Men In My Bed

Chapter 8

It is supposed to be another ordinary day for Keila who volunteered to go grocery shopping, to substitute for her mother who's having a headache that particular day.

"Keila, dear, do you remember the way to the mart?," she asked once again.

Keila put her head on her mother's hand and assured her that she knows the way. "Don't worry too much, I'm not a kid anymore and besides, I also have a map that I can use anytime."

Her mother looked at the phone she showed and the automatic map that shows the route she should take to arrive at the mart. "I don't know about your ways. Haah...kids nowadays always rely on their devices, what if you lost your phone?"

Keila chuckled at her. "That won't happen, Ma. You're just overthinking things."

After saying goodbye to her mother, Keila threw the expandable tote bag, which her mother insisted her to bring, inside their family car and sat on the driver's seat comfortably. Like what she said, going to the mart that is twenty minutes away from their home is nothing. She has her GPS with her that shows the way.

If it is not only because of her mother nagging to buy things there to get an extra discount with her loyalty card, she could stop at the convenience store she just passed by after five minutes of driving.

"This...this...and uhm, vinegar...peanut butter." Keila put the things listed by her mother one by one on the trolley she's pushing. It's so hot, with the sun at its 9 o'clock position outside but after going in, the coolness of AC calmed her body and she found shopping a relaxing outdoor activity, making her take the time choosing the brand of the item that she'll buy.

However, she forgot one thing and that's how delicate her body is right now. Caused by sitting too low for a long time, Keila's world turned into a dizzying art when she suddenly stood up on her feet. She stumbled, tried to reach for the shelves to gain support but it's all for naught. In the end, she collapsed on the cold white floor. Some shoppers looked at her with worried faces while three of them hurried to help her.

That's her last memory inside the mart because the next thing she saw is the peach-colored curtains beside her bed that's obstructing her view of the whole room she's currently in.

Two men and a woman are talking to each other in a language that she can't understand. They seem to be arguing but not at the same time.

"Oh, you're awake!," the woman exclaimed when she saw Keila's silhouette move behind the thin curtain. She moved the curtain and let Keila have a view of the room she's in. It looks like she's in a small clinic based on the small desk and equipment that can be found displayed on one corner of the room.

"Where am I?" Keila said awkwardly, asking her exact location because her mother will surely faint if she didn't come back home tonight. Then she tried to look for her phone beside her pillow instinctively but it's not with there.

"Is there something wrong, hmm?" The woman asked.

"My phone."

"Phone, ah. Caspian have it. He's just outside making a call so just relax."

Keila nodded at the stranger like a child. When she gets her phone back, she'll immediately call home and tell her parents to come get her here and pay her bills. She looked around once again and did not see a single suspicious thing inside the clinic. Even the name of the attending physician is spelled clearly, Dr. Alexey Nikolaev.

"Do you...want some water?" The female asked politely, unsure on how to show hospitality to the patient resting on the bed.

"Hm. Yes, please."

When the woman left, the male that's standing beside her also left as if some escort that's not allowed to move separately from his employer.

Then all of a sudden, another person entered the room. "Ariana, we're—," the man knitted his brows when there's no Ariana in the room. "Where are they?," he asked Keila.

"Bought some drinks?"

Caspian sighed and sat on the chair that's placed in front of the desk for consultation. "Do you remember me?"

Keila shook her head. "Are you the one who helped me in the mart? If so, thanks for—"

"Not that."

Keila glared at the man. She doesn't remember that face at all. He's handsome with black hair, the color of starless sky and gray eyes similar to a full moon. He's the embodiment of a dark night that can leave women flocking around her gasping for breath. It's just that Keila is so immune to this kind of man by having Dale around her all the time and meeting with the President that she didn't react as much as the others would normally do.

The man tried to take out a box of cigarettes but put it back again on his suit seconds later. Maybe he realized that he's inside a clinic, Keila thought.

Caspian clicked his tongue and glanced at Keila that seems so oblivious to who he is. That's fine too since he only came here for the new project he took as an engineer but, he's somehow annoyed by her memory that forgets things easily.

"To tell you," he started, "you collapsed earlier in the mart and there's no ambulance to call. You should thank Ms. Ariana Steele—she's the nurse who helped you on the spot.... I only took you here for a proper check-up 'cause I know the doctor who is running this clinic."

Keila only listened to him and dared not to say a word. She's unsure but the man's piercings and unbuttoned shirt gives off an aura that he'll lend some money and kill people to pay interests. If he lit up his cigarette earlier then the whole character would be done. A mobster.

"Oh, Caspian? What did the doctor say?"

"Alexey will come in five minutes. He's just on his usual home visit to a certain patient."

The man called Caspian looked at Keila again and studied her face, which made Keila wonder why he was doing that, since earlier. Then a flash memory came like a bomb.

"Why don't we do it again? Without Caspian this time."

That's what Aiden said when he saw him before inside the company.

Caspian? So that's why his name sounds a bit familiar. But she's not sure if that is really the man from that night because if he is then, it's the end of the world for her. Keila mentally slapped herself and cried internally. Can't her problems have some courtesy and leave her alone?