Hera's Mask

Love can be something you never expected whether it be a pleasant surprise or not you can never decide on that matter. As the famous saying goes, the heart wants what the heart wants because you can’t chose who you fall for, it just spontaneously happens. A day will come and suddenly you realize that you don’t see that person the same way you did before. That’s love and it can either be a gift or a curse but unfortunately for me it was the latter.

He was just a friend, a classmate, and a group mate. I didn’t expect anything to change the way I see him and his role in my life. But as I don’t have a say in that matter, something did happen and suddenly he wasn’t just the guy I tease or the guy I enjoy talking to.

I looked at the clock that reads 5:30am. It’s a Thursday morning and the sun isn’t up yet but here I am in full white uniform with my huge pink backpack sitting on the couch while a smaller bag hang in it carrying my nurse’s cap.

I walked towards the door but not before grabbing my bag and putting on my white shoe.

“I’m off Mom. See you later.” I called and she peeked through the kitchen bidding me good luck and goodbye.

I got to the hospital earlier than usual and I saw my group mates which are mostly girls piled up in a corner talking in whisper. I ambled myself towards them and greeted them with a smile. When they saw me all of them seemed to have this awkward expression in their faces that made me wonder what they were talking about just a few minutes ago.

“Morning Hera!” Janella greeted, while the rest of them tried to plaster their previous expression with a smile.

“What’s up?” I asked and the same look they had just a few minutes ago returned.

“Nothing, just talking about plain old nursing care plans.” Elsa replied but I knew from the tone of her voice that she wasn’t telling the truth. Not wanting to push them into more lying I didn’t ask anymore and just took a seat beside Janella.

A few minutes before six am the door burst open and lo and behold Calvin stood there looking flushed and nervous. Ah, that is the face of someone terrified of being late and luckily for him he made it just in the nick of time.

Looking around with anxious eyes Calvin let out a sigh of relief when he saw our instructor wasn’t in the room yet. He smiled our way and walked towards us with just one sling of his bag hanging on his shoulder.

 “Hey Calvin” I started and he smiled at me taking the empty seat next to me.

“Don’t I get a kiss today” He said and despite myself I still blushed at that. Playfully I punched his shoulder and he feigned a look of pain which was highly obvious, with my small hand I doubt I could hurt him with all that muscles beneath. He gave me another smile before rummaging his bag for his notebook.

I didn’t know if it was just my imagination but Calvin had something different with his smile. His smile seemed more alive and vibrant reaching his eyes. I felt my heart clench all too suddenly. I don’t know why but in the back of my head I knew that the tense look my group mates had had something to do with me and Calvin’s smile.

But I didn’t have much time to give that hunch more thought because our instructor arrived and the next eight hours of my life was spent taking care of patients.

I let out a sigh as I finished working on my care plan of the day and I looked at Janella who was still scribbling. Maybe she’s not done yet. I stood up and headed for the nurse’s station where my instructor was sitting and passed my work. She smiled and asked me to get the rest of the notebooks which I did. But on my way back I heard Elsa and Janella’s voice and another deep, manlier one from the far corner where the maintenance equipments were placed.