Chapter 1: Scaredy Patient

"In breaking news, the child of prominent CEO Connie Vitale is now confirmed to be residing in Canada."

As I arrived at the nurse’s station, I saw Evelyn, my workmate, completely engrossed in what she was watching. 

“Hey! You’re so focused!” I said, trying to startle her. I couldn’t help but chuckle when she actually jumped in surprise.

“Nothing, I just find it strange,” she said, pouting slightly. “Connie Vitale is super well-known, but not even a single photo of her child has ever surfaced.”

Evelyn’s expression immediately changed, like she suddenly remembered something.

“By the way, where have you been? You’ve been gone for so long.”

“Period leak,” I blurted out before I could stop myself. My heart skipped a beat at how quickly the words escaped my mouth.

Evelyn laughed and lightly slapped my arm. “You’re crazy! You know what? If you weren’t so good-looking, I’d seriously mistake you for a woman with how soft you talk.”

I sighed in relief, realizing she still didn’t fully suspect me.

“Oh, by the way, Alli, can you please check on the patient in room 304? We’ve had several people go, but he keeps pushing them away, seems like he’s angry at women.”

“I’m just going to check his vital signs, right?” I asked to be sure.

She nodded and said, “Vital signs and also treat his wounds. He refuses to let us touch him, so maybe you’ll have better luck.”

I just smiled in response.

Then I grabbed the tray with the cleaning supplies and medicine I’d need for his wounds.

The moment I opened the door, a short but deeply intimidating voice rang out.

“I said leave me alone,” he growled, still facing away from me.

“Sir, I just need to treat your wounds and check your vitals. I’ll leave right after,” I said determinedly, walking slowly toward him.

“Stop getting closer.” I froze in place at the sound of his warning. “Filthy girls aren’t allowed near me,” he continued coldly.

“But… I’m a man, sir.”

He seemed surprised by what I said, his body slightly flinching in response. He turned to look at me, eyes narrowing in confusion as he stared.

His gaze traveled from my head down to my toes, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

He paused, took a deep breath, then lowered his eyes to my name tag.

“Allizander Jenesis Samson,” he read aloud.

“Yes, sir?” I replied, even though I knew he was just reading my name.

"I'll let you treat me just so you can discharge me and finally leave me alone. But if this wound hurts more because of whatever you're planning to put on it, you're dead." His rant was long and sharp.

I raised an eyebrow at his threat, unable to hide the amusement creeping onto my face.

"What's so funny?" he asked, frowning when he noticed I was holding back a laugh.

He honestly reminded me of a child trying to act tough but clearly scared of getting a shot.

"Are you scared I might put alcohol on it?" I asked with a teasing smile.

His glare deepened at my remark.

"Can you just treat me quickly and stop talking?" he snapped irritably.

I quickly went along with what he wanted and prepared the materials I was going to use. As I started cleaning his wound, he squeezed his eyes shut tightly and clenched his fists like a scared child.

I couldn’t help but smile at the sight, was I actually finding him cute?

I shook my head to clear the strange thought and continued what I was doing. The cleaning and treating of his wound was done quickly, while he kept his eyes tightly shut the entire time.

“Sir?” I called out to him, but he still didn’t open his eyes.

I gently shook his shoulder a few times and said again, “Sir, it’s done. You can open your eyes now.” This time, he finally blinked, looking startled as if he wasn’t expecting it.

“Are you sure you treated me?” he asked, clearly surprised, probably because he didn’t really feel the treatment and couldn’t believe it.

I nodded softly and smiled. “You did well, sir. Now, please rest,” I said, lightly tapping his head like he was a kid.

We both seemed taken aback by my gesture, he just stared for a moment, caught off guard. Before his usual grumpy attitude could come back like earlier, I quickly turned and hurried out of his room.

When I got to the nurse’s station, Evelyn immediately asked, “How did it go?”

I just gave her a thumbs up since I was still out of breath from all the running I did.

“Good thing you pushed through, or we might’ve gotten scolded again,” she said with a laugh. I just smiled and sat down at my desk.

I had been staring at the clock for hours, waiting for it to hit 11 PM so I could finally go home. Just a few minutes before, the clock’s hands were slowly approaching 11, so I happily stood up and started packing my things.

I immediately stopped what I was doing when I heard Evelyn gasping. “What happened to you?” I asked, concerned.

“The patient in room 304 escaped. He’s no longer in his room,” she told me between breaths.

I went back to packing my things and grinned at her. “It’s 11:02 PM now. I’m officially just a regular citizen. You deal with Madam Head’s anger, okay?” I teased as I headed out of the hospital, not bothering to listen to whatever she was saying.

Once outside, I quickly opened my umbrella when I saw it was raining. “What a lousy night. Ugh, I really hate the rain,” I muttered in annoyance to myself, then started walking while holding the umbrella.

I stopped walking and immediately put my hand in my pocket when my phone vibrated. When I looked at the caller ID, my face darkened even more.

“Demon is calling...”

I answered right away and started talking before he could even say anything. “Yeah, yeah, I know what I need to do, okay? Can you just calm down a bit? Are you really that impatient?”  I said irritably, then hung up without letting him speak. I didn’t want to ruin my day any further by hearing his voice.

I just kept walking, no longer considering taking a taxi or bus since I was trying to save money. My savings were already running low from paying Mama’s hospital bills.

I stopped in my tracks, lost in thought, when I spotted someone familiar lying on the street.

“Is that the scaredy patient?” I muttered.