"Eyes. Those goddamn eyes had me lose my mind."
❣
Kaiser tries to suppress his smile as he walks inside a VIP room. He knew he shouldn't have carelessly left his gun on display but he was just in a hurry when he left the house. Bellona. He liked the way her name rolled of his tongue. Thinking how timid she looked with those big eyes and plump lips made him laugh. Composite himself, he walks inside the VIP room.
"There our Captain is!" Alex his teammate exclaims as Kaiser steps in.
"What took you so long?" Adrian asks throwing an apple at their Captain. Smoothly catching it, Kaiser flops on the bed.
"I was lost in Bells."
They all transmit blank looks, silently demanding further explanation but Kaiser just quietly munch on his apple and then ask his injured friend, "Hey buddy, you good?" With a guilty spirit, he examines the plaster on James's leg and his bandaged arm.
"I am fine. I must say the nurses and doctors here are just hot!" He whistles and boys laugh in acknowledgment.
Well, that's true though.
"You look like a creep. Why you are smiling so much?" Austin scrunches his eyes brows, eyeing Kaiser suspiciously.
"Can't I just smile?" Kaiser's gaze darts at their judgmental faces.
"Of course you can. But the reason for this smile is...?" James smirks seeking alibis. These boys have always been the noisiest people in Kaiser's life, even more than his family. Not that Kaiser mind, he is always willing to share things with them, but he needs his time before he does. He likes his privacy and can get pretty mad when there is an intrusion into his private life.
"It's you asshole. I am smiling cause your rotten ass is fine. I am warning you for the last time, if you ever pull that stunt of playing a shield, I will kill you with my bare hands," Kaiser slaps James' arms firmly making him yelp in pain but then laugh
"Oh captain, I love you, James, thanks for taking a bullet for me, would have worked," James blows a flying kiss to Kaiser who his face away repulsion.
James has always been the most playful one among them. He can crack lame jokes even when the gun is on their head, or when he stepped on the land mine. They are eighteen altogether, but James, Alex, Theo, Austin, Adrian, and Liam are closest to Kaiser. More like his brothers.
"Where are Liam and Theo?" Kaiser glances around the exceptionally sterile room. The soft ivory walls and cream curtains convey a soft look to space. Something they don't experience on daily stimulus. Coziness. Warmthness.
"Both are with a smuggler. They are guarding his door," Alex replies.
One of the smugglers was shifted to this hospital for treatment. Kaiser's jaw clench in resentment. He wishes those people to erode in hell but they are receiving luxurious treatment. Why? Cause his superiors to need that bastard for the information which Kaiser knows that the smuggler won't be providing.
The knock on the door grabs their attention and Logan walks in with a dismal look.
"Hey, buddy," Kaiser grin, genuinely happy to see his best friend's younger brother.
"Hey, where is my brother? That jerk hasn't even met me," Logan says jolting his fist with James then others.
"Liam is guarding the smuggler and we were given discharge today, he will meet you later," Adrian informs him.
"Liam could have at least call me. None of you did. None of you told me that you are returning after freaking eight months of the mission," Logan scowls at all six of them and they don't censure him. Being the younger brother of Liam, making him their brother as well. They all have known each other since they were kids. Liam and Kaiser met when they were in middle school and gradually made it together into the military. The story of how they both met follows as; Kaiser had a crush on Liam's cousin's sister and Liam attained that confidential information. So he plotted to latch Kaiser in the bathroom but somehow they both got closed up and beat each other up which earned them the detentions of cleaning the washroom. Later Kaiser ended up sharing his cinnamon roll with him cause he was gaping at him with a watering mouth. Thereon, they have been indivisible. The curiosity of who locked them in the bathroom together was never satisfied. Further on during the training, they met other boys. The seven forthwith established an imperishable bond. Their friendship is just like wine, it gets stronger as it aged.
"Excuse us for not having the luxury of the internet during our mission," Austin rolls his eyes.
Logan was about to come up with a sassy comment but the scream from the foyer horrifies the shit out of them. Exchanging glances they jump on their feet.
"Alex, stay with James. Logan, please stay here" Kaiser commands, and the three of them rushed out of the room. A female doctor scampers towards Kaiser with a terrible look.
"He...he is..not in the room!" she pants heavily.
"Miss, please stay inside this room," Adrian gently pushes the doctor inside James's room and clamps it.
