The heads of the nurses sitting behind the reception kept twisting their head side to side, tracking the young doctor’s nervous gait who had been pacing around in front of the entrance of the hospital for an hour already.

One of the nurse while keeping her eyes on the doctor, slanted closer to her colleague sitting next to her and whispered, “Charlotte, do you know why doctor Hearts is acting like a yarn of nerves?”

Charlotte shook her head. “I was going to ask you the same thing- Oh! Shht! He’s coming this way!” She warned Layla, giving her a nudge with her shoulder. They acted as if they were engrossed in work, typing gibberish on their keyboards, but the typing stopped as soon as the doctor’s heavy footsteps ceased in front of them.

“Ladies.” The gentle voice brought their attention back to the young doctor.

Offering them a smile, Simon asked, “What time was Mrs. Graywood’s appointment with doctor Giles?”

“And why would you like to know that?” All their gazes shifted to the older woman sashaying towards them, clutching a stack of dossier documents to her chest. At the sight of the woman, Simon clicked his tongue in annoyance, sensing an impending headache.

“Good evening doctor Leighton.” Simon acknowledges his senior with a nod. Doctor Leighton scoffed indignantly as she handed over the documents to the nurses behind the reception. “Please send a nurse to John’s room to take a blood sample.” She instructed. “That old fool says he has been cured of diabetes, but those scaled feet of his tell me otherwise.”

“Yes, doctor.” The nurses spoke in unison, with one processing the document information to the computer while the other summoned a nurse to perform the task via phone. While they were busy, the older woman turned her attention to Simon.

“Speaking of fools,” Facing Simon, she perched her side against the counter and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “since when have you ever addressed me as doctor Leighton? Just call me aunt Sara like you’ve always done.” The corner of her mouth rose subtly as she arched her brow at Simon. Simon briefly shifted his gaze to the side, catching the nurses stealing glances at him before darting their eyes away as soon as he met their gaze.

He cleared his throat. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. I’ve always addressed you like this at work-”

He got cut off by the hand raised by the doctor. “Hold up.” She shot, narrowing her eyes incredulously before taking a step closer to Simon. “I'm sure that you had just a 24 hours service behind your back, but how come there are no bags under your eyes?” She hummed, taking another step closer. Owing to her petite build, she raised herself on tiptoes and leaned in towards Simon’s face, angling her head as she analyzed him. Her eyes grew large as realization dawned on her. “Are you wearing concealer?”

Simon grunts, taking a step back from the woman and twisting his face away from her. But she would just close the gap between them.

“And now that I look closer at you.”

“This is the closest you have ever been and I would appreciate it if you could remember what personal spaces are-”

“You’ve also trimmed your beard.” She pointed out. Her eyes traveled down from the top of his head to the tip of his feet to see if there were more things that he had changed. She gasped, her wide eyes grew even wider as she stumbled back. “You’re even wearing new shoes? You’re basically human now.”

“Ha… ha…” Simon laughed dryly as he rolled his eyes at her. “If you had your fun, then I’ll take my leave-”

“Is it because of a woman?” She cut him off again, undeterred by the glare shot by him that could cut through glass.

“No!” He bellowed, causing the women sitting behind the reception to flinch and the surrounding bystanders to stop in their tracks to see what was going on. He apologetically nodded at them with a wobbly smile and everyone went back to what they were doing before.

Stroking her chin, Sara hummed. “Your voice was a little too high for my liking, so it’s hundred percent about a woman.”

The muscles in his jaw tightened and Simon gritted out, “No…”

She tilted her head to the side, her eyes blinking thoughtfully. “A man?”

“Certainly not!”

“Hey, love is love.” She shrugged with her shoulders nonchalantly. “So who is this princess that dared to turn our frog into a prince?”

Okay, that’s it! Just like an hourglass, Simon’s patience was running out and his smile was beginning to falter. The tip of his tongue was smarting from the need to release the expletives that he has been wanting to say to his aunt for years.

And he sure as hell was about to do it. He took in took in a tug of air, inflating his chest as he held his index finger up.

“Doctor Hearts?” His heart skipped a beat as he glanced over his shoulder, catching the inquisitive stare belonging to Cherry that caused his chest to deflate and his straight finger to droop down limply.

Straining his posture like a pencil, he swivels in place and stopped short once he faced Cherry. “M-Mrs. Graywood! How have you been?” He threw her a crooked smile with his arms stiffly nailed to his sides.

“I have been doing well!” With a swift motion, she waved one of the crutches in the air, creating a whooshing sound, showing off her progress. “Few more weeks and I will run out of this hospital.” Her grin stretched from ear to ear, her eyes forming a crescent shape as they reflected Simon’s melancholic smile, knowing he wouldn’t see her again when that time comes.

His languid gaze glazed over the radiant woman in front of him. The woman who worked like caffeine to him. Possessing his thoughts and keeping him up at night. His sleep was waning and in the end he decided to take on the 24-hour shift in hope that he could tire his mind out to the point that the bane of his existence couldn’t haunt him anymore.

Unbeknownst to her, the sight of her unblemished skin and the newfound sparkle in her eyes infused his heart with joy, as if he were being showered with sunlight after a long, tiring journey.

“How have you been doctor?”

“Let’s just say I’ll would have already died from lack of sleep if it wasn’t for the coffee in this place.”

She chuckles and the corners around his mouth stretch up at the sound that tickled his heart. “Well you look good for someone who’s about to keel over. What’s the secret?”

