1. His Stubbornness

Rose was resting, still exhausted from her tumultuous night shift, when she received a call from the head nurse. 

For a moment there, she wondered what could possibly be wrong – the head nurse never called her – before taking the call, “Hello Elizabeth.” 

“Hello Rose,” the older woman greeted her in a soft tone of voice, “how have you been?” 

“I’m good. Thanks,” Rose tried not to show how unsettled she was by the call or how curious she was. 

“Can you come to the clinic to cover today’s night shift?” The woman then asked, straight to the point.

  

“Is something wrong?” Rose asked in a concerned tone. If something had happened to one of her fellow nurses, or they had an emergency, they usually called themselves first. 

“Leila has a sprained ankle and cannot attend to Mr Bianchi,” Elizabeth explained on a discreet sigh. 

“Mr Bianchi?” Rose echoed after her, paling ever so slightly at the memory of the peculiar and unpleasant patient. 

“Yes, Roman Bianchi specifically asked for you once he learnt that Leila could not come,” Elizabeth declared at once.

Rose was taken aback for a moment there, and then wondered whether the man was vindictive or something. Indeed, she had sworn to herself not to go near him again, and there he was making her go back on her word.  

“He refused to be touched by the day nurse, and even drove a couple of others running with tears in their eyes.” 

The confession didn’t surprise Rose. The man wasn’t exactly a ray of sunshine.  

“Fine,” Rose conceded, nodding even though her superior couldn’t see her.

A troublesome patient such as Roman Bianchi was bound to make more problems for her, and her colleagues if he didn’t get what he wanted, and that was what prompted Rose to accept… Admittedly, she felt like Elizabeth wouldn’t accept a no for an answer either.  

“Thank you,” Elizabeth said in a gratitude-filled tone of voice. 

“Anytime,” Rose answered absent-mindedly, and they soon ended the call. 

Despite being unsettled and different shades of surprised, Rose decided to take a nap so she would be able to face the man and attend to him. 

Sleep was fitful, and she dreamt of icy blue eyes following her everywhere, and she running from them like the plague…

When she woke up, she held a hand to her forehead, and then let out miserably, “Already haunting me, Mr Bianchi? The shift hasn’t even started yet.” 

She quickly made some mac and cheese, and ate in haste, before hitting the shower. 

** ** ** ** ** 

The moment Rose reached the clinic, she crossed paths with Zina, whoms she greeted with a smile, and the latter hugged her at once. 

Zina wasn’t a hugger. 

“It is so good to see you, Rose. We need you to deal with Mr Bianchi, and we’ll take care of all the other patients,” she told her softly. 

“Are you sure?” Rose raised an eyebrow at her. “Surely the added workload is going to be a bit much?” 

Indeed, usually, each nurse handled 3 to 4 patients… 

“We don’t mind,” Zina told her, looking her straight in the eyes, and another nurse, Catherine, nodded at once in agreement. 

“Okay, sure,” Rose let out, appreciating the gesture of goodwill in more ways than one. She could do without the added pressure. Roman Bianchi was enough trouble all on his own. 

Rose changed into her scrubs, and was soon heading to room 77 where the man was presumably resting. The men saw her first, and one of them nodded at her, allowing her in. 

She found the mafia boss sitting on the bed, a fine layer of sweat covering his forehead, no doubt because of the pressure applied to the wound which had yet to heal. 

He didn’t even spare her a glance, and continued struggling with the bed sheets. 

“Lay down, Mr Bianchi,” she let out softly, “I’ll handle the sheets.” 

“I can take care of it,” he retorted in a clipped tone of voice, shooting her a look, before saying, “You’re late.” 

“I didn’t mean to make you wait, Mr Bianchi, but the night shift starts at 6 pm,” she let out in a weary tone, before declaring, “I am going to touch you.” 

And with that, she put a hand on his shoulder, and raised an eyebrow, silently urging him to lay down. He thankfully obliged despite the look of displeasure on his face. 

She understood at once why he was trying to remove the sheets. The man was burning up. 

She looked at his chart, and was horrified to see the mention “NC” even in front of the medications. She could understand his desire to not be touched, and thus the emptiness next to the blood pressure, the termperature and the pulse… But surely, even he knew that being non-compliant with the medication would only slow his recovery. 

“Mr Bianchi, do you have a death wish perhaps?” She asked in earnest. 

“Pardon?” He raised an eyebrow, no doubt not used to the question being directed at him. 

“You did not take your meds,” she let out, eyes narrowing at him as she stubbornly refused to look away from his intense blue eyes. 

“I refused to be treated by those fickle frivolous nurses,” he drawled, shrugging as he did so.  

“You have to understand that this stubbornness of yours could possibly ruin you,” she told him in a clipped tone of voice. 

“Well, you’re here to prevent that, aren’t you?” He retorted flippantly. 

Rose had to bite on the inside of her cheek to keep herself from saying something she might regret. The good looking mafia boss was absolutely infuriating, and he didn’t seem to care that her rest was disrupted by his wishes. 

Of course he doesn’t care. Who do you take him for? A part of her reasoned. 

“You’ll have to endure being touched, Mr Bianchi,” Rose said seriously after releasing a heavy sigh. 

He nodded wordlessly at her, and she shot into action at once. She took his temperature which confirmed that he was indeed burning up. His blood pressure was normal but his pulse was accelerated – which was to be expected considering his temperature. 

She then inspected his wound, making sure it hadn’t reopened because of his earlier struggle with the sheets – and it thankfully hadn’t. 

He put up with her silently despite the grimace on his face… She didn’t know what his deal was, but she didn’t want his attitude to deter her from doing her job. 

“What now?” He asked once she was done. 

“Now I will have to find a good vein for your pain meds at least,” she declared matter-of-factly. “As for the antibiotics, you are to take one pill per meal.” 

“Will I keep a clear head?” He asked at once. 

“Yes, naturally,” she nodded at him. 

He nodded at her, giving her consent, and she went on doing her job, under his watchful gaze. 

This was Rose’s first time meeting a patient so stubborn, so proud, and oh so dangerously handsome. Indeed, as infuriating as he was, she could admit that he was drop-dead gorgeous. 

Be still, my heart, she told herself once she caught him smirking at something he saw on his phone. 

Patients were off limits, and Roman Bianchi was no exception.