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I spent a lot of time in hospitals over the last few years, but it was never about me, it was always about Raquel. Like every time my sister's name is breathed into my mind, I squeeze my eyes shut, feeling the black box in my chest rebel.
“Never?” Rafa questions, looking back in surprise, and I nod, confirming. “Well, I'll bring her here. Your room is the best place for her to see you.”
“Fine.”
“It's just a consultation, Gabriella,” she says, as an attempt at comfort, but it doesn't work, because there is only one reason why a gynecologist came to visit me: Vittorio sent her here. I can't imagine why he would do this. “Alright?”
“Okay,” I repeat, even though the satisfaction with which I opened the door has already faded. I take steps back, entering the room when Rafaella walks away.
I look around me, the room is perfectly tidy, not even a thread out of place. I can't sit down, so I continue to wait standing, with just a few steps between the door and me, for what seems like an eternity before Rafaella appears with a middle-aged brunette with her.
The doctor's eyes are a striking light blue, and she gives me a gentle smile as soon as she sees me. The woman drags a small suitcase that makes me frown.
“Hello, Gabriella,” she greets me, extending her hand to me, and I accept it, offering a handshake. “I'm Doctor Noelle.”
“Hello, Doctor Noelle. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“The pleasure is mine. Can we sit down?” she asks, nodding toward the small seating area near the fireplace, and I nod.
“Excuse me,” Rafaella says goodbye and closes the door behind her.
***
“Say what you want to, Rafaella.” I practically groan when I get tired of her condescending gaze.
The smirk that's been hanging on her face since the doctor left widens, and I roll my eyes. She abandons the fruit tray she was arranging and spreads her hands on the kitchen counter. Icross my arms in front of my body, abandoning the plate of pasta I was dedicating myself to and straighten my spine.
“I'm not saying anything.”
“Oh, as if you needed to!” I snort and move my body, making the stool I'm sitting on spin.
“You really asked him to end your agony!” My friend throws her head back, laughing loudly, and I squint my eyes, trying to stop myself from smiling, but I can't. I end up laughing too, because even though it was at my expense, the damn joke was funny.
“Idiot!” I accuse.
“You slept with him! I knew it was a matter of time.” The look of victory on her face is so irritating.
“Sleeping was the last thing we did.”
“Yeah, try again, but without going completely red this time,” she mocks my attempt to appear casual, and I curse my too-fair skin for the second time today.
“Damn it!” I grumble, and Rafaella laughs.
“How was the appointment?” she finally asks. I was already finding her silence strange, but apparently, she just didn't want to get one topic over the other so as not to miss the chance to give me hell.
“Good, I think. Apparently, I'm underweight.”
“When you got here, you were a bag of bones, Gabriella,” she says like a joke, but the words hit me hard. “But what about the gynecological part?”
“We did some tests. Inside that suitcase was a portable office.”
“I imagined. And what else?”
“What do you mean?” I pretend I don't understand, because revealing that I asked the doctor all the questions that crossed my mind, as if I were twelve and not eighteen, is very embarrassing.
“Did she prescribe you birth control?”
“Oh, yes,” I agree, relieved that that's what she wanted to know. I bite my lip and open my mouth to ask, but I close it, swallowing my doubts.