You. You’re the secret- my fuel- the reason why I was even struggling a few moments ago in the bathroom to apply some damn concealer under my eyes. That’s what he wanted to say, but instead he said, “The bills that I need to pay at the end of the month.” More of those melodious sounds escaped her mouth and Simon wished that the he could have recorded that so that he could listen to it whenever he wanted to.

Dust settled on top of Cherry’s hair calling out to Simon, beguiling his hand to reach for it, but before he could brush it away a hand capable of covering Cherry’s face snatched away his attention as it seized Cherry’s chin and have her turn to the side.

“You have something on your head.” The velvety voice revealed the presence of Cherry’s husband, who Simon hadn’t acknowledged until now. While keeping Cherry’s head in place, he used his other hand to brush the dust away before smoothing any errant hair strands down. “There.” He spoke, eyes skipping down to her lips, but mouth moving to place a lingering kiss on her forehead that took away her breath and simultaneously drove an icicle through Simon’s chest.

Her gaze, reminiscent of coffee, quivered as they became partially hooded. Them swaying down as if they worried that her husband would notice the stardust dancing in their dilated pupils, that he could feel the warmth coloring her cheeks. The sight was almost staggering to Simon.

And the only thing that kept him on his feet was the small berating voice in his head saying: “They are married. What do you expect?”

He didn’t know what he expected. Maybe he had hoped that his existence won’t be wiped away solely from her husband’s single touch to her face or that she would recall that she was in the middle of having a conversation with him instead of being reduced to a mum babbling child. Only adequate enough to stare at her husband.

“It’s time for us to leave, princess, otherwise we are going to be late for your appointment.” It was like the affectionate countenance sowed by him was the cure to break Cherry free from her stagnant state.

She blinked profusely, gasped as if she remembered she needed air to survive and if it wasn’t for Brandon keeping a firm hold on her waist, she would have tripped back and fall down.

The rogue staining her face deepened in hue once her gaze bounced on each of the nurses and doctor’s faces. The sight was remarkable to Simon, and he ravened more for Cherry’s reaction, but the next time he wants to be the reason for the quick changes in her expressions.

 “R-right, we, we really should go. Bye doctor.” With a shy wave goodbye, Cherry reluctantly allowed Brandon to guide her away from the reception. Simon returned the wave with a subtle smile playing on his lips. Feeling a piercing glare on his face, his eyes steered to lock with Brandon’s. Their staring contest was fleeting as Brandon’s attention got pulled back by Cherry, who must have said something as the corner of lips curled.

The mouth of the nurses behind the reception and doctor Leighton, who watched the whole interaction between the young doctor and patient unfolding in front of them, went slack, their eyes nearly bulging out of their skulls. As soon as Cherry and Brandon were out of earshot, doctor Leighton used her hand like a badminton and briskly smacked the back of Simon, earning a painful grunt from him.

“Ouch! What are you doing-!?”

Smack.

“Why are you-!” Another smack against his back.

“Will you cease already-!” And more smacks. It was like doctor Leighton’s arm became a rifle, rapidly striking every corner of Simon’s body where a bruise could easily be formed. The force of those hits made Simon- a man two heads taller than the older woman assaulting him, cower into a ball.

“You crazy son of a goon! How dare you fall in love with a married woman!?”

Simon bolted up straight, like an explosion of courage. “Will you just calm down woman-”

“Woman?” Her eyes, like emerald gems hidden in the forest, grew wide with disbelief as her voice rose to a shrill pitch at the end of the word. Though her lips were arched the corners twitched, fighting back a snarl.

“You impertinent little…!” With a hiss, she readied her hand for action once more, her muscles tense. “I didn’t raise you up like that!” 

“You didn’t!” He retorted, his voice weak, as he huddled with his arms crossed over his head for protection.

“Well, I might as well seeing how my sister did a poorly job in raising her foolish son!” 

“A good thing you didn’t, as I would have called the child protective service so fast you wouldn’t have seen it coming.”

A laugh devoid of any humor left past his aunt’s lips, the mouth moving mechanically, but her eyes reminded him of a rainforest being consumed by flames, and he knew that he should have kept his mouth shut.

“You know what else you won’t see coming?”

“W-What?”

His aunt gracefully bent down to unhook her high heel from her foot, standing up and holding the shoe threateningly next to her head as a slow smile stretched her lips. “This heel that I’m going to drive in to your chest.” Her strides were heavy and forceful, causing her body to bounce with each step as she approached Simon with a murderous intent.

“Doctor, no!” The nurses behind the reception screamed in terror and hastily rose from their seats, grabbing onto the doctor’s arms.

“Let me go so that I can knock some common sense into that boy’s mind.” Doctor Leighton gritted determined through her teeth, her anger fueling her strength and only dragging the young woman hanging on her arms.

“You will only knock the life out of him. Please calm down, doctor!” One of the nurses beseech while the other glanced around in haste. Desperate to stop the purge that her senior was about to perform on doctor Simon before she caught a guard walking towards them from her peripheral view.

“Guard!” Her call startled the guard, who held a cup of coffee in his hand, causing the contents to spill over the edge and stain the white tiles. “Please stop the doctor!”

Confusion contoured the guard’s expression as his gaze darted between doctor Sara and Simon. Scratching the back of his neck awkwardly he asked with beads of sweat spreading across his receding hairline, “Umm… which doctor?”

Simon’s brains stuttered at the question, instilling silence in the room as even the nurses and doctor Sara stared at the guard with disbelieve.

“Obviously the one who is trying to impale me with a heel!”