The ambulance came 15 min later, 15 min which felt like hours to the anxious Gayle. He repeatedly checked her pulse to reassure himself, and when the paramedics came, he reluctantly released her hand so they could check on her. They put a neck brace on her before getting her in the ambulance. Gayle was able to follow her to the hospital but had to stay in the waiting room as she was sent to get treated. A nurse called him to the front desk and asked him if he had any information about the patient so she could fill a form. He hesitated a bit but then remembered that he was holding Melanie's bag. He looked into it and found her ID card. He gave it to the nurse and she began writing on her computer before handing it back to him. He went back to his seat, eyeing any doctor that was coming out of the emergency zone. Finally, a doctor came and asked who came with Melanie. He immediately jumped on his feet and went to him. That is when he noticed that there was also a police man. They both eyed Gayle suspiciously and asked him to follow him. He was confused at first but having seen the scratch marks on Melanie, he understood that the doctor were suspicious of him and called the police. Since he had nothing to feel guilty of, he went after them.
"How is she ? Did she wake up ?" Gayle asked, getting impatient as the doctor silently led them to the elevator.
"No she's still unconscious but she's fine overall. She has a few bruises, a fractured arm and an head injury meaning she might have an concussion. We'll keep her for a day to see if there is any evolution" The doctor explained. They soon arrived to the doctor office. The doctor showed him a chair to sit while he was taking place in another one. The police officer was just standing there menacingly.
"Are you her boyfriend?"the doctor asked first.
"Yes I am. Why ?"
"Some of her fresh bruises seemed to come from an assault rather than an fall from the stairs. We found older ones too that's are likely from domestic abuse. We would like to know if you could tell us what happened" The doctor questioned him. Gayle was at a loss for words for a moment. He had guessed that she didn't fall off the stairs on her own but was likely pushed but domestic abuse ? Was that the reason why she never wanted to invite him over to her house ?
"I-I don't know much . . . " Gayle blurted still in shock. He then explained the situation form Melanie's first call to when the paramedics came.
"I'm not the one who hurt her if that's what you're thinking" He ended up saying while glancing at the officer.
"From what you're saying, it looks like. However we'll wait for the victim version" The officer said, looking at the doctor. The latter nodded his head and stood up so did Gayle.
"Can I see her now ?" He demanded as they got out of the office. Upon seeing the hesitating doctor, he added quickly.
"Since you obviously won't let me stay with her, at least let me see her !. . .please" He was getting angry but since that wouldn't help him achieve his goal, he tempered his mood. The doctor sighed and took him to the room where Melanie was. She was laying on the bed with a sling around her arm and a bandage around her head. Gayle went quickly to her side and delicately slipped his hand into hers and started stroking the back with his thumb. The doctor observed him silently before talking again.
"Visiting hours ends in an hour"
Gayle looked at his retreating figure and knew that the doctor meant that he could stay until then. It was weird that he was willing to left Melanie with who he thought could be her potential assaulter but Gayle guessed that the doctor believed it wasn't him.
Weirdly, the hour passed quickly and he was surprised when a nurse came to tell him he was time to leave. Once again he had to reluctantly leave her. On his way home, he received a call from Ben who asked for an update about Melanie. Gayle explained that she had an accident without getting into too much details, knowing that Melanie wouldn't appreciate. When he finally arrived home he went straight to his room and plopped down in his bed with a deep sigh. He was sure that a sleepless night was awaiting him.
Back in the hospital, Melanie woke up in the middle of the night, totally lost. It was dark and Sei could make out where she was. She wanted to lift her head and look around but her whole body felt so heavy. She tried to talk too but her throat was really parched so she called Dotti in her head.
