Bad Boys Rule

by Naughty Aphrodite

  Chapter 2

  Joan could perfectly recall the accident.

  She had headed into the city for a delivery and on her way back had fumbled with the old radio in her van. It had momentarily distracted her and in the next moment, she had raised her head to meet the collision of more than four vehicles across the road.

  She had slammed down on her brakes but it was too late. Her van tumbled over and slid across the ground to crash into the back of one of the accident vehicles, shattering the glasses all around her.

  The fear that had gripped her heart at that moment, shocked her awake.

  A sharp pain originating from her abdomen and spreading all over her body greeted her. There was an intubation tube in her mouth and a needle stuck in her hand. She recalled the shard of glass… the suffocating woman by her bedside… and it all came back to her.

  Her gaze moved to the full head of dark hair that laid on her bed, and she stared at it in exhausted confusion. She heard shouting in the distance and at its approach, the sleeping man began to stir. When he raised his head at the incoming noise, and his gaze met hers, she felt her heart plummet into her stomach.

  For the longest time there were no words exchanged between them until finally, she asked. “Who are you?”

  He looked confused. At first, he did not respond, but then just as he began to open his mouth to speak, a man dressed in a dark suit barged into the ICU with three nurses running after him.

  “Where is he? Caleb Pace!”

  The man turned away from her, and after a glance at the recovering patients in the ICU, turned to glare at the shouting man. He rose slowly to his feet and walked up to him until he was staring down at him, several inches taller than anyone else in the room. He slipped his hands into the pocket of his white coat and spoke. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  The shouting man suddenly fisted the front of his blue scrubs and tried to jerk the doctor towards him. “You killed my daughter,” he spat, eyes bulging red with pain and face contorted in fury. “You better bring her back.”

  The doctor looked at the nurses behind him. “Step out of the ICU,” he said and they all retreated. He turned his gaze back to the man. “Let go of me,” he said.

  The man scoffed. “You still have the guts. Let go of you, or else what?” he asked. “You’re gonna call the cops? Go ahead. It will be a great head start for your incoming time in prison.”

  The doctor’s voice was so calm that it made her nervous. “If you do not let go,” he said, “I will dislocate your arm this instant and no doctor will ever be able to fully fix it.”

  She believed him, and after a few moments so did the man, albeit reluctantly. He loosened his grip on the shirt, and then stormed away, the nurses clearing a path for him. Dr. Pace calmly straightened his now wrinkled scrubs and then turned to look at her. She met his eyes.

  “I’m Doctor Caleb Pace,” he said, and all she could do was stare.

  Chapter 3

  “Watch her for me,” Caleb said to Kevin and headed towards his office. When he arrived, he turned around to look at the nurses accompanying him. “Do you not all have patients to tend to?” he asked.

  The two female nurses scurried away, but as the Head Nurse began to leave also, he stopped her. “Please come in, Nurse Kang.”

  She nodded and they both went in to meet the man and his wife seated in front of his desk. The woman was sobbing quietly while her husband gazed angrily at the windows blinds.

  Nurse Kang stood by the corner, while Caleb took his seat. As soon as he did, the man slapped a card on the table. Caleb glanced at it and read the title. He was from the medicine investigation board.

  “Explain to me why you ignored my daughter for a patient that was not in a condition as critical as hers?”

  Caleb leaned in his chair and folded his arms against his chest. “That other patient had a shard of glass sticking from her chest.”

  “Don’t be smart with me,” the man snapped. “I know medicine too. As long as it was not moved, she could have held on for much longer.”

  “I could not be certain of how much longer and I did not want to take the chance, so I did what I deemed appropriate in the heat of the moment.”

  “What you deemed appropriate?!?” the man asked incredulously. “Do you even have a heart? Are you human?” His voice rose. “You should be in jail, not holding a scalpel. How could you pass over a child?”

  Caleb turned to the sobbing woman. “Your wife was the one who drove an underaged child without putting her in a car seat. That was why, upon collision, she sustain such severe injuries.”

  The man gazed at him in shock and then shot to his feet with a bang of his hand against the table. “How dare you!” he roared. “You bastard! How dare you point a finger at my wife?”

  Caleb could take no more. He rose to his feet as well. “Please take whatever complaints you may have against my call with the hospital’s director. He will be turning in to work by 9 am. I’m going home.”

  There was a shock of silence that followed him until he got to the door, but then he stopped and stared with compassion at the sobbing mother. “I am truly sorry for your loss,” he said and pulled the door open.

  “I will destroy you!” the man yelled. “You and this goddamn shack of a hospital.”

