2 Awakening

*beep* *beep* *beep* *beep*

The familiar steady sound of beeping from a machine that I knew I was well accustomed to woke me up.

I knew right away that I was in the hospital. That beeping haunted me for countless nights during my first year as a resident. I would never mistake that sound for anything else.

I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn't.

I tried to make a sound, but I also couldn't.

I tried to lift a finger, but I still couldn't.

It turned out that the only thing that I could do at the moment was to think.

So I started thinking.

I did my best to recall the last thing that I could remember before I woke up. At first, it felt like I kept on hitting a big wall, and nothing would come to mind. Then my head experienced a piercing pain before a few memories managed to flash in my head like a low-quality motion picture from the late 1800s.

Zeanne calling.

Car crashing.

Airbag inflating.

Car sinking.

Body slamming.

Me drowning.

The end.

'What the heck was that?' That was like the deadliest combo that I've ever seen even in the movies. 'Did I just survive something like that?!'

The beeping became erratic, and my question was answered by a voice that I never thought I would ever hear again.

"Doc, what is going on? What's that noise?" There was a sense of urgency and distress in her voice that sounded like she'd been crying.

'Zee!' I rejoiced at the thought that I was still alive.

"Calm down, Miss Haile. He's fine."

I heard the voice of an old man, whom I presumed to be 'Doc', somewhere around my feet. But something bothered me more than having an old man as my attending physician.

'Miss Haile? Why are you still Haile? What's going on? What happened to the wedding?'

"Hmmm… strange."

I completely forgot my questions, and I could not begin to explain how relieved I was when, although faint, I felt him squeeze my toes.

'Feet check!'

Then my finger.

'Arms check!'

I felt the doctor touch and open my eyelid, but everything remained dark.

'Did I go blind?! No! I can't go blind Mr. Doc! I still haven't found myself a wife!'

"Curious... Nurse, please call the station and request them to bring in Mr. Paige for a Brain Electrode Test and..."

They probably injected something into my IV, or I was just not fully conscious yet because I was not able to hear what the doctor said after requesting an EEG and quickly drifted back to sleep.

I could not tell how long I had been out, but when I woke up again, I was able to open my eyes, and the first thing that my blurry vision was able to see was an Angel.

Or at least that's what I thought she was until she frowned at me and started saying strange things.

"You…" There was horror in her beautiful face as she reached out her hand to ever so gently touch the side of my face. Her hands felt cold against my cheeks, which made me shiver. "You're not… How did you get here?"

I looked around and saw that it was just the two of us in the room. So I turned my eyes back to her with confusion. "Me?"

'After the accident, I was probably discovered by someone and carried over here by an ambulance then...why is SHE asking ME? How the hell should I know?!'

But looking at her pretty face, I could not bring myself to answer her that way. For all I know, she could be God's answer to my prayers of having a wife. So I just shook my head while staring at the grey pools in her eyes. They were sucking me in. "I don't know."

She quickly removed her hand from my face as if she had been burned and slowly staggered backwards with a frown. "You're not supposed to be here."

Her words made my forehead crease as well. "I don't understand. I was in an accident, wasn't I?"

It took her a while before she answered while studying my face with curiosity. "Yes, you were."

"Then isn't it only natural for me to be in a hospital?" My eyebrows raised at her as I continued to stare at her pretty face. Although her jet-black hair was tightly wound in a bun, it didn't make her look any older than twenty. And I didn't mean to look earlier, but she had really nice curves at the right places, which made me rethink my evaluation of her age.

'Is she new in the hospital? I could not recall seeing her before. And there's no way that I would not remember this kind of face even if we just merely crossed paths.'

"Of course. You're right." Her pinkish lips twitched as she continued to step away from me. She then took out her phone. "You really should be in a hospital. But not this hospital."

'How can she look this gorgeous without any makeup on?'

I was so preoccupied with appreciating her looks that I failed to notice how the expression on her face became strange. I didn't see the warning signs and was completely taken aback when the Angel disappeared as soon as she opened those kissable lips again.

"You had one job, Azrael! One job!" She shouted at the phone while glaring at the heart-rate monitor beside my bed. "How is this human here still alive?"

My eyes blinked a couple of times in confusion as I peered at her. Silently hoping that she was not complaining about ME being alive.

'She's not talking about 'that' kind of job, right?'

I could not hear what the other person on the phone was saying, but it was definitely a man's voice. And it being a man just made me feel more apprehensive.

'Please tell me that's not it.'

She slammed her hand on the monitor and then gritted her teeth.

"I don't need your excuses. And I don't care about what's written in your stupid scroll. Just get the job done!"