"How did he escaped? Theo and Liam were guarding him!" Austin exclaims with utter frustration.
"He won't run out of the hospital. Get in touch with Liam and ask him to thoroughly check the ground floor to the sixth floor. Adrian and Austin, rush to the rooftop, I will take the middle blocks," Kaiser order, and they pull their guns out ready to blow off the man who erupted their amicable time.
These bastards won't let us enjoy our hiatus.
❣
With the earpods in her ears, Bellona simply strolls into the lab. She has to write the thesis with meticulous research and observation.
The incident of the lift was crazy. She spoke to the security, he informed her that he must be one of the soldiers.
Why I didn't think of that? She thought.
Because you are dumb. Her subconscious mind coos.
I am a damn surgeon!
Doctors can be dumb too, Bell.
Bellona smacks her subconscious mind aside and switches the lights on, humming a song. She places her files down on the desk but the rummaging sound captures her scrutiny. She tilts her head to check near the closet and a gasp circumvents her parted lips.
A man dressed in hospital garments stares at her, settled on a chair.
"A-are you lost sir?" She asks him cautiously, her gaze wanders up and down his bulky frame and halts on the knife in his hand. Her body goes rigid.
What in the world is happening with me today?
She abducts a step back, ready to storm out of the room.
"Don't move! Stay there!" The anonymous man warns. His bloodshot eyes stare at her in utter restoring then he hisses glancing at the blood which is percolating out of his bandaged arm.
Bellona's eyes drop on the hydrochloric acid, inches away from her hand.
"I am tired of my life but I still want to leave," she let out a nervous laugh making his eyes obscure even more.
Shut up Bellona.
Before she can come up with another lame reason for why he should not kill her, the door burst open and the Kaiser guy brags in. His eyes met hers, the blue pools dilate witnessing the scene unfolding.
The man with the knife sprint towards Bellona, in a panic she grabs the test tube of acid and aimed just at his hand. A loud roaring scream echoes in the room and Bellona get harshly pulled by someone in a tight embrace. Her heart pounds, body trembles against his. She seldom tilts her head to look back at the man but Kaiser clasps her head and stuffs it in his chest. He doesn't want her to see how the spectacle appears. For a normal person, it isn't pleasant sight but he momentarily forgot she is a doctor.
"Don't look" he mummers in her hair. Her strawberry scent irritates his senses, they are so pressed again each other that he felt her heart thumping just like his heart is, he knew the reason well. But he settles with the excuse of running. Yes. He ran here earlier and that's the only reason his heart is racing.
A shudder scampers through Bellona sniffing his zest scent. Bellona couldn't interpret what happened in just two minutes. But the first thing that crosses her mind is, patient.
The man is hurt and she wants to treat him.
"I have seen the worst. I need to treat him," She pushes Kaiser away with wobbly hands, taking a look at the man. He is unconscious. Just like she aimed, the acid burned his hand. She might get in trouble for that wild stunt, but in her justification, she was just fending herself.
"Are you crazy? You can't go near him!" Kaiser tugs on her coat as he knew touching her would make her uncomfortable, he blocks her path Bellona lifts her head, seeing him towering over her.
"Mr. Please move aside. We must save him, criminal or not" she walks past him, "Nurse! Anyone there?"
Bellona grabs the bottle of water and spills it on the burns, the first step to treat a burn patient. (Kindy don't pull this feat at home)
Raucous rungs approach the lab and two young men dashes in along with nurses and an intern with a gatch bed.
"Check his pulse!" Bellona exclaims as she critically peels off the fabric stuck on his skin.
"126 BPM!" The nurse tells her.
"Mind giving us a hand," Bellona glimpse at the three men who stand watching them.
Kaiser walks towards their hustling bodies followed by Liam and Theo. Bellona moves away as they pick the man up and place him on the bed.
Kaiser stares at her as she rushes the smuggler out of the room with other medical interns.
"Well, what the hell happened?" Liam asks, tugging his gun away. Kaiser does the same.
"She threw acid over his hand."
"What were you doing when she did that?" Theo shoots him an anticipating glance.
I was watching her.
"I was backing her up of course!" Kaiser asserts since they don't need to know that unintentionally he hugged her. Yes, it was unintended, believe it or not.
They walk out of the lab, Kaiser looks around for her then decides to ask someone where she is.
"Excuse me, do you know where Dr. Bellona and the VIP patient are?"
