Crush Pt. 2

Jenneth and Ryan remained silent as they were inside the lift. The awkwardness is heightened by the fact that there's no one else inside the elevator but the two of them. They were not even looking at each other even though their bodies are literally touching.

She helped him again while they walked to Darlene's room. Ryan was the first one to enter. She doesn't mind him not being a gentleman. Anyway, he's injured right now, and he has the right to not be a gentleman.

Also, after all that had happened between them, being a gentleman is the least that she expects from him.

Ryan was stunned as he entered the hospital room. Even Jenneth was astounded. A familiar face greeted them inside the room. Well, the sick little Darlene was sleeping weakly on the bed. But aside from her, there was also a woman standing by the side of the bed.

"You're gaping at me," the woman said at Ryan, who, obviously, was gaping because of shock.

"Sam?" Ryan asked.

"Hey... Ryan…" the woman said.

Jenneth looked at Ryan. He looked so happy that his eyes started welling up.

"Sam..." Ryan went to her and embraced her.

"Hey... I'm glad to see you, too." Sam smiled at him.

"You're back!"

"For a vacation," Sam said.

"Well, at least you're back."

Jenneth suddenly felt overlooked. She felt the urge to quietly exit the scene without the two noticing it. But Sam finally saw her. She has no choice but to join in the conversation.

"It seems like you don't remember me anymore," she said to Sam.

"Of course, I do! Jenneth!" Sam came to her and hugged her.

"Nice to see you again, Ma'am Sam," she said, addressing Sam the way she did when she was still her COCC trainee.

"Hey! Just call me Sam. You're not my trainee anymore. A lot of years passed since that COCC training we had."

Jenneth smiled. "You're still my idol."

"Whoa! That is too much flattery... Wait, you came together?"

"We saw each other at the lobby," Ryan quipped.

Sam looked at Jenneth teasingly. She's aware that her senior knows her crush with Ryan back in high school. That made her blush, and Samantha giggled at her reaction.

"You look great, Girl," Sam told her. "Ryan, Jhing looks beautiful, doesn't she?"

"She said you're her idol," Ryan replied.

Jenneth was dismayed at Ryan's tone, like he was just forced by Sam to agree with her. Right now, she's wearing a yellow and black two-toned dress, a splash of color unlike how he has been seeing her lately.

"You could have just said yes," Sam said to Ryan.

Ryan scowled, which made Sam laugh. Again, Jenneth felt left out with the familiarity that the two has. It's like they haven't separated for fifteen years.

"How's Darlene?" she just asked.

"Actually, I haven't talked to her yet," Sam answered, medical doctor mode on. "I just diagnosed her based on the symptoms that she had and tests we did to her."

To which Jenneth caught on. "Dengue, right? How low is her platelet count?"

"Not too low. It's 148. So far there's no bleeding. She just has the usual influenza symptoms."

She looked at the sleeping Darlene. "She seems weak."

"Her BP is 95 over 56, heart rate is 57 per minute. Her RBC is 4 and WBC is 4.2."

"She tested positive for NS1?"

"Yes. We also did typhidot and fortunately, it was negative."

"Wait! Just hold on," Ryan suddenly said. "I know you two can understand each other. But please don't forget that I am here, and I also want to know what's happening. Can you speak in English, please?"

"Oh yeah, sorry," Sam said. "What I meant is that Darlene has very low vitals."

"Vitals as in vital statistics? 36, 24, 36?"

"I'm referring to the vital signs. This is not a beauty contest."

"Sorry. I'm an architect, and not a medical person."

Jenneth smiled at what Ryan said.

"Okay, fine. Darlene's vital signs are weak," Sam said. "She has low BP than normal, slower heart rate. Her white blood and red blood cells count are low. Her platelet count is also low, which is what's critical to dengue. That's why she's very weak right now."

"Our poor Darling Baby." Ryan looked at Darlene fondly.

Jenneth looked at Ryan. She can't help but be drawn to the affection that Ryan has for his goddaughter. He seems so vulnerable with that look. She can't help her heart but warm up on that scene.

"I hope she heals fast," she said, partly because of Darlene, partly because of Ryan's sadness.

"Doesn't she need to be transfused with blood?" Ryan asked.

"Only if there is bleeding, or her platelet level becomes critical," Sam answered. "Of course, we don't want it to progress to that. But Jhing, I hope we have a stock of blood and platelet in Lab if ever that happens. Darlene's type is B+."

Jenneth was quite surprised. "You know that I work here?"

"Dr. De Villa is my godfather, remember?" Sam smiled. "And we're kind of close, like Ryan and Darlene. But don't worry. He also doesn't have an idea I came home. It's a surprise."

"And who is this Dr. De Villa?" Ryan asked.

"The Chief Pathologist," Jenneth answered.

"Your boss?" Ryan asked Jenneth. "Was he the one you called earlier?"

Jenneth shook her head. "That was another med tech."

"Your boss seems cool," Ryan commented.

"He's not her boss," Sam said to Ryan. "The pathologists are not employees of the hospital. They are just there to read the lab results that the med techs examine. Chief, because it's a group of pathologists and Uncle is the head. Technically, Jhing's boss is my brother... I think you're not aware that Jhing is the hospital's chief med tech?"

