Boundless Love (A Limitless Love Series.): (Christian Romance)

CHAPTER 5

Inside a small office space, Ryan sat behind his desk updating his last patient file. He sighed with relief as he turned the last page. It had been a long day of office work unlike the last two weeks of consultations.

The backlog of patients had decreased to a manageable level. Dr. Sanjay had been called to help at the camp leaving Ryan and Nurse Sintamei to run the hospital. He checked the time and yawned, his mind finally giving in to the exhaustion which his body had been signaling for the past two hours.

"I guess that's your queue." said Nurse Sintamei as she strolled into the shared office.

"Yes, I'm exhausted. We should call it a night." Picking up his bag, he stood. He expected the nurse to follow his lead and walk out but she instead pulled out another folder and settled herself in her seat. She opened it and started making notes covering her mouth as a yawn escaped.

"What about you?"

She looked up from the folder. "What?"

"Aren't you going home? You look tired and I'm sure whatever's in that folder can wait."

"I will go to sleep soon, just waiting on you, I have to lock up."

"Do you live far? I could ask the driver to drop you off, it's pretty late."

"No doc, I live around here, I will be fine." She looked away from him and continued doodling on the folder.

"Are you sure?" He asked, his concern unmistakable.

"Certain, thank you though." She briefly flashed him a smile. The doctor couldn't be fooled, he knew something was up but decided to push no more. He bid her goodnight and walked out. One mind told him to hang around and see which direction she took on her way home but another cautioned him against the stalker like behavior. He obeyed the second.

Since he'd been working here, she was always the first to arrive and the last one to leave. He had always assumed it was because of the heavy patient load, now he knew something else was up. Given the considerable decline in their patients recently, she didn't need to stay any longer. He made his way to the parking lot where his ride awaited.

The MSF camp was strategically placed outside the Daadab camp. Due to the length of time they had provided healthcare to the ever growing refugee population, their tents were semi-permanent, well equipped with water and electricity.

Ryan made his way to his and Joe's tent. The workload at the camp had eased up but Joe still came to sleep late every night and left before Ryan woke up. He went in and prepared for bed as he left his laptop to turn on.

He grabbed a snack from their stash and received an incoming Skype call.

"Hi Niq"

"Hi Ry!"

"What is Ry?"

"Your nickname, you call me Niq all the time I figured I would get you one too."

"So you shortened Ryan to Ry?"

"Well, why not? You shortened my name!"

"That's because Diamonique has four syllables."

"You counted them? Aaaw Ryan! Do you miss me that much?" She chuckled.

"I'm hanging up now!"

"Oh come on, lighten up. So tell me, how was your day?"

"Easier, lower patient turn out today." He popped in a crunchy potato crisp, and chewed loudly.

The princess sat up trying to have a better view of the open bag on his lap. "Dude is that the same bag you've been eating all week?"

He popped in another piece of potato. "Yeah, why?"

"That's disgusting! Leaving it open all that while, do they even taste the same as when the bag was freshly opened?"

Ryan sighed and checked the expiry date on the packet. He popped in another one, "beggars can't be choosers, princess. None of us has had time to go shopping. And I can't stand that cafeteria food. Joe devours every last morsel in his plate," he chuckled. "I think he is even gaining weight since he eats mine as well."

The princess let out a hearty laughter. "Speaking of, how is Joe and what's her name?"

"Joe is fine just really tired, I would assume. I hardly see him. And who, Halima?" He took a swig off his canned soda.

The princess dramatically rolled her eyes. "Actually I meant that ex-girlfriend of yours, Grace is it?"

"Gwen!"

"Whatever. Speaking of the nurse, have you made a move yet?"

"Yes, have you?" Joe's deep voice interjected as he walked into the room.

"Joe!" Squealed Diamonique. "I am so happy to see you!"

"Hey princess." He came closer for a better view. "What lies is Ryan cooking up now?"

"Oh the norm, he was about to come up with one explaining why he hasn't asked that cute nurse out yet."

"Guys I'm capable of having female friends without ulterior motives you know."

"Are you? Name one. "Joe winked at the giggling princess and walked over to his cot.

"I can name several thank you very much and nurse Sintamei is only a colleague, whom I have only known for two weeks. Give me some credit!"

"Wow, he's really passionate about something he doesn't care about." Said Joe sending the princess in a fresh bout of laughter.

"Oh, for the love of humanity. I'm going to bed." Ryan dramatically stomped off to his cot and slumped on it. His action only intensified the collective laughter.

Joe took his place at the desk and engaged the overjoyed princess in a hushed tone conversation. After a couple of minutes he closed the laptop and faced his friend.

"How busy are you at the hospital?" His joy vanished, replaced by a crestfallen expression as he cupped his face in his hands.

"Not so much, in fact I have only one appointment tomorrow."

"We need more hands over at the camp, would you mind joining us?" He looked up, his eyes red and rheumy.

Ryan sat up. "I thought the work eased up?"

"It has, but we hardly get any sleep so an extra pair of hands would be great help."

"Sure, I will be there after my nine o'clock appointment."

Joe stood and languidly walked back to his cot. "Awesome, goodnight Ryan."

"What's the problem? Why the sudden change of mood? "

"I lost a patient today." He whispered, pulling off his scrubs.

"What? I'm so sorry Joe."

"It's alright, I have done this before remember, death becomes a common feat during these missions. Let me give you some advice: try not to get too attached." He tossed the dirty scrubs in a pile at the corner and pulled on an army T-shirt. He slumped on the bed leaving his friend staring after him.

Ryan now knew his friends display earlier was a cover for a deep hurt. He knew exactly what Joe was going through having lost a couple of patients in his career himself, he sighed, closed his eyes and drifted off.