Mesut's Heartstrings

Chapter 3

The sun was grudgingly rising. Meanwhile, Mindy was already up, pacing in front of the locker rooms while sipping on a cup of hot coffee. She had gotten an email from Dr. Chavda last night with Mesut's training schedule. His individual training session started at five and lasted until ten in the morning. He was then scheduled for team training at one in the afternoon. She was merely expected to introduce his workout regimen, however, she had many things running through her head. Her thoughts were festering from the guilt of keeping her patient ignorant of his underwhelming physical performance. As she was suffocating in this guilt, Mesut came out of the locker room in his running kit.  He approached Mindy and shyly greeted her, "How are you Dr. Li?"

"I'm fine, and you?"
"Good, thank you"
"Mr. Ozil, today we are going to start a new work out regimen which is more rigorous than the previous one. I will supervise you henceforth. I'd like to also work on some strength training and weights to build your physical presence on the pitch. Let's head out to the track now."

Mesut nodded, however, Mindy quickly realized that he had not understood completely what she had said. Perhaps she would need to learn German or help him learn English. She motioned for him to lead her out to the field to start training. While directing his training, Mesut was respectful and responsive to her suggestions although Mindy had noticed he did not have quite as much stamina as other footballers she had studied. Mindy felt a pang of sympathy for Mesut, as she was never as athletic as her peers either. She recalled in elementary school running the mile in a disgraceful fourteen minutes and thirty two seconds. She had exerted herself over that mile. By the end of the year she had cut her time to ten minutes and two seconds, but that was the peak of her performance for the rest of life up to now. Mesut was experiencing the same frustrations on a higher calibre and she desperately felt that she should protect him. As Mindy was getting lost again in her guilt and emotions, Mesut's individual training session was over and he was scheduled for lunch.

"Dr. Li. Would you eat lunch together, please?"

"Of course, Mr. Ozil. I'd love to.", Mindy stuttered. She was caught off-guard by his request. She fetched him his bottle of water and handed it to him as she walked along side him.

"Mr. Ozil, how do you like England? I hear you came from Real Madrid."

"I like, Dr. Li. Many more German friends here. Lucas, Per, and coach Wenger. They make me feel like home. And you, Dr. Li, how do you like England?"

"Oh, it's nice. I've never been abroad like this and I'm lucky to be in such a prestigious sports medicine program. I really don't even know how I got admitted. I feel like I have a lot to prove here. And unlike you, there are no other American interns here, so I've got some friends to make."

"We are friends, no?", he chuckled sheepishly as he probed for eye contact with Mindy, "You call me Mesut, my friend."

Mindy looked stunned as she was reeled back into Mesut's large dark brown eyes. She broke the silence with a smile. It meant a lot for her to call her his friend. Mindy had not had any social excursions since she had been in England and had been supressing the lonely isolation she suffered for the past month. She was present in England for work and found it hard to branch out into the social scenes. She had always kept the same friends back home since she was in elementary school and this environment and circumstance were so hard to adjust to already.

Mindy and Mesut had reached the parking lot in view of his matte black Mercedes Benz AMG. He gently directed her towards his car by placing his hand on the small of her back. Startled by his gesture, Mindy began to blush. He seemed much more suave than his initial impressions and Mindy was falling for his charms unexpectedly. Abruptly, she had caught herself and reminded herself she was a medical professional, not a giddy teenager, and involving herself in romantic pursuits, whether unrequited or otherwise, was strictly prohibited under the patient-doctor code. She scolded herself for over-interpreting his gesture when he was merely being warm and friendly.

"Where do you want to lunch?"

"Mesut, you need to consume atleast 4500 calories a day. A large percentage of this should be carbohydrates. Perhaps a pasta place or anywhere you can get some carbs?"

As Mesut pulled out of the parking lot, Mindy pondered his facial features from the passenger seat, studying his profile. He had rather peculiar features. For example, every feature seemed to arrange itself around his large eyes which expressed a subtle vulnerability that Mindy could not quite discretely describe. His straight nose seemed to exude a confidence that offset the uncertainty revealed in his eyes and his thin pink lips somehow framed appropriately his large and brilliant smile. Mindy's mind wandered on the concept of having Mesut as a friend. What would they do together anyway? Play soccer? How could Mindy be considered a good friend, keeping such career altering information from Mesut? How could Mindy be considered a friend at all, when their relationship was meant to be a patient-doctor relationship?

Mesut had pulled into an Italian restaurant and he opened the door for Mindy who hastily got out of the car. As they were shown their seat, Mindy felt a growing compulsion to confess to him the disclosed discussion she had with Dr. Chavda the previous day.

"Mesut, I feel as your doctor I should tell you..."

"No, please let us enjoy lunch. No talk about training."

A silence blanketed over them and a small seed of awkwardness was flourishing.

"I'm sorry Mesut, I didn't mean to overwhelm you today with all the regimen changes. You must think I'm an overbearing doctor. I just want you to be well, and do well", Mindy appealed.

"I'm ok. I'm sad because I want to improve my performance. It's hard and I'm sad. Thank you for caring about me and for improving my performance."

"Yes, well let's not worry ourselves over it during lunch. Lunch is for eating and not worrying."

Mesut stared intensely at Mindy as his thin lips parted into a large smile. She started feeling uncomfortable as his looks were becoming prolonged and more intense, as if he was probing her soul. She tucked the tendrils of her black hair behind her ears and cleared her throat. When their food came out they ate in comfortable silence, they were friends at this point, and sharing their presence seemed to be enough for the two who could not communicate well with words.