—Dotti, are you here? Where am I ?—
—Thanks, you're finally awake. You're at the hospital—
—How did I ended up here ?—
— Gayle found you and brought you here—
— What, Gayle? When . . . How . . . I'm really confused right now—
—Okay, how much do you remember first ?—
—. . . Natalie . . . She attacked me and . . . I felt off the stairs.—
—You lost your consciousness and started bleeding. I couldn't let you like this but I could not help you directly so I called Gayle with your phone.—
—You talked to him ?!—
—Obviously no silly. I was counting on the fact that he'll find it suspicious that you're not answering . . . and that he's quite paranoid when it comes to you—
—You make it sound like it's my fault when we can tell that he was already like this—
—He was not like this with Tania—
—Which further confirmed that they were not meant to be. Melanie was his true love and I'm here to set things right, huehuehue—
—Stop with the ugly smug laugh. It's scary—
—Can you even be scared ? You're a robot—
—Anyone hearing this laugh will be scared—
—You're so mean, Dotti. Anyway, we are straying from our main subject—
—Whose fault ?—
—Not mine. I. . .—
—Whatever. So I was saying. He realized something was wrong, panicked, rushed to your house to find you unconscious and bleeding. He was in shock but managed to call the emergency and here you are—
—Well thank you for helping me, Dotti—
—. . . I only did my job—
—Didn't you tell me you were not supposed to do anything?—
— . . . Just go back to sleep, will you ?—
—Aww, are getting shy because I thanked you ? You're so cute, Dotti ! I wish I could hug you right now—
—I wish I could hit you on the head right now, and I'm refraining since you're injured, so you better stop talking nonsense before I change my mind—
Sei giggled at Dotti's shy behavior but soon drifted back to sleep. She woke up again in the morning as she was hearing noise next to her. It was a nurse that was changing her IV drip.
"Melanie" She heard a familiar voice on the other side of the bed and, this time, was able to turn her head towards it. It was Gayle and he was looking with an anxious face.
"Water . . . please" She managed to say with her dry mouth. The nurse filled a glass with water and put a straw in it while Gayle was helping her sit. He took the glass form the nurse and held it so Melanie could drink.
"I'll go fetch the doctor" The nurse excused herself and went out. Melanie drank two fills of water to quench her thirst.
"Are you sure you don't want more water?" Gayle asked.
"No, I'm fine"
An awkward silence took place between them as Melanie kept staring down at her blanket, seemingly to avoid Gayle. He didn't know what she was thinking, so he could not act accordingly. He had expected her to be a bit lost, as she was unconscious when yesterday event unfolded and would ask for clarification. However, she was silent and looked uncomfortable. Even if Dotti already told her what really happened, Sei needed to act clueless as Melanie. And in fact Melanie was slowly putting "on her own" the pieces of how she ended up here with Gayle of all the people and she wasn't liking the picture she was getting.
"Do you know what happened yesterday?" He ended up asking. He saw her tensing a bit before she spoke.
"How did you know where to find me ?" She asked back instead of answering. It was the thing she couldn't figure out since she never told him her address.
"I asked Ben. I've never regretted not walking you home even once, as much as I did when I saw you unconscious at your house. Have I known your address, I would have come to take you directly and maybe . . . We could have avoided this" Gayle ended his painful rent in a whisper. He bent forward and rest his forehead on the bed, still making sure that he wasn't pressing on Melanie. She finally turned her to look at him after hearing his distress. At first Melanie was afraid that he had met her mother and realized that she was the one that assaulted her but it looked like she was gone by the time he found her. Good, she could still disguise it as an accident.
"I'm sorry for worrying you" she said while passing her healthy hand in Gayle's hair. He tensed as he wasn't expecting it, then relaxed and let her stroke his head. He lifted his head to talk to her but before he could utter a word, the doctor entered the room.
"Good morning, I'm glad you're awake. Can talk to her in private ?" The doctor asked Gayle but it was obvious that he couldn't say no, so he got up and left with a disapproving frown. After the doctor made sure they were alone, he turned to Melanie and started giving her a resume of her condition. She was listening closely when suddenly the doctor asked her something unexpected.
"There were signs of an assault on your body. Can you confirm that your fall wasn't an accident ?"
Melanie petrified and shot the doctor a horrified look.