I wouldn't have believed that this would be me, seating in my living room with one of my patient's brother, sipping tea, dressed in embarrassing Dora The Explora pajamas.
The same brother whom I almost hit with a baseball bat. If it hadn't been for him catching it before it hit his head, I'm pretty sure he would've ended up with a concussion or even worse he could've been dead.
After offering Dmitri some tea, we've been sitting in silence. A lot of questions are going through my mind, that I don't even know where to begin or what to ask first.
"What do you want?" I finally ask hurriedly
"I need your help"
"Yeah, you already said that before you entered. I just wanna know why. And how you even got to find out where I live, Dmitri" I yell, starting to lose my cool.
"How I know where you live is not important right now -"
I cut him off by raising my hand.
"Well, I'm sorry. I didn't know that a stranger showing up at someone's house claiming to need help is no big deal" I say sarcastically, with an overly sweet smile on my face.
"For all I know you could be a stalker or a bloody serial killer or something worse than that!" I say while waving my hands around to emphasise my point.
"Well, I can assure you that I'm none of those things" he says calmly, almost too calmly.
"Look, Dmitri I need you to leave right now. I'm sorry for almost hitting you with bat, but just because you're one of my patient's brother doesn't mean we're friends." I say, standing up and folding my arms.
"My brother's life is in danger" he suddenly says.
"Wha- what? But when I did today's check up on him, he seemed to be getting better" I say softly, seating back down on the couch.
"Not that kind of danger"
"I don't understand" I whisper slowly, completely lost.
"Some people want my brother gone. I mean a lot of people want him dead. They almost got to him at the club and I'm pretty sure that they'll try to get to him at the hospital again....My brother is not safe there, no matter how many guards we put on that floor"
"Why are you telling me this and what do you mean that 'they'll try to get him at the hospital again'?"
"The man you told me about earlier on today was there to kill him, if it weren't for you entering the room when you did, we'd probably be burying my brother tomorrow."
He leans forward from his seat towards me.
"The reason why I'm telling you this is because you're going to help me prevent that from happening."
"Get out!" I shout, getting up and heading to the door, but I am stopped when he grabs my wrist and stands up.
"Listen, Elaine-"
"How do you know my" he interrupts
"I have my ways. Now will you stop interrupting me?" He continues
"I need you take care of him, here...in your apartment. My brother is in a vulnerable condition right now in that hospital, an easy target for all. I need you to help him get better here, somewhere those who want him dead won't even think of searching for him."
I harshly remove my hand from his grasp and start pacing back and forth.
"Why me? Of all people, why me?"
"You've helped him before in that surgery room and you're more qualified. I know I can trust you, that's why I need your help with this... You'll just have to nurse him till he gets better and strong enough to protect himself. I can't do this all on my own. I already have enough pressure as I'm taking care of all his businesses while his gone, and finding him someone else as qualified as you to look after would take a long time and time is not on his side right now"
"I don't know about this Dmitri, I mean I'm just a doctor! Not some undercover maid that has to nurse someone to goodwill in their home. That is not my job nether do I want it to be my job."
"Just think about it, Elaine. Okay, you'll be helping protect someone's life here."
'Yeah, someone I don't fricking know'
"Can you just go now? My head is killing me. This is all too much to take in"
"I know but just think about and then tell me. But don't take too long. We'll never know when they'll strike again." He says, giving me a soft pat on the shoulder.
~~~~~~~
I couldn't sleep last night. I just kept thinking of what Dmitri told me. I don't think I can make this decision on my own.
I need to talk to Bianca. Yeah, she'll help me... but before Dmitri left he asked me not to tell anyone. I sigh, I guess telling her is out the window.
I call in sick at the hospital today. I don't think I'll be able to concentrate while doing my job.
'Wouldn't want anyone to die in my hands due to the lack of concentration'
In the afternoon, Bianca came to check up on me.
"Hey girl, what's popping? Heard you called in sick today."
"Yeah, I'm not feeling well today... I think I ate a bug in my soup last night. That must be what made me sick." I say and add a little cough at the end.
You see, I'm a bad liar. I can't lie for anything. Its either when I lie, I come up with a lame excuse or I begin laughing nervously, so I don't know how I'm gonna be able to not tell Bianca about yesterday.
"Now you know that's a lie. What's wrong, you can tell me."
"I cant" I whisper
"What?"
"Nothing... nothing. What are you doing here?"
I seem to be asking that question a lot these days.
"I'm on my lunch break, so I thought I should check on you. Are you OK?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm perfect."
"O kay. If you say so. Its been a while since we last hung out or even talked."
"Yeah, I know. Want some juice or something?"
"Yes. Can you also make me a tuna sandwich... Pretty please"
"OK, whatever. Don't you dare think I forgot about you stealing my tub of ice cream in the car!" I yell as I go into the kitchen.
I make both of us a tuna sandwich, and pour two glasses of orange juice and take them with me to the living room.
"So how are you and Jason?" I ask. She let's out a sigh.
"We're okay, at least that's what I think we are."
"What's wrong? Do I need to punch him in the face?"
"No, no. Its just that he's been acting weird lately. Like he'd come home late or leave earlier than usual in the morning. He's also been getting these 'private' calls and every time he gets one, he just leaves the room, sometimes the house"
Tears begin trailing down her cheeks. I immediately go and hug her.
"I don't know what's going on, Elly. A part of doesn't want to believe that he's cheating on me but its getting harder and harder for me not to... He's showing all the signs of a cheating boyfriend. I-I don't know what to do"
"Its going to be okay, Bee. There must be an explanation for all this." I try to sooth her
"I can't lose him El. I love him so so much."
"Shh, its gonna be alright."
"I'm gonna tell you something, Bee and what I tell you has to stay between us and never leave this room."
"Okay..."
"No, promise me you won't tell anyone."
"I promise. We've been friends for 7 years El. I know all your secrets, and I've never told anyone about them. Remember, we made promises to each other, 7 years ago, and that was to never keep secrets from each other. We made a promise to never break that, and I have no desires to do so" She says and sniffs while wiping her tears.
And that was exactly why I told her about my conversation with Dmitri and what he wants me to do.