"They are in the Emergency Department, just walk straight. You will find it," the nurse points at the last unit at the end.
Kaiser mutters thank you and walks through the brisk aisles of hospitals.
"You know her name?" Liam swings his hand over his best friend's shoulder and puts on a provocative smirk.
"It was carved on her badge," Kaiser nudges him away. It is true. He read it when she mistook him for some psychopath killer, but still, it's out of his comprehension that why she jumped on his back.
The boys were just gonna step inside the Emergency unit but right then she walks out.
"He...he is fine?" Kaiser meets her eyes and she is heart strangely picks up a pace. She briefly looks at him then at his friends.
"Yeah, he must be. They are treating his hand."
"Hello, I am Liam Harper," his best friend extends his hand. She places her hand in his with a faint smile. Not too welcoming, not too upright, just a polite smile.
" I am Austin Maddox," she shakes her hand with the other one with a similar polite smile.
"I am Bellona Carter," her eyes settle on Kaiser's bleeding arm then she gestures him to follow her.
"You need to get that treated. Follow me."
"Go!" Liam pushes Kaiser behind her and he scowls at him. The last thing Kaiser wants is Liam being his wingman. Liam is a shit wingman. Once he set Kaiser up with a married woman and once with a lesbian.
"Bu-
"Come on. Did you forget about tonight's party? You need a date! Ask her!" He whisper-yells, again shoving poor Kaiser behind her.
"She won't even know my name!" Kaiser protests pushing Liam's hand away from his chest. Hell, she just knew him for the past two hours (one hour twenty-three minutes to be precise) and he knows she won't agree. He will just be making fool out of himself.
"Then go and tell her idiot! If the stars are on your side you might be a lucky asshole to get her number or more" Theo urges and they shoo their captain away.
Kaiser reluctantly follows her, clearly not in the intention of having something more. She is treating him cause she is a doctor. Yeah. That's right.
Liam and Theo watch their captain walking like a penguin in her office and at least attempt not to laugh.
"I bet 20 euros that he won't ask her out!" Theo says, glancing at Liam.
"I bet 100 euros he will!" Liam places the bet but instantly regrets it. Kaiser is a lion on the battlefield, but the field of love has never been his cup of tea. Liam and Theo stroll in another direction leaving their friend to figure his shit out on his own.
"Why don't we have girlfriends?" Theo lets out a sigh with a pout.
Liam almost chokes on his saliva, "I thought you are gay."
Theo froze dead on his tracks, gaping at his friend, "What the fuck? Why the hell you thought that?" his voice harsh, but a hint of amusement doesn't go overlooked by Liam.
"Cause you never dated!"
The laughs, " Asshole I was just kissing a nurse, it would have been more but that smuggler ran out!"
"You left me to watch over the smuggler alone to kiss a girl! Bros before hoe-
Liam's words diminished in his throat when he hears a sugary voice and a female doctor rushes a patient to the elevator. For a fraction of a second, her eyes met his, and she stalls.
Damn, she is pretty.
Tearing her gaze apart, the doctor proceeds with her actions. She disappears behind the portals of the lift while Liam stands staring at the elevator until Theo slaps his arm.
"Yeah, sure, Bros before hoes! He mocks his friend. With flushes cheek, Liam walks ahead.
"She isn't a hoe though."
❣
K
aiser gulps in nervousness and peels off his shirt halfway, he has a white tank top beneath his shirt but still his forearms, shoulder blade, and most of his chest are right under her gaze. The stardust gaze he is trying to avoid right from the moment he walked into her office. Her office is simple, soft pale blue and white gradient of colors, now blended with the moonlight pouring in the office through the windows. Her desk is jet black and extremely messy with a stack of papers and files, not that he minded.
