Between Gasps and Glances

Chapter Five - ANOTHER WOMAN

Noelle's POV

I couldn't forgive myself for leaving him. All through the drive, I was sobbing like a three-year-old who had her piece of candy taken away from her.

There was absolutely nothing that could pacify me. I was anxious the entire time. I jumped out of the vehicle the moment it pulled over in front of the hospital and didn't even wait for the driver to say another word.

“Ma'am! Ma'am!!” A security guard grabbed me by the arm at the door.

“Damian Hayes. I'm looking for Damian Hayes!” I said,

“Madam, I'm sorry Mr. Hayes is not really allowed to have guests right now.”

“What?” I screamed at the nurse giving me the report.

“You have to be out of your mind or something,” I said, “Theo called me to come here. He's here and he needs me.”

“Ma'am, Mr. Hayes is a private candidate, and even if we wanted to, we wouldn't be able to let you through.” The nurse insisted, “if you can call Sir. Theo though, I'd be more than happy to let you through.”

“Of course, I'd just…” my stomach immediately rumbled as I realized that I had thrown my phone and when the driver arrived, I jumped right into the car without as much as check-in for a phone.”

“Listen, I left in a hurry…”

“I'm sorry ma'am, but if you can't call him down here, there's nothing I can do.” she said, pushing all my buttons.

“Look, I was pulled down here in a hurry. I left my phone because I needed…”

“Argh!” I groaned in frustration, seeing that the woman was not willing to look at me. Whatever rules were protecting Damian from being seen by people was really strong.

I couldn't help feeling like a fool, seeing that I had rushed down here for absolutely nothing. No one wanted to tell me what was wrong with him either.

The anxiety and not knowing was killing me, but no one seemed to care much.

I sat in the lobby, hoping that Theo was going to notice that I was taking unusually long and come to get me, but that didn't happen.

“Damian Hayes,” I heard a female, unfamiliar voice call.

“This way ma'am,”

I hurriedly lifted my head, seeing that the nurse did not question.

“That's not fair, you can't just let her through!” I yelled at the top of my voice, but they walked right past me, and the security guard still held me down.

My heart felt like it had been ripped right out of my chest. I had been there for about an hour and no one paid attention to me, and now this woman came, with not as much as an I.D and she was just allowed through like she was his doctor.

‘Noelle, go home.’ The thought invaded my heart as I sat there. ‘Damian didn't need me here.’ I am a chef and should stick to my job description.

I gave myself a lot of pep talk, but every time I turned to leave, it was as though my feet wouldn't lift off the ground.

‘You cannot be here, Noelle. Leave!’ I returned to pep talks. What the heart wanted defied every logic that I had.

My internal battle grew louder and while I was still at it, Damian, Theo and this woman walked right towards me.

“Noelle, when did you arrive?” Theo probed. He sounded pretty surprised to see me. To me, he was invisible. I kept staring at the way the woman had her hands all over Damian.

“I…I just arrived,” I responded.

“Well then, it's a good thing we already have all the people we need.” The woman jumped in.

Damian was not one to care about anyone, but he was clearly emotionally invested in this woman.

‘Why do I care?’ I said to myself and then followed them out.

“Honey, I think you'd need to ride in a cab,” the woman said to me, stopping me from going into the vehicle.

“Why? I was just…”

“There's not enough room,” she said,

I turned to both Damian and Theo, but they said absolutely nothing in my defense. My heart was broken yet again. I was brought down here to be humiliated.

Tears flowed down my cheeks as I watched the car drive off.

“Ma'am,” a cab parked in front of me and the driver opened the door, ushering me in.

“679, Beverly Street,” I gave him my house address.

I was done with the job, or trying. It was bad enough that he was nothing but mean to me. I was even in a more terrible state to assume that the glances meant anything and I feared that the longer I stayed, the more I was going to lose my mind.

It was an awfully quiet drive back to my apartment, but at least I knew that Jace was going to understand that I tried.

My phone buzzed the very minute the cab pulled over, and I didn't recognize the caller I.D, but I reluctantly took the call.

“Ms. Carter, we would like for you to come to the hospital right now,” the strange voice said,

I held the phone to my ear quietly. I wasn't going to continue running around when it was clear that they were only playing with my mind.

“I would be doing no such thing,” I responded,

“Ma'am, it's Jace,” she said. My heart immediately dropped to my stomach.

Just before I turned around to get back into the cab, he drove off. However, standing right behind the cab was a black vehicle with heavily tinted windows. I could not see the driver. Not until the driver alighted the vehicle.

I completely froze on the spot.

“You!”