Saving Us

The Start Of Something New

The next day...

Claire's alarm goes off and she stops it.

Her mind, still thinking about what happened last night, causes her to wake up with a smile and excitement. She gets dressed. Not to go to work, but to go jogging. It is 05:10.

She puts on her earphones and her favourite song:
"I think we're alone now" by Tiffany. She ends up looping the song.

She starts jogging. It is a little bit dark, but sunrise is supposed be at 06:45.

After ten minutes, she hears someone behind her. She looks at the shadow and stops jogging. The person continues jogging, bumping into her, causing her to trip. He grabs onto her arm to pull her back upright. She sensed danger and was about to go all self-defense on him.

As she is about to defend herself from possible danger, the person starts to talk.

"I am so sorry. Are you okay?" he asked, quite concerned and checking if she is hurt.

"Get your hands off me!" she said, turning around.

She looks surprised to see who is standing in front of her, face to face.

He realises who it was that was standing in of him.

"Surprised to see you here. What are you listening to?"
He picks up her earphones and takes a listen.

He laughs.
"Umm... Well, I guess we are alone now."

"Neil." Claire gasps and smiles.
"Sorry. You just... You gave me such a fright."

"You were about to go pull out some moves there, weren't you?" he said.

Claire laughed, in agreement.

"Deadly motives. Brilliant." he added.

"Sorry, okay, but I thought you were going to assault me, especially since you seemed to be close behind me." Claire said.

"I understand. You wanna jog together or should I just leave?" Neil asked.

"I think you can leave." Claire
answered.

"Wow, Dr. Browne. That was supposed to be rhetorical. Thought the answer was quite obvious." Neil said.

She laughed. "It is. So are we going to stand here all day?"

He laughs and becomes quite serious. "Your shoes are untied."

She looks and he runs as fast as he can.

She gasps and runs after him, trying to catch up.

Eventually she does and they slow down, returning to a jogging pace.

After a while, they stop at a bench amd rest.

"Is this our first date?" Claire asked, jokingly.

"I guess so." Neil said, to Claire's surprise.

"Ha! Funny." she laughs.
Neil, on the other hand is not laughing.

"Wait. You're serious."
She clears her throat.
"I guess this is a nice first date."

He looks at her and starts bursting out in laughter.
"I am sorry. I could not help myself. You had to see your face."

She gives him a look and he stops laughing.

She exhales, shaking her head.
"What now? What do we at work when... " she asked.

"Well, I guess you will be spending quite a bit of time with Dr. Lim and Dr. Andrews, assisting them in procedures and treating patients with them. And if you are working with me, we will be strictly professional and no one will find out, unless one of us say something."

"How did you know I was going to ask about that?" Claire asked, smiling in awe.

"I just do. You are predictable, some times. Then there are times when I just never know with you." he replied.
She smiled.

"Come on. Let's go." he says, getting up from the bench and taking her hand to pull her up.

They start jogging. A while later, she seems to have twisted her ankle. Neil turns around.

"What happened? Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yes. I...am... fine!", she said, running ahead of Neil while he tries to catch up.

He laughs.

Eventually, they slow down again.

"Nice moves." he said.

"I learn from the best." she said, winking at him.

The sun is about to rise and they find a spot in the park to watch it.

He then asks for her phone and puts on a song. This time, it is "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran. The two of them listen to it together as they watch the sunrise.

"Actually, I changed my mind. This is a date. A great one and a nice way to end it off."

"Well, I am glad you enjoyed it.", Neil replied, putting his arm around her shoulder.

They smiled at each other and continued watching the sunrise.