NURA

Chapter 11

Nate

Dec. 2013, New York

Nura was avoiding him; he was sure of that. At first, Nate had thought that the girl had just taken a day off, but when four days passed, and there was still no sign of her, he couldn't take it any longer and asked Meg about her.

The woman looked at him suspiciously since Nate had previously forbidden her from mentioning even Nura's name, and he was now willingly asking about her, but she chose not to comment on it and just told Nate that Nura had the flu.

She had looked completely fine the last time they saw each other, so he couldn't help but think that Nura was hiding from him. He felt angry with himself since he had never intended for things to go that far that night nor to actually kiss the girl, but he could not resist the temptation.

Nate felt embarrassed once he realized that Nura knew the book was from him, so as soon as her attention was elsewhere, he slipped out of the room.

He had planned to take a second to calm down in private and then take his leave, but what he didn't plan on was that the girl would actually follow him to confront him about it.

Then Nura was there, and she was confused by Nate's gesture, which made her look incredibly cute, and Nate found himself walking toward her, his legs taking him closer before his brain had the time to process what he was doing.

She was so close, barely inches separating them; her face flushed, her breathing shallow, and her lips looking so inviting as they parted with each shallow breath that she took that Nate could do nothing except lean in and end the distance between them.

Then he was kissing her, and Nura was, for some reason, kissing him back, their bodies getting intertwined as she gripped Nate's hair tightly and panted into his mouth, setting Nate's blood aflame.

It had been the most intense kiss of his life; Nura was like a breath of fresh air in the dark cave that was Nate's life recently, and all he wanted was to inhale her. He wanted to consume her whole and to be consumed by her, his brain chanting that this girl should be his as he voiced the thought out loud.

But as soon as he did that, the spell was broken, and Nura had shied away from him.

Nate could see it in her eyes; she didn't want to go, not really, but there was also shame and regret in them, fighting to come out to the surface, and that was the only reason why he'd optioned not to follow her outside when Nura turned away and left.

As much as Nate wanted to be with Nura, to get to know the real her and to show her how much he regretted his previous behavior, he also knew that the decision must come from her.

Up until then, Nate had been the one that had been deciding for both of them and now he needed to let Nura do it for a change.

After all, Nate was the one who had made all the wrong choices, too scared of being hurt again to even try, so now he had to step down and just pray that Nura would give them a chance.

~

"I need a CT scan, an MRI, and complete blood work for the guy in trauma room one, Catlin."

"Right away, Doc." the pretty intern said with a slight nod as Nate stepped out of the room and handed her the chart.

It was Christmas Eve, and what Nate liked to call 'crazy carols' were out for blood. You would think that it, being the time of the year when people went home to spend holidays with their families in peace, would mean that the hospital would have barely any trauma patients, but you would be incredibly wrong. The Holidays were their busiest time of the year, and they always found themselves in the emergency room flooded with people; hence, Nate being there on Christmas Eve.