MY ART IS LOVING YOU

I FOUND HER

Gabriel

I knew today was going to be a bad day from the moment I stepped foot in this place. Everything annoyed me, especially the people around me. I tried to be as patient as I could and was counting the minutes to finish and get out of there, until I spotted her. Suddenly, everything got brighter and more peaceful. There she was, standing like a goddess, invading my mind and my life. As always, she was on the brink of vanishing once more, just as she did one year ago, and I couldn’t allow that to happen.

I needed to come up with a strategy to approach her while she was engrossed in conversation with her old friend, the same one she was with the first time I laid eyes on her. I wanted to run after her, but how do I excuse myself to these annoying Doctors?

I noticed her conversing with Petter briefly, so I hastily texted him to delay her as much as possible. However, when I glanced up, she had disappeared along with most of my bodyguards, leaving only Petter and Nicandro. What had just happened out there?

“Gabriel?” I turned to the people present, clueless of what they were talking about. “Doctor Geller asked you a question,” Sebastian snapped me out of my thoughts.

“I am sorry, could you repeat the question?” I asked, smiling at her.

“It’s ok. I am sure there is a lot on your mind,” she remarked. Yes, like figuring out how to meet my goddess. “I was saying, how generous of you to invest in this hospital. What made you do it?”

“The truth, it was my sister’s idea,” I explained. “She introduced the project to us, and we loved it, but I am merely overseeing its progress.”

I glanced down the hallway, frustrated with Petter for not following my instructions. What am I going to do now? Why does she always vanish whenever I see her?

I recognized the doctor who allowed us in here and remembered that she was also in that area, so she must be an on-call doctor there. Now, how do I find out who she is? If I ask that doctor, it might raise suspicion. What if he is her boyfriend or something? No, no, no. She couldn’t possibly be involved with anybody.

“Mr. Ziegermann, let’s proceed so you can oversee the remaining areas. Some are still in progress, with just a few final details pending,” Odell informs me.

“Actually, I’d like to meet the doctors in this area. I would like to see what kind of people they are and how they interact with the children. Is it possible to gather them all for a meeting right now?“ I improvised, feeling the need to take a chance. She must be among them in that meeting; if not, I will search every single room in this hospital until I find her.

“Absolutely, we can assemble them. Some may have left or be attending to duties, but we can meet with most of them. Selia, tell them to go to the conference room immediately,” Doctor Odell directed.

“Sure, I already notified them through our group chat, Mr. Ziegermann. I can assure you we have the best doctors working here.”

“I believe you Doctor, shall we proceed?” I am eager to see my ghostly goddess.

We headed towards the conference room and while Sebastian was talking to the doctors, I approached Petter in the hallway.

“You didn’t follow my instructions,” I pointed out.

“A doctor made us clear the area, and she had good reasons for it, so I told the others to wait outside.”

“That is not what I am talking about,” I clarify, and he looks at me confused. “Check your phone.”

Sebastian calls me to join him with the other doctors as they discuss proposed changes. Like I even care about that right now. I just want to see her.

Standing before a group of about fifteen or twenty doctors, I scanned each and every one of their faces in search of her and nothing. None of them match the woman I seek. Impossible, she has to be here.

“What's up with you? You are acting weird,” Sebastian inquired.” You were reluctant to come, eager to leave once we arrived, and suddenly you want to meet the doctors. What is this all about?”

“Nothing. I just want to see who we are giving all this money to, that is all.”

“Sure, like I believe you. I know you very well and there is more to this sudden interest. “You are looking for someone or something,” Sebastian remarked knowingly.

Sometimes I really hate the fact that he knows me so well. But I am keeping this secret to myself.

“Have you noticed how Doctor Geller can’t take her eyes off you?” he whispers.

“I am not blind, but she is not the woman I want to sleep with tonight,” I responded dismissively.

“That means you have your eyes set on another woman. Which one?” Sebastian probed.

“You don’t know her. Drop it and go talk to those people instead,” I deflected.

“No. You called for this meeting, so you take the honors,” Sebastian insisted.

As the doctors interacted and the room filled up, my hopes of her showing up dwindled.

“Are they ALL in here?” I asked Dr. Geller.

“Just a few are missing, some are attending emergencies or on leave, but the majority are present,” she assures me. I looked at their faces once again, but none of them was who I was looking for.

Doctor Geller initiated the meeting by introducing the staff and outlining the purpose of our gathering. When it was my turn to speak, I found myself grappling with what to say. Now what am I supposed to say here; does anybody here know the goddess with the big hips and the sharp tongue? Because I am sure she was the one who made that remark in the other room.

No can do. I am going to have to improvise here, which is something I am good at. I began by sharing our vision and interest in the project, praising their work, and opening the floor to questions.

While one doctor was talking, my mind was trying to figure out different ways of finding this woman until I heard Dr. Fermin and Dr. Geller reprimanding a couple of doctors who dared interrupt me; something I do not tolerate well.

This hospital is full of rude people, although this group in particular is not so bad. But I am already irritated at their bosses and now I have to deal with impolite doctors who interrupted me, so I made it known in a stern manner that Gabriel Ziegermann is not someone you interrupt.

I regretted that a couple of minutes later since I was suddenly standing face to face with the woman I have been looking for—my lost angel. I had given up hope and thought I had wasted my time at this awful place with these horrendous people.

She was looking straight at me with raised brows, arms crossed over her chest, and a defiant gaze while her friend was explaining herself, and then encouraged her to speak as well.

I laughed with tease at her sarcastic remark about her bosses. I also got some of that sarcastic sense of humor myself.

