Chapter 4

A nurse was sitting in the staff lounge. Lost in her thoughts.

Someone tapped on her shoulder breaking her chain of thoughts. She abruptly stood up with the doctor's presence.

"Oh! Hi doctor."

She greeted. The doctor motioned her to sit down and she obliged.

"Where are you so lost in your thoughts?"

The nurse shook her head and spoke about the thing which was occupying her mind.

"Doctor the critical case today...You remember there was another girl that pregnant lady."

The nurse implored hoping for the doctor to remember it.

"Yes. What about her?"

The nurse moved towards him and spoke in a hushed tone.

"Her...her heartbeat was stopped. When I ran to call the doctor and returned I saw that she was awake."

The doctor laughed and replied," It might be because of the shock of the accident that her heart stopped and started to beat again.

The doctor clarified and went to his duty.

***

Slowly Ruzena opened her eyes and rubbed her eyes in exhaustion.

She looked around and found herself on her bed. She was to her penthouse. But when did she come here? She didn't remember anything like that.

The last thing she remember was when she was in the hospital and everything after that was blank.

She slapped her head in anticipation to remember something but it didn't happen. She wanted to pull her hair more but hissed when she felt immense pain suddenly clouding her senses.

"Have you turned insane? Why the heck are you hitting yourself?"

A voice came and the door of her room burst open. A boy around twenty entered the room with a bowl of herbal medicine in his hand.

He was Derek. Her younger brother.

Her nose twisted in disgust at the awful smell. She kept a palm on her mouth to prevent puking her guts out.

"What are you doing here? And how did I come back?"

She asked him sitting on the bed. He placed the bowl on the nightstand and took out a small bottle.

"Max dropped you here."

His statement made her even more confused. It was clearly seen how angry he was at her in the morning and now he was dropping her off. She couldn't digest this fact. It was too unbelievable.

She had many questions swirling on her mind but she didn't voice it out. She felt ashamed to face Max and Faye now.

Dumping those thoughts at the back of her mind she stood up and made her way to the bathroom.

"Hey!! Wait. Take this."

He handed her that bottle he took out earlier. She looked at him with a question-filled gaze.

This is a mixture of the root of some rare herbal medicine that he had come across. He had immediately bought it without any second thought. Because he knew Ruzena's health condition is not always good. But he won't tell the truth because of her constant nagging over spending money on useless stuff.

According to him, it wasn't useless.

"It is a new bath bomb that I had come across. It has a rosy scent mixed with lily flavor."

He spoke his eyes glimmered with excitement as if he had discovered something extraordinary.

Ruzena sighed and wanted to reprimand him for wasting money but currently, she was too tired to do so. So she obliged and shut the bathroom door in his face.

Derek sighed in relief when Ruzena agreed without any argument. Now he just needed to cook something light.

He strolled toward the kitchen and wore a light blue simple apron. He mentally thanked the housekeeper who had stocked up raw vegetables and a few edible things in the fridge.

When he got the call from Max that Ruzena and Faye had met with a major accident he hurriedly left his university and hastily took his bike to reach the hospital. But Max said he was already dropping Ruzena off at her penthouse so he should directly come over there only.

He turned the bike and rode towards his sister's house. When he saw her in a ragged condition with a bandage covering her scalp and in an unconscious state, his blood boiled in anger.

But Max had informed that the doctor had already given her the green signal as she wasn't much injured but Derek could read her condition.

It wasn't what it appears outside.

Muttering a casual thanks he took unconscious Ruzena to her penthouse and put her on the bed gently. He checked her pulse. It was slightly irregular apart from that everything seems fine.

He sighed and left her room to let her rest. He came to the living room and connected it with his smartphone. He put on his headphone and started to play games.

After an hour he stood up and check her. She was still sleeping peacefully and then he went after another hour later.

By that time she was already awake and pulling her hair clutching her head in a hard grasp. He laughed at her tactics.

The door-clicking sound broke his chain of thoughts. He looked up and saw freshly showered Ruzena stepping out dressed in a long Tee and shorts. Her wet hair dangled over her shoulders.

At that time, Derek had also finished making lunch.

He placed the dishes over the counter and the duo sat down in silence and ate the meal silently.

After finishing the food, Ruzena continued to sit on the bar stool while Derek washed the crockery and utensils telling her the tale of another prank and college fun he had over his university with his bunch of friends.

His happy and cheerful persona filled this glum and dull house with life. To her, Derek was like a small puppy she had taken from the abandoned alley who did everything in his might to keep his owner happy.

After Faye, he was the one that filled her life with light with his naughty stances and nuisance stories which he always heard with a stoic face yet he would be excited every time he would tell her anything.

Ruzena sighed at those memories. It is really a long time.

After a few minutes of pondering over something she spoke in a frigid tone.

"I think it's time for you to go back home."

Derek's hands froze in mid-air when he heard her. He harshly dumped the crockery on the slab and harshly removed his apron, tearing it a little in the process, and rush out of the room slamming the door shut behind him.

Ruzena sighed in despair and ate her lunch alone. Like she has always been.

A lonely lad.