She opens up to him

"Oh, OK! Yeah, yeah, I understand. A rule is a rule!" Caroline spoke, but only she knew that she was mincing her words.

"What happened?" Morpheus asked after she disconnected the call.

"My car got towed," and letting out a short gasp of air, she rested her back on the sidewall of the City Hospital OT.

"I see! How will you…."

And the OT light switched off.

"What happened, doctor? Is everything all right?" an anxious Caroline asked before the doctor could even take two steps out.

"Everything is fine! We have set the rib cage, and the rupture to the tissues encasing her heart has also been repaired."

"Great!" She sighed in relief.

"But I must say you both have done amazing work in saving both the mother and the child. I mean, I hate to admit, even I wouldn't have been able to pull it off. The stitches on her are literally textbook. How did you manage to keep your cool under such conditions?"

Caroline looked at Morpheous, expecting him to answer.

"I think the credit goes to the mother. She bore the pain and had the courage to go through it for her child. And God wanted to protect them both. We just happened to be there."

Her eyes narrowed upon hearing his words. God? Really!

"And… And… Dr. Caroline kept her cool and guided me through everything!" Morpheous added.

"Seattle High must be proud to have a doctor like you!"

Caroline just smiled politely and asked, "Well, now we can leave, I guess. We have already given our statements."

"Sure, doctor!"

And she walked towards the exit without saying another word. She had hundreds of questions in her head for him, but the adrenaline rush for the night had been enough. She had mocked Morpheous in the worst possible way about his skills, yet he proved her wrong. She didn't even want to think what might have happened if she had been alone there without Morpheous.

A shiver ran down her spine.

"Caroline…. Caroline…."

"What?" she turned back, irritated, for everything about him was different. Even her name sounded different from his lips. There was something about him that bothered her on so many levels. The last thing she wanted was a futile conversation with him. But when she turned, her heart slammed against her ribs without warning.

He had stopped inches away from her. His dark brows scrunched, and he exhaled softly. There was nothing brash about his expression. His face looked still, like an ocean. She gulped her own spit as she saw his amber eyes looking intently at her. 

"What?" Her voice turned meek, almost feeble.

"Erm… Did I cross you somehow?"

"No, you didn't."

"Then why are you so ..." He stopped midway and lifted his palm to run through his hair.

Not wanting to answer him, she clenched her palm into a fist and continued walking.

"Then why are your fingers curled into a fist? Why you don't even want to look at me?"

And that was it. She snapped.

"Because I hate the shrinky-shit that you keep blabbering. There is no God. There is just us, only humans. Because if there was a God sitting up there, then today wouldn't have happened. Why would he take the life of her husband, who must have been happily waiting to be a father for eight months? To see the face of his child!"

"I… I didn't mean it that way. I just meant that… She was probably destined to be saved. So God put us there," he almost stuttered.

"Why her? Why only her?"

"Maybe… Maybe because her sins are less compared to ..."

"Sins? Are you shitting me right now?" She chuckled, unable to believe the words that came out of his mouth.  "Is that really your reply? Really? Sins? Then what about my parents? My father was a doctor, and they say that doctors have the hands of God. Having saved hundreds… Maybe even a thousand lives; why was he taken away? Why didn't my mother, a philanthropist, get a chance to be saved? Why was no one destined to be there to save them? Why? Why didn't your God send me when they needed me the most?"

Her voice was furious. She was beyond angry.

But her tears spoke otherwise. She was equally hurting. Maybe she wasn't looking for answers. Maybe she wanted to be hugged and told that it was OK. Everything that had happened was not her fault.

Her entire body was shivering, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop her tears from gushing out. She had contained them for the last couple of years, but today she just couldn't and loathed herself for that. 

Why in front of him? A stranger!

She crossed her arms in front of her chest, and from the corner of her eye, she saw him approaching her, his hands almost about to touch her cheeks.

"What are you trying to do?"

And halting then and there, he took a step back.

At that moment, she felt too exposed. She couldn't believe she had talked about her parent's death with this stranger. She hadn't talked about it with anyone in two years. Not family, not friends, not even with gramps. Then why now? Why him?

She looked towards the side to avoid the awkward energy in between them. And a few seconds later, raising her hand, she hailed a cab.

"Get in!"

And he followed without saying a word.

"First drop at the City Sun motel and then 119 - Bellevue Avenue."

Throughout the drive, she stayed silent, looking outside through the window, even though hundreds of questions about him were haunting her. Finally, unable to bottle up the questions, she turned towards him, but before she could ask him anything, he said,

"I always had an interest in medicine, but none of my brothers approved of it. They didn't consider it a real skill. So I learned and practiced in secrecy because I had no other means."

"You could have applied for a scholarship at some good college even though your family didn't support you. A degree is mandatory to practice. Hope you know that!"

Morpheus crossed and uncrossed his fingers over his knees.

"I… I didn't want to do it for money or power. I wanted to do it because I was good at it. At least that's what I thought. It's probably the only thing I am capable of doing. But one day, it wasn't good enough for my father. So …"

"He kicked you out of the house? Good heavens!" she couldn't help but sigh.

"Till a day before yesterday, I thought my father approved of it. But looks like he too didn't believe in me," he said and looked outside the window, his eyes transcending up towards the pitch-black dark night sky.

Caroline saw a fleeting look, almost like a memory of pain, flicker in his eyes.

"Why did you run away from the hospital? Why do you have such an erratic pulse? Are you sick? Is that the reason you took medicine? Research about your condition?"

She asked and then looked at his parted lips. "Forget all that; how did you jump?" That was the question that bothered her the most.

"And I was wondering how you haven't asked me about it till now!" a slight smile returned on his face.

"Are you like...a vampire?" she asked hesitatingly because that's what Twilight movies had taught her.

"A what?" And his question was enough to tell her how illogical her thinking was.

She mentally kicked herself for even thinking for a moment that he was someone supernatural when in fact, he was just like her, a mere mortal.

"I am physically more capable than you think. That jump was nothing for me," he spoke with a livid smile on his face.

"Nothing for you?"

"Since a young age, I have been trained to fight. A tradition of my family, although I wouldn't say I liked those training. I was never good at them. Bruised like a peach."

And in the reflection of the car window, she saw her own lips lightly curl into a smile.