Malik and Jade

Chapter 3 (Jade): Call Security

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA

Knowing my son was coming home tomorrow, I felt both relieved and scared to death. In the weeks since he'd been born, I'd never been alone with him. The nurses had always been there helping me care for him, there to reassure me, to handle any little hiccups, to show me the way I needed to handle him. They'd worked with me on pumping breast milk and filling the tiny bottles they gave me to fill and label. When he was ready, they worked with me on actually transitioning him to breastfeeding. It hadn't been easy, but I was determined, and we eventually figured it out.

After waving good-bye to the NICU nurses when I was leaving to get my lunch, I was running through the list of things I still needed to do at home. I'd been preparing for the last two weeks, buying, organizing, cleaning, re-organizing, washing tiny baby clothes, putting them away in his dresser drawers. If you are reading this story anywhere but Wattpad, it's been stolen and you are paying for what you can read by groveltohea for free.  I'd dusted the furniture and cleaned his floors yesterday, so there wasn't much else to do. Everything was in readiness for his homecoming.

Preoccupied, I didn't notice her at first. When I saw a body in front of me in a white lab coat, I stopped quickly before I ran into the woman and looked up. Malik's blonde doctor. I realized, now that I wasn't just seeing her from behind and in shock that there was a woman in my husband's arms, that I'd met her before at some hospital events. Maybe she wouldn't recognize me since I wasn't dressed up and in heels, and I could just pass by her. I moved my eyes away from her and began to skirt around her, but she stepped in front of me.

Would anyone notice me choking her to death with the stethoscope around her neck?

"I need to speak with you," she said quietly.

Irritation flared, and as always, I felt at a disadvantage when someone was forcing a confrontation. I didn't like them, but I also didn't like feeling cornered.

"I don't know you, so we have no reason to speak."

"Oh, I think you do know me. Malik told me you saw us."

Malik told me.

As her words stabbed me, I refused to give her any reaction. As I made to move past her, two things happened: the NICU door opened behind me and Malik's friend and colleague grabbed my arm.

"Let go of me!" I said loudly -- loudly! I had at least five pairs of eyes on me, and two nurses heading toward me as she released my arm.

The nurse who'd just left the NICU reached me first and stopped by my side. "Jade, are you OK?"

I shot the nurse a look of relief as Malik's blonde stepped away from me. Abigail was my favorite NICU nurse, and she'd been an absolute rock for me as I navigated my baby's life in the NICU. She worked only a couple of days a week, but she was compassionate and brilliant, and I think she'd figured out that my husband and I weren't on good terms.

Mainly because we were never in the NICU together so it probably wasn't hard to figure out. The other babies in there often had both parents there at the same time; it never failed to choke me up and almost wish I was still living in ignorance about Malik's secret love. I kept telling myself that keeping our time separate gave our boy more coverage, and it was the same story I gave to the NICU staff. If they doubted it, they were all kind enough to pretend they believed my story.

Malik had tried to join me twice in the NICU, and I'd quickly left when I saw his handsome face, making up some excuse about running to the restroom and getting a bite to eat while he was there to give me a break. Since he refused to take a hint after the first time, the second time he joined me, I'd left the NICU again to get some food, but I'd taken it a step further. 

That night, I'd left him a handwritten note on his bedroom door -- and I'd stuck it on there with a butcher knife, the tip going through the note and into the door. My note warned him against ever attempting to come into the NICU with me again. I'd written out my schedule of when I would be there -- basically all the time -- and the times I'd be stepping out for lunch and dinner. I left some time open in the morning for him before he began his rounds, and I left at six every night when he normally finished his day so he could spend a few hours with our son. The hours in between were mine.

He'd gotten the message as far as the NICU after that.

He was going to get another message tonight. Maybe even attached to the door with an axe this time.

"Could you please call security, Abigail?" I asked calmly. "This woman won't let me move past her and she just grabbed my arm when I attempted to get by her. I think you saw her grab me."

"I did, Jade. I saw it all," Abigail said calmly.

"There's no need to call security," Dr. Blonde said, trying to stare down Abigail. "This is just a misunderstanding, and you really don't want to do this. There's no need to escalate it this way."

"Oh, I think there is," I continued loudly. "You're trying to force me to talk to you, you won't let me leave and you just grabbed my arm. That's unwanted touching and the name for that is assault."

Abigail didn't blink and called to a woman at the nurses' station. "Janay, could you please get security here?"

"You don't want to do this," she warned me this time.

"Dr. Bosemann, I saw you grab her, and the security footage will support what just happened here," Abigail said icily.

"Security's on their way," Janay said and her voice was as cheery as Abigail's was icy.

"You're being ridiculous!" she accused me. "You're going to regret this."

"Threatening me isn't really helping your case," I told her coolly, even though I was feeling sick inside.

"I heard the threat," Abigail said. "Assaults and verbal threats overheard by a witness are not something I'd want in my file."

Security arrived, closely followed by someone from HR as Malik's charming friend tried to throw her position as a cardiac surgeon around. Nobody was paying attention to her.

After briefly explaining what had happened, I gave HR my information and said they could call me later after they finished interviewing Dr. Bosemann and Abigail.

"I assume it's safe for me to go to the cafeteria and return to the NICU without fearing I'm going to be accosted by strangers who have no reason to be on this floor?"

The HR representative assured me I'd be fine and they'd make sure of it.

"When I leave for the day, I'd also like an escort to my car," I said. "I don't feel safe going out there by myself."

This time, one of the security officers, Harris, handed me a card from his wallet and told me to call him when I was ready to leave and he would personally walk me to my car.

"You've all been very kind," I said. "It's a shame that something like this could happen in a place where I used to feel safe, in a place I trust to keep my baby safe."

I left them with that thought to ponder, and walked to the elevator and headed down to the cafeteria, even though my appetite had fled. Halfway through my sandwich, I looked up and saw Malik standing there.

Although his face was impassive, his brown eyes were fiery. He was mad.

I hoped I wouldn't have to call security on my own husband.

But the mood I was in? I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA