It'll Come Naturally

"But I'm not interested in other doctors. I've met you, I trust you. So you're my only option." A sly smile cracked on Patricia's face. Stupid man! Didn't he see that her hand was bleeding? How could he stay calm and stand there, doing nothing? Wasn't he a doctor?! A doctor

was supposed to heal the wounded and save the dying, wasn't he? So why was he shooing her away?

"Look, I'm super-busy now. Here, let me call up a buddy of mine. He'll patch you up," Tom said and picked up the phone, trying to make an internal call to another doctor. Obviously, he did not want to be Patricia's doctor.

"Hey! I don't want another doctor. You wanna watch me bleed to death, that's fine." Tom didn't realize why Patricia was here. Another doctor? No. She didn't just want her wound to be looked at. If she wanted that, she'd go to just any other doctor. If that was the case, she wouldn't have bitten the bullet and barged into his office.

"That's not going to happen," Tom said. "The blood would congeal before you bleed out, and.. you're threatening me." Tom frowned as it finally dawned on him. The last thing he wanted to see as a doctor was someone who didn't value her own life. Most people wanted to be healthy. A doctor was responsible for keeping people healthy. He could be held liable if he turned her away and something happened.

"Yeah. So don't try me! My wound could be infected, and I could die from that, huh?" Patricia bit her lip. She didn't want to force him, either. But his face, voice, and smile flashed through her head from time to time now. She just couldn't get him out of her head. Patricia wanted nothing more than to figure out why she always thought of him.

"So why come to me, and not someone else?" Tom was gray-faced now. He was still frowning, not because of her bleeding wound, but because it was starting to drip onto the floor now. And rug cleaning was not cheap.

"I dunno. They seem to trust you, but I'm still not sure I can." This was the first time Patricia went this far for any man. But now she'd figure out, at last, if Tom liked her back.

"Fine. You win. I'll treat you. You're Leena's friend, so I guess," Tom said, clenching his jaw. Actually, he was kind of shocked by her persistence. But he put it out of his head. He wasn't going to think about that now.

"Whatever. Let's do this." A bitter smile spread across Patricia's face. She rued the day she got out of the car with Leena. It was love at first sight, at least as far as she was concerned. She dismissed it, thought that she'd be able to stop thinking of him. But she failed. She just couldn't forget him, still had feelings for him. So she decided to do something about it. She wanted him to remember her, and wanted to know if he felt the same. She got her exam, and she intended to get her answers from his heart.

"Take off your coat, please." Tom still remained stoney-faced. He wore the medical gloves and prepared to treat her wound. Just like he said, he did this thanks to Leena. Maybe he could leave Patricia alone, bleeding. But he wouldn't do this because it would hurt Leena's feelings, and he didn't want that. So he took out the gauze and the anti-bacterial cream and went to work.

"Can you help me with the coat? I don't want to take my hand off the wound." When she did, she found the blood welled up and dripped. It kind of freaked her out. Patricia's face paled. She just did some simple field dressing at the racing track. So the wound kept bleeding. Obviously, it wasn't as minor as she first thought.

"Well. I can cut around the jacket and the sleeve. In order to treat you, I need to get at that wound," Tom said in an angry tone. He was usually gentle. But now he was totally beside himself and was extremely angry. Patricia apparently had a gift for pissing people off. "If that's the only way, I'm good with that." It was just a coat. She did not care about it that much. She could buy another new coat as soon as she had the money. But she was deeply hurt now. So Tom didn't like her? She liked him from the very beginning. But all he was doing was giving her the cold shoulder. The more he pulled away, the more she wanted to be closer to him. What was wrong with her?

Tom was very upset at Patricia's arrogance. He clenched his fists to calm himself down and suppress his rage. He was afraid that there might be an medical malpractice suit later if he could not control himself well enough.

"The wound is deep and I'm afraid we'll need to stitch that up. I'd also get a general checkup to make sure there aren't any further injuries." Tom did not realize that she was such a mess until now. The injuries were consistent with a crash, so he figured he'd offer some free medical advice. She could be suffering from soft tissue damage, and there might be internal bleeding or some such that might not be immediately obvious.

"I'll do that, but can you do the exam? I'd rather not have to answer questions all over again." Patricia looked at him carefully. She was trying to be coy, but it was getting harder. She preferred to be blunt. Now that she had stopped running away from her feelings, she was going to get close to him, no matter how she had to do it.

"Miss Bai, I think I need to remind you that you are nobody to me. I'm doing this as a favor for Leena, nothing more. After this, we're done here." Tom was getting angrier and angrier. As he was still dealing with her wound, he was a bit rougher than he had planned to. It was like he didn't know he was hurting her. But still she clenched her jaw and refused to cry out.

"What? Did I make you angry?" Patricia smiled carelessly. Though he disliked her so much, she still managed to give out a brightest smile that she could..