Crystal Hayslett, a talented doctor from Memphis, TN gets hired at St. Joseph Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. She meets a group of gifted, friendly, and sometimes nosy, co-workers. The glue of that group is Devale Ellis, a surgeon of two years. Deval...
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"So why is it that every time I try to take you out for dinner you get sick?" Devale asked wrapping a blanket around me.
I looked up at him and smiled weakly. "Sorry." I said. "I promise I'll make it up to you."
Me and Devale aren't having the best of luck getting together. I was literally almost out the door when I got hit with this wave of light headed-ness and nausea.
"No need. As long as your feeling better." He said sitting down next to me.
"A little bit." I softly responded. "So you said you wanted to talk to me?" I ask pulling the cover over my body.
Devale nodded his head as a small sigh fell out his mouth. He's done so much shit to me this past month, nothing he tells me will surprises me. I'm just waiting for him to tell me who he slept with this time.
"It can wait." He said making me irritated.
"No say it. I'm not gonna be thinking about this all damn week." I tell him.
He nervously laughed and moved a few inches back from me. "Are you sure? Promise me you won't get mad." He said.
"I can't do that." I said shaking my head. "I can promise you that I won't hit you if I get mad only because I don't have the physical strength to do that right now." I tell him.
He nodded his head and smiled a little bit. "That's good enough." He said giving in. "Anyways you remember when we at work and I was watching the little girl?"
"Yes..."
"Wasn't she so cute?" He asked me.
I nod slowly. "She was absolutely beautiful." I say thinking about her perfectly created face.
"Lauren and I talked a few days ago and the night of the ball I actually found out that I am her dad." Devale said scooting back a little more.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. My mouth started getting water, I started feeling like I had to throw up. So I stood up and rushed to the bathroom. Just like I had assumed, I threw up all the soup that Devale had fed me a few minutes before this intense conversation.
"Shit Crystal, that's how you feel?" Devale asked following me to the bathroom.
He turned the light on and sat on the floor. I felt him grab my hair and pull it back.
"That's your dau-daughter?" I repeat in between small hiccups.
"Are you okay?" He asked me.
"I think I got the flu from one of my patients." I said shaking my head
"You said that last time. You need to take more vitamins." Devale said sitting on the edge of the bathtub.
I flushed the toilet and sat up. Devale draped the blanket over my shoulders. I looked back at him and smiled.
"Thank you." I whisper tiredly.
"Did you hear what I told you?" He asked me.
"What? You have a daughter?" I repeat. "Devale what can I do about the child you and Lauren created, years before we even knew each other. But I am mad at you for lying to me yesterday. You could've told me about it." I say shaking my head.
He let out a breath of relief. "Are you mad?" He asked me.
"No I'm not mad. I am just tired of the lying and the games." I say shaking my head.
He crossed his arms and sighed deeply.
"Since we're being honest and open with one another, is there anything you want to tell me?" Devale asked.
I raised my eyebrow and shrugged. "Not really no." I say standing up.
"Crystal I really just need to know for myself-"
"What do you need to know? I ask him.
"Did you really sleep Boris? I feel like you were just saying all that stuff to make me mad and that's okay if you were." He said sounding hopeful.
I swallow my saliva and turn the sink on. I grabbed my toothbrush and stood there in silence. He was staring at me and I can tell that he just wanted to know the truth. Much like I did and he gave that to me. Regardless of him and Lauren having a baby together, it's none of my business. He was her fiancé and they were in a full blown relationship a year prior to us meeting.
"Crystal..." He called out. "Are you gonna answer me? You're kind of already telling me with your silence." He said.
"If I did sleep with him would that change how you feel about me?" I ask curiously.
"Well I didn't know you got down like that." He said in disbelief.
"Down like what?"
I didn't like where this conversation was going.
"You never struck me as a person who would do something like out of spite. You're not like these other hoes I used to mess with--"
"Do you think I'm a hoe?" I ask turning around.
"I mean what you did was hoe-ish, but who am I to judge." He said shrugging.
"You cheated one me with Maya. I never cheated on you with Boris. We slept together after we broke things off--"
"Right only because you were mad at me. But if you weren't mad at me would you have done it?" He asked looking at me.
I turned the sink off and looked at him. His eyes were a little dark and I could tell my confession had hurt his feelings. Now he knows how I was feeling when he told me about me about him sleeping with Maya.
"Devale I'm sorry. I was in my feelings and I just didn't know how to handle it." I said shaking my head. "I don't know where we can go from here but I want it to end. I want to be friends." I tell him.
"Friends? You wanna be friends?" He asked.
"Yeah we can start there and see it goes. You know I was talking to Dr. Knight and she thinks we didn't build a good enough foundation as friends and that's why things ended the way they did." I tell Devale.
He nodded his head and walked up to me. "I agree with that." He said. "Wait did you say Dr. Knight? You do therapy now?"
"I only saw her once." I said. "And she was nice. I think I might go back." I tell him.
Devale grabbed my face and kissed my lips softly. It caught me off guard but I liked it. My stomach stopped hurting as soon as he kissed me.
