Chapter 13-Price of knowing him

Chapter 13: 13-Price of knowing him

Aymara had barely slept the night before. It was not because she was worried about the apocalypse, she had already accepted that it was coming and made peace with that fact.

What occupied her thoughts was Nathaniel. More specifically, everything she didn’t know about him.

In her previous life, she had known Nathaniel for years, yet somehow she had known almost nothing that mattered.

She knew he liked reading, disliked noisy places and he preferred cold drinks before his illness worsened but that was it.

She hadn’t known what foods aggravated his condition or which medicines made him uncomfortable. She had no idea about what temperature made him sleep best, which fabrics irritated his skin and she certainly had no idea his current clothing size.

That was unacceptable. If she was going to make his stay in her fortress feel like home, she needed to get every detail right to show her sincerity.

Aymara sat on the edge of her bed and looked at the time. "I’ll go to the hospital first and then get back to stocking on supplies."

She dressed quickly. Today, she wasn’t going to simply stand outside and stare at him. She needed to gather information on him.

The hospital was already busy when she arrived. The doctors hurried through the corridors, nurses pushed carts between rooms and visitors spoke quietly.

The world was still normal and Aymara almost found that amusing.

People were worried about ordinary things. The bills, appointments breakfast and traffic. Nobody knew that in four days, none of those things would matter.

"It’s sad..." She sympathized with them but after getting stabbed in the back for being nice in her past life, she didn’t make the mistake of going soft again. "To each their own fate."

She walked toward Nathaniel’s ward. Just like last time, she didn’t enter or talk to him.

Instead, she stopped outside the door and glanced through the narrow opening. Inside, Nathaniel was sitting beside the window again.

His hospital gown hung loosely from his slender frame. His dark hair fell over his forehead and an iPad rested in his hands.

He was reading an article with the same quiet concentration she’d seen yesterday.

Aymara watched him for a moment. "What is so important on that ipad that you’re always on it?"

In her memories, Nathaniel wasn’t always obsessed with screens. He’d spend every hour when he wasn’t sick obsessed with science.

"It seems so much has changed since we last saw each other. Nmph," she sighed.

There was a nurse standing nearby, Aymara dropped her thoughts and approached her.

"Excuse me."

The nurse looked up. "Yes, Miss?"

"I need a small favor. Can you help me?" 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

"What kind?" the nurse looked at her with caution.

Aymara lowered her voice. "I want to prepare a new set of clothes for a patient. It’s a surprise so I need your help a little bit."

The nurse looked confused. "Clothes?"

"His family asked me to arrange some things. It’s for his birthday," she made up a little white lie that was technically not true.

But Aymara wasn’t about to explain that she had traveled backward in time and intended to drag the man into an apocalypse-proof cruise ship so she needed to buy clothes for him.

She handed the nurse an envelope she had prepared before hand.

The nurse opened it immediately. Her eyes widened as she saw all the money inside. She moved to the side, away from sight and counted it.

One hundred thousand, that was the amount inside. It was four times her salary and felt like a blessing from heaven.

She looked at Aymara and then at the money before looking back up at Aymara again.

"Is this...?"

"For your trouble. No need to overthink it," she said in a soft tone that made the nurse welcoming to her.

The nurse immediately tucked the envelope away. "What do you need from me?" She asked with a quiet determination.

"I just need you to get his measurements for me."

"You need his measurements?" she questioned. "And you gave away one hundred thousand for it?"

The nurse examined Aymara up and down. She felt the difference between the rich and the poor to be too great.

How could someone throw away one hundred thousand for such a meager tasks? She could have done it for five thousand or less.

"Yes," Aymara replied.

The one hundred thousand was spent to learn Nathaniel’s body measurements. Whether it was on hundred thousand or one million, she would’ve happily paid it.

It was the least she owed him. Had she not been stupid enough to let Dylan drag a wedge between her and Nathaniel, she would be in his life and these informations would be at the tip of her fingers.

It was too late to cry over spilt milk. She could only pick up the bottle and fill it with new milk and hope for the best.

"Anything else? Whatever you want, I’ll get it done for you."

"His shoe size as well. Get everything done accurately and give nothing away that someone put you up to the task."

The nurse smiled. "Leave it to me, Miss. I’ll get it done for you."

Aymara nodded and the nurse went away and fetched a tape measure. She hurried back and entered Nathaniel’s room.

Aymara remained outside, hidden behind the wall. She watched through the narrow opening.

"Mr. Nathaniel?" the nurse called him.

Nathaniel looked up from his iPad. "Yes?"

"We’re changing your hospital gown later. I need to take a few measurements to make sure I get you the right feet."

"Now?" he asked. He still has more numbers to run to find out the exact date the world will be ending. "Can we do it later?"

"If that’s okay, it has to be done right now," she let out. "Please try to understand, I am only doing my job. Don’t make things difficult for me, Sir."

Nathaniel glanced at his screen and at the pleading nurse. He didn’t want to make things difficult for her and since the world wasn’t ending that very second, he couldn’t help but sigh and let her have her way.

"Fine. Go ahead."

The nurse measured his shoulders, his chest, waist, arms, thighs and legs. After that, she checked his feet for his shoe size.

Nathaniel cooperated with her and let her do her work. His mind was far from the nurse, he was busy thinking of the day the world will end and whether or not he should warn Aymara.

Meanwhile, Aymara watched the entire process carefully. Part of her was feeling a little disturbed watching how close the nurse was getting to Nathaniel will fulfilling the task, and the other part tried to console her, ’She’s just doing her job. Why feel anything about it?’

When it was finished, the nurse walked out. She found Aymara waiting for her outside.

"Done," she stated and handed over the little notebook where she recorded everything.

Aymara nodded and accepted the notebook. "Thank you."

"I should be the one thanking you Miss. You only took five minutes of my time and paid me such a huge amount of money," she expressed heartily. "If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to come find me again."

"Alright. Thank you again," Aymara said and left immediately.

The nurse watched her disappear and then glanced at the envelope in her pocket. A bright smile formed on her lips. "Best hospital shift ever!"