Smiles

I stretched out my arm wanting to reach for my jacket.

I barely managed to brush it with my fingertips. That man had to be an asshole, I couldn't hire a security system to protect him.

He would be so cheap.

There was no security, there was no one, he was stranded almost in the middle of nowhere. If it wasn't for the fact that there was a road in front of the residence, the same one that was facing the sea, when driving along the road you could notice that small garden behind the metal bars.

"Come on wake up" I begged knowing that I was unconscious, I must be so unlucky. "Don't die" I pleaded so pitifully. "Don't die, don't do it"

The ambulance arrived within minutes.

When the paramedics arrived, I could barely manage to know that it had been minutes and not hours, I had felt an eternity with every second that passed. That wounded man could die and my fingerprints were in his hair, because it was impossible not to stroke his hair in search of making him wake up.

"Quickly" the squad leader removed the man above me and they ripped his shirt completely off giving him first aid. "Blood pressure monitors." 

The area medics in emergency were so efficient.

"Get him on the stretcher" he ordered leading the group. I wiped away that fluid, which was still running down the corners of the corner of my eyes. "Quick, he needs an x-ray and investigate how much organ damage has occurred."

A nurse helped me up.

I managed to make out how he was being carried on the stretcher towards the ambulance parked in front of the residence, a group of three men carried him carrying him, I breathed through my mouth being unable to calm my breathing.

"Your husband will not die" at that moment I felt a sense of relief, having no idea how much that woman nurse had gotten right and preceded in her words. "I will help you, come with me."

I followed.

I ended up riding in the back of the ambulance.

I was a key witness to the two times they made him keep his signs barely stable, I felt like I was watching a terrifying scene, that team of emergency medics battling to keep the injured man alive.

The defibrillator was used a total of two times.

"Quickly," a nurse banged into the cab, signaling the driver to call for a line and get to the hospital as quickly as possible, as the patient was dying. The patient will not hold on any longer.

That wounded man was connected to an oxygen tube, they had opened a wound in his neck by inserting a tube, they had intervened because his lungs did not seem to be able to carry enough oxygen to the body, I saw how they opened him, risking a crossroad to rescue him.

The crimson was on the gloves and on the man's shirt.

"What's taking so long?" complained another nurse in frustration at not making it to the hospital.

"The patient is the priority" roared the leader towards his colleagues, the monitors kept indicating how difficult it was for that unknown man, he really could have died sooner. "He keeps dropping his heart rate "

"What?" the nurse who had pounded his fist on the ambulance cab, turned to the monitor checking.

He heard so clearly that ambulance horn was still blaring. The cars seemed not to be moving because of a car accident on the road.

The emergency doctors seemed distressed at what seemed to be the terrible outcome for the injured man.

It took them about half an hour to arrive.

"Quickly to the operating room."

"He has several internal damage" reported the team leader in the ambulance.

I barely managed to understand that the ambulance had been stopped, that we were in the In the parking lot area, an attending physician in the emergency area had arrived. 

He told the emergency team to take him to the operating room.

I walked trembling over the ambulance, I was in the back of the ambulance. On my walk around I discovered that there was too much blood in the ambulance, I didn't know what I was supposed to do that place.

"Ma'am, don't move" a nurse stopped me as I tried to get out of the ambulance. "You feel dizzy."

I denied.

"You need to go get checked out."

He opened one of my eyes shining a small flashlight into it, I felt like I was suspended from reality, it looked like a mockery and that a nightmare.

"Follow the light." 

I did as he instructed.

He helped by wiping the traces of blood on my jaw, discovering that those traces of blood did not belong to me. 

"You need to do a check" ordered the nurse.

I could hardly understand that that place was not where I was supposed to be, I was not even his relative, I must have gone crazy wanting to jump the boundaries of that barrier and enter that house.

I was taken by the nurse to the emergency room, they performed an excessive amount of medical checks, I did not resist. I followed every order the doctors gave me.

"Your husband will be fine."

I didn't know why they kept repeating it over and over again. That man who could barely move was not my husband, nodding vaguely I averted my gaze down a long hallway.

"He'll be out of surgery soon" the nurse who was helping me dress kept giving me words of comfort. "You must be a little groggy" 

I didn't respond.

I knew that house, I used to drive by the road that was right across the street from the huge house in the 'WIN' area of 63rd Avenue in the city, there was no one who didn't know that place.

I knew it was a terrible idea.

Sitting in the waiting room I clenched my fists, that moment the anguish in my chest kept me tied to the seat, unable to leave. I pulled the air from my lungs in a long sigh that drew certain stares.

"Young man" I jumped in my place as I felt a hand on my shoulder, there was no turning back, a police officer was in front of me. "You must accompany us."

"Ah?"

I blurted out.

"We have a few questions for you" the officer indicated. I must have freaked out the moment my feet followed him so collaboratively.

That was the indication of a bad omen.

Seeing that barely visible scar on his neck made me think he must have had a bad time in the operating room, it must have been sad to wake up and not find a familiar face.

"Ready" Gael smiled with a huge smile on his lips, that man was impossible not to love, his beauty so unique made my heart pound. "It's still painful." 

That cold look had been wiped away.

A hint of guilt glared through his eyes in an instant, same that was replaced by an expressionless face.

"Go show your ugly tears somewhere else" he spat at my resounding silence.

I closed my eyes.

A couple of tears fell, I opened them again, smiled slyly and seeing him squatting in front of me, without much thought I nudged my foot into his chest.

"No one asks for your disgusting kindness" I replied, he fell down sitting on the floor.

"Oh!" he feigned astonishment. "You are good at theater, have you ever thought of being an actress" his voice full of derision, made me raise my chin. 

"You want to be corrected."

"A college girl wants to correct me" he dropped completely on the floor, stretched out in front of the bed, a laugh reached my ears so melodically. "It's impossible"

"Do I look like a joke?" furrowing my brow I pinned my eyes on that businessman. "Sir."

"Huh?" Gael noticed my sarcasm, his laughter stopped and for an instant I hated myself, he sat on the floor again. "Can't you be a little more generous, I've been kind..."

"And I should repay you?" I rolled my eyes.

"You will."

Gael looked interested.

"I think there's something wrong with your head" I cut off abruptly whatever gibberish was coming out of his mouth, Gael smiled as he got up from the floor.

"It might be guilt" he mumbled, I would have thought I imagined it but for the overwhelming silence, barely our voices could be heard in the huge residence. 

"Now I have to wear some cuts on my thighs" I complained. "You want recognition for that too" I faced him without taking my eyes from his.

He was such an attractive man.

Gael smiled.