We were interrupted by the director but instead of annoying me as usual, I found it amusing this time. This woman has quite an edgy temper.

I don’t understand why she is not begging for my attention like the other women in this room. The meeting went on until I heard someone call her name.

Lucia. My insolent goddess has a name now; a beautiful one. I was unexpectedly surrounded by other doctors while Sebastian was doing what I longed for most— talking to Lucia. I was immediately possessed by negative emotions such as rage, envy, and anger, which is why I abruptly interrupted their chat in a cold and severe tone.

This woman was making me feel so many emotions at the same time I didn’t know how to handle myself. Besides, why did she and Sebastian seem so familiar with each other?

I witnessed a discussion between Lucía and another doctor, on how she was being exploited and how inconsiderate her colleagues are. She had been awake for 72 hours, which explains why she looks so exhausted and maybe why she is in such a bad mood. Sebastian’s intervention unsettled me. Why is he defending her? Or even worse, why aren’t I defending her?

I felt compelled to defend her, and so I did but she wasn’t too thrilled about it. Dr. Geller allowed her to leave and instead of thanking me, she looked at me with disgust and left.

Apparently, I can’t get anything right with this woman. I excused myself with Dr. Geller and chased after her.

“Lucia!” I call out her name and she turns around, cringing her face.

“Yes?” she responds. Her name sounds lovely coming out of my mouth. And her defying gaze is turning me on.

“Are you in such a hurry, that you can’t even thank me for what I just did for you?” I ask unpleasantly.

“What did you do for me?” She questions. I was defending myself. Besides, I am going to have to pay for what you did back there. However, you did get me out of transferring a patient today.”

“That’s not a way to show appreciation. You didn’t even look at me when you left,” I remark, feeling a mix of frustration and confusion.

“So let me get this straight, you followed me out here just because I didn’t look at you when I said goodbye?” Well, if she puts it that way, it does sound absurd.

“What I mean to say is, a small kind gesture from your part would be nice,” I explain.

“Wow, your ego is worse than what I thought,” she retorts, addressing Petter with a hint of mischief. “Hey! Three Meters, remember what I said earlier? As it turns out, I am about to commit homicide.”

“What are you talking about with my bodyguard, hun?”

“It is between him and me. And it is Doctor to you, not hun. What is with the informality? I never gave you permission to speak to me like that,” Lucia asserted firmly.

“Oh, so now I need permission from you?” I reply, caught off guard by her directness.

“You came out here to point out how rude I am, but I see you are not very polite yourself,” she counters.

“I am not rude. I wanted to do something nice for you because they were treating you unfairly and you didn’t have the slightest kind gesture towards me.”

I am not making sense at all, but this woman is not like the rest. She is getting me out of my comfort zone. I usually don’t even have to try anything to get into a woman’s pants. I even have to make up excuses to get away from them sometimes, while this young lady is the complete opposite. She keeps running away from me and she constantly defies me.

“Why would a little rich boy like you even care if I am rude or not?” She continues.

“Is it so hard to just say thank you?” I respond.

“Well, if I think about it, I have nothing to thank you for.”

“Oh, no?” She is exasperating, “Do you know that your bosses may punish you or even fire you for your bad behavior back there? You made nasty remarks at them, and you refused to follow their instructions. If it weren’t for my intervention, you would be on your way to transfer a patient instead of going home.”

“Well for starters, I know how to handle my bosses which is my responsibility, while you are just some stranger who I am sure has never set foot in a place like this before, so don’t tell me how I should behave. On the other hand, if you hadn’t wasted my time with your pointless little meeting, I wouldn’t have argued with Letty and I wouldn’t be in serious trouble right now. As you can see, I have nothing to thank you for.”

This woman needs some spanking for being so ungrateful and ahhhhhh!!!

“Why don’t you just quit your little show here and stop pretending you care for people like us? I can clearly see you are irritated behind this gentleman mask, so go on and bother somebody else.”

I hear Petter and Nicandro laughing. This woman is making me look like a fool in front of my men and I will not allow that to happen.

“Listen, Hun....

“Is everything all right, Gabriel?” I hear Dr. Geller’s petulant voice while looking at Lucia. “Something wrong Lucia? Another complaint?” She inquired. I find her despicable.

“No, Doctor, no complaint,” Lucia responded. “I was just thanking this gentleman for socializing with us in this part of town.” I got an extremely sarcastic little woman here.

“Gabriel, may we proceed to check out the remaining areas?” Dr. Geller asks, flirtingly, and I smile at her.

I am now in a worse mood than I was a moment ago. I turn to see the little doctor and she is gone; what a bad habit she has of doing that.

“Gabriel.”

“Actually, it is getting late, I have to go.” I inform Dr. Geller, and she is saddened yet she hands me a piece of paper while smiling at me.

“Sure, you can call me any time, for whatever you need”, she implies.

I open the piece of paper and it has her number in it. Incredible, this woman was right in front of me practically begging me for s*x, the others wanted a little bit of attention but the one I want, just completely ignored me, insulted me, and left. How frustrating.

“Sure, I will call you some time,” I affirm. Sebastian approaches us: “Ready? We can...”

“Go.”, I interrupt. “We have other things to do”. Sebastian is a bit confused, but he knows me well and he knew what he had to say.

“That’s exactly what I came out here to tell you, we can finish supervising some other time.”

We say our goodbyes to the staff, followed by Doctor Fermin and Doctor Geller who walked us out of the hospital. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. The only good thing is I found her, and she has a name, a beautiful name:

Lucía.