A Heart Healed

“2A,” she let out with a yawn as her eyes opened again. “I can walk.”

He gently lowered her to the floor and let her lead the way up to her apartment. Once they had gotten the door open, he let her step inside.

“Good night, Naomi,” he wished with a quick kiss on her forehead before he let her inside, leaving only when he heard her door lock with a click.

*****

There was an odd amount of silence the next day from Marc.

Naomi couldn’t understand it. Things were going well, weren’t they? They had had their date last night and he had brought her home afterwards. Oh gosh, it was her fault, wasn’t it? She had fallen asleep in the car and then he had to carry her into her building as if she was some sort of drunk.

She buried her face in her hands. Why did she allow that to happen? She shouldn’t have tried to do everything that day even though she didn’t sleep the night before. It was all because of those forms. Dr. Adamson told her that she needed to fill them out by today, yet she wanted to spent last night with him as well.

All that was for naught in the end because she couldn’t keep herself awake.

“What’s the problem with you?” a voice asked her. She looked up to see Olivia taking the seat across from her, a cup of coffee in her hand. Naomi forgot that she had been sitting in the staff cafeteria.

“Just trying to think of something. It’s been really frustrating.”

Olivia took a sip of her coffee before putting the cup down on the table. “Is it that man again?”

“He has a name, you know.”

The other woman shrugged, looking around at the nurses who were starting to slowly move in to grab their lunch from the counter. A lot of them were likely ending their shifts in a couple of hours unlike Naomi and Olivia. “So, what’s the problem? Did he keep you up last night?”

“Quite the opposite actually,” Naomi grumbled before she saw Olivia’s surprised face. “No, it was me. I sort of fell asleep in the car on our way home. I didn’t sleep very well the night before and I kind pushed myself on our date so that happened…”

“That,” Olivia got out before she cracked into fit of laughter. It took a few minutes before Naomi got her to calm her down enough to speak again. “That is both the funniest and saddest story I have ever heard.”

“It’s not funny, Liv. I really blew it. He hasn’t spoken to me the whole day.”

“Maybe he’s just busy,” Olivia suggested with a shrug. “Other people have jobs as busy as ours after all.” Naomi just let out a deep sigh and checked her cellphone for any sign from Marc. Nothing. “Just be patient. People are full of surprises after all.”

******

That night, after she finished setting food out for Iris and a quick shower which was really needed after her last patient who needed an intense amount of stitches after an incident at work that involved a saw, Naomi propped herself on the couch with her cellphone in hand. She was just happy that the day was over.

She had finished her surgical rounds and patient check-ups as well as handed in those forms for Dr. Adamson. Honestly, she wasn’t sure if she would get that position. When it came to positions for junior doctors in that hospital, there were bound to be hundreds of applications that were just as extensive or even more so than her own.

Her mentor’s recommendation may be one of the few things that was putting her with the upper tier of candidates. After that was still a formal interview with the board of the hospital. Would she even make it that far was the question, and if she did, would she take the position?

Naomi glanced down at the device in her hand. Marc. Even though they hadn’t been dating for very long, was it worth hinging this big of a career move? It probably wasn’t making sense to her brain, but her heart wanted to see where this relationship would go.

A loud ding echoed through the silence of her apartment. She raised her phone and pressed the unlock button. It was him!

            > Marc: I’m outside your apartment. Are you awake?

There was something about that question that made her giggle as she got to her feet and walked to the door. She checked the peephole and sure enough, there he was in the flesh. Naomi quickly unlocked the door and opened it to see the man who she had just been thinking about. Speak of the devil, I guess. It really as if he was summoned or something because he stood here in a suit that he had probably worn to work for the whole day, looking as if he really missed her.

“Marc, what are you doing here?” she asked.

“I wanted to see you. In person. To be fair, I had called the hospital first, but they had said you had gone home for the day.” He had done that? Why didn’t he just call her directly?

Naomi raised a confused brow at him. “Why didn’t you just send me a text instead of going through all of that?” A sheepish expression appeared on his face as he raised a hand to rub the back of his neck, his gaze drifting to the floor. What was going through his mind? Naomi had genuinely thought that something had bothered him and yet here he was. She stepped aside, pushing the door open wider. “Come inside before the neighbors decide to come and ask questions.”

“I have to admit, I thought you’d be less excited to see me.”

A frown curled her lips. “Now why would you think something like that? Because you didn’t speak to me the whole day?”

“I am sorry for that,” he apologized, stepping closer to her and taking one of her hands, placing a kiss on her knuckles. The motion just set off those circuits as always as his gray eyes met hers once again. “Today was a bit of a hectic day since we’ve been trying to settle a deal with a rival company. I’ll tell you about it when it’s done.”

“You came all the way out here just to tell me that?”

“Well, that and to spend some time with you. I know you wanted to do this yesterday, but you needed your rest and I can’t blame you for that.”

Was she dreaming? He was actually saying these things, right? Somehow, she wanted to call bullsh*t on this whole scenario because there was no way this man was actually being considerate towards her feelings, right? Naomi raised her free hand and touched his face lightly. It felt real so what was going on.

“Naomi, what are you doing?” he asked after she dropped her hand.

“Just checking if you were real actually. No man I’ve ever met actually acted the way you did over the past two days.”

“Well, if you need convincing.” He pulled her against him, raising her chin and capturing her lips beneath his with a sudden urgency that made her insides shudder in excitement. There it was, that same kind of kiss he had delivered to her on that night. The kind that sent warmth radiating through her entire body like electricity.

Much like their date, this moment felt perfect.