Lune Love

Tactics

Several hours later, Luna gained consciousness. On opening her eyes she noticed the restraints on her limbs. She didn't struggle to get rid of them. She just sighed and relaxed on the bed. "What are you doing Luna?" she whispered to herself. Her train of thought was interrupted by Clara's dramatic entry. She entered along with two more staff walking behind her. "Well. How are you feeling now?" there was slight anger in Clara's tone. Luna caught it immediately. "Like garbage." Clara took notes on a board that she carried in her hand. "Do you remember what happened before you passed out?" Luna took a pause before speaking. She knew her reply was going to affect the following actions. "Maybe... who knows." Clara threw a frustrated side-eye at Luna and continued writing. She knew Luna was just provoking Clara at this point. And the worst part was, that it was working.

Luna saw through Clara's weakness. "How long have you been working here Clara?" "A few years I suppose. Long enough to handle my patients well." A heated exchange of words was developing the tension in the atmosphere. "Oh really? I thought you got in here through donations or something." Clara broke the nib of the pen on the paper. One of the nurses walked up to Luna and gestured for her to keep quiet. "Luna. I am going to increase the dosage for a few of your medications." Clara said through gritted teeth. Luna knew she was hitting a bullseye on Clara. "As you suggest, Dr. Clara." "Take off her restraints," ordered Clara. The nurses freed Luna. She sat up rubbing the marks ingrained on her skin by the ropes. "Thank you Clara for letting me go." Clara gave a pretentious smile and walked away rolling her eyes.

Clara sat in her office going through Luna's History. A knock came on her door. "Come in." "Hey, how are you doing now?" "Hello, Lincoln. I'm alright now. Have a seat." Lincoln was also a doctor working at the rehab. He and Clara had been good friends for a long time now. "So, how is your new patient. I heard you almost got killed by her " He chuckled. Clara looked at him and frowned "To be honest Lincoln, I don't know. My patient isn't exactly sick. I mean she does have this evident medical history. But sometimes I feel like she's just pretending." "That sounds unprofessional coming from you Clara. You know here at the rehab incidents like that happen often." Lincoln spun the paperweight on Clara's desk. " You're right... it's not about grudges. Luna is just my patient and she needs help. That's why she's here." "Now that's more like the brilliant doctor you are. Say we have lunch together today?" "Yeah, sounds refreshing. it's been long." "Ok, I'll wait at our usual spot. See you at 2" Lincoln playfully threw the paperweight at Clara and she caught it. Then after he walked out goofily.

Clara glanced at Luna's records kept on her desk. "Get a grip, Clara. You got this." She tapped herself out of her thoughts. She looked at her wristwatch and headed out of the room on her daily checkup routine.

It was 1:30 pm. and Clara was winding up work to go out to have Lunch with Lincoln when Luna pleaded to meet up with Clara. The message reached Clara and as her duty, she had to meet her. With least interest, Clara went to Luna's room. As she reached there, she saw Luna sitting at her desk from outside the room. Clara cautiously stepped in and cleared her throat. "ahem. Anything you wanted?" "Can you please shut the door?" Clara hesitantly closed the door but stayed close to it, in case she needed to flee. "Yeah? What is it?" "I am so sorry Clara... You were right, I wasn't in my right head. I feel so guilty for charging up on you like that." Clara was taken by surprise. the words coming out of Luna's mouth were completely unexpected. She was too stunned to speak. "Will you please forgive me?" Luna's voice wavered. "Yeah, it's alright. We all make mistakes. The important part is to realize them and learn from them." They exchanged a few more words before Clara finally left for her lunch.

Clara meets up with Lincoln at their routine restaurant ten minutes late. Lincoln was already present there. he sat there scrolling through his phone. Clara sat in front of him. "You know, you were right about Luna being just a patient who needs help." "I got you covered buddy." "She actually apologized to me." Lincoln put his phone down. "That's great." "Yeah. She is improving quite fast. We might as well discharge her in a couple of months." Lincoln raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Is that so?" Lincoln fiddled with the menu card for a while. the next moment the food was plated on the table. "Lincoln! You ordered already... aw man not fair." Clara dug into the food right away "I know you would love some good mushroom ravioli right now. So I ordered. Also, feel free to order more cause you are paying up today." Clara paused with food stuffed in her face. "I hate you Lincoln" She muffled. They were enjoying their meal well and chatting playfully. Although Lincoln suspected something was wrong with the way Clara was behaving. He could sense Clara was hiding something.

They had some brownies with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Clara paid the bill and then they were lazily strolling back towards the rehab. "Hey, Clara tell me what else did you and Luna talk about, before coming here." Clara stopped for a while. She laughed up the obvious awkward silence. "Nothing. trust me." Lincoln did not believe her but he didn't know how else to make her talk.