𝘿𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙡 𝙄𝙣𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝘿𝙧𝙖𝙛𝙩 - 𝙔𝘼𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙍𝙀 𝙓 𝙍𝙀𝘼𝘿𝙀𝙍 ✓

9.

━━━

"What are you thinking?"

Stanislav's chime cut my stare, my eye's darting back from Nurse Bridget, back to him. He isn't asking out of concern nor curiosity, he is calculating me, analysing me. 

Flickering from him and back to the clustered Lounge Hall beyond me, my jaw hangs open to speak for a moment just for it to shut. "Nothing, it's nothing," I assure him, but his head turns from me, back to the sight of Nurse Bridget who makes her way through the groups and switches back into her professional self. 

We are silent for the most part, just standing beside each other in an awkward manner. I'm stiff as a board, ridged as I twiddle my thumbs, watching everyone's conversations and activities. Stanislav continues to observe me closely, lowered gaze with his stoic expression, before speaking to me willingly. 

"You did not answer my question," My whole-body freezes, turning to him in slight confusion. "What?" I question, genuinely pondering as to what he's speaking about.

 "I asked you a question before. You did not answer my question," 

I can only stare for a moment. That is the most he's ever said to me in one line. The most I've ever heard him actually say, the most I've heard his voice. His accent is quite thick and prominent, but his English is clear, yet he roll's his R's and is quite harsh with his vowels. I hate that I like his accent more than I had known. 

I take a moment to process how he actually spoke to me with more than three words, a smile creeping on my face as I giggle a little. He stares for a moment, blinking with confusion. "I asked you why you wanted to know about my love life," He answers as I let out an 'Oh,' of realisation.

"But I did answer, remember, I told you I was curious" I state, reminiscing on our conversation from earlier, but he shakes his head.  "No. I meant, why did you want to know about my love life," He lowers his head as he accentuates the word 'you' as I stare in confusion, not understanding why he was making me the strong point of the question. 

"What about me?" I ask, feeling more and more dumbfounded as he stares deep into my eye's, locked, tight gaze. He turns to face me completely, taking a hand out of his pocket and suddenly yanking my wrist. I wince at the sudden physical grip, flinching as my panic immediately kicks in with defence. 

"W-what are you doing...!?" my breath hitches as I forcibly try to rip my wrist out of his grasp, but he doesn't budge. His body doesn't move against my force in any way, not one sign of movement at all. He continues to stare bluntly, lowering his eyes to his other pocket, taking something out from it and placing something in my gripped wrist before casually letting go. 

My heart continues to pound from the sudden force, taking a step back from him as I open my hand, my pounding heart suddenly stopping. Everything stops. My mind voids. 

My wedding ring. 

Eye's enlarged and widened, I glance up at him with shock and confusion.

"How... what...?" My mouth hangs open slightly, words struggling to form as my mind begins to race and my stomach familiarly churns like it usually does around him. His stare lowers into almost a stern expression, stepping towards me once more, towering. The ceiling lights are overshadowed by his back, like a dark aura formed over him as he eyes me, heart pounding once more. 

"You are married," 

He tilts his head a little, looking me up and down before meeting my anxious expression. "Why do you want to know about my love life, nurse?" He cocks his eyebrow as he leans slightly, I swallow and avert my gaze as panic strikes within me once more. My chest pounds as his scent washes over me the closer he grows. "

I struggle to form a comprehensible thought, only panic and worry in my mind. "How did you... know this was... mine...?" I question with obvious fear and discontent, the whole situation being ultimately sketchy. I slip the ring back onto my ring finger, I never even realised it was gone, I never felt it fall off nor did I take it off. It's all a blur, this is the most confusing and anxiety-inducing situation I've had to deal with. 

"You like to avoid questions, don't you?" The edges of his lips jerk into the same sly smirk as before, straightening up and leaning back from me now. A small breath of relief leaves me as he straightens up, averting my gaze from him. I fiddle with my wedding ring, my mind washing over as I rub my wrist.

"Can you just, tell me where you got my ring...? and how you knew it was mine...?" I sigh as I speak, eyes still locked over the Lounge Hall. The evening is slowly beginning, the music quieting and slowing. My tone is calm and cautious, but stern. He faces the Lounge Hall also, silent once more before finally speaking. 

"I know you, nurse." He states with his deep, velvety tone. I refuse to face him, the words shaking me to my core. It doesn't sound bad, but the feeling is worse. It's so vague, yet it hits me deep and leaves a shutter. I only let out a soft, nervous laugh as I slowly nod. "Ahh, Okay," I mumble, trying to put on an unphased face.

━━━

The night soon falls over, guests gone and patient's beginning to take their medications and head to bed. Cleaning the Lounge Hall in my calm solemnness, I pick up discarded tinsel and ribbon, tossing it all in the trash as I move chairs back to their original place. Spending the time by myself to clean leaves me with my thought's, but it's calming. I can process today at my own pace. Stanislav's vague and sly conversation with me, the overwhelming guests and overall celebration, seeing Nurse Bridget's secret physical action with that family member, it's all very heavy. 

The loud, familiar clicking of nurse Bridget's heels approach me as I scoop tinsel from the floor, the lounge hall door shutting behind her. "Hey Y/N." She begins, stepping up to me as she crosses her arms over her body protectively. I take a quiet, deep breath. I wasn't exactly prepared to see her again today, but anyways...

"Hi," She stares down at me as I scoop tinsel into my arms, standing up to toss it in the trash. From the short glance I get of her, I can notice how her lipstick is slightly faded, smudged at the edges and stained. My gaze darts away almost instantly, pursing my lips in thought to avoid her. 

"What are you doing?" She questions blankly. Her whole composition is off, from her demeanour to her protective stance. I think she knows I'm suspicious of her, but I can only suck a deep breath in and stay calm. "Cleaning up," God this is awkward. I can't look at her in the eyes, if the patient knew what she did with that family member, they'd be a wreck. I feel horrible for keeping it in, but it's more so directed at her for coercing a family member into that physical interaction.

"Can I ask you something?" She questions, but there seems to be very direct, attitude-lined shade in her words. I hum in response as I drop more discarded trash and tinsel into the bin, taking a broom kept close by and beginning to sweep the miniscule trash pieces I couldn't grab. 

"What's with you and Stanislav?" She interrogates quite forwardly, almost with a bold assumption of something more than what's she's asking. I'm not fazed by her attitude, casually sweeping as I sweep the small pieces of tinsel and paper into a little pile. "What do you mean?" I answer with another question, our tone's having a stark contrast. I mean, I could ask her the same thing about her risqué little incident, but I won't. This isn't the time for that. 

━━━