HE NEVER LEFT.

I woke up feeling extremely refreshed. I had a great night's sleep the previous night. It felt good to finally not stay up thinking. The sun was shining, the wing was blowing my curtains open, and the birds outside were singing. I just knew it was going to be an amazing day.

Today was my day off, and my sister, Zara, was returning from college for spring break. I planned to spend the day hanging out with her, but my plans got ruined. 

Around noon, my phone rang. It was a call from the hospital. One of the day shift nurses had called in sick and they were understaffed. They needed someone to come in for just a few hours to cover. I wanted to say no, but I felt bad leaving them struggling, so I promised Zara I'd hang out with her after work.

When I arrived at work, the hospital was unexpectedly chaotic. Apparently, a certain Mr. Reed was rushed into the building after suffering a heart attack. They assigned me to his ward, a section I don't usually work in.

"Maya, thank goodness you're here," The head nurse said as she walked over to me and handed me a file. "We need all hands on deck. Can you please go to the ICU? Mr Reed is stabilized, but he still needs his vitals monitored closely, and his family just arrived."

I nodded, taking the file, and hurried down to the ICU, located in the east section of the hospital. When I opened the door, I saw an old man resting on the hospital bed. I could hear his heart monitor beeping from the door. 

Sitting in a chair next to him was a young man. I assumed it was his son. He was holding the old man's hand, looking extremely worried. When he heard the door open, he looked up.

He had kind hazel eyes, even though they looked tired from stress and lack of sleep. He stood up from the chair and stretched out his hand.

"Hi," he said quietly as he shook my hand. "Are you the nurse taking over? 

"Yes, I'm Maya," I said as I pulled my pen and notepad out of my pocket to take note of the state of the patient.

"I'm Daniel," he replied while stepping back to allow me access to the monitors. "He is my dad, it happened so fast this morning. I'm just really glad he's stable now." 

One could clearly hear the worry in his voice. I tried my best to reassure him. 

"He's in safe hands, Daniel." I proceeded to check the blood pressure machine and also his heart rate monitor. Everything seemed okay.

Daniel stayed by his father's side the entire time. I could just tell that he cherished him more than anything else in the world. As I worked, we ended up talking quietly. He told me he lived just a few blocks away from the hospital and he worked from home. And also that he recently got out of a toxic relationship.

Unlike the constant looking over my shoulders with Dr Jason or the worrying about everything else in my life, speaking to Daniel felt like a breath of fresh air. By the time my shift ended, his father was transferred to a private ward and he was perfectly resting. And Daniel looked more relaxed. 

"Thank you for everything, Maya," Daniel said while escorting me out of the room. He rubbed his palms together, looking a little shy. "I know this isn't exactly perfect timing, but could I take you out for coffee sometime? So I may thank you properly."

It felt nice to be noticed by someone normal. Someone outside my messy work life.  "I'd love that," I replied. We quickly exchanged numbers and I went back to my desk. 

On my way back to the nurse's station, Jason brushed past me in the hallway without looking back. To everyone else, we were doctor and nurse. Nothing more. Something that hurt more than I admitted.

Nothing much happened afterwards, I kept going back to the room to check up on Mr Reed, to ensure everything was okay. My shift ended around 7pm. I checked out and left for home. Adrian's shift was at night, so he couldn't take me home. I took a taxi.

The entire drive home, I couldn't help but think about Daniel and smile. When I finally arrived home, I rushed inside, ready to spend the rest of my evening with my sister. Zara was sitting on the living room couch, holding Susie and watching a movie.

"Hey," Zara said, looking up with a smile. "You're back."

"Yeah, it was a crazy few hours," I said while dropping my keys on the dining table. "I'm so sorry our plans got ruined."

"It's okay," Zara replied. "Oh and by the way, Adrian dropped by about an hour ago."

I paused, my hand freezing as I attempted to open the fridge door. "Adrian? He knew I was at work, why would he come by?" 

"He said he wanted to drop off the white coat you forgot in his car," Zara shrugged. "He didn't know I was home, he just let himself in."

I frowned. "What do you mean he let himself in? The front door was locked, Zara. I locked it right before I left for work."

"Yeah, it was locked," Zara responded casually, not noticing how serious I was. "He came right in with a spare key. He was actually quite surprised to see me, he just asked when you'd be back, dropped the coat and left."

I stood in the middle of the room completely stunned. My mind went back to the other night when he magically had the key to my locked hospital locker too. 

I turned my head to look at the hook by the door where we hung our spare house keys. The extra keys were still there, completely untouched. 

"Are you okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost." Zara said. 

I didn't respond to her, I grabbed my bag and headed upstairs to take a shower and retire for the night. 

The whole scenario seemed deeply disturbing to me and it made me uneasy. The same question kept going over in my head. 

How did Adrian get a spare key to my house?