Chapter 11 - The Mysterious man

Me and Ryan had always worked well together, our unspoken connection guiding us through even the most chaotic of days. But now, there was an added layer to our relationship—a warmth that lingered in every shared glance, every fleeting touch.everyday I wake up from the bed with a headache but soon after it disappears after seeing him in hospital.

We began dating openly, no longer hiding our affections from the world. It was exhilarating, but it also came with its challenges. The hospital was a small world, and news spread quickly. Our colleagues, especially our close friends, didn’t take long to catch on.

Mia, was the first to tease us. She caught us one morning as we were grabbing coffee in the staff lounge, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” she said, her tone dripping with mock surprise as she looked between the two of us. “I knew there was something going on between you two!”

Ryan and I exchanged a glance, both of us unable to suppress our smiles. “We’re not exactly trying to hide it,” Ryan replied, his arm casually draped over my shoulders.

Mia’s grin widened. “You two are adorable. Everyone’s been waiting for this.”

And she wasn’t the only one. Eva, had her own way of teasing us. She would make sly comments during surgeries, her voice filled with amusement as she tried to catch us off guard.

“So, Amira,” she said one day, her tone light as she handed Ryan an instrument. “When’s the wedding? We all know it’s coming.”

I nearly dropped the chart I was holding, my cheeks flushing with embarrassment. Ryan, ever the composed one, just chuckled and shook his head. “One step at a time, Eva,” he replied, glancing over at me with a reassuring smile.

But the teasing didn’t stop there. Even Daniel, the orthopedic surgeon and one of our closest friends, joined in on the fun. He would find us in the hallways, his sonorous laughter echoing around us as he made jokes at our expense.

“Come on, guys,” he said one afternoon as he caught us sneaking a quick kiss in an empty corridor. “If you’re going to make out in the hospital, at least do it where we can’t catch you.”

I groaned, burying my face in Ryan’s chest to hide my blush. His arms wrapped around me, holding me close as he looked over my head at Daniel. “You just wish you were as lucky as I am,” he shot back, his tone playful.

But no matter how hard we tried to find moments alone, our friends always seemed to find us, their relentless teasing following us wherever we went. This is the reason why many conceal their relationship from their friends. There were times when I would hide my face in Ryan’s chest, trying to escape the embarrassment of being caught, only to feel his chest rumble with laughter as he held me close.

“I think they just like seeing you blush,” he whispered to me one day as we stood in an empty stairwell, the sound of our friends’ laughter fading in the distance.

“I think you’re right,” I replied, my voice muffled against his shirt.

But despite the teasing, there was something undeniably sweet about it all. It was their way of showing they cared, of accepting us as a couple. And as much as I blushed and hid my face, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

At midnight , Amira’s apartment

**mysterious man**

As I made sure the sedative had filled the entire apartment after Amira went to bed, I quietly unlocked the door and slipped inside. The day's work had drained me, and there was only one place that offered the solace I craved—beside her. The familiar scent of the apartment, a mix of her perfume and the subtle traces of the sedative, wrapped around me like a cocoon.

I removed my shoes with practiced ease and shrugged off my coat, letting it fall to the floor without a second thought. The dim light from the street outside cast long shadows across the room, but my eyes were fixed on her.

There she was, lying peacefully, unaware of the chaos that surrounded her life, unaware of the darkness that followed her. I slipped under the covers, feeling the cool sheets against my skin as I moved closer. Her warmth called to me like a siren, and I couldn’t resist the pull.

As I wrapped my arms around her, a sense of calm washed over me. She stirred slightly, her body unconsciously adjusting to my presence, seeking comfort in the familiarity. Even in her sleep, she knew me, knew the touch of the man who had once been her protector and was now something much more complex, much darker.

This is how I spent my nights when I landed in Arizona—no longer just a place to rest, but a ritual, a necessity. The world outside might see me as a devil, a man capable of unspeakable things, but here, in the quiet of her apartment, I was just a man longing for something I couldn’t fully understand.

I stayed like that, holding her close, feeling the rise and fall of her breath against my chest, until sleep finally claimed me. But even then, in the depths of unconsciousness, I knew that this peace was fleeting, that the morning would bring with it the weight of the world I had chosen to live in—and the inevitable confrontation that loomed on the horizon.