16

Aina walked into the new building in a daze. She was awestruck with the modern yet simple designs; state of the art equipment; and playful and very child-friendly atmosphere. She was greeted by some familiar faces of doctors, nurses and other staff. There were only about a dozen people in the big, open lobby but she could not find Sarge. She immediately thought that perhaps he was still attending to a patient in the main building.

Aina walked on, admiring the newness of the surroundings. Aside from the familiar faces, she noticed someone who looked familiar. He was in a wheelchair and had just finished talking to a group of senior doctors who shook hands with the person and walked away.

"Denden?" Aina said, cautiously approaching the person.

"Denden" turned and paused for a moment. Aina suddenly turned pale as shock came over her. "Den...den?" Aina repeated as she slowly moved forward.

"Nana?" Denden replied.

Aina rushed toward Denden and flung her arms around him. "What happened? Are you okay?" She said, trying to hold back her tears as she buried her face into his neck.

"I'm okay. I'm good." Denden replied, reciprocating Aina's hug. "How about you? How are you?"

"I'm a doctor now. Emergency medicine. How about you? How's Tito? Lola? Wait, are you hungry? Do you have time? I'm supposed to be off already now. I've been here since the other day...long duty hours..." Aina said as she went behind Denden's wheelchair and started pushing it toward the main hospital.

---

Sarge excitedly rushed from the main hospital to the annex. He was hoping to 'finally' see Aina again after being separated from her for the last few days. He planned to surprise her so that they could go home together, and he could cook for her.

As Sarge crossed the lobby where the café was, he saw Aina with someone in a wheelchair. He thought that perhaps the person was just a patient of Aina's. However, she moved from pushing the wheelchair to holding the guy's hand as she walked next to him. Sarge's smile turned into a frown. His thoughts battled between thinking as the guy Aina was with as her patient or something else. To Sarge, Aina and the guy's body language looked like it was more than a patient-doctor relationship. Sarge was suddenly in a dilemma. Since no one in the hospital knew about his and Aina's relationship status; he did not really know who to ask or talk to. Sarge proceeded to the pediatric annex instead. The usually smiling, jolly doctor grumpily walked into the newly constructed staff lounge. The pediatric nurses who would normally giggle and swoon when they saw Dr. Sarge, talked amongst themselves, wondering what happened.

"What happened?"

"Who was his last patient? Was it a bad diagnosis?"

"According to Suzy, he doesn't have any critical care patient at the moment. They were working on transferring some patients here within the next few days, though."

"Maybe he saw something wrong with some of the equipment."

"I doubt. We were first to enter. He only arrived a few minutes ago and stormed into the lounge..."

Sarge was annoyed at what he witnessed that he failed to see how the staff lounge was arranged beautifully. There were bunk beds and some lounge chairs behind a curtained area. The main area had a large sofa. On one side, there were desks and computer stations for doctors and medical staff to research or update their files; shelves were stocked with several medical books and journals. On the wall in front of the lounge chairs was a big TV for entertainment. On the far end was a kitchenette. A door across the main door led to a spacious bathroom and shower area with changing rooms that were accessible to a common corridor on the other side.

Sarge plopped himself on one of the lounge chairs and mindlessly flipped through the TV channels. When he could not find any show that interested him, he stood up and walked toward the window facing a spacious garden. There were some play and therapy equipment around the open space and some trees were planted around. Both the interior and exterior of the building were well made and designed beautifully.

---

"There you are! Hello! I'm Maia, you must be Nana? Ryk here hasn't stopped talking about you since we were given this project." Maia extended her hand for a handshake.

"Hello. I'm Aina." Aina shook Maia's hand. "I haven't gone by Nana in a long time. Well, my parents call me Nana when they want something..." Aina giggled.

"I know what you mean." Maia giggled along.

"...like I told you, I'm Ryk now..."

"Why? Denden is..."

"Was the over-adventurous but clumsy boy who got me into this..." Ryk said, patting on wheel of his wheelchair.

"Oh really?" Maia glanced at Ryk. "I call you Denden when you're being stubborn...he can be quite stubborn when doing therapies..."

Aina giggled. Memories of her and cousin Denden came to mind. He was okay with being called "Denden" until they reached fourth grade. Suddenly one afternoon, they came home from school and announced that he wanted to be called by his full name. "You can call me either Alden or Richard." Denden squeaked. "I'm a big boy already."

He later told Aina that his classmate, Lily, called him by his first name and it felt nice. "Not like when the teacher calls me or like when Mama and Dad say it." Aina understood. She was familiar with being addressed by her full name by her parents. From then, Ryk would respond to 'Denden' when it was his family who said it. It was the same for Aina. She only started using Aina when she reached 3rd year high school. She preferred to be addressed as "Athena" by teachers and those she wasn't very close with. Nana and Denden somehow lost touch when Nana went to the States for medical school. Ryk stayed in Manila and pursued architecture, just like his dad.

---

"Do you have your therapies here?" Aina inquired.

Maia shook her head. "We go to the therapy center designed by Den...I mean, Ryk."

"It's owned by Maia's family. She's the general manager there."

"Oh cool!"

"How about you?"

"Well...uhm...he's a pediatrician..." Aina said haltingly and softly.

"Say that again?" Ryk said.

"Oh...no labels?" Maia said.

"...not exactly...only two people in the hospital know..." Aina explained.

"Ah, I know what you mean." Maia replied with a smile.

"...what do you mean?" Ryk glanced back and forth at the two women.

"Anyway, it was nice meeting you."

"The pleasure is mine. We'll be frequenting the building to check..." Maia said.

"Great! Let's schedule a lunch..." Aina replied.

"That would be great! I missed you." Ryk said.

"I missed you, too!" Aina said, standing up and hugging both Ryk and Maia. "Give my regards to your dad." Aina had to bend down to hug both Ryk and Maia who were in their wheelchairs.

"Will do."

"Take care."

"You too. Just text me when the lunch will be." Ryk said.

Aina nodded and turned to walk back to the new pediatric annex.