The Cross group of companies manufactures pharmaceuticals and medical devices, and The Cross Hospitals was an affiliate with more than fifty hospitals all over the country.
The Cross group was owned by the Arinze family, one of the richest socialites in Lagos state. The Da-Silva family had been using the Cross hospital since before Emma was born, but this is the first time Emma was meeting this particular doctor.
Emma now has an aversion for handsome men. Her handsome boyfriend turned out to be a gold-digger and a cheat. Her knight in shining armor was damn good-looking, she thought he was the one for her but he turned out to be a devil that manipulated and ruined her life in the process. Handsome men are no good! They are simply bad news.
Dr. Dave Arinze with his dimpled smile was also a very handsome and stylish man, with excellent height, perfect body, and a glamorous lifestyle... And the fact that the doctor was handsome alone annoyed Emma to no end.
Dave recently took over from his father who just retired as the chief executive officer of The Cross Groups of companies. As the CEO who combines the management of a huge corporation with the practice of his medical profession, the people and patients that consult with him have been reduced to only the high-profile... The families that consulted with his father before he retired.
"Doctor, so sorry about all these... Mama silver tried to apologize on Emma's behalf.
"Don't worry about it ma... Let's please go back to my office..." Dave replied and led the way. Emma glared at Mama silver's back before she reluctantly followed behind them.
"Grandma I'd rather see Dr. Arinze," Emma said tersely when they were back inside Dave's office. How can she expect her to discuss such a sensitive and embarrassing topic in front of this young, handsome doctor?
She's more comfortable with the old Dr. Arinze who spoke with gentility, in a voice that soothed and showed great emotional warmth that would always put you at ease."
"I am also Dr. Arinze, Miss Da-Silva and the questions I asked were the normal questions we ask when people come for PEP...
"What are the questions if I may ask? Mama silver asked Dave, curious to know what triggered Emma's anger.
"Well even though her result here says negative..." Dave indicated towards the sheet of paper he had on his desk which was Emma's HIV result.
Before administering PEP to patients who are at risk, doctors need to take into account...
If the person was sexually assaulted...
If not, then the sort of sex the person had and also what is known about the 'source partner', that is the person whom the patient was with who has HIV or might have HIV...
We also consider other activities like maybe if the person shared needles with someone who may have HIV... All of these questions are necessary to assess how high the risk of HIV infection the person is facing."
"Whatever! I'd still like to discuss with Dr. Arinze that I know grandma..." Emma rudely dismissed Dave, while looking directly at Mama silver.
"Ayinke the old doctor has retired. If Dr. Arinze here was not capable, I'm sure he wouldn't be here considering the reputation of the Cross. So would you please stop insisting and cooperate with him already!?..." She gently said, taking care not to annoy Emma because of what Oracle told her
"It's okay ma..." Dave cautioned Mama silver. I will just give my dad a call, then I will step out so Miss Da-Silva can have her privacy." Dave said, his tone of voice laced with humor as he picked his phone and started dialing his dad's number.
Emma was the first female patient who had ever refused his service as a doctor. Before he became the CEO, when he was just a doctor working in one of The Cross hospitals in Abuja, women always preferred he examined them to any other doctor at The cross... Or rather they were the ones that examined him just as the other doctors had joked with him whenever they were in their quarters.
"That won't be necessary. I will answer your questions since my grandma insisted... Emma grudgingly said and gave a nonchalant shrug."
"I was not assaulted... I wasn't stupid enough to share a needle with anybody, but I was stupid enough to sleep with a guy I met at the bar the previous night... So sorry doctor that I won't be able to tell you about him because he was a stranger... I don't know anything about him. Not even his name...
Maybe I was drunk? Maybe I was drugged out of my head?... I don't know why I slept with the guy. Choose the one that tickles your fancy doctor, I don't care. That's the answer to all your questions I believe or rather I give you the step by step details of the sex itself? If not then do your damn job and give me what I need alright."
Emma finished with a carefree smile plastered on her face like she and Dave just finished a game of tug of war that she didn't mind losing to him.
Mama silver massaged her temple as she could feel a serious headache coming up. 'This child! Did she have to answer the questions in a way that suggests she was wayward and sleeps with every man that crosses her path!?'
Mama silver can't wait to get home so she could immediately prepare a very potent calming tea for Emma who's attitude was now getting out of hand. The last time she had this kind of bitchy attitude from Emma was when she was a teenager and God knows she's too old to deal with that kind of attitude again.
Dave on his part would have blushed if he hadn't mastered how to mask his emotions from his patients. He was fascinated by Emma's feistiness. 'You sure tickle my fancy all right' he thought to himself with a slight smile on his face. Without responding to Samantha's sassy words, he reached for the intercom phone on his desk and asked to be connected to the pharmacy.
Shortly after, the nurse at the reception knocked and came in with a package which she placed on Dave's desk, while he was writing something inside Emma's file.
When he was done writing, Dave looked up towards Emma. His eyes met with hers and his heartbeat faltered. He was mesmerized by the intensity of her gaze that seemed like it was openly mocking him. She had fire in her eyes... The fire that was burning straight into his soul.
Doctors are humans too after all... Even though their profession teaches them to refrain from getting emotionally involved with their patients. However, they can easily be drawn to a patient, especially somebody like Emma who had a powerful aura about her.
Dave cleared his throat and immediately put himself together.
"What these do is to stop HIV from replicating and spreading throughout the body..." He picked the package the nurse left on his desk and handed it over to Emma.
"You'll need to take it twice a day for at least 28 days, after which we will carry out another test to be sure you're free from the risk."
***
Outside the doctor's office...
"Ayinke, can you please hold it together until we get home!?" Mama silver told Emma as they walked towards the elevator.
"Hold what together?"
"Your temper... You're losing control of yourself, can't you see?"
"No grandma, I'm perfectly fine, that doctor was just annoying."
"The poor man was just doing his job and you embarrassed him!"
Emma chuckled
"There's nothing poor about that doctor grandma and serves him right if I embarrass him. He was asking me the type of sex I had! Tell me you don't find that embarrassing and annoying?... I would have preferred the old Dr. Arinze."
"The old Dr. Arinze would still ask you the same question..."
"I'd still prefer him..."
They talked until their elevator arrived on the ground floor.
"Oh, fucking hell! Can this day get any worse than it is already" Emma said loudly as soon as they stepped outside the hospital building?
Coming towards them in the company of a man was Emma's twin elder sister Omolade, who had a worried look on her face because she clearly heard what Emma said.
"Ayinke please be nice! She's still your sister and that's her fiance with her" Mama Silver cautioned under her breath.
"I don't have a sister grandma, and I don't care if she's in the company of the queen of England," Emma said looking straight into Omolade's eyes before brushing past her to go wait for Mama silver in the car.