Obsessed by the alpha rebel

7

Amelia sits next to me as we gaze at the extensive garden the hospital has. I take a sip of my coffee, and my friend watches me in silence. She knew something was up; she knew me all too well.

"You know I'm not one to meddle in other people's lives," she says, nibbling on some greasy cookies. "But I feel like something's not right in your life."

"Amelia," I say with a serious tone, "I didn't want to talk about it." But she continues.

"You know, I read a quote that said, 'Learn from the past, shape your future, live the present.' You should apply it," she looks at me, "and also eat something solid. You're always with coffee. Let's get some good burgers." She gets up, and we head to the hospital cafeteria.

"The burgers here are terrible," I murmur to Amelia.

"I know, but we're on duty. I forgot that detail," I just laugh at my friend's quirks. "At last, a good face."

While we order our food, we sit at a table, waiting for our orders. Amelia reads a new article about mini hearts, while I play a game of word search. Our orders appear on the screen, and Amelia goes to pick them up. She hands me my boiled chicken with pumpkin puree. I wish I could be at a burger joint or some other type of restaurant, but the hospital typically serves this kind of food.

"Look, the chef gave us two desserts. What do you want, Muse or flan?" she asks. I grab the chocolate Muse, while she takes the flan.

"I want to discharge the patient in bed five," I inform her, scraping the last of the pumpkin with my fork.

"Of course," she says. "He's cured. Speaking of, now that we're alone..."

"We're always alone," I say, setting the dishes aside and grabbing the chocolate Muse.

"I am. You, on the other hand, lately..." she trails off, motioning with her hand downward. "What's going on between you and that patient?"

"Nothing... he's just a childhood friend," I say.

"And his brother?" she asks.

"What about him?" I say, feigning ignorance.

"Really? We saw you when he approached you from behind, and when you ran away," she looks at me. "Why can't you tell me what's going on?"

"Because it's not important. He's an i***t. Well, he used to be the king of the wolves," I say, getting up to dispose of the dishes.

"Ah, no! You always escape, Vic. You're not a coward. You can tell me..." she interrupts.

"No, Amelia. You don't know me completely, and yes, I'm a coward when it comes to this topic. End of the conversation," I say. "Seriously, it's a chapter of my life I don't want to revisit. Is that so hard to understand?"

I walk away, leaving her with words on her lips. She couldn't understand that I didn't want to talk about it, that I didn't want to relive something I was leaving behind in the past. I sigh.

I was signing the last papers of the day when I felt someone by my side. I stop writing to glance at him from the corner of my eye. Unfortunately, I had felt his gaze from his brother's room, and I knew he wouldn't take long to approach me.

"I liked the blonde," he says, touching my hair. "Yes... I never lost sight of you. Although I can say that the redhead suited you better," he says, releasing my hair.

I don't look at him; I'm just focused on the report in front of me, gripping the pen as if it were my only weapon at this moment. He moves a bit closer and takes the pen from my hand.

"Do you think I'm stupid enough to attack you in public?" he says, setting the pen aside. I still don't look at him or speak. "Impressive... It took centuries for you to become quiet."

"Are you here to mock me, or do you need something else?" I ask, finally looking at him.

He gives me a wry expression. I hated that face. He reveled in the fear he'd instilled for years, he enjoyed it. He looks at me as if analyzing his words.

"Will you discharge my brother so you won't have to see me anymore?" he asks with a cynical smile.

"Not everything revolves around you," I reply, grabbing the papers and starting to walk. He follows me.

"Curious, because I know hospitals have regulations that say a surgery like the one my brother had must be under observation for at least a week, and it's been only a day since his operation," he finishes. I simply breathe and ignore him. "Maybe I should ask the hospital committee if that's true," I stop walking and turn to look at him.

"Listen here," I approach him so no one else can hear our conversation. "Stop ruining my life," I tell him. For a moment, he's the same monster I once knew.

"Your life has been ruined since you met me, darling. And you know what, I'm tired of playing cat and mouse," he says. Then he turns and leaves.

What did he mean by that?

I head to the reception and cancel Frederic's discharge paperwork. Then I go to the room where Frederic and his wife are preparing to leave.

"Is something wrong, doctor?" they ask me.

"Yes, due to hospital regulations, I can't allow him to go home," I tell them. They understand.