His eyes slowly travel across the room to Bellona as she looks for the first aid box. Her beauty is so intriguing. She is not a woman with a godly figure, twine thin or hourglass body. She is chubby and so are her cheeks, round plump, her complexion exemplifies an impeccable saffron tint. He smiles because she somehow reminisced him of flower dale, lavender to be precise. Grace and purity. That's what they represent. And that's what she seems to him. Her crescent-shaped eyebrows are like silhouettes of perfect branches which are absorbing in the moonlight, they slightly incline in a frown. His blue eyes dart to her delicate ear which is adorned with a small bead of pearl. Her nose scrunches adorably when she sniffs an ointment. He feels an urge to run his fingers through the glorious tumbles of her chocolate waves which are clasped with a black satin ribbon, in a loose ponytail. Her lips are smear with a gloss just like when in the misty morning, a dew cuddled with a petal of a rose. The ocean his eyes trace her caramel soft skin from her neck to the sliver of her collar bones insulated in uniform, blue trousers and top wrapping her body beneath her coat that her frame proudly carried. He likes how she dominates the aroma redolent of fresh mint and strawberries which intertwined with the scent of myriad medications in the room. Abruptly she looks in his way and her eyes brows hoist up as she unearths those pairs of liquid against the velvet sky staring at her. Kaiser jolts at being caught and look away. Clearing her throat, she makes her way to the chair.
"The stitches are opened, even your neck and knuckles are bruised," she stands in front of him. Her fingers narrowly brush over the wound on the side of his neck and the man with the ocean eyes hisses in distress.
"Bellona rolls her eyes. I didn't even touch," without any warning, she starts stitching up his arm. He watches her slender fingers seaming, moving like they are oriented for years and years. Her fingers on his skin felt like ice. Frosty waves from her fingers wanderlust up his cheeks, turning into hot flames which slowly heats his body, she shuffles closer.
"Your fingers are cold, very cold."
"Oh, sorry. But bear with it cause I can't halt in midway," she puts on an apologetic smile, directly looking into his eyes.
Damn your eyes. He almost said it.
Her enticing hazel orifices, with the warm honey hues, stirred with deep caramel, and the tones of gold, violets, and green twinkle like an innumerable sheet of luminaries. His heart races like a wild animal trying to escape his chest when he spots a tiny mole right above her upper lip.
"Here, it's done. Please make sure that you don't drench the stitches and as for your knuckle, take this liniment," she extends a white tube towards his. Kaiser assembles his mind straight and clears his throat.
"Um..can you apply it?" He asks as innocently as he can. It's just an innocuous demand a patient is making to his doctor (that's what his excuse is)
"Didn't you just complain that my fingers are cold?"
He tries to come up with a response but she takes the ointment from him. He raises his hand, and again when the tips of her fingers touch his knuckles, his cheeks flush. Unaware of the effect she has on him, Bellona gently lays on the transparent gel on his busted knuckles.
"Soldiers aren't allowed to carry weapons when they are on break, are they?" her eyes flicker to his briefly.
"We," horse voice breaks, he clears his throat, "We obtained special permission for this."
"Done."
He slides on his shirt and buttons it up peeking at her.
She motions at the door, "Let's leave the room."
Stop, her, you won't get another chance. Risk it Kaiser. Just ask her man. If she rejects you can crawl back to your apartment and hide your face for a while.
Just some self-encouraging words and he is prepared.
"Dr. Bellona."
She spins to look at the boy. He makes sure to sustain eye contact with her as he speaks, "You see, I have a party to attend this evening."
"Yeah, sure. You can attend the party you are not that injured."
"No, not that. What I want to ask is, I have to take my date with me."
"Yeah. You can take your date as well, but if you are planning to sleep with her I would suggest you skip for a night."
"Gosh, Bellona can you just let me complete!" He exhorts, digging his teeth on his lower lip. Embarrassed by her blunt retort.
"O-okay," she murmurs and stares at the man expectantly.
"As I said, I have to be there with my date. So I would like to ask you if you could go with me today. As my date," he asks her out ignoring his raucously pulsing heart, blood rushing in his head, and the curses of his subconscious mind.
Let's have a moment and applause for him, in the last five years Kaiser Collins hasn't asked a girl out. Well, he slept around now and then. But nothing like date or girlfriend. Dating is a huge responsibility, just not for him but also his partner. The person would have to be strong enough to be a soldier's girlfriend, she would need to know that he can't choose her over his duty. That he may have to cancel their plans at any moment, that he may not return someday. It seems unfair to the person, so he kept his life simple. Yes, dating complicates your life.
But right now, he thinks some complications might be beautiful.
Bellona's eyes dilate at the sudden outburst of the man with ocean eyes. He notices her chubby cheek-tinted crimson and she looks away and nervously licks her lips.
A sense of relief wash over him, he is not the only one dying of nervousness. She is feeling it too.
"I-I have a boyfriend."
What in the world- Forget it.
.
.