An Unexpected Love

A Chance

"But she left two hours ago." said John, crossing his arms.
"What if she left the hospital?" said Nicole, worriedly.
"Does that sound like something Elena would do?" said John.
"No, not at all, but who knows how she is feeling right now?" replied Nicole.

Dr. Melendez tries not interfere, yet he has a feeling about Elena's whereabouts.
"I don't mean to interrupt, but I think I know where she might be."
Everyone looks at him, intently.
"Please. Find her. And thank you." said David, anxiously.

He nods and exits the room.

He immediately checks the stairwell nearby. He does not see anyone. He walks further down and finds her, sitting on a step with her back against the wall.

She turns her head to the side with eyes that are deeply red and tears still falling down her face. She sees him.

"Is she okay?" she asked with desperation, wiping the tears from her face.
Dr. Melendez nodded. "We need to keep her here for about two days and then she should be able to go home. I managed to keep my promise. She is going to be okay, Elena."

Her eyes widened, as she is startled by hearing him say her name. She sighs of relief after hearing her Grams is okay.

"I assumed we were on a first-name basis now, thanks to you" he said, sitting two steps behind her.

She closes her eyes and then opens them, shaking her head and looking at her feet. "Sorry. I never meant to blurt out your name like that."

He laughs. "It is okay. I guess I need to re-introduce myself then." "The name's Dr. Neil Melendez." He extends his hand.
She laughs and shakes it. "Elena Castillo."

They nod and then she turns aways from him. After a moment of silence, he starts up a conversation.

"You know how many times patients have tried to set me up with their relatives?" he laughs.

Elena smiled and shook her head. "It is the same with me, except my gramdmother tries to set me up with people almost every day. I don't see her every day, but then I get a message from a random guy, saying that my grandmother gave him my number. I tell her to stop giving out my number to people and she just keeps saying that she didn't think I'd mind and this guy or that guy would suit me. She says she will stop. Then next week I get another text from another guy. "

He laughs. "Your grandmother is not wrong. You are beautiful. I guess that must be why you get texts all the time." She laughs, blushing, just a bit. "Well if that is the case, then she should stop and let someome approach me without her input."
He smiles slightly.

There is once again silence.

"This is going to sound crazy, but maybe we should give it a try. Just to make her happy."

Elena is surprised at his comment. "What?" She pauses for a second.
"You mean go on a date?" she asked, unsure of what he just said.

"Yes." he said. "Just one. Then maybe she will stop."

She turns away from him. She can feel his somewhat burning gaze, waiting for an answer.

"Look. Think about it. In the meantime, we got to get back. Your family is worried." he said. They both stand up. He starts walking back up before her. She exhales and stares blankly at the wall again.

"Okay." she answers. He stops walking and looks at her.
"Okay?" he asked, confused.
"One date." she said, now looking at him.

He nodded with a smile. "Alright, then. Tomorrow? I can pick you up after my shift?" he asked. He continued making his way upstairs and she followed behind him.

"Yes and no." she answered.
He stopped and turned back to Elena and chuckled. "Why?"

"Tomorrow is fine, but I will probably be here most of the time, so we can leave from here." she said.

He laughs. "Well okay, then."

The two of them hurry back upstairs and they find that Mrs Logan, is awake.

"You found her! Thank you, Doctor." Kristina said, relieved. After she woke up, she was looking for Elena and her family explained what happened.
"You're welcome. She was in the stairwell." he replied.

"Grams!" Elena said, hugging her tightly and crying, once again.

"Oh, Elena. Have you been crying all day? Your eyes are all red."

"They are?" she asked, feeling embarrassed.
She checks in the mirror and blushes.
Neil just smiles at her. "I will check in on you later, Mrs..." Kristina looks at him. "Uh-uh-uh".
He smiles. "I mean Kristina."
He greets everyone else. "Have a good night and try to get some sleep." he said.
Overlapping good nights are heard and Neil leaves.

"He is right. Thank you all for coming, but you need to go home and get some rest." Kristina said.

"But, Mom." Nicole said.

"I insist." she answered.
"Okay, we will be going then. Good night. I love you." said John to Kristina, kissing her on the forehead. "I love you too." she replied. "All of you." John, Nicole and David leave. As Elena is about to leave, her grandmother calls her.

"So? What happened in the stairwell?" Kristina asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Grams, nothing happened, okay." she said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh my. Did he kiss you? Is that the reason why you won't admit that something happened?"

She raised her voice. "Oh goodness, no! Grams! Nothing. Happened!"

"If you say so, then fine. No need to get all worked up. But I can see the way he looked at you." Kristina said, hoping Elena would tell her what happened.

"He was concerned, that's all." she said.
Kristina rolls her eyes.
"Grams, I'll get going. Get some rest. See you tomorrow." She kisses her on the cheek. "Love you."

"Love you too."
Elena makes her way to the door.
"I think I rested well enough during surgery" her grandmother said, jokingly.

Elena ignored her and rushed for the door as she knew her Gramms was going to continue fishing for details.

"Good night, Grams." she shuts the door and sighs with relief.

She sees Dr. Melendez. They both laugh.
"Did she try to interrogate you?" he asked, smiling. 
"Oh yeah." she said with an affirmative nod. They both chuckled.
"I will see you tomorrow." she said.

He nodded slowly and smiled.
"Yeah. Get some sleep."
She smiled.
"Good night."
In reply, he nodded and said good night and went on to fill in some more paperwork at the nurses' desk. He then checked on his other patients before heading back to his office to finish some other paperwork.

She left the hospital and drove home to her grandparents' house.

She still had bags to unpack. She first ate and then moved to unpacking her bags. "This is why we pack light." she mumbled to herself, quite proudly.

She barely started unpacking when she fell asleep, with her head in the suitcase.