She Loved Him and He Died

3. The Golden Haired Girl

The tall man walking walking behind the short woman, makes her heart flutter. She tries to keep her breaths regular and keep her composure intact. Knowing exactly who he is doesn't help with it.

It's not the fact of him being a supposed monster that makes her nervous but the fact that he's been her secret crush for the longest time. His photo that always appeared in the media and newspapers were always accompanied by a article of how ruthless he was as was he a monster.

She never believed these rumors to ever be true, why? Because there was never any proof. No proof of him being mean, sour or anything of that sort. Only quiet. That was a known thing. He was a man of few words and even fewer emotions, but did that mean he was a monster?

Of course not.

She knew, she just knew that he was just a guy that worked hard and made a name for himself, but the media had to taint his reputation with false rumors of his cruelness because he never gave them enough for a 'juicy story'.

It's disgusting.

But nonetheless, there really isn't anything to know about him. He's a mystery. To her, that makes him all the more appealing. The fact that there's a story to learn rather than just knowing everything is exciting to Josephine, having to actually put work in to get to know him seems.... intriguing.

The fragrance of his expensive cologne is refreshing and much needed after practically inhaling rubbing alcohol the whole day. It's not overwhelming and cringe inducing but his scent is actually quite pleasant. It gives off powerful while also being warm and kind.

Arriving at the room, Josephine pushes open the heavy oak door and holds onto it allowing Hero to enter. He gives a small, 'thank you' to her and heads over to the tall check up bed and takes a seat. A soft breeze is left in his wake, the smell of his cologne makes her want to moan is delight but she holds back.

Josephine notes how his long legs comically hang off the edge of the bed, she fights her giggles back, not wanting to come off as rude. "So," she starts, "I'm just going to quickly take your blood pressure and then listen to your heart beat than we can get started on your mental health check in...." she takes a pause, "then we can discuss the real problem," Josephine lightly says as she walks over to the sphygmomanometer also known as the blood pressure monitor. "Remove your jacket please?" She asks as she picks the contraption up.

He complies, and sets it next to him on the bed. Josephine lightly gasps at the sight of his large biceps straining against the tight material of his black dress shirt. Quickly noticing his light smirk, Jo coughs loudly in attempt to cover it up.

'How can I be so stupid?' She asks herself as she feels her cheeks heat up.

With precise movements but shaky hands, Jo wraps the rough material around his arm. While the material inflates, Jo keeps herself busy on the computer so that she doesn't get lost in the sight of his muscles flexing. The beeping of it jars her out of her few seconds of work and she quickly removes it after commenting on how his blood pressure looked good.

After taking a deep breath to calm herself while simultaneously getting a lung full of Hero's cologne, Jo places the ear pieces of her stethoscope into her ears and steps in between Hero's open legs. Being this close to him makes her own heart race and feel like there's a bile in her throat. She secretly admires the greens of his eyes, how there is so much depth in them, how his calculating gaze simultaneously makes her heart flutter while also making her nervous.

Placing the end over his heart she mutters, "deep breath in please," he does so audibly, "again." He complies. She leaves her spot from in between his thighs that are straining against his tight black dress pants and steps to the side so that she can place it on his back, "another deep breath," again he does as he's told. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees how he is balling up his fists then releasing then squeezing again. He's nervous... he's doing a great job at hiding it but Josephine still notices this nervous tick of his.

At the knowledge of this, Jo feels a heavy sensation in her chest, it feels as if it physically hurts her to know of his nervousness for his health. She hasn't even had a full conversation with the man and she already wants nothing more but to know that he is the happiest man in the world.

She wants him to be a man that can live long and be happy...

"Okay, so everything seems to be normal and doing well," she smiles at him and takes a seat on the padded stool with wheels on the bottom, Jo reaches over and picks up a clip board then proceeds to hand it to Hero along with a pen. "Now, please fill out these questions as honestly as possible and after we can have a small chat about it." Jo smiles at him and turns her attention to her computer screen where she looks over the specific aspects of Hero's condition.

'First documented: November 5, day before patients birthday.' Josephine reads with furrowed brows.

'Symptoms included: dizziness; severe headache; shortness of breath and poor muscle coordination.'

'Notes from assigned nurse: patient was rushed in unable to walk from lack of strength in muscles and unable to open eyes from severe head pain. Was being held up by his driver.'

'Puked multiple times throughout the night, couldn't sleep due to the pain in his body.'

'Oxygen therapy commenced for a few weeks, no signs of symptoms going away.'

'Blood Gas test was taken, patient diagnosed with-'

"I'm finished," the sound of Hero's deep voice interrupts her from the reading.

"Great," she says as he hands the clip board over to her. She skims through the page with a light frown. "Are you still taking your anti-depression medications?" Josephine looks up at him, Josephine herself sort of hopes that he isn't. She's experienced taking them and knows how they don't work. But she is still required to prescribe them to patients who refuse to undergo therapy.

Hero takes a moment before speaking, "no, I'm not." His tone is clipped.

"Alright, well there are some other options you can choose to undergo rather than take those medications." Josephines soft voice tells him as she rubs her hands up and down her thighs. "I actually have a good friend that is a therapist-"

"I don't need any therapy," he cuts her off, "nor do I need any of those medications." His voice has turned into one Josephine assumes is for business.

"But-"

"But nothing nurse Langford," he leaves no room for argument, calling her by that name so that she knows he is serious. "Now can we get to what is actually needed to be talked about rather than my mental health?"

Josephine sighs then nods her head. "Follow me so that we can go get some tests done."
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After around a hour, testing on Hero has been completed and Josephine leads him back into the check up room he was already in a hour ago.

He takes a seat back on the bed and huffs loudly, "so um," Jo nervously starts as she flips through some pages concerning his health. And his diagnosis.

'Diagnosis: Methemoglobinemia'

"I don't think anyone has really explained this to you yet, Mr. Finnes-Tiffen, but this condition is where you have a abnormal amount of methemoglobin produced. Hemoglobin is the protein in your red blood cells, with these two together, your hemoglobin can carry oxygen but not be able to release it into your body tissues effectively. Causing your body to shut down." She takes a deep breath and sees the way Hero has tears in his eyes. "Your case is different then most others, yours is congenital meaning you were born with it, and..." she clears her throat uncomfortably, "we caught yours late." She stands up, "usually we both catch this early and it's not congenital or inherited but it's caused by some medication or food, making it relatively easy to treat, yours isn't."

Josephine turns her head away once she sees the tears starting to spring from his eyes. "What do the papers say?" He asks lowly.

"That uh, you're body is shutting down fast. You have around three years left. Most." Tears start to well up in her own eyes.

Here he is. A man who is powerful, feared, hated, prayed on by money hungry people. Sitting in front of her. Alone. Sad. And dying.

Note from author❤️:

Wow I really know how to make myself cry lol.