Woman and MEN (on hold)

CHAPTER 4

Everything in life begins with a sort of excitement that only something new can bring about. It doesn't matter whether that thing turns ugly later; it always seems good in the beginning. Even when your hardships start, you think of it as something new and face it with utmost sincerity and positivity. It is later that it becomes intolerable and annoying. The same seemed to be happening with Regina. She had thought that her getting away from Gerard would be all right and everything would eventually be fine. Little did she know that when the feelings you have for someone are deep, it takes a considerable amount of time to rip it off your skin.

In the start, as the feelings had begun to erode a little, she thought she would be over it pretty soon. But the memories defied her and clung on to her even when she wanted them to go away. Right then she started to get the feeling of drowning. And now, she was almost underwater, with only her head above the water. She had never thought fate would play such a game on her. Just when everything started to get normal, and she had something starting between Trevor and her, right at that moment Jerry had to come and join this hospital.

She was still standing in the room after Jerry left. She couldn't quite understand what just happened between these two men, what the inner dispute between them was about, but she was only shocked at Dominic's strange response. At the same time, she was thinking how to spend the rest of her days in this hospital with Jerry in here.

'Why are you still standing?' Dominic broke her reverie with a sudden question that was absurd as well as badly asked. Regina didn't know what to say, and it got her a little annoyed. She looked at him with confused, but abusive eyes. Dominic was smart enough to realise his mistake. 'I mean, you can sit... if you want,' but his reply to his stupid question was even more stupid. It's a hospital room idiot! Not your house and neither is she your guest! Regina just made an ugly, almost 'fuck-off' like face and dashed out of the room.

Dominic was left with such shame and hatred for himself that he would have jumped out of the window if he could. Since when did his public speaking skills get so damaged? What was he to do now? Just when he was thinking these things, the ward boy came in.

'Hey why you so sad man?' asked Paul, who had recently befriended his patient. He was an African-American, with dark brown eyes and a generous, friendly smile with a very cool accent. But he was highly learned and topped all his tests. So Dominic had affection as well as respect for him. Even Paul liked his company. At least one thing that the hospital people didn't do wrong. Otherwise everything they did was bad for him. They saved his life, they didn't let him keep the tubes out of his body, and now they are replacing the doctor with whom he had started to get familiar with.

'Oh nothing. Just, worried about what will happen to me now that my doctor has been changed?'

'I know. Dr. Clark is just too good to be ever replaceable. She is the best junior doctor in our hospital. But I don't have any idea about the new one.'

'I don't want her to be replaced. But now I can't seem to see any way by which she stays in her position.'

'Are you out of your mind? These things don't suit coming out from a rich boy's mouth.'

'What do you mean?' Dominic couldn't quite understand where Paul was heading with this conversation.

'I mean, you can just call your man and ask him to tell the authorities not to change your doctor. Better still, you can even ask them to fix her permanently as your doctor.'

'And what would that mean?'

'That you will be the only patient she will be attending to. You know, like a private doctor or something.'

That was just what Dominic wanted. But it would require him talking to his father, which was the last thing he wanted to do. He was so ashamed at how he had behaved with him despite his warnings, which at last turned out to be true that he didn't have the slightest clue of how to confront him and how to apologize to him.