2 2. A Lady and A Man

There's a knock on the door. Kiara is back to her senses. "Who is it?" she said. Nurse Anna opens the door, "Doc, you last patient has arrived, can i send her in now?" Kiara puts on her glasses "Ok, you can call her now, thank you." The door closed for a second and then nurse Anna comes back in with the patient. Kiara continues her duty as usual. After everything is finished, Kiara takes off her coat. She cleans her hand properly and then takes her bag. "Nurse Anna, thank you so much for your help today. See you tomorrow." Kiara smiles to Nurse Anna in the nurse station as she walks by. "Thank you doc. Safe trip home." She said. Kiara waves her hand and walks out the Clinic's door. Her taxi is waiting. She tells the driver the address of her house and sits quietly.

A few moments later she starts to check her messages because she always turns off her phone in working hours. There are 3 messages from her friends and 1 facebook message. She opens the last one. So apparently there will be a global high school reunion in August, six month from now. And the reunion committee want to collect data from each person graduate from every classes since the day the school was opened until today. The data must be sent to the former Chairman of the student council from every generation. And for her..... It means Shawn. His facebook page and his cellphone number are written in the message. So Kiara decides to contact Shawn by facebook and waits. She answers the other 3. After that she puts her phone inside her bag.

The taxi stops in front of her house. Kiara gets out and pays the driver. After that she opens the gate. She walks to the door and opens it with her key. She puts her bag in the cabinet and enters her room. Her body needs shower so she goes to the bathroom. After a relaxing shower, she changes into her daily outfit. Soon she goes to the kitchen and cooks dinner for herself. She eats alone. She get used to it. In this house she is alone but not lonely. Or so she thought.

After dinner, she checks her cellphone again. The friendship request was accepted. There is one message from Shawn. She opens it. "Hi, Kiara! It's been so long since we both in high school. How are you?" She and Shawn never get to know each other properly before. Does he really remember her? Maybe he is just being polite. Kiara replies, " Hi Mr. Chairman. I'm good, thank you. And you? By the way I want to give my personal data for the high school reunion. The announcement said that i should give it to you." Shawn is still online and he replies soon, "Sure. Don't worry I'll keep it safe. And I'm good too, thank you for asking 😊" Kiara smiles a bit. "Ok. Here it is." She sends out the data. "So, your a medical doctor?" He says. "I see you are reading my data now. Yes I'am a doctor. How about you?" Kiara feels curious. "Oh, I'm just an ordinary engineer. Nothing to boast about. By the way, what a coincidence! it looks like we live in the same city, Ki" He says. "Really?" Kiara ask immediately. Shawn calls her "Ki" and only her close friends call her that way. "Yes we do, Ki" Shawn replies. " We may be closer than you think 😉" Another emoji.

Suddenly the phone rings. Kiara answers it. "Hi Nurse Anna, what's wrong?" She replies "I'm sorry doc, but Mr. Stevens is asking wether he can meet you earlier. Maybe around 8 am tomorrow? He said it's important.""Wait a minute" Kiara says as she checks her schedules. "Ok, i think we still have 20 minutes. Make it 8.30." Nurse Anna says "Thank you doctor. I'll let him know. I'm sorry to bother you." Kiara replies "It's ok. I'm still awake so you aren't bothering anyone. See you tomorrow." And then she hangs up. Kiara opens her schedule and adds the appoinment at 8.30 am. She runs down her schedules for tomorrow. And then she remembers.

There are 3 messages unread. "Ki?" "Are you still there?" And then "Kiara..." Kiara begins to write. "Yes Mr. Chairman?" The replies comes to soon "Ki, you're back 😊." Kiara smiles. "I'm sorry but there was a phone call. I had to answer it." She says. " Sure, specially if it is from your spouse" He says. "I'm not married yet Mr. Chairman. It's written in the data, you know?" Shawn replies, "Then it's the boyfriend... perhaps?" Kiara answers "Boyfriend? Noo. We are not high school teenagers anymore Mr. Chairman. It's just one of my nurse." Kiara feels a little annoyed. Shawn replies, "Ok, ok, i'm very sorry. I understand It's not my bussiness." Kiara lost her mood already. So she writes back "It's Ok Mr. Chairman, but it's getting late now. Please excuse me but i have to take a rest. Maybe you should too." There are few seconds of silent and then Shawn replies, "Ok, Ki. I'll let you know if there's any information about the reunion. Good night.." Kiara answers "Thank you Mr. Chairman. Good night." Kiara puts down her phone, says her pray and goes to sleep.

