The Man Who Saved Me

If he went home, his mom would make veiled references to her nephew’s political career. His dad would pretend not to hear any of it.

And his sister would roll her eyes, say something she shouldn’t, and it would all turn into a fight.

Adam was grateful for his sister. She was the one bright spot in his family.

Sylvia took absolutely no bullsh*t from anybody, and she was his staunch ally. She always had been.

Even if she was the younger one, she had taken care of him in every way that mattered.

But Sylvia never shied away from a confrontation. His parents had elevated being passive aggressive to a sublime art.

Sylvia had never had any patience with that, and she had always made it very clear.

They were both disappointments, he supposed. He had chosen to be a doctor, and not the kind who gets the prestige that the family name was supposed to command.

His sister had decided to be an artist, of all things.

It was perfect for her. He knew that.

She was happy with it.

And she was one of the most gifted sculptors he had ever seen. She had a gift with stone that was simply astounding.

Without Sylvia, his childhood would’ve been nothing.

He hadn’t told Shonali about Sylvia. He had been surprised that he’d wanted to.

What would’ve happened if he hadn’t gotten that call that morning? Would they have spent a lazy morning in bed, making love, before having breakfast together, bathed in that lovely afterglow?

Would he have talked to her about more, let her in and let her see the man he was? Would she have seen him, without judging him?

He hadn’t felt judged with her.

He hadn’t felt like he needed to leave.

If it hadn’t been for an emergency, he might have convinced himself to stay for as long as he possibly could have.

And yet, he hadn’t called her.

They hadn’t exchanged numbers. They had been so wrapped up in each other that they hadn’t even thought of mundane things like phone numbers.

He’d never experienced anything of the sort before.

It had felt like a connection of souls.

Shonali was so fresh, and delightful, and natural.

There were no contrivances about her.

There was such natural empathy in her, as if she could feel everything he was feeling, and she wanted nothing more than to heal him.

He was the one who had healed her. She felt grateful to him.

He had taken advantage of that and slept with her.

No matter what, he couldn’t seem to get past that. He’d known that she had an idealized image of him. He was nothing like the person she thought he was.

If she got to know him, she would be disillusioned and everything would fall apart.

Surely it was better to just leave things as they were, and go on with life.

She must be doing that, or she would’ve called him, wouldn’t she?

She could reach him if she wanted to. He wasn’t so difficult to find.

There was the whole world of social media out there, too. Even he had a couple of accounts.

The thought of Shonali going on with her life as if the day –and the night – they had spent together didn’t matter at all didn’t make him feel any better.

Grumpy, he left his phone on the bed and stalked off to the living room, deciding to watch some mindless TV and zone out for a while.

What he needed was to stop thinking at all for a while. He’d done nothing but think for far too long. He needed to do something.

Maybe the lack of sleep was impairing his judgment.

Adam decided to do something that had always relaxed him and make dinner for himself.

Living without a gas connection and electricity could make you really appreciate the comforts of home. Having to live on rice and not much else for quite a while had made him truly appreciate supermarkets.

The first thing Adam had done after coming back from his first assignment had been to learn to cook. He didn’t need to recreate any Michelin star recipes, but he needed to be able to make the things he had missed.

His mother, he remembered, had been mortified when he’d gone down to the kitchen and asked the cook to teach him how to make his favorite meals.

He didn’t think his mother had ever spent much time in the kitchen. She had always been the coordinator and the hostess.

She had been excellent at that, of course. But Adam had never fit in.

He had been a serious child who didn’t act like a child.

He had never felt like he belonged.

That was all in the past. Why the hell was he wallowing? He had built a life for himself. He had made something for himself. He was even making a name for himself, and one day, maybe, when people talked of Dr. Adam Catten, they wouldn’t think of the Catten family name and heritage.

So Adam, determined, started putting a meatloaf together. The humble meatloaf had been one of the things he had missed the most, and now it was his specialty, especially with homemade chips.

He didn’t care if anybody else thought that was a ridiculous combination.

He loved it.

So Adam didn’t hear the phone ringing.

*****

Shonali jabbed at the phone’s screen viciously and glared at it.

“Maybe he’s busy. Like, maybe he’s in surgery or something,” said Malia.

But she didn’t sound like she was convinced of it herself.

After all that building up, Shonali had finally made up her mind to call Adam, and there it was. Dr. Dreamboat wasn’t interested.

“Maybe he’s just in the shower,” suggested Malia, making Shonali turn and glare at her.

“Or maybe,” went on Malia, hurriedly, “he’s a damn asshole and deserves to be roasted on a spit.”

Shonali went back to glaring at her phone at that more satisfactory reaction.

“Once more. Just once more, and if he doesn’t answer, that’s it. Unless he calls back and it turns out he was saving lives or something. Then maybe I might consider forgiving him.”

Malia nodded seriously.

It seemed like a do-or-die moment. It was with bated breath that Shonali finally hit the call button again.

The phone started ringing. Shonali counted it off in her head.

On the seventh ring, just as she was about to cut the call, he answered.

“Hello?”

And Shonali, for once, was speechless.