Obsession||BWWM

XVI. KVF 2352

Continuation

The drive there was quiet, save for Nadia's occasional sniffles. Elijah would worriedly glance over and squeeze her thigh in comfort. "It'll be fine," he'd whisper.

Nadia barely waited for the car to slow to a stop when he pulled into the lot. She hopped out and booked it to the front entrance of Hope Memorial.

The hospital was blindingly white and pristine, the air stuffy with the overwhelmingly pungent smell of cleaning supplies.

It was a clear organized chaos, sort of like at the hospital she worked at. Every member of staff was going somewhere, helping someone, or saving somebody.

She went to the front desk where an old woman with leathery skin and heavy set wrinkles sat, typing away at the computer in front of her. The lady ignored Nadia's presence as she stood there waiting, pushing her round bifocals up her long nose.

Nadia definitely didn't have the patience for this. She cleared her throat, nails anxiously tapping against the counter.

The lady raised a brow, not tearing her eyes away from the screen. "Yes?"

"I'm looking for someone. Adrian Deveaux". Nadia lets her eyes skim over the woman's name plate; Nancy Pike, it reads.

"Relation?" She questions in a tired tone.

"Brother," Nadia says, just as done with the conversation.

Nancy squints her eyes at Nadia in suspicion. " Can I see some ID?"

"For fuck sakes". Nadia angrily pulls out her wallet and flashes the woman her driver's license.

"Different last names, huh?"

"Mind your business".

The woman exhales a slow, lengthy breath and types in Adrian's name into the database.

"Floor 7, Recovery Ward B, Room 5D," Nancy droned and wrote it down on a slip of paper. When she looked up to hand Nadia the information, she comes to find out the frantic and snappy young woman is long gone.

Nadia is rushing towards the closing elevator and slips in just in time. She pushes at the button to the seventh floor several times, the eerie whir of the elevator somehow making her heart beat impossibly faster.

When the elevator dings open, Nadia couldn't get out fast enough. She whipped out her phone in her haste and called Rebecca to inform her of her arrival.

The two friends conversed until Nadia spotted her at the far end of a corridor. "I see you," Nadia said into the receiver. "Behind you".

Rebecca turned around, the worry evident on her face even from far away. Nadia picked up speed, not wasting any more time in scooping hey best friend up in a tight, much needed embrace.

Nadia felt the tears first before a loud sob echoed throughout the emptying corridor. She rubbed her friend's back in soothing circles, willing her own tears away.

At least one of them needed to be strong.

"Tell me what happened exactly," Nadia said once Rebecca calmed down. She sat them done on two unoccupied waiting chairs.

It was then when Elijah walked in, leaning down to kiss Nadia's forehead.  "Sorry I took so long. They wouldn't let me through".