UNFAITHFUL AFFAIR

CHAPTER 24 ~ Miss Heartless

They kept me overnight for observation. Tests showed there was no damage to my brain, thank heavens, but the black-outs worried them a little.

The next morning I woke up and reached for my phone to check if there were any new messages.

There was one from Ari, saying that she hoped I was doing okay, and that she would take care of everything at the office. That was a relief.

Unfortunately, that was not the kind of message I was hoping for and Arial was not the sender yearning for.

I was about to type a reply when Rachel walked in.

"Good morning! Happy to see you're awake and quite alert as well. How did you sleep?" She asked, reaching for my chart, and then flipped it open.

"I see here that you weren't given any pain medication. Is that alright? You can still change your mind, you know?"

Rachel had to be the sweetest nurse you could have beside your bed.

"I slept alright, missed the possibility to just roll over to the other side of the bed without nearly falling out, but I'm not in a position to complain. And about the pain medication. I'm fine. In the end, it's just a bump on my head, right? It'll get better, I know it will."

Rachel just nodded and took a seat beside my bed. I have known her to spend a little time with her patients, to put in that little bit of extra effort and patient care.

"So, how's Chris doing? Any news?"

Rachel sat a little straighter and turned to look me in the eye. A smile spread wide on her face.

"We have some reasons to believe brain activity is slightly increasing. They will run some more tests later this week. Normally, I wouldn't tell you this, as I don't want to raise hope, but I thought you could use some good news. Besides, I wouldn't have told you if I didn't believe there have been some improvements."

A smile spread on my face and was gone again in only a few seconds. I shouldn't get my hopes up. Sure, it was great news, but there were no facts yet. Just suspicions.

"Thanks for keeping me in the loop. Wait, shouldn't you be home?"

Rachel gave me a warm smile.

"You're right. My shift is about over. I just wanted to check on you. It's not every day that the sister of your longest patient is also your patient. I thought it would be nice for you to wake up to a friendly face. Anyways, the doctor said that I could discharge you any time today. That will be my last task before I go home and get some sleep. Your mom left you a fresh set of clothes and shoes before she left. You should get changed and I'll meet you at the nurses' station."

And with that, she gave me one last smile and left the room to get the paperwork in order.

Once I was dressed and my discharge papers were signed, I made my way over to Chris' room.

He laid there in bed just like any other time. His dark hair recently cut, thanks to my mom, but still messy and tousled. Even his facial hair didn't look like he had been laying in a bed for all of those four years.

I sat down in the chair that stood next to his bed and laid my hand on his.

"I heard you have been spooking the medical staff lately. This better not be one of your little pranks, you hear me? We need you here with us. So, don't you dare to be joking right now."

I stared at his face so intently, that I nearly missed a small twitch of his fingers under the palm of my hand. It shocked me to bits.

There was nothing I could do to prevent the little yelp coming from my mouth. I quickly closed my mouth when I realized that I was still at the hospital and the sound of screaming usually alarms the medical staff in some way. But it was too late. Two nurses rushed inside.

"Everything okay here?"

My face turned slightly red. This was so embarrassing.

"I am so sorry to have alarmed you. It's just that I've felt my brother's fingers twitch, which has not happened in those four years he has been in here. I was just a little spooked."

The eldest of the two nurses smiled at me.

"That's alright, dear. He has been doing that quite a lot lately. Just press the button if you need us."

That was all that was said before the nurses went on with their own work.

I looked over at my brother. Could it really have been true? Do they have reasons to believe Chris' brain activity has been increasing? Or was it just a muscle twitch?

I stayed with Chris for a while before I decided it was time to go home, lay In my bed and rest some more.

Once outside, I hailed a cab and checked my phone every few minutes, anticipating that one message from that one person.

To hell with going home, I'm too restless to do nothing. I need to do something to keep my mind on things.

"Central Park, please?" asked the driver.

There's nothing better than a leisure stroll around Central Park, not having to think about anything, even for a few minutes.

Once in Central Park, I went over to a vendor and bought myself a big cappuccino. It's nearly eleven-thirty, and I haven't had any coffee yet. This must have been a new record.

With my cappuccino in hand, I strolled through the park, checking my messages every once in a while. Still, complete silence from Aiden.

I even caught myself looking around, expecting to bump into him. I mean, I had a cup of coffee in hand, which worked all those other times before. But of course, those things stop happening once you start counting on them.

My quiet and relaxing stroll through Central Park lasted for about twenty minutes.

Twenty minutes of walking around, sipping from my coffee and checking in my phone like I am waiting to hear back from an interview for your dream job.

Or, that's what I thought people in that position would do because I never experienced it. I became CEO of a multi-billion company, just because my brother was in a terrible accident. There was no effort from me there, I just got the job. Sure, I had to go to business school. But it wasn't my life goal. It wasn't my dream.

This sudden realization of thoughts that were pushed far back into the back of my head, made me stop dead in my tracks.

What was I doing?

Compromising love in order to what?

To keep a job that I didn't even want in the first place?

And since when was I that girl that was dead set on waiting for a guy to reach out to her?

It was me who did the screwing up, right?