
“Little?”
Tristan sputtered, disconcerted, “This isn’t the least bit little, a life depends on me. You being a doctor, you should know
that above everyone else.”
His
friend emitted a little sigh and said, “I know that, don’t get cocky on me. I’m
just trying to watch your back. What’s the sense of seeing her when she’s
sleeping, anyway?” he asked, trying to dissuade his friend from going, but in
vain.
“I
just want to see her.” He clapped Gabriel on the back, and said before going
out of the room, “See you.”
Right, Gabriel
thought as he retrieved his clipboard, just
try and watch your back, heartthrob.
Tristan’s
joyful spirit didn’t waver as he strode across the secure ward, with the
radiant, private smile still on his face. If the other doctor’s knew what
happened only a few hours ago, they did a good job of hiding it. But our young
doctor is skilled at reading people, and he knew that they were unsettled. Many
were worried, some were skeptical, and few found him amusing. He couldn’t pick
which one he preferred.
At
last, he stopped at the familiar door and his eyes immediately landed on the
sleeping figure on the bed. She was all curled up, and the thin blanket covered
most of her.
Unconsciously,
a smile slowly appeared on his face, and with his eyes still on her, his hand
sought the doorknob, and he twisted it open. As soon as he was inside, he took
in the sight of her and noticed some very good – yet arguably small – signs of
improvement: slowly receding eyebags, some of her dry skin looking hydrated,
and other little things. More than anything, they gave him hope.
His
eyebrows knitted together as he surveyed the room – cool, dark and very…neutral.
She needs more color. Something alive. And the breeze from the late hour came
through a high window that sent him chills, even fully dressed. A troubling
thought crossed his mind and he went to her sleeping figure. He cautiously
gathered a piece of her blanket. So thin,
he thought.
His
worry increased as he let the fabric slip through his fingers and Reeya shifted
in her sleep, and he made a note to himself to buy blankets in his way home.
If
he was still going home. He checked
his watch and saw that there was still some time before 3am, and his body
seemed to be reminding him that he shouldn’t be here at all. He should be in
his house, by the fire, reading something or maybe drinking.
As
he decided to finally drive home for the sake of his friend’s contentment, his
feet stayed rooted to the spot. On impulse, he leaned down and dusted a kiss on
Reeya’s forehead.
When
he pulled back, his features confused and hid back ramrod straight, he wondered
if his own sanity was on the line.
He
convinced himself that what he did was just a lack of normal thinking – essentially
impulsive. Just on impulse. No one saw
anyway, he thought, no harm done.
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