Playing for Rya

40. Surrender

Song: Say you love me by Jesse Ware

The days passed by slowly. Each passing one bringing with it more news about Beverly's recovery. The information came out in trickles as hospital staff whispered and speculated amongst themselves about the VIP patient currently being treated.

By the fourth day, following the day of the accident, the prevailing news was that the patient had awoken from a coma. Some were certain that the coma had been induced while others had heard that she had fallen into that state after her surgery.

And the speculation went on and on. Made stronger by the growing throng of reporters that had set up camp outside the gates of the facility.

Both the gossip rags and the news media carried all manner of news with headlines that varied according to the day.

BUSINESS MOGUL DEREK BLACK POOLS RESOURCES AROUND GIRLFRIEND EMBROILED IN FATAL ACCIDENT.

BLACKED: LIFE OF GIRLFRIEND TO DEREK BLACK HANGS IN THE BALANCE.

WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE THE SIGNIFICANT OTHER OF A MAN WHO OWNS THE PREMIER MEDICAL FACILITY IN THE COUNTRY.

HOW THE ONE PERCENT GET HEALTHCARE.

There were Op Eds about La Cura, and articles about Derek detailing his life and achievements that sparked debates in the mainstream media, and there were articles about Beverly and her life as well. Old pictures of them together were dug up and strewn about the tabloids.

By the beginning of the following week, staff meetings were held in every department within the hospital reminding everyone to refrain from talking to the press, as well as, what the consequences would be if anyone was discovered to have disclosed patient information, speculative or otherwise, to the media.

With the knowledge about what had led to the accident and how Beverly had apparently simply walked into oncoming traffic, Rya's thoughts we're consistently on overdrive.

She wondered what had possessed her to do such a thing, wondered what parts of the rumors she heard were true and which ones were false. Beverly's patient records were under seal and not available to staff who hadn't been assigned to her case and so many of her internal questions went unanswered.

Most of all she worried about Derek, and how he was holding up. The few photographs the paparazzi had taken so far were only of his dark tinted vehicles as he came and went from the medical facility.

She was uncertain about everything it seemed; whether to reach out to Derek, and if she did, what she would say to him. She wasn't sure what he thought of her now if at all he still thought of her.

By Friday, Rya was mentally and physically drained and she opted out of spending the evening with colleagues and friends at Phil's bar, having barely been able to get through her afternoon shift. Instead, she looked forward to an evening of peaceful solitude.

She had barely been back in her apartment an hour when she heard a knock at her door. She checked the time, it was 9:15pm. Her friends had to still be at Phil's and she couldn't imagine who else would be calling at that hour.

Having just emerged from the shower, she hurriedly toweled her hair dry and slipped into a pair of boy shorts and an old baggy tee that she had laid out to go to sleep in. It wasn't a get up she would ordinarily wear to receive company, but she had no intention of letting whoever it was interrupt the restful evening she had planned for herself.

Slipping her feet into a pair of fluffy bedroom slippers she padded to the door and peered through the tiny peephole at her front door.

Her heart skipped a beat as she did this and then began to beat faster as she leaned her forehead against the door for a moment.