The Island Doctor

Chapter 4

"What are you looking at mister?" the young woman of nineteen, asked the stranger who was sitting on the chair watching her cook their lunch. The doctor had already left them and went to the clinic. The young man smiled at her and said, "I'm just watching you, is it a sin to admire someone as pretty as you?"

Katerina frowned and knitted her eyebrows, then turned her back at him. She did not reply to him but instead, continued preparing the ingredients for the food that she would cook.

"Miss, hmm...can you help me dress my wounds, please? The doctor forgot to do it. You know how to do it, right?" he winked at her and flashed a smile, showing his perfect teeth.

The young woman faced him again and told him that her father would come in the afternoon to check on him again. "My father will come back, so you don't have to worry...and my name is Katerina but you can call me Kate...if you want to know, sir!"

"Well, I guess I want to know, Katerina! Do you want to know my real name, huh?" he asked.

"Are you going to tell me?"

"No! It is better not to involve you or your father in my situation, but you can call me by the nickname that my mother gave me when I was a child and only my dear daddy knew about it, but when I was ten years old, he stopped calling me by that name..."

Katerina grinned at him. Here is a stranger who has been in their house for only two days but he is telling her some secrets about himself that only he and his parents know about. "Then what shall I call you, sir?"

"Call me Alyosha, that's how my mom called my dad when they were dating and, since I am his junior, I also had that name. My mom used to call me by that name and my father always teased me about it. I miss my mom terribly, Katerina! I hope she never left me when I was a child..."

Sadness could be sensed in his voice and Katerina felt it too. Just like the stranger, she also lost her mother at a young age and she could not even remember what her mother looked like. "I'm sorry to hear about that, Alyosha, but I also lost my mother when I was still a child, but my father did not marry again, unlike your father."

"You don't know what happened, Kate. My stepmom is not good to me and she made my life miserable and there is something he did to me that my father had no knowledge about and I have to keep it a secret from him."

Both have started to become comfortable with each other. There is something between the two that has been binding them together, a feeling that they are just experiencing for the first time. "Alyosha, if you excuse me, I have to hurry up cutting the vegetables needed for the chicken, hmm...can you please leave me alone? I could not concentrate when you were here with me."

"Okay, I will go. I hope that your food is good enough to satisfy me..." he smiled at her again, then limped his way back to the room. "When I'm a little bit okay, I would like to go to the beach with her. She is very pretty and kind, and although she may not have come from a wealthy family, I know that dad will approve of her, unlike my ex-girlfriend who was after my inheritance, obviously. It was a good thing that I was not that in love with her...maybe it was just lust and not love. But this time...hmm...maybe it is love." he smiled at himself while looking in the mirror and talking to himself.

At the clinic, Doctor Joshua, as he was fondly called by the residents, was busy again attending to the children who were suffering from colds. Their parents were given prescribed medicine that they would have to take to make them well again. The medicine from the clinic was from donations coming from wealthy families that lived in the cities surrounding the island. When the doctor was still new on the island, he had to use his own money to build up a small clinic. He even asked his parents to help him financially. Doctor Joshua came from a family of doctors. His father was the chairman of the Moralez Hospital, a well-known private hospital which was located in Manila, and was considered as having the best facilities in all of the hospitals in the said city. His older brother, Jaime, succeeded his father and is now the chairman of the hospital.

His family belonged to the upper class of society but they lived a humble life. They have a foundation that helps patients who have financial problems. Aside from the hospital, their family also owns the Moralez Exclusive School for Girls, which also gives opportunities for students from lower-income families to finish school through scholarships. If doctor Joshua wanted any help from his brother, the older one was always willing to lend a hand. Jaime has been married to his wife for fifteen years but they had never been blessed with a child, making Katerina the sole heiress of their properties.

It was in the hospital that he met a nurse named Monica Gonzales. He was a resident at their hospital and she was a newly graduated nurse. He courted her and even told her how much he loved her, but he was turned down because of the billionaire's son whom she met at one of the parties she had attended along with her friends. The worst thing that happened was seeing the person he loved kissing his rival in front of him. It could have turned into an ugly brawl if the people surrounding them did not interfere. After the accident, Monica did not talk to him again and, since then, he hated the billionaire's son and swore that he would get his revenge someday. He had no idea if he had married her or not or if they even had a child. The Kraisheks' business includes luxury hotels, restaurants, and real estate. Ever since he was rejected by the nurse, he has focused on improving his skills as a doctor. He never had time to fall in love again. His affection towards the young nurse never left his heart, so he decided to go to a faraway place and that is when he found his peace on the island.

On the island, he met a young villager who became his friend, and later on, he fell in love with her, contrary to all the residents' beliefs that he did not, but sadly, she died prematurely when their daughter was still very young. Although he did love his wife, his love for the nurse did not go away and she remained in the doctor's heart. When the news about Monica's death reached him, he felt an unexplainable pain in his heart and blamed the heir for her death. He was also informed that she and the heir had a son and the boy grew up with his stepmother.

