Driving through the dark chilly desert night, Ryan thought back to a day well spent shopping and cooking with a woman who was hard to comprehend. He saw the way she looked at him, the way her body stiffened every time he got close to her, the way she kissed him. She was as attracted to him as he was her. But something held her back.
He had never met anyone who wielded such passion and restraint all in the same measure. Her faith definitely played a big part in keeping her in check but he wondered if it wasn't more of an obstacle.
A surprising pang of guilt constricted in his heart as the careless thought left his mind. If Halima gave in to the temptations of giving herself to him, what would make her different from all the other women he had been with?
He had so long searched for a worthy partner and something in his gut told him that Halima was the one. Also, if it was true that her God had sent her here, might He have had a hand in bringing him here as well, almost at the same time? What was the policy for believers and non-believers engaging in relationships? There was a reason she held back and he would do everything in his power to understand the reason, maybe then he would give a rational argument against such unrealistic beliefs and win his woman over. After all, God brought them together He would certainly let her bend some rules, this was His idea after all!
With new determination, he drove into the hospital parking lot and pranced to the office where he found Gwen sitting in his chair.
"Oh, thank goodness you are here." She beamed when he walked in.
"Yeah, what's the problem? Halima said there might be an emergency..." He regarded her scantily clad body and hesitated from moving any closer. "You look like you are dressed for bed," he said bluntly.
"Oh I am, I was getting ready for bed when Dr. Sanjay called, letting me know that the plane will be landing in an hour with the medicine, we need to prepare the patient files and figure out how much dosage each one gets."
"The results came in?" He moved closer.
"Yes, hours ago," she smiled, "but you disappeared before lunch, I have been looking everywhere for you then Joe suggested that you might be with the nurse." The smile turned into a slight scowl.
"Her name is Halima!" He said calmly. "And were it not for her, I wouldn't have come tonight because I am not on call, Dr. Munene is. The hospital's protocols are back in place and we report to their doctors now. I only rushed over here because I thought this is an emergency, Gwen. Besides our camp is full of doctors who have way less to do, unlike me who was...busy!"
"Are you saying that whatever you were doing with her is more important than finally administering a cure to these patients, finally riding them of a disease that has plagued them for weeks?" She threw him a challenging glare knowing she had cornered him.
He stared right back, his expression, displeasure. "I am saying that you interrupted my date!" He moved to Halima's desk ignoring the slight flash of hurt that had crossed her delicate visage. "So what did the results find?" He pulled out his laptop and turned it on.
*******
After a busy morning cleaning and organizing her apartment, Halima was ready to make her promised lunch stop at the hospital. She showered and dressed as the scorching sun demanded. The twenty minutes walk to the hospital left her mind with nothing much to do, her thoughts drifted back to him. Truth be told she hadn't thought of anything else since he left last night.
She knew that what he had suggested, was against what her beliefs allowed. 2 Corinthians 14- 15, "Do not be yoked with unbelievers..." Rung in her mind on a continuous loop. It was written in plain text that she should run for the hills, but why oh why did she feel so drawn to him? Surely there was nothing wrong with befriending the man. That was certainly harmless. She would keep his friendship, then continue praying, that the Lord would soften his heart.
With new resolve, Halima sauntered down the hospital halls. Stopping in front of the office door, she said one more prayer as she pushed it open. The scene that revealed itself as the door opened wider was one that made her stomach turn. Ryan was sitting behind his desk shirtless, his head bent while Gwen was standing behind him hands groping his back. The slight sound of the opening door had the two look up. Ryan with first a delighted expression after seeing Halima, then a horrified one after seeing the confused look on her face. Gwen, on the other hand, gave a mocking smirk after understanding the questioning look on the nurse's face.
Ryan quickly sat up wincing in pain as he pulled an already distressed muscle. "Halima, you came..."
She moved over to her desk avoiding his eyes. "I said I would, didn't I?" She placed the bag on the desk. "There is enough there to feed three people, I was hoping to give some to Joe." She shot him a look that had him squirming out of his seat to get to her.
She turned to leave but before she could open the door he was by her side, he grabbed her arm and gently pushed her against the wall. He raised his arms, his face constricting in pain as he placed them next to each side of her head locking her in."Gwen, leave us!" He said.
"But we haven't even..."
"Now Gwen!" He growled searching Halima's eyes who was looking at everything around but him.
Halima caught the death glare that Gwen was throwing her way as she walked out and her heart sunk. She knew jealousy when she saw it but Gwen behaved like Halima wasn't worth the dirt she walked on. Simple jealousy was understandable but what Gwen portrayed towards Halima made her question if there wasn't more to the plot.
"Hal, look at me," Ryan said as soon as the door shut behind the doctor.
She scanned the room one more time then slowly met his gaze. Silence reigned as they basked in each other's stubborn glares.
"I hurt my shoul..." He started.
"You don't have to explain yourself to me... Wait, you hurt what?" She asked eyebrows knitting together.
"I hurt my shoulder..." He continued