It's been a week since then. Kiara continues with her routine jobs. Busy as always. It is already lunch time and suddenly she hears a message tone from her phone. There is one new message from Mr. Chairman. Kiara opens it. "Hi Ki, How are you today? I just want to inform you that we are having a meeting to organize our own Class of 2005 reunion at the Downtown Mall tomorrow at 4pm. I hope you can be there after your work is done." Kiara is smiling happily. Maybe she will meet some of her old friends there. But when she looks at her schedules, she feels disappointed. Just two weeks ago, she agreed to cover for her colleague tomorrow morning until 7pm. There's no way she can come to the Mall. So she types carefully. "Mr. Chairman, I'm very sorry. I have a job to do until 7pm tomorrow. I can't come to the mall. Please send my regards to all our friends. If there's anything I can do to help, Please let me know." Then she sends it. No replies for nearly an hour and Kiara lost her appetite to eat her lunch. Her heart feels uneasy. Then she hears the message tone again. She opens ot quickly. Shawn writes "It's Ok Ki. I understand. Your patients health must comes first. But I hope we can see each other on the next meeting. Don't forget to have lunch." Kiara senses Shawn's disappointment and she feels bad about it.

The next day, Kiara goes back to the Clinic. It's supposed to be her day off, but Tina, one of her colleagues has a convention to attend. So she kindly accepted to replace her today until 7pm. If only she said no. But Kiara's weakness is always her eagerness to help people. She just jumped right in if somebody needed help. Sometimes it didn't end up very well. She never minds. So now she is cought up with works twice as much as her usuals. The time quickly passes by. She is just finishing her last report. Nurse Anna knocks and opens the door. "Are you still filling all those reports Doc? You know you can always continue it tomorrow." She says. Kiara fixs her glasses and says "It's ok. I don't want to leave extra works for Tina. Besides I have just finished the last one." Nurse Anna smiles and says " Excellent Doc. It is 10 pm already you know. Your friend has been waiting outside for almost 2 hours. Poor him. Next time maybe you can just inform him to take his time on the road when he picks you up. We here rarely finishes our work on time." Now Kiara is confused. A friend? She doesn't remember asking anyone to pick her up. And certainly not a man. But before she says something, Nurse Anna closes the door. Kiara takes off her coat, washes her hands and fixes her hair in front of the mirror. She puts her bag straps on her shoulder and walks outside.

"Kiara!" A man wearing a cap stands up and calls her name. She looks at him. He seems familiar. Then he opens up his cap. "Do you remember me?" He is a good looking man with a thin beard on his jaws. Kiara tries to see beyond that. "Shawn? Mr.Chairman?" She says. Shawn smiles. "So you do remember me." He looks happy. "What are you doing in here? I thought you had a meeting in Downtown Mall. It's far away from here." Kiara says. "The meeting was over 3 hours ago. It was more like an early small reunion, you know. Anyway the my boss told me to send some proposals to his friend who happens to work in this building too. So I deliver the papers and come to the clinic. I'm glad you're still here" Shawn tries to explain his reason. "Why don't you tell me sooner? It must be boring for you to wait such a long time." Now she feels guilty. "Boring? For you? That's not possible" He says. Kiara can hear Nurse Anna giggles behinds the nurse stations. She doesn't know what to say. "Have you had dinner?" He asks. "I have.." She says. She's lying now. Nurse Anna quickly speaks up "Doctor Kiara only had a piece of cake this afternoon Sir. She had so many things to do. I think she must be starving now." Kiara glares at Her. Nurse Anna winks her eyes mischieviously and walks towards Kiara. Then she whispers in her ears "thank me later doc." She smiles to Shawn and says "Well, i should get going now or i'll miss the last train. It was nice to meet you Sir. Please take good care of my doctor. She is very precious." Shawn replies "Thank you and don't worry i'll make sure she arrives at home safely." Nurse Anna opens the Clinic door and walks away. "Shall we go too?" Shawn asks. Kiara nods and say yes. They go out from the same door and walk to the parking lot. Shawn unlock his car and opens the door for Kiara to step in. He closes it and enters the driver side. They put on their seatbelts and drive away.

"So what kind of doctor are you? I mean your specialties." Shawn starts the conversation while driving his car. "I'm still a General Practicioner" Kiara says. "How long have you been working there?" He asks. "About 4 years" Kiara replies. "How about you?" Shawn answers "I work in a constructions company for almost 7 years now. You probably never heard of the name. We work "under the radar" he..he..." He tries to make a joke. Kiara smiles. "What do you build? Secret military base?" she replies. Shawn laugh in relieved. Finally he can make her talk. After that the conversation flows like water. Shawn is a very friendly man. Kiara feels relaxed beside him. He has good sense of humor and they laugh alot. Shawn also thinks Kiara is a very sweet lady. She is a good listener and she pays attention to what he said. She even gives sincere compliments. "So maybe this is the "real" Kiara" he thinks. He is excited to know more about her.