When he came home from a hectic schedule at the clinic, he found his daughter in the kitchen preparing the food for dinner. He kissed her forehead then asked her if the stranger had been behaving well in front of her. "He is, father. Actually, you forgot to dress up his wounds when you came to eat lunch with us this afternoon, so I was the one who did it. But don't you worry, father, I did not look at his eyes although they are so pretty daddy!" the young woman blushed and her father noticed it. His daughter was trying hard not to fall for the stranger, but what could he do if she did?

"Yes, I remember now! Well, I taught you well, did I, right? Kate, dear, we don't know him yet. He could not even entrust me with his real name, dear...so please stay away from him as far as possible. Tomorrow, you can come with me to the clinic and help me. We will leave him alone in our house."

Katerina could not believe that she was being warned by her father not to get closer to the young man. She, on her part, wants to stay close to him. She even lets him kiss her hands and caresses her hair. "But Dad, what if he needs something from me? He can not even walk yet, he is limping and his body aches all over. Please let me stay here with him...."

Doctor Joshua is clenching his fist, trying not to punch the injured man. His daughter never answered him back and only follows his every decision, except of course when the time that he asked her to go to the city and study medicine, but now she is defying him and he does not like it. "Why? Did something happen when I was gone? Did he do something to you, Kate? His voice is trembling and he cannot control himself. His daughter is no longer a child but a grown-up woman and the stranger is a very handsome man.

"Dad, nothing happened between us. He is kind and a gentleman. Please dad, when he gets better he is planning to go and leave us. For now, let me stay with him...hmm....dad, he is asking me if we could go walking to the beach next week. I told him that I have to ask permission from you first..."

"Do you want to go with him?" his eyes were looking straight at his daughter and he noticed that she wanted to go with him, not only to the beach but to the edge of the world.

"Yes, dad. I want to walk to the beach with him. Are you going to allow me, dear daddy?"

"If I say no, are you going to be mad at me, Kate?"

His daughter bit her lips and clenched both her hands, then replied, "It's okay, father. I will tell Alyosha that you don't want me to come with him to the beach. I'd better call him, dinner is almost ready."

"Wait! He told you his name but he never told me? He trusts you but not me, is that it, dear?" his eyes were widening and he was keeping his cool.

"Well, it was his nickname, dad. He does not want us to know who he really was. The culprit could still be looking for him, so it is better for us not to be involved in his case, he told me."

"I see. Okay, call him now. After dinner, I need to check him out again and I might change my mind and allow you to go with him if I see that he is getting better. He cannot force himself to do straining tasks like walking around for a long time. His body needs rest to be able to recover faster."

"Okay, dad," she replied, then went to the room to call the stranger. She got startled when she felt his arms around her waist when she entered the room. She could feel his warm embrace but she did not try to push him. "Let us go to the dining room and eat, Alyosha. Please let go of me. Dad would be very mad if he saw us like this."

"Before I do, answer my question first. Do you like me? Before you said you don't. Did you change your mind now, darling Kate?" he is smiling at her while his arms are still on her waist.

"I do, but you also said that I am not your type, but now, do you like me too?"

"I was just teasing you back then. I do like you..." he let her go but he pulled her again and kissed her lips tenderly. Both smiled at each other when they heard the doctor calling them. Katerina came in first, followed by the limping stranger.

Doctor Joshua sat opposite Alyosha. He greeted the young man and asked about his injury. "I'm doing fine doc. Your daughter is a good nurse and I'm glad she never leaves me alone."

"Well, tomorrow, I'm afraid that I will be needing her help at the clinic. There were many people who had come today and I got so exhausted attending to them. You can stay all alone here, right Alyosha? My daughter told me that she could call you by that name. Perhaps you will allow me to call you by that name, too!"

"Of course, doc! It's my nickname and only my parents knew about it and now you and Kate. Hmm....doc...can I invite Kate to come with me to the beach when I get better, probably next week?" the young man asked, wanting to know if the doctor would react affirmatively or not to his inquiry.

"Why do you want my daughter to come along with you? Do you like her?"

The young man did not reply. Silence engulfed the three of them until Katerina spoke, "Father, why do you have to ask him that? He is not even here for a week and then...dad, he is still sick and I'm just helping him..."

"Okay, I'm sorry, but next time you have to answer me,? (looking at the direction of the young person) I will think about your request, but for now, you have to take a rest so that you will get better. Do you understand, Alyosha?"

The young man nodded and continued to eat. He does not want the doctor to know that he and his daughter are starting to develop feelings towards each other, especially now that he feels that the doctor seems not to like him for some reasons unknown to him.