  Caleb shut the door behind him and headed home. On his way, he thought of the little girl and went over his decision, his heart heavy with the call that he had made. There was a very high chance that Aisha would have been able to hold on at least a while longer than the girl. However, she might not have survived up till the end of the child’s surgery and there was no other surgeon he could trust enough to handle it. She had literally come back from the grave, there was nothing worth the risk of losing her a second time. There was still so much that he did not understand.

  In retrospect, it had been such a difficult choice to make but at the time it had been incredibly easy because the moment he had recognized her, he had lost all reason. He felt great remorse at his decision, but if he had the chance to do it all over again, he would take the same path in a heart beat. He was no hero and had never pretended to be one.

  Aisha meant more to him than anything in this world. His reputation, his career, his very own life. He had no regrets, only a bitterness at the cruelty of life, and the insurmountable challenges that it constantly tossed in one’s path.

  He sighed deeply as he walked into his home. Aisha had pretended not to recognize him, and he wondered why. She would have been able to thoroughly confuse him had he not operated on her. But he had, and he had gotten his confirmation that she was none other than his supposedly dead fiancé.

  After she had graduated from a medical school which had come at a heavy price, she had as a note of celebration tattooed the caduceus- the medical symbol of two snakes winding around a winged staff, between her breasts. It had been a decision that she had come to regret so thoroughly. He had operated on her and seen it, and it had brought such joy and equally pervasive pain. There was no denying her identity now, so unless there was truly something wrong with her memory, her hoax or pretense would crash and burn with such tragedy. No one would take her away from him again, not even her.

  Chapter 4

  Joan watched the nurse as he checked up on her.

  She sat upright on the bed while he inspected her vitals and wounds, and although she could see what he was doing, her mind was far from him.

  Her insides were boiling with anxiety at the medical bill that she expected would be accrued to her. She had a fair estimate of how much it would all cost and it scared her witless.

  “You keep sighing,” the male nurse whose name was Kevin, said to her, and she returned her focus to him. He was now injecting a drug into a syringe.

  “I’m allergic to penicillin,” she said, her eyes on the small brown bottle and upon his startle, she turned her gaze to him. He retracted the needle and placed his hand on his chest in
relief.

  “You should have said so,” he almost cried. “Wait, how do you know this is penicillin?”

  She shot him a small smile and turned her face towards the door. “When can I leave?”

  “Your surgery was just two days ago,” he said. “You need to be monitored for a while. I’ll be moving you from the ICU as soon as I’m done.”

  “I don’t want to stay for too long,” she said. “I have a job.”

  He stopped to glare at her. “I think your health is at least a thousand times more important, but that could just be me.” When he saw that she was serious, he sighed. “Call your workplace and explain what has happened. You won’t be able to leave until your doctor discharges you.”

  “Dr. Pace?”

  “Yeah, him.”

  She remained silent until the nurse was done.

  “Do you have medical insurance?” he asked, and she shook her head.

  He stopped and gazed at her. “Okay,” he said and disconnected her IV. He called over another nurse to assist him in pushing her bed and in no time they were on their way.

  She was settled in a private ward and it alarmed her even more. She grabbed the nurse’s uniform. “Why am I here?” she asked. “I cannot afford a private ward.”

  “I’m just following instructions,” he said. “Dr. Pace instructed me to admit you in here. You can take your reservations up with him when he returns for his shift at night. The police brought over your belongings. They’re in the drawer beside you.”

  Both nurses flashed her a smile and left her to herself.

  It was a restless couple of hours for her until she decided to pick up the phone to call her boss.

  The bakery store owner answered and expressed his condolences for her accident in a sour voice. “The van has been sent in for repairs,” he mentioned bitterly. “It is going to cost a couple thousand dollars. You should have been careful.”

  I was, she thought but didn't dare speak.

  “I hope you have a speedy recovery,” he said. “Get well soon.”

  She stared at the phone in despair as he hung up and didn’t realize that the tears had begun to run down her cheeks until the door opened. She wiped them away and turned to meet the watchful gaze of Dr. Caleb Pace.

  Her heart gave a slight jolt. She watched him come over to her bedside, and with his hands in his pocket, check her vitals from the monitor. Without a word, he placed the buds of the stethoscope to her chest and listened to the beat of her heart.

  She tried but failed to take her eyes away from him. He had a strong jaw and a straight nose, eyes that seared and a stance that spoke of his aloofness. He was clean shaven, a nice difference to the man she had seen a few days earlier, but his hair was a dark, unruly mass.

  “How do you feel?” he asked.

  “Uh?” was her startled response as she shifted her gaze to his. “Um, I-I feel alright.”

  “Any pain?”

