Redverse P.O.V.
"What is this?" She asks, sitting in an upright position, staring at the box in front of her. I sit on the chair across the bed.
"Open," I tell her.
"Redverse, I can't wear this type of dress," she tells me with eyes that hold the same fear she had last night.
"Of course, you will Essence, your party is in 5 hours. You better get ready, everyone will be there, including your precious cousins, okay?" I tell her, caressing her cheeks. I stand up and disappear out of the room. I had surgery to attend in an hour. The fact that Essence studies at John Hopkins University and I am a full-time anesthesiologist at John Hopkins Hospital. I know her weekly schedules. Just as I am about to head outside, I see her run towards me. She is wearing my jumpers and my T-shirt that is too big for her.
"I am sorry for wearing your clothes, I didn't have anything to wear. I just want to rush back to campus and grab some of my things," she explains, looking everywhere but at me. That little habit of hers, when she is shy or embarrassed.
"Okay, come on, I will drop you off, but on one condition," I tell her.
"Condition?" She asks.
"Yeah, I get to drive you back here. You are going to prepare yourself here," I tell her. She sighs and nods.
"Okay, whatever," she says and smiles a little bit, pushing her white hair strands away from her face. Did I mention how I always want to play with her white hair strands every damn time? Her hair is phenomenal. The fact that most of her hair is black except the white strands that always hang in front of her face. My favourite American girl. I don't know how she became one of my favourite people, but she is.
The drive towards the campus is quiet. I see her glance at me from time to time.
"I am not wearing the dress," she says.
"Okay, I will never force you into anything, Cee," I tell her. Honestly, it's her day. I don't want to argue with her.
"Really?" she says with a smile. At least that made her happy.
"Yeah. By the way, I have surgery to attend after I am done. I am going to pick you up," I tell her as I drop her off at the university.
"Okay, thank you," she tells me.
"Vee," I hear her call me. I look at her.
"Will you be okay at work, I mean, after what happened?" she asks, looking at me with concern, bending towards me at window level. I reach for the white strands and play with them a little bit.
"Yeah, I will do just fine. It isn't the end of the world. Don't worry," I tell her, releasing the strand.
"Okay, take care then, mmh," she tells me, turning as she walks away. I head to the hospital. I reach my office and change into my scrubs. Once I am done, the moment I step out, I am greeted with my brother's face.
"Red, can we talk for a second?" he begins.
"Dev, I am sorry. I have surgery to attend. We shall talk another day," I say and walk past him. I do all the handwashing procedures before entering the theatre room. I greet my fellow specialist. Today, the surgery involves knee replacement. So, I prepare my patient for the pre-operative procedure. I look at his file, Collins Peters, a 17-year-old boy, knee replacement, with the main cause of the knee replacement indication being Rheumatoid arthritis. I place the file aside and look at him with a smile, making small steps towards him.
"Hey, buddy. I am Dr. Redverse Fontaine. I am going to help you with your knee so that you can play like other kids again, mmh?" I tell him, smiling at him. He nods.
"You don't need to be scared. This is going to take a few minutes," I tell him, as he nods with a smile full of hope.
All the equipment necessary for performing the local anaesthesia is already prepared. We do the spinal anesthesia, which takes approximately 1-2 hours. I gather the touhy needle, spinal needle, epidural catheter, and injection. I inject a standard hyperbaric formulation of 0.75% bupivacaine. I then inject the anaesthesia spinal needle in the lower back. Afterwards, the knee surgeon takes charge as we check the stability of vital signs. In about 2 hours, the surgery is done. Collins is taken to the post-operative care room. I say a small thank you prayer in my heart for Collin and the successful surgery.
"Congratulations, partner," Mike pats my back, and I pat his too, congratulating him. After removing the surgical gloves and washing our hands, Mike, who is my very close friend, and I have been partners in many surgeries, even the risky ones.
We say our goodbyes. I head to my office and change, ignoring the stares I am getting from the workers. I leave to pick up the birthday girl, who is already waiting for me. She asked me how my surgery was, and I told her it was a success. She congratulates me and instructs me to make a few stops at some makeup shops. I escort her, and once we are done with the shopping, we head to my penthouse. She begins getting ready.
"I can help you, you know," I tell her, laughing.
"Oh, please, what do you know about makeups?" she teases me.
"I don't, but you can instruct me on what to do," I offer, pulling the chair beside her. She stops and looks at me with a thankful smile.
"Okay, let me pick an easy thing for you to do. Just take the concealer and smear it randomly all over my face, that's it," she tells me and hands it to me. I just do that.
"Put on some music, please. You know," she says. I chuckle and reach for my phone. I play "Suh Different" by Patoranking. Her eyes light up.
"Best choice," she says. I return to the chair and help her prepare herself. Before we know it, we both begin singing the pilot verse.
"I am so excited it's already the weekend," we both sing at the same time. I don't know what happened, but in a few minutes, we are dancing.
"OMG, Vee, the makeup!" she shouts at me, hitting my chest teasingly, laughing along.
"Forget the makeup, you don't even need it," I shout back, and we continue dancing.
"Girl, whine, suh different," she shouts and actually whines her waist.
"The party hasn't even begun, and you're already whining your waist," I tease her.
"You speak like you're not enjoying watching me," she teases back.
"You speak like you're a little tipsy," I tell her, smirking.
"And you speak like you love every minute of this moment."
A/N: Thank you for continuing to read the story chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. Please share your thoughts in the comments. Sending love to all of you ♥️
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Essence
Romance"What?! Why? I mean, what do you mean?" Redverse says "We can't be friends anymore, I can't be your friend," I tell him. "One," he says "One, what?" I ask. "Reason," he replies. "You're acting a little different to be only my friend. You look at me...