Ryan scowled. "Whatever that means..."

"It means that Jhing is the boss."

Jenneth suddenly felt embarrassed. It felt like Sam is her mother who's bragging about her to the guy she's matching her with.

She looked at Ryan. She wants to think he looks impressed, but he's just silent. She felt dismayed, but she just tried to act professional.

"I'll check what we have at the Lab," she said. "If it's not enough, we can request some from Red Cross. Good thing not a lot of patients need blood right now."

"I wonder where Darlene got the virus," Ryan asked.

"Her school needs to be informed," Sam said. "I'll talk to Stan Fontanilla about this so that they can check CPRU."

Then Darlene suddenly woke up. Ryan is the one she first saw.

"Hey..." Ryan smiled gently at her.

"U-Uncle..."

"Yes Darling. How are you feeling?"

"Daddy..."

Jenneth felt bad for Darlene. She feels sad to see a little girl yearning for her father's care. But where in the world is Kenneth right now? Is he in a meeting? Or maybe, he's out of town. Maybe, because Jenneth is sure that if he's there in Tarlac, he will definitely be beside his daughter right now.

"We're calling him already, Ling," Ryan answered. "As soon as he gets our message, he will definitely call. And he's bound to return soon. So don't worry about that now and just rest for you to get healed. Okay?"

Jenneth confirmed that Kenneth was really out of town, that's why he's not there right now.

"By the way. You remember Aunty Jhing?"

Ryan looked at her and Jenneth moved closer to him.

"Hi Darlene," Jenneth said to their patient.

Darlene just blinked at her. Maybe she's still too weak to even smile.

"And, Darlene, remember that friend that we talked about some time ago?" Ryan asked Darlene again. "Our high school friend. Here she is now and she's your doctor."

Sam introduced herself to Darlene as her father's friend and as her doctor. But like how Darlene reacted to her a while ago, she just stared at Sam.

"She's not like that," Ryan said, obviously worried.

"She's still weak," Sam told them.

Jenneth held Darlene's hand. "Her fever's high."

"We're still monitoring her. After one hour her blood will be extracted again, and her temp will be checked as well."

"I hope she gets well soon," Ryan said. "I miss our Darling already."

Sam seemed to like what Ryan said. She smiled fondly at him, and Jenneth did not like how she felt about that. It's another feeling that she thought was gone, but now, it's suddenly coming back.

She needs to get out of there while she's not yet feeling that much.

"I have to go. I'll just come back again."

She's not sure if she'll come back, but she wants to see Darlene and she wants to see her well again. That's the only reason why she wants to come back.

'𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯,' she told herself.

"I'll go now as well," Sam said. "I need to do something at the nurse station. Ryan?"

"Okay. I'll wait for Aunt Marie," Ryan said.

Jenneth and Sam went out of the room together.

"I'm glad we met again, Jhing. I was glad to learn from Uncle Victor that you're the new chief med tech."

"The feeling is mutual," she just said. True, she's happy to see Sam again. She's not actually sure why she feels like that after seeing how close Sam and Ryan is.

"You actually gave me that I-miss-high-school feeling. I think we should hang out more."

Jenneth smiled. "Let's reminisce how you gave me a hard time during our COCC training?"

"Hey! I was nice back then!" She giggled at her joke.

"I agree. You're one of the nicest officers back then. Of course, Colonel as well."

"Yeah..."

Kenneth Oliveros was their COCC Colonel. Sam was their Ex-O. They were the two highest ranking officers during their COCC training, but they are also the two nicest among the officers.

There's one more person, though.

"And, well, Ryan."

Sam looked at her, which made her look away.

"That's why he was your crush, right?" Sam teased.

"That was before," Jenneth answered.

"How about now?"

Now? What can she say? After all that had happened, she thought she had already forgotten all that she felt for him before. But now that they met again, why does it seem like all those feelings are coming back to her again? And it's wrong. She's no longer that nerdy teenager who easily falls for good looks and guy-next-door appeal and nice behavior.

"I guess we're too old for crushes," she answered. "A lot has changed. Look at you now. You're totally different from the Sam I used to know 16 years ago. It has been so long, huh?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah... Sixteen years."

They now arrived at the nurse station.

"So, I guess I'll just see you around?" Jenneth asked.

"Yup. See you around," Sam said.

Jenneth went inside the elevator. That's when she started breathing easily. Since when did she started feeling uneasy? Was it that moment when she saw Ryan at the lobby? Or was it when they entered Darlene's room and saw Sam? She's not sure, but she is sure everything's okay now.

It seems like however she tries to avoid it, she really can't make herself not feel as such. But that doesn't mean that whatever she felt for Ryan that time will come back as well. Everything has changed. She's no longer that fifteen-year-old nerd girl who has a crush on their cute COCC Training Officer. She's not a high school student anymore and she's just too old for crushes.

As she came out of the elevator, she caught sight of Eng. Jonathan. She suddenly remembered Gwen and the scene that happened in the Admin office earlier. She remembered how Gwen acted in front of the handsome engineer.

Jenneth smiled. Oh well, maybe they're not too old to have crushes.