  “Just a discomfort around my chest and at the small of my back.”

  “Have you eaten?”

  “I had dinner a little while ago.”

  “Do you want something different?”

  For a few seconds, she battled with herself against her intended response, but in the end, she chose the path of prudence. “No, the hospital’s food is alright.”

  “Liar,” he said, but it was muttered so low that she couldn’t take it up with him.

  “I’ll send for a meal,” he announced, wrapped his stethoscope around his neck and walked out. She stared at him as he went, a bit flustered, but it was only a few moments later that she remembered all the questions and requests she needed to make of him. With a heavy sigh, she returned to her thoughts and pondered on her countless worries.

  Less than twenty minutes later, the door opened once again, and in he came with a takeout bag. Without a word, he pulled the table over the bed and drew a chair to her side upon which he sat.

  He began to place the dishes in front of her and when he was done, handed over a pair of chopsticks. Without speaking he tore open his bowl of black bean noodles and began to eat.

  She didn’t know how to react, so she muttered her thanks and then pulled open her bowl of rice. Upon the sight of the black beans that littered the top, she paused for a moment. However, she picked up her spoon and put a handful in her mouth. She felt his eyes rest on her in that moment.

  She ate with abandon, consuming the kimchi and seaweed soup as quickly as she could so that he could leave, and soon they were both done. He leaned against his chair and stared at her.

  “I once knew someone who looked exactly like you,” he said. “She hated black beans though.”

  She downed her plastic cup of water and met his gaze. “Really? I love them. Always have. Thanks for the meal.”

  “What’s your story?” he asked.

  “I... uh... I work for a bakery. I was returning from a delivery when I met the accident. I wasn’t able to stop my van on time.”

  He stared into her eyes as she spoke, leaning ever so casually against the chair. “Is that all?”

  She nodded.

  “Your name is Joan?”

  She nodded again.

  “The tattoo between your breasts...” he said. “It’s interesting.”

  Her face instantly began to burn a bright shade of red. Flustered at his bold comment, she tucked her hair behind her ears and brought them over her shoulder to fall down her chest. “Thank you,” she muttered in response.

  “Care to explain its history?”

  “I’d rather not,” she said, his intimidating presence getting to her. “I’d like to rest.”

  He remained silent for a few more moments before he spoke again. “You performed a complicated procedure in the ER. It’s something that even residents sometimes have difficulty doing, yet you did it with a shard of glass in your abdomen and without the fear that you might take a life. Explain yourself.”

  She worked up a smile at him. “I am incredibly sorry about that, I saw her struggling to breathe by my side and I just reacted without thought. I was scared that she would die.”

  He didn’t respond. He just kept watching her and she knew that she was yet to answer the question that he had asked.

  “I got into an accident about six years ago, and from it, I lost a part of my memory, as well as my parents, I was told. But I do have a cousin and it was he who told me all about myself. I’ve suspected my medical knowledge over the years but it was not until that night in the ER that I realized it. It felt as though my actions were second nature, I didn’t even have to think about the procedure that I carried out. Perhaps I was an ambulance personnel prior to my accident.”

  “Hm,” he responded.

  He rose then and began to walk away.

  “Wait!” she called out and he stopped to shoot her a glance. “Why am I in a private ward? I cannot afford it. Please send me back to the general ward.”

  He nodded and turned to leave but she stopped him yet again. “One more thing. How soon can I leave? I have to get back to work. I have bills overdue.”

  “You can leave when I say so,” he responded, and before she could think of a reply, the door was shut behind him.

  A few moments later, Kevin came in looking reluctant. “Why does he keep telling me to keep an eye on you?” he asked her and Joan shrugged her shoulders.

  “You’re not going to run away without paying your bills, are you?” he asked, and for a brief second their eyes met.

  He stopped in his tracks. “Don’t you dare,” he said, and she couldn’t help the smile that rose to her lips.

  Chapter 5

  Caleb returned to his office to find the Head Nurse awaiting him.

  “I brought you a meal,” she said and lifted up the food flask. Caleb nodded politely to the older woman and ushered her in. He took off his white coat while she busied herself with setting out the food on his desk.

  “Did you cook
this?” he asked as he dragged the plate of beef casserole to himself.

  “Of course I did.”

  He grinned at her. “Okay.”

  “I only included store bought wings for you that one time,” she said. “Once! The batch I had tossed in the oven got burnt and I was already late for my shift.”

  “Okay,” he repeated and continued to eat.

  He could feel her eyes on him as he ate and knew that she wanted to speak to him, otherwise she would have left. So he took a few more spoonfuls and began to pack the plates. She was surprised.