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“Yes, I’m aware of my reputation, but I’m also looking out for my friend—if you don’t want to take my advice, then enjoy the downward spiral of gradually hating your work.”
“I’m not your friend,” I said.
I thought I saw something like regret flash through his eyes, but the emotion was gone before I could fully absorb that it had been there.
“So kind of you to let me know.” He laughed but there was a tightness to his voice, “I really thought we could be.”
“You’re my teacher, my boss,” I said.
“Does that mean we can’t be friends?”
“You know why we can’t be friends,” I replied.
My voice had lost its sharp quality, but I was still irritated.
“That’s water under the bridge,” he responded quickly.
My poor, traitorous heart wanted to protest that it couldn’t be water under the bridge, because that would mean that we truly were nothing more than friends. I shook myself out of it. I wasn’t the kind of girl that pined after a man, and especially not one that could ruin my entire career before it even really started.
I remembered my mother, those first few years of my life where it was just the two of us in a tiny apartment. I remembered the feeling of climbing into a bed next to her, the one we had to share in between my days spent with the elderly woman in the apartment above and my mother’s ridiculous shifts that wore her out.
“Then, there’s no reason you might want to be friends with me,” I argued.
“How about I met a girl at a brunch that made me want to learn more?”
He was quick with his response, eyes flashing mischievously. I could be just as quick.
“Then, that would be you granting special favor to your boss’s daughter, which is completely unprofessional.”
“Not if I treat her the same as all the other students during working hours.”
I was out of arguments. It was my day off, and I was supposed to be able to do whatever I wanted. If I wanted to study, that should be my choice.
“I’m going to have to report you to HR if I want you to stop, aren’t I?” I grumbled.
Adrian clearly knew I wasn’t serious, and he nodded, smiling.
“I’ve got to go now, but can you meet me somewhere when my shift ends? I want to show you something.”
“As friends,” I replied deadpan.
“Naturally.”
I sighed but he seemed to take that as a “yes”. He grabbed a piece of paper from my notepad and scribbled something on it before standing.
“I have to go,” he said cheerily. “See you later!”
“I never told you if I’d come!” I called after him, but he was already gone.
I looked down at the paper he’d left me. It had nine digits that I assumed were his phone number and an address with a time. It was a move. It was my choice to text him, it was my choice to show up.
I didn’t have to do either.
Frustrated at the incorrigible man, I couldn’t concentrate, so I packed up my things and left the hospital.
How was I ever going to get anything done with him around?
I stopped by Jasmine’s room on the way out, and my heart sank when I saw her. She had been getting gradually worse, the heart in her chest not responding adequately to the medication she was on. We all knew it was only a matter of time before we were out of options, and she would need a new heart. I just wondered how long she had left before even Adrian wouldn’t operate on her.
