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“Thanks,” I said quickly before hanging up the phone

I rubbedto shake the inappropriate thoughts about my patient before I saw her What worried me the most was that I would see her face and see her as the object of my desire, and not my patient who relied on me for medical care

I don’t knoe would do if I suddenly couldn’t see her anyh that her care would be disrupted if she had to find another doctor Plus, how could I ensure that she was getting adequate care? I knew a lot of skilled doctors in the area, but I didn’t trust any to give Ariana the level of service she needed I didn’t know anyone else ould be as caring and careful as I ith her

For a ht thatfor ed to work up the courage, she would surely turn etwith her doctor

It would probably ruin my career Word travels quickly, and before I knew it,one of ht even cause me to lose patients if they saw me as unprofessional in any way It would be career suicide

I balled up ernails intome back to reality I could daydream about wos would be nothing short of idiotic

Instead, I braced ht eyes I would have to put on an act to appear like my normal self at this appointment

Because she had always been in such high spirits for our visits, I was shocked to open the door to the exae of tears

“Ms Colbert,” I said, shutting the door behindwell? Have you recently had a seizure?” I asked, afraid that her health had taken a turn for the worse I would be devastated if so serious happened to her Not only was it my job to keep her healthy, but I also cared specifically about her wellbeing

She shook her head “No, I’ve been feeling fine I’, brown eyes full ofto do with my epilepsy,” she sniffed

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

She shrugged “I don’t think so I’m just in a lot of trouble”

Chapter Two

Ariana

“What kind of trouble?” Dr Malone askedHe sat back on his stool, hands at his side

“Forget I said anything,” I replied quickly, e I just couldn’t think of any other excuse I could give him as to why I was ready to cry

“Is school stressing you out?” he asked, picking up my hand

My heart skipped a beat at his touch until I realized he was just checking my pulse “You know that I would be ive to the disabilities office The school can ements for you if you need some time off”

“School is fine,” I said,“I’m fine”

“You don’t sound fine,” he said scooting closer “How do you feel about the new medication we started last time?”

“I haven’t had any side effects besides an occasional headache,” I said, welcoe of topic “I was pretty drowsy for the first couple of days, but that went away pretty quickly”

“Any seizures?”

I shook my head

“Good I’ combination that works I know that advice isfor at least a year fro to happen to you”

He stood up and leaned into me to look atIt made me want to throw myself into his arms and have him hold me

Even I was surprised by o, he was pretty hot But, I would never dare to be so bold as to touch hi to do with everything I had been through before my appointment

Next, he went on to test my reflexes I nervously bit my lip as he bounced the little rubber hahtly traced a finger down my inner arm

“Did you feel that?” he asked

“Yes,” I said, trying to hide the goose buave me

“You seereen around the gills and you’re shaking Oh,” he added, “and you look like you’re ready to cry I know that if you’re going through some personal stuff, that’s not any of er seizures for you If there’s so you want to talk about, you can ta

lk with me I have plenty of time”

Just when I thought I had blinked the tears away, they came back He was just too nice I trusted hiured I could trust him with my secret I took a deep breath

“I’m not sure if you can help me”

“Tryup at the corners

“I’raduate program at Ohio State While I was there, I went on a few dates with this guy He see that was just a little bit off about his off I think I was pretty nice about it, but he didn’t take rejection well He started stalking o to school out here”

“That’s horrible,” Dr Malone said “Does he know you’re here?”

“I didn’t think so, but that’s the reason why I was late to my appointment today I walked out of my place to catch the bus, and he was outside of my apartment He acted all surprised to see me like it was just some crazy coincidence”

“It wasn’t, was it?”

“How could it be?” I cried “He was outside offor me”

“What did you do?”

I looked up at the ceiling The e to the hot doctor I saw every fewextremely personal I wanted to crawl into a hole and leave this situation behind, but I was already in too deep