"I understand," Frederic says, sitting down, "but my wound is fully healed. It's a waste of another bed if I don't need it," he explains, and I nod.

"I know, and if it were up to me, I'd discharge you, but..." I stop talking when Iskander enters the room.

"Don't have the discharge papers yet?" he asks, the sly son of the moon.

"It seems I can't discharge him by hospital orders," she says. Iskander gives me a sidelong glance.

"I'll leave you two alone," I say goodbye and leave the room, cursing.

*

It's incredible the fear I have of that man, but at the same time, anger; how I wish he'd choke on his own words.

"Did you not enroll him in the end?" Amelia asks, to which I shake my head.

"His brother threatened to report me to the hospital committee," I say, to which she lets out a curse. "Hey!" I reprimand her, and I hear apologies from those around us.

"As if he threatened you! Who does he think he is?" she begins to say, to which I raise an eyebrow.

"First of all, the king," I say, and she shakes her head.

"The king of the wolves, not mine, and not of this hospital," she says angrily.

"Doesn't matter. Don't even think about doing something against him," I say, and she looks at me incredulously. "Hey, don't look at me like that. I know what he's like and what his temper is. I don't want him to hurt you," I tell her, to which she nods. "And if you're right, he's not the king of this hospital, but he knows I'm doing something I shouldn't, so I have to keep quiet and carry on with my work."

Each of us continued with our work until my shift ended. I see Amelia hurrying towards me with a fearful look on her face. She approaches me.

"What's happening?"

"I think I saw some men with weapons."

I was about to ask her why when I saw armed men enter and close every exit. I looked at Amelia, who looked scared. It was a large group, about 20 individuals with weapons and crossbows.

"Everyone on the floor now!" Everyone, except for us, complied. The man who seemed to be in charge of this robbery pointed his weapon at me. "I said, on the ground."

"They can't close the doors of a hospital," I say, crossing my arms and looking at him seriously.

"Get on the ground or I swear I'll blow your head off," he says, approaching me.

"Alright..." I kneel slowly to get on the ground.

"Find that damn wolf!" he exclaims. Some groups had dispersed.

"Sir, the doors are locked," one of the men says, and I curse. I looked at Amelia, who was only wearing her scrubs, not her lab coat, just like me. I cover my ID badge with my keys, and she does the same discreetly.

The man looked around as if searching for a solution. He grabbed a nurse's arm.

"Give me the key," he demanded from the frightened nurse. She told him she didn't have it, and only the doctors had access to that area. One of the nurses pointed at me and raised me roughly. "You, open the damn door."

They were hunters, and I was sure this group was responsible for Frederic's injury. Unfortunately, the hospital was now paying the price.

"That area is off-limits," I tell him. "As soon as you enter, the alarm will go off, and we don't have the code." I make up some excuse to buy Frederic some time and hope he can escape. If not, I would be risking my life in vain.

"Open it, you damn door!" he threatens with his silver dagger.

I nod, and we walk to the door. Behind it was the cardiac unit, where we took recently operated patients. There were only eight people inside. The leader called two more people who followed us. I quickly swiped my card, and it turned red; it didn't work.

"Open it!" he shouted at me.

"It's locked," I said, and he pressed his silver dagger closer. I swiped the card again quickly, and it was denied once more. Once again denied, the doors triggered an alarm to the police and locked all the doors of the hospital.

"Give me that," he takes the card from me and swipes it slowly. The door opens, and we enter.

Once we were away from the doors, they closed automatically, and we walked through the empty hallways.

"Please, try to look through the windows of the rooms," I tell them. "These patients are open-heart surgeries, and we can't enter without protection." They only looked at me and continued their search, but they glanced out the windows. The hunters, except for the leader, disappeared.

"Did you find anything?" he shouted. No one answered. He cursed and grabbed my arm, using me as a shield. We saw his dead comrades on the floor as he looked around. I pulled away from his grip, hitting him in the face.

The man got up to attack me. In the middle of hitting me, he stared at me in surprise. I saw blood dripping from his mouth, and he collapsed to the ground. I looked at the cause of it, and a chill ran down my spine.

Seeing Iskander with his hands covered in blood was like going back to years ago.

"You're welcome," is all he says, tossing the organ he had removed from his enemy.