He calls me Angel

6. Too soon?

Erika's POV:

Dodging the question as fast as I could, I run out of the room, leaving behind a baffled Brandon and a furious Savi. I couldn't answer the nurse's question even if I wanted to, let alone explain to her the kind of situation she found me in with my patient.

I was lucky enough to be off the clock by then and return home without her questioning my professionalism. Only problem was, today was a new day, and I couldn't avoid my patient, let alone escape the nurse I dreaded to see the most.

After rounds, I spotted Linn behind her desk, sorting through bandages and pain meds. I never interfered with anyone's job, but the frown on her face bothered me. 

"Hey, is everything all right?" I asked her, walking inside the nurse's office. White florescent light lit the room, the smell of iodine and alcohol stronger in here that the rest of the hospital.

"Yeah, I'm just trying to understand these scribbles in this patient's file. I need to give him his meds, but the letters look like caricatures."

"Hmmm..." I chuckled, trying to figure out the prescription. "Give me a sec," I said moving to the computer. Logging in to the software, I found the patient's name before printing their prescription. I handed it to her, and she turned to me with wide eyes and a warm smile.

"Thank you so much. I don't know why I haven't thought of that in the first place," she sighed, blushing a bit. "I need caffeine. And sleep. And probably not in that order." 

Light rain patted on the window, dark clouds hiding the summer sun behind them as they moved, before the sun's rays illuminated the room again. It was sometimes overwhelming, alternating through shifts, which was way the hospital's personnel were sometimes burned out. In these moments, only coffee and chocolate could really help, if sleep wasn't available.

After sorting through my own paperwork, it was about time I checked on a certain someone. After our last encounter, I left pretty quickly, trying to avoid Savi's searching eyes. "I'll see you tomorrow, Dr. Ricci..." were his last words, making the butterflies in my stomach flutter with excitement.

I didn't have a chance to talk to him this morning. He looked frustrated under the glaring looks of all interns during rounds, but that was common in most teaching hospitals; a bunch of nerds glaring and writing down information to the T. Some younger medical students also joined today's rounds and wanted to practice the same medical examination I did yesterday. He sent them a glare that pinned their feet on the ground, instead of moving closer to him. It was amusing to see how they were afraid of him. To me, his glaring eyes created shivers to run down my spine, and unlike the students, I wanted to move closer instead; as close as possible.

Biting my lip to urge the thought to dissipate, I knocked on his door. No one answered, so I pushed inside to find his room empty. 

Where the hell was he now?

Anxiety flew through me when I saw the IV bag still in the room; he detached the line off his wrist. This man had no sense of pain or responsibility. It was unnerving how he didn't care about himself. Gritting my teeth in anger, I shrugged all thoughts away, exiting his room. If he didn't care about himself, there was nothing more I could do.

Trying to silence my minds overthinking, I walked up the stairs to the 9th floor where the locker rooms were. Although the main surgical ward was on the 5th floor, it was good to exercise once in a while; the dreadful stairs always eased my mind, since I alternated between overthinking and feeling my lungs with oxygen.

I was halfway there, when I felt an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Almost as if I were being watch. I slowed down, turning around slowly to find no one. Still, the shivers running down my spine troubled me.