Peering through her window, Kendall spied Arman exiting the building and felt perplexed the young man whose coolness she admired could be so perturbed in what she considered a perfectly normal occurrence in hospitals.
Bahagia is after all one catering specifically for psychiatric patients.
Sixteen months ago, she had answered the call from a head-hunting firm looking for an expatriate psychiatrist to help administer a hospital in Malaysia. Stuck in the doldrums of a life without any clear directions, Kendall said yes to the offer.
The hot weather didn't bother her so much as the nonchalant attitudes and a general lack of urgency in many of her staff. Often, she ended up doing most things on her own.
In her eyes, Arman was a breath of fresh air. The odd one out. Hardworking, slightly aloof with an air of over confidence which he toned down whenever he's with the staff. Unlike the rest, he was someone who cared for minutes lost.
I'd have to check on him. Perhaps during lunch. Been a while since I had company anyway.
my my someone is infatuated with the virgin man
She laughed away the luscious thought. Arman was her staff. Any relationship, especially with him being her junior staff would be scandalous. Wouldn't it?
he is good looking a man a virgin youthful must be great in bed
Where are these thoughts coming from?
Her mind's eye pictured them together in a warm bed, his strong hands caressing her body. Startled at finding herself slightly aroused, Kendall snapped out of her lusty soliloquy. She turned away from the window and sat down. Lunch, she decided, that's it. She will find out what's really troubling him.
and perhaps lunch could lead to dinner to something more intimate
She smiled at the new thoughts, shifting uncomfortably in her cozy chair, the sweet sensation returning as she closed her eyes and allowed the images in her mind's eye to continue.
****
Having escaped the confines of the concrete building, Arman felt calmer and more composed. He breathed in the fresh air and the natural landscape of distant undulating hills.
They reminded Arman yet again one of the reasons why he chose the posting, something which his late father suspected as much. Gave him a camping gear set and a simple "Happy birthday, Arman" card attached. Little did he know that would be the last occasion for them to connect.
Again, thinking about the intrusive thoughts he had encountered, Arman wondered how he would proceed. While he was confident it was indeed John Doe toying with his mind, Din's and God knows who else, Arman still found it difficult to attach such repugnant thoughts with the man in the room looking so at peace with himself.
He remembered the day the five patients arrived at the hospital. A telephone call made early morning with strict directions on confidentiality. Simple enough orders. Have ready five individual rooms, and there will be no documentation. They arrived at about 3pm, ferried in two white MPVs. A single non-uniformed rider and a patrol car accompanying. Little in words were spoken when the patients were passed to their care. The smaller entourage left even before all five were wheeled into their respective rooms.
The patients themselves didn't need anything special set up in their room. Except for the elderly Indian man, the rest were physically healthy. Arman had guessed the petite Malay girl the youngest of the lot.
No file accompanied them. The medical staff was directed to call two numbers should anything out of the ordinary were to happen. Like what? Well, their waking up from coma, for one.
Days went and as the nurses and hospital attendants tended to the five. Easiest jobs they ever had. Then, out of nowhere tragedy struck. Arman recalled he was on leave the day the nurse on duty noticed the elderly Indian patient's breathing was becoming labored. She alerted Kendall, who made the call for a transfer the Ipoh specialist hospital. They heard later from the ambulance driver's network their patient didn't make it through the trip.
Following that, Kendall issued a new direction for early intervention provided to the patients.
Her words rang clear in his mind: "Never mind their bloody direction to call and we'll do the rest bullshit."
Fortunately for them, nothing else happened since then. The other four slept all day and night. Their bodies suffered no cell nor tissue deterioration, and they looked very much at peace with themselves. Arman noted how they were in somewhat benign state. There was just no deciphering their emotions. He thought he detected once a hint of anxiousness or concern from the young woman.
During a visit, Arman caught her eyebrows wrinkling the slightest bit. Too fleeting, he almost swore it was a trick of the eye and nothing more. After a while, the whole hospital just gave up second guessing who they were and treated them as patients who didn't gave them any problems.
Why now, then? What triggered these malicious attacks, Arman wondered?
Turning to face the hospital, he felt his heartbeat quickening again. Recalling how his innermost secrets probed and brought to surface.
What if he broadcasts these to the others? To her?
Relieved there were no other thoughts but his own, Arman told himself there was no other choice but to brave it. As he stepped back into the hall and headed to his room, Arman found himself grimly anticipating alien thoughts again intruding unannounced.