26 Mind-numbing pain - 3

"Stop thinking about it and rest well. Shouldn't you be happy that it was nothing major?"  Erica braked the stretcher-bed as they had arrived inside the ward.

"But why am I being brought here? It's just a fracture."

"Don't even try to get up. Dr. Van has strictly instructed us not to let you out of bed. Local anesthesia can make you feel dizzy. You are a surgeon, Caroline; you know the drill," and she covered her with a blanket with a hint of a smile on her face.

"Dr. Van will come after the outdoor rounds. So till then, you rest here."

"Erm… Can you ask my assistant to cancel my next OT schedule and …"

Erica and Manila laughed, and that made her stop midway. "What?" Caroline asked, unable to understand what was so funny about it.

"He has already canceled all your OT schedules for the next three weeks. All important surgeries scheduled for next week have been transferred to Dr. Van, and for minor surgeries scheduled for today, he went personally to each of the patients and told them about your condition and apologized. I guess he is scared of something happening to you again."

"He did?" Caroline couldn't believe those words. Or maybe a part of her did because she had seen the worry in his eyes. Deep down, it made her strangely happy.

'But if he was so concerned for her, then where was he? Why he didn't come and visit me?'

"Can I at least sit?" And she tried to prop herself up on the bed and stretched her right hand.

"What are you doing, Caroline?" Erica screamed, her eyes almost popping out of her head

"What?"

"Your hand is broken. Remember?" Erica reprimanded, and Manila couldn't stop but giggle. Caroline was shaking her head with a smile etched on her face when she heard a familiar voice.

"How do you feel, Caroline?" 

"Dr. Van!"

And as he arrived, Caroline saw Erica raising her eyebrows at Manila, and they both excused themselves to check upon others patients in the ward. Fishy much?

"Just to let you know, the operation was successful. You need to rest well and let it recover. Ok?"

"For how long?"

And Dr. Van chuckled hearing her question. "That so you. I have never met anyone who hated to rest, you know."

"How long, Dr. Van?" She repeated her question.

"At least seven to eight weeks, Caroline."

"Oh God!" she whined.

"Just kidding. Four weeks should be good enough. I am so sorry that it happened to you, Caroline. I should have clarified everything. The graft wasn't matching with his wife, so we immediately decided to switch the recipient. Didn't know that you would have to bear the repercussions."

"It's totally fine. Well, a part of me is glad. I had no idea how to face you today after my Saturday episode. I am relieved to see you equally guilty." And she giggled.

"There was nothing new about it, Caroline. We are so habituated to it."

"Erm… Well, that's kind of you to say so. By the way, I have your jacket in my chamber. Thanks again for carrying me home and taking care of me. I am so lucky to have you around when I am drunk. I would just hate the idea of anyone else taking care of me and then making fun of me afterward."

"Oh, that was nothing. I just drove you. It was Morpheous who carried you in, actually."

"What? Morpheus?"

"You didn't know. I thought he would have told you. And God, he worries a lot about you." Dr. Van's eyes narrowed. "Are you sure he is just a family friend, and there is nothing more than that?"

Caroline rolled her eyes to avoid his question but felt something heavy pressing on her chest. 'Why did he react as if nothing had happened? Why didn't he say a word?' She had met him the next day at the hospital, and he had acted as if ...

"I am asking seriously, Caroline. The way he barged in ... "

The more she heard him speak, the more she felt herself being pushed into a tunnel of thoughts. So she interrupted him before he could even finish. "Where is he then if he cares a lot about me?"

"I am not sure. Didn't see him near OT too. But I can tell he cares a bit too much ... I sort of"

"I sort of what?"

"Does he have a thing for you, and you are sort of trying to push him away?"

"Wait... What?"

"Not that I am blaming you, Carol, but I heard about the little commotion in your chamber. I wasn't snooping, but I just heard Elora say you were blasting on him. I mean, he even asked me what juice you should drink after a hangover."

"He did not?"

And her mind went back to the pack of orange juice that he had got for her the day before.

"If there is nothing like that, then cut him just a bit of slack, Carol. I mean, since you have referred him, you would want him to be all perfect, but I think he does take his work seriously. Don't keep hovering over him."

"Yeah, as if I don't have any other work!" Caroline scoffed. "I want him to take his work seriously and not play around with the nurses."

Dr. Van's lips shifted up. It wasn't much of a smile but sort of. She couldn't figure out what it was, for she was more occupied with the thoughts of Morpheous. "Now, you rest. I will come back later in the evening and drive you home. "

She looked at him as he reached for the door. So she closed her eyes and inhaled the familiar smell of phenol and rubbing alcohol.

'This place is miserable!'

She earnestly attempted to sleep, but hardly a minute later, she opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. Her eyes next drifted towards the door, and she found him standing outside. His eyes bore an intense moody stare, as if he was sulking about something.

M-o-r-p-h-e-o-u-s

Her lips took his name like an incantation as she watched him come inside. A smile rippled into a layer of parenthesis around her mouth.

Somehow, knowing that it was him whom she had hugged that drunken night brought a strange relief inside her.

"How do you feel?" He asked, his voice sounding distant.

"I feel completely fine, as if nothing was broken. But maybe it's just the anesthesia."

"Hmm…," he muttered, still standing near the foot side of the bed.

'Why is acting all aloof now? What changed?'

"Why didn't you tell me that it was you who took me home that night when I was wasted? Why didn't you tell me that it was you who put me to sleep?"

"Would that have made any difference?" His eyes bore the same intensity as before.

"What do you mean, Morpheous?"

"Nothing, I had just come to see if you needed any help to go home. But looks like you are all sorted."

And without uttering a new word, he walked out of her room.