𝗚𝗿𝗲𝘆'𝘀 𝗟𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿-𝟲

There was nothing more than his name and contact number on the matte black card. Jenna flipped it over and over again-the silver, formal engraved letters gave no indication of the secrets his mind beheld.

It had been a week since Maddox Bradshaw crashed into Jenna's life like an uninvited pathogen. A week since he threatened her life. A week since those same murderous eyes softened for her. A week since she ran away due to her allergy.

A week since Maddox Bradshaw had left.

Walking out of his hospital room for an escape was the last time she saw him. Jenna knew he'd be gone sooner than later.

And yet the time felt a little too soon.

All he left was plagued memories and his card.

In her periphery the white fan on the ceiling rotated like a phantom-on and on; like her heart thudded without any hesitation. Everything was back to normal but somehow Jenna couldn't get him off her mind.

It was a vicious loop. He was like a hidden pleasure-bloomed in the wake of destruction. Just like Jenna kept his business card hidden in her thesis folder. Between gruesome late night shifts, and crude patients, she turned to holding his card in her palm like that would somehow conjure the man here and she could touch him.

She wanted to touch him again.

And she hated herself for it.

Even on a day like today, she returned to his card for comfort. Pathetic and sad. Pity for her, she had no one to call to calm her nerves. Nobody would catch her if she fell.

The clock kept ticking in the distance as Jenna thought about calling Arna. But Arna's jitters this morning only consolidated that she had a meeting with important clients due noon. There was no point in ruining her best friend's morning.

When the thick hour hand of the clock stuck twelve, Jenna got up and smoothened the creases on her white coat.

Taking a deep breath, her fingers tucked her fringes away from her eyes.

She should leave his card.

She should.

But as Jenna walked towards the conference room where Dr. Eaton had called upon a disciplinary meeting on her, she didn't think twice about slipping his card in the pocket of her coat gently.

Jenna didn't think about her behaviour, didn't question her obsession with Maddox Bradshaw. The same man she ran away from-now his things were giving her the strength she badly needed.

The hell would froze upon before she admitted this to him, or even dared to contact him. Maddox lived in a faraway land in her mind, intruding his island would lead her astray but she was content looking at its beauty from far away.

Standing in front of the door, she couldn't recall her steps here. An automated sensory was Maddox. She breathed again, and released all thoughts of him. They shared history, and he was better left in the past.

Right now, her whole career was in jeopardy.

✽

There were almost twenty staff inclusive of six department heads and five board directors sitting at the front rows. Red plush velvet chairs, and a line of white coats. On the left side stood the hospital guards, undoubtedly called by Dr. Eaton as witnesses of the day Maddox tried to kill the former and Jenna jumped unabashedly to save him.

Jenna nodded and greeted everyone on her way to the stage where she was supposed to stand. The nurses of the hospital had given her all the deets. What swayed the minds of men in this room and what made their teeth clench.