Falling in Love : I love you, Today and Forever

Aria left her apartment in a hurry. Since she was not going to drive her car, she had to find a cab. To her relief, she got one within ten minutes of waiting. Aria had no idea what her nuisance of a sister had done. All she had in mind was to get to the hospital before her shift started. 

Since it was the time the office hours usually ended, there was a lot of traffic on the road and she barely managed to reach the hospital with two minutes to spare. Aria started her work at once. She first checked the driver who had been stabbed by a rod. He was still unconscious, his body looked weak. He was not okay, but they did not give up hope. He was still in ICU and under observation.

Aria had another patient who was in CCU. It was a fifty-year-old woman who had suffered a severe cardiac arrest two days back. Though it was not Aria who operated on her, the woman's doctor had asked her to keep an eye on her as her condition was still critical. She had to be monitored every few hours as her heart was quite weak.

After doing a thorough check-up on her, Aria left the ward and went to the reception. She had to inform the receptionist about one of her patients who was ready to be discharged. On her way, she met the man, who had helped her carry the boy the previous day, along with his friend and a woman who she recognized the one to be from the ward. She remembered her face, she had checked her condition once when she was on her night shift.

Ryder nudged his friend's elbow on seeing Aria. Preston too had seen her but turned his gaze away from her immediately. Ryder signed the papers and paid the bill while Valarie stood behind him. She still had the gauze around her head. 

"Are you getting discharged already?" Aria asked surprised. She had noticed the discharge papers and couldn't stop herself from speaking. It was too soon for the woman to leave the hospital. Her wounds had not yet healed. She wondered why Dr. Baker had discharged her this early.

Her words startled the trio. Valarie gave her a look, but she answered her nonetheless. "Yes, I am being discharged today."

"Okay, but take care. Your wounds have not healed completely and do come for regular check-ups." She advised and smiled at her.

"Definitely, doctor." She returned the smile.

Aria then looked at Preston. "Thank you very much for your help yesterday. I appreciate it."

"No problem. How is the boy?" Ryder smiled seeing the two talk and Valarie gave him a knowing look. She understood what was happening. She could clearly see the change in attitude in Preston. The man who did not give a damn about things that did not concern him or his job was asking about the well being of a boy to whom he was not even related. Something was going on here.

"We couldn't save him. He died of excessive bleeding in the brain."

"That's... sad."

"This is common here. Anyway, take care. Bye." Aria went to talk to the receptionist while Preston's gaze followed her. He did not move from his spot. He was not sure why, but he was reluctant to leave the hospital. Then something struck him.

"Val, you wanted to meet the woman who was involved in the accident along with you." He reminded her, his eyes fixed on Aria.

"Right. How did I even forget about it?" Valarie went to the receptionist. She had completely forgotten about the matter and would have let it slide if Preston had not reminded her.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" The receptionist stopped taking and questioned Valarie politely.

"What happened to the woman who got into an accident along with me? How is she?"

"Are you talking about Rachel Carter? She was discharged just yesterday."

Valarie blinked. She knew who Rachel was, everyone knew about her. 'Did my car hit Miss Carter's car? Oh, Lord.'

"Anything else?"

"Nothing. Thank you."

Valarie went to where Preston and Ryder were standing. "It was Rachel Carter and she has already left the hospital. I missed her narrowly." Valarie badly wanted to apologize to her. It was due to her that Rachel got hurt and had to be hospitalized. Though it was not intentional, she couldn't help but feel guilty about it.

"Let's go." She said after a few seconds. Though she couldn't meet her in the hospital, she knew where Rachel's office was. She could as well go to her company and speak to her. She couldn't remove the guilt in her mind until she apologized to her.

The trio started to move towards the entrance with Preston lagging behind. He took occasional glances at Aria who was still near the reception. Then all of a sudden he stopped. "Ryder, did you receive the video footage from the nurse? The doctor told us we would get it by today."

Ryder halted on hearing his words. He realized his friend was reluctant to leave the hospital and he knew who was the reason behind it. He chuckled inwardly before he turned to look at his friend with a perfect poker face. "I got the clip already."

"When did that happen? Why didn't I know about it?" Preston was baffled. He had been with Ryder the entire time. How did he miss the nurse who came to give him the video clip?

"The doctor had told the receptionist to gave me this packet." He held up a brown packet to show it to Preston. "I got it just now when I was paying the bills."

"How come I did not notice it?" He scratched his head thinking about it. Valarie stifled a laugh. The man who had acute senses did not even notice what was happening around him. Gone, he was completely gone. He was definitely bowled over by someone.

"Maybe, your eyes and mind were somewhere else. Now, shall we leave? Don't worry, I have not missed anything." Ryder teased, making Preston clear his throat in awkwardness. Now that he had no choice to stay back, he took one last glance at Aria and finally left the hospital. The only regret he had was that he did not even know her name.

Meanwhile, Aria was oblivious to the man's feelings. She was still talking to the receptionist. "What happened to the boy who died of brain hemorrhage yesterday? Did his parents come to take him?" Aria had assumed that by now the boy's family would have taken his body away. However, the receptionist's next words made her flabbergasted.

"No, doctor. It has been a day and a half and nobody had come to claim his body. Not one person. His body is still in the morgue."