Suddenly Kiara feels pain in her stomach. "Must be dyspepsia" she thinks. She haven't eat anything since afternoon and her stomach acid is raising up. Kiara open her bags and finds her medicine. She pick one antasid tablet and begins to chew it. Shawn notices it and asks "What's wrong Ki? Are you feeling sick?" Kiara replies "No. It's just my stomach. It'll be better soon. Don't worry." Shawn remembers "My God, I forget that you haven't have dinner yet. You must be starving." He's feeling guilty as he looks outside. The traffic is so crowded they have been trapped in a traffic jam. Kiara holds her stomach and closes her eyes. Now Shawn feels helpless. He worries for her but he doesn't know what to do. He sees a gas station so he pulls over and stops. "Ki, please tell me what to do" he says. Kiara open her eyes. "I'm fine Mr. Chairman. Please don't worry. It'll be better soon." She tries to calm him. Suddenly Shawn remembers something. He looks down to his back seat. There a box there. One of the ladies in the meeting brought a lot of chicken pies. And when the meeting is over they insisted everyone to bring it home as a gifts. Shawn grabs the box and opens it. "Ki.." He calls her gently. "Kiara opens her eyes again. "Would you like a chicken pie? Maybe it will make you feel better after eating it." Kiara looks at the box. "Thank you" She says. She takes one and starts to eat. Shawn opens the door on his side. "Please wait for me here, Ok Ki? I will only take a minute" He says. Kiara nods and Shawn runs outside.

A few minutes later, he comes back with a big cup in his hand. Kiara stomach pain begins to subside. Shawn sits on the driver's side again. "Ki, I've got you some warm water. Please drink a little." He says gently. Kiara looks at him and say "Thank you mr. Chairman. You are so kind." Shawn hold the cup and help her drink the water. Several minutes later Kiara feels alot better. Her stomachache has reduced. She opens her eyes and Shawn is still looking at her. He looks worried. "Mr. Chairman ..." She says. Shawn holds her left hand and asks "How do you feel Ki? Why do your face turn red? Is the pain getting worsed?" Kiara is so embarrassed so she turn her head away and says "No, the pain is gone. But my hand..." She can't continue. Shawn looks at her hand an quickly let go. "I'm sorry" He says. "Are you sure you're not feeling any pain anymore?" Kiara smiles "I'm really fine now. I'm sorry to make you worry." Shawn feels relieved. Even the traffic is starting to loosen up now. "Would you like some more pie or water?"He asks. "Thank you. But i'm full" Kiara answers. "Then shall we go home now?" He asks again. "Yes, please" Kiara says. Shawn starts the car and drive back into the traffic. It's almost midnight and they still have a long way home.

They talk again along the way as if nothing happens before. Shawn is supposed to turn over after the next traffic light and after that turns right to enter Kiara's Cluster. But Kiara forget to tell him because they really enjoy their conversation. Soon Shawn realize that he is already on the road to his house which he is sure it is not the road leading to Kiara's. So he stops and says "I'm sorry Ki. But I think I lost the way to your house. Can you tell me?" Kiara chuckles. " You supposed to turn over about 2 miles ago after the traffic light." Shawn feels bad. "Oh no, why don't you tell me?" He says. "I didn't realize it either until I saw that big Billboard on the left side of the road. I guess i enjoy talking to you so much and I don't want to go home yet" Kiara speaks honestly. Shawn is surprised. He wasn't expecting those words. "Really?" Kiara pauses. "What am I saying?" she thinks. "Ehm, maybe mr. Chairman needs to turn on his maps now" She says avoiding his question. Shawn laugh and turn his car around. Actually he doesn't want to end this trip to soon too. He enjoys his time with Kiara more than he thought he would. But it's really late now. And the lady needs some rest. Finally Shawn stops his car in front of her house. "I'll walk with you to the door." He says. "Thank you so much but It won't be necessary Mr. Chairman. It's really late now. And it will not look so good if the neighbours see us. They may start a rumour. Beside it's just a few steps away. I can walk there by myself" Kiara says. She opens the door and step out of the car. " Be careful on your way home Mr. Chairman. Have a good rest" she says by the window. "You too, Ki. See you again soon. Good night!" Shawn replies. Kiara just smiles. She watches Shawn drive away. "Good night... Shawn" she says. Then she opens the gate and walks inside.