Chapter 5: The Rainy Thursday + He Sees Her Break
1076 Words
Thursday.
London was drowning.
Rain hit Regent’s Park in sheets. The lake looked like grey glass.
Elise almost didn’t go.
Priya had called that morning: “Dr. Patel blocked my number. Ruth won’t answer. We have nothing.”
Elise had hung up and cried in her shower where no one could hear.
But at 3pm she still put on her coat. Still took the umbrella Leo gave her. Still went to the bench.
Because he said “same bench” and she didn’t want to be the one who didn’t show.
He was already there.
No hoodie today. Just a grey jumper, soaked through. Book in a plastic bag.
“You’re soaked,” she said, sitting.
“You’re here,” he said, like that mattered more.
He had two coffees. One was already cold. He gave her the warm one.
“Black. No sugar,” he said.
She took it. Her hands were shaking. From cold. From everything.
They didn’t talk for a while. Just listened to the rain on the trees.
“You look tired,” he said finally.
“I am,” she said.
“Bad week?”
“The worst,” she said. And then, because she couldn’t hold it in: “I met someone. A doctor. Like me. She said the same thing happened to her. And she’s too scared to talk.”
Leo looked at her. “That’s awful.”
“Yeah,” Elise said. “It is.”
She stared at the lake. The rain blurred everything.
“My dad says the world belongs to people who take it,” she said, voice low. “I used to think that was about money. Now I think it’s about silence.”
Leo didn’t answer right away.
“My dad says that too,” he said quietly. “Almost word for word.”
Elise turned. “What?”
Leo shrugged. “He’s... he’s a businessman. Says if you don’t take, someone else will.”
Elise’s chest got tight. Too close.
She changed it fast. “Sounds like a horrible person.”
“He is,” Leo said. “Sometimes.”
The rain got harder.
Elise tried to laugh. “We’re idiots. Sitting in this.”
“Yeah,” Leo said. “But I didn’t want to cancel. You said Thursday.”
Something in her chest cracked.
“I’m not okay, Leo,” she said. The words just fell out. “I’m not okay at all.”
He didn’t look surprised. “I know.”
“You don’t—”
“I do,” he said. “You came here two weeks ago looking like your whole life got ripped away. And you keep showing up anyway. That’s not ‘okay’. That’s brave.”
Elise’s eyes filled. She blinked hard. “Don’t say that.”
“Why?”
“Because if you say it I’ll believe it,” she whispered.
Leo shifted closer. Not touching. Just closer.
“Then believe it,” he said.
The rain kept falling.
Elise set her coffee down. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“Why do you keep coming here? For me?”
Leo looked at the water. “Because when my mum was sick, nobody sat with me. Everyone gave me space. Like I was glass. I hated it. I don’t want you to feel like that.”
Elise’s throat closed.
“Thank you,” she said.
“For what?”
“For seeing me.”
He smiled. Sad. “I see you, Elise.”
They sat until the rain slowed. Until their clothes were heavy and cold.
“I should go,” she said, standing. Her legs felt like lead.
“Let me walk you,” he said.
“You’re already soaked.”
“So are you,” he said.
They walked to Camden Tube together under one umbrella. Shoulder to shoulder.
At the station, she stopped.
“Leo,” she said.
“Yeah?”
“Nothing,” she said. “Just... thank you.”
He nodded. “Thursday?”
“Thursday,” she said.
She went down the escalator. Didn’t look back.
That night Priya called again.
“I found a third name,” she said. “Another doctor. But she moved to Canada. We can’t reach her.”
Elise sat on her floor. “So we have a pattern and no witnesses.”
“We have time,” Priya said. “We keep looking.”
Elise hung up.
Her phone buzzed.
Leo: You got home okay?
Elise: Yes. You?
Leo: Warm shower. You should take one too.
Elise: Already in it.
Leo: Good. See you next week?
She stared at the words.
She typed: Yes.
Friday she didn’t do anything.
Saturday she tried to read but couldn’t focus.
Sunday Maeve called from Birmingham.
“You sound different,” Maeve said.
“I’m fine,” Elise said.
“You’re not,” Maeve said. “But you sound... less alone.”
Elise didn’t answer.
Monday. Tuesday.
She counted the hours to Thursday.
Thursday came again.
This time the sun was out. Regent’s Park was green and bright.
Leo was there early. He had sandwiches this time.
“Cheese and tomato okay?” he asked.
She laughed. Real laugh. “You remembered I don’t do sugar. Of course you remembered sandwiches.”
“I pay attention,” he said again.
They ate on the bench. Talked about stupid things. TV shows. Books. The worst coffee they’d ever had.
For one hour she forgot about GMC. Forgot about donors. Forgot about being erased.
She was just Elise. And he was just Leo.
When they stood to leave, he said: “Can I ask you something?”
“Yeah.”
“Would you... want to get dinner sometime? Not on a bench. Like. A real place.”
Elise froze.
This was it. The line.
If she said yes, it got real. If she said no, she’d lose this.
“I...” she started.
Her phone buzzed. Priya.
She looked at it. Then at him.
“I can’t,” she said. “Not yet.”
Leo’s face didn’t fall. He just nodded. “Okay. Bench is good too.”
“Leo—”
“It’s okay, Elise,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He walked her to the gate.
She watched him go.
And for the first time since the hearing, she wanted something that wasn’t revenge.
She wanted Thursday again.
—
- Writer
