Chapter 10

• “Why did you do what you did?” he asked as he stitched my wrist up with the little kit in his lap. He was very meticulous in the way he worked.
• He worked like a nurse, his hands were delicate to my arm and it didn’t feel like a muscular man’s own. He was very skilled at his job if his hands were that soft.
• “Why are you asking me that?” I asked wincing when something stung me with a light brush. I gave him a nasty look as I saw that he had purposely stabbed me with the needle to cause me pain. “Ouch.”
• “Did it hurt?” He asked, feigning innocence.
• “Of course it did. I know you know what you did. This isn’t part of what you should do as a doctor, hurting your patients.”
• “It shouldn’t be, but not when my patient is so stubborn that they would get into fights with just about anybody they would see around them.
• “That would be a very terrible way to go about their life. All I want from you is to answer my question.”
• “Which is?”
• “Why did you do what you did?”
• “How…”
• “Don’t deviate from my question. Why did you do what you did? You shouldn't have gotten into a fight.”
• “I was hurt, okay!” I yelled out, taking my hand back as he yanked it to himself to continue stitching it up. “You don’t have to go on with it, I’ll be done with my story soon.”
• “I’d love to sit and chat with you but I’ve got work. You’re not the only patient here and I’ve got to look after the others.”
• He was so professional with the way he handled the stitching while also talking to me that I could not help but admire how he worked.
• “Fine,” I succumbed to his words. “I was angry that my fiancé and my sister had gotten married and had a child. It seemed so soon.”
• “To you it must have seemed like yesterday but to them, it was not yesterday, it was three years.”
• I sighed, “I know, but the way she acted towards me and said those hurtful words to me I couldn’t hold myself but I felt like I had to act or…”
• He finished treating the bruises on my right arm as he pushed my head up to dab the wet cotton on my neck.
• “That hurt,” I hissed.
• “Apologies,” he said, still dabbing the cotton on it. When he pulled back, his face was filled with disappointment. “You almost got yourself killed for a man. I’m really disappointed in you.
• “Instead of trying to destroy your family for my brother who by the way is possibly living his best life with your sister and his new family, I would advise you to show him what he is missing.”
• “But…”
• “No buts, Charlotte,” he retorted. “Don’t do this to yourself. You’re better than this. All of this will not end well for you if you keep on fighting a fight you’ve already lost. What do you want him to do now?
• “Leave your sister and her child and go for you because I guess he’ll sympathize with you and forgo his new family.”
• I had not thought about it like that and hearing it from the way he explained hurt me to the point of me almost bursting out in tears. He was right, I had acted selfishly and stupidly and I was embarrassed for myself.
• I thought about what he had said and I could not find words to express how I was feeling.
• “I’m done,” he said as he stood to his feet. He infused the IV back into my arm before he walked to the door and halted. With a swift move, he turned to face me. “Act right, Charlotte. Don’t act without thinking. Come up with a better plan.”
• Those were his last words for the day before leaving my room.
• I laid back in bed with the conversation we had had hitting me in a deep spot. I didn’t want to be violent towards my sister but she had acted in a way which had made me act in that manner. I was really and deeply hurt by her attitude.
• I wished I had let Marcus explain what had happened. I had only let my anger cloud my judgment and it had hurt my chances at knowing whether he was at fault or not.
• It was almost like he could read me as he had concluded that I would not believe him, and he was right. Instead I had acted rashly pushing him away without hearing from him.
• A knock on my door got me staring at it as Taevon entered with my mother and father. They had huge smiles on their faces, the doctor included, but I could tell that he was faking it.
• “Hey, pumpkin,” my mother called out, sitting by my side to see the stitches on my arms and the bruises on my neck. She was silent for some time as it was evident that she knew what had happened. “Did you sort things out with her?”
• I nodded my head but she was not having it.
• “Don’t lie to me, I know you both fought,” she was beginning to boil. “I should have told her to go home and…”
• “Mrs Garrettson,” Taevon called out. “I didn’t call you out here to fight about things that happened in the past. I called you out for the good things you’d have in the future. Besides, I stopped the fight on time before it could escalate any further.”
• “Oh thank you,” she smiled but it was short lived.
• “So the good news is that you, Charlotte, will be discharged tomorrow,” he said, pointing to me. “You’ll have the ability to go about your life and get your life back from what it used to be. I know it won’t be easy but it is something.”
• “Thank you Doctor,” I smiled at him, still ashamed of myself for needing his help against my sister.