"Do you want me to call her?"
Alexander shook his head as Selena handed him the bottle of water. As he drank, she perched herself on his bed, her eyes filled with genuine worry for him. It discomforted him, and he placed the bottle on the table and reclined back.
The doctor, Dr. Smith, breezed in with a nurse. He asked Alexander some questions, all of which Alexander answered, and shocked Selena. He had practically been working almost every hour! The doctor gave him a light reprimand and checked his vitals as he nodded grimly.
"You're going to have to be here two more days for proper monitoring," Dr. Smith said.
"There won't be a need for that," Alexander said. "I feel fine, I'll be gone at first light."
"No you won't," Selena frowned. To the doctor, she said, "Strap him in bed if you have to, but he's not leaving here until he is completely rendered fine by you."
Dr. Smith gave her a thumbs up. "I would. Listen to your cousin, Alex, and stay put. Work can always wait, your health can't." He smiled at Alexander. "I'll see you in the morning. Have a good night's rest."
Selena thanked them. When it was just two of them in the room again, Selena understood the question Alexander's eyes asked her.
"I'm your cousin because it's easier to get access to you if they know I'm a family member, and your assistant had to play along to back me up," Selena explained. "Please don't sack her. She was as disoriented as I was."
Alexander pushed himself up again, and Selena got to her feet. She gestured with her hands for him to raise his body, and he did so. She took the pillows and fluffed them up, returning them behind him for him to relax.
"Why'd you do that?" Alexander asked.
"Having someone else fluff your pillows…"
"No, tell them you were my cousin?" He asked.
She shrugged a shoulder. "I felt if your family couldn't come, you'd need someone else here. Tamika would be busy prepping for her next big fashion showing, and since I was here, just decided to help I guess."
"I didn't ask you to," Alexander said.
His statement was unexpected. "I know, I just wanted to. Your assistant had a long day already."
Alexander sighed. "If you think you'd get a meeting with Liam out of this, then you're wasting your time. So you can stop and go home."
Selena was quiet for a few seconds. Alexander had his head facing sideways, away from her so he didn't see her reaction.
"Did you not want your family here because you don't want to show them how much of an asshole you can still be in the sick bed?" She asked eventually. Alexander faced her now. Her face was hard-set, fumes rolling off of her.
"I can't change whatever perception you have of me in your head, but you're not better than me at all," she said. "I wanted to leave in the morning, but I can't stand you right now, so I'll be heading home."
She moved away, but Alexander was fast to grab her hand. Her eyes swept over his grip on her and back to his face.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to hurt you."
She bit her bottom lip and said nothing. She had been right, Alexander knew that as much as she annoyed him that morning, he had been nothing close to nice to her.
"I've been having a couple of stressful days and I shouldn't have taken it out on you, I'm sorry," Alexander said. "I shouldn't have talked to you in that manner".
Selena nodded then. "You've been really mean to me."
"I know, and I apologize again. I'm sorry," he said.
He looked puppy-like with all the formality stripped off from him. His golden hair was a ruffled mess and the grey hospital two-piece he was changed into made him look a whole less intimidating.
Selena took her space sitting on his bed. "Robert, Max, and William will be here in the morning. They were informed late by your assistant."
Alexander groaned. "I told her not to be mentioning this to them."
"This?" Selena frowned. "So "this" is a usual occurrence?"
"Not usual, just once in a while."
"Just?" Selena asked. "Look around you, Alex. You aren't exactly going to Disneypark when this happens. You could be sending yourself to an early grave."
"I'll be fine, Selena," Alex assured her. "I've been taking care of myself for a long while."
Selena didn't know what to make of that statement. Did it also have something to do with his family not being there with him at that moment? As much as her curiosity itched at her, there were certain questions she had no business answering.
Alexander's phone rang, and Selena caught the name of the caller. Armani. She rolled her eyes, remembering the tall model at the parking lot. Alexander took the phone and watched it ring, and once it died down, he set it back on the table next to him. Again, curiosity itched at Selena, and this time she didn't hold it back.
"Does she know you're here?" She asked.
"She must have," Alexander answered. "Must have called Robert probably."
"So…" Selena whipped back her hair. "What category of people in your life does Armani fall into exactly?"
Alexander's brought the bottle of water to his mouth again. When he set it down, he still saw Selena patiently waiting for an answer.
She's a friend," Alexander said. "We attended the same college together. We were close."
"Were?" Selena's curiosity was piqued by that.
"Before work swooped us all away," his phone rang again, and Selena saw Armani was the one calling the second time.
"Or maybe you found out that she stored several of your pictures and created a shrine of you in one of the rooms of her house," Selena said.
Alexander sighed. "We're friends, Selena."
"Not from her end, trust me," Selena said. "Did you see the way she stared at me down at the parking lot that day? And we aren't even dating. Please tell me Tamika will be safe when you two become official. I don't want missing person pictures of my friend plastered all over the news."