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Yes, he definitely liked her. Which was strange. He didn’t like anyone except for Ian. It must have been some fall.
Alek wrote,I could forget everything about myself and still know that I love you.
He nodded to the doctor. She rolled her eyes, pulled the paper from the clipboard, and said to Ian in English, “I believe it’s for you.”
Ian took the note without reading it.
“We’ll give you two some privacy,” the doctor said in English. At least she had emotional intelligence, even if her neuroscience needed work. “I’ll have Michael track down an iPad. We have a video interpreter?—”
“No! No interpreters. Only you,” Alek rushed to say.
In Bulgarian, she replied, “I assure you. It’s secure. Your privacy will be maintained.”
“No.”
“Keep the writing implements then. I’ll bill you later.” A flash of a smile and then, “I’d tell you to stop writing when you get tired, but I doubt you’ll listen.”
To Ian, the doctor said, “Dais yes andNeis no.Ebasiis fuck. I have a feeling you’ll be hearing it a lot.” Then she took Alek’s pen and wrote her phone number on his clipboard. “I trust younot to abuse the privilege. Would you like me to translate anything else before I go?”
“Tell Ian to stop looking so sad. He can’t kill me that easily.”
She laughed again. “I’m not going to say that.”
“Doesn’t that go against your oath or ethics or whatever? Just tell him.”
“He says stop looking so sad. I’m going to be fine,” she told Ian, then in Bulgarian, asked, “Anything else?”
“Tell him to buy a keyboard and bring it back here.”
“Like a computer keyboard?”
“No. Piano.”
After relaying the message, the doctor and the nurse left, a cacophony of phones ringing and alarms dinging outside the room until they closed the door behind them.
“Read it,” Alek said automatically and then growled. Fuck this fucking Bulgarian.
Ian must have understood because he looked down at the paper.
There were tiny flecks of dried blood like freckles on Ian’s neck. He looked older, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deeper, but even wearing scrubs, the color a most atrocious spearmint gum green, Alek couldn’t stop staring.
Ian folded the paper up into smaller and smaller squares and then held it in his hand. He looked less like he was about to be executed and more like he was about to be laid off, his eyes glued on the scratchy blanket covering Alek’s lower half.
“I’m so sorry,” Ian said.
Alek didn’t know whathehad to apologize for.
Ian raised his gaze. “Can I kiss you?”
“Yes.” Alek cursed the fact he couldn’t sit up and bring Ian’s face to him.
Ian rose from his seat, but instead of kissing Alek’s lips, he pressed a feather-light kiss to his forehead.
Alek wrote,That’s it?
Ian lowered back into the chair and rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “The last place I kissed you was there and… there was blood everywhere. I… I needed to erase it.”
I’m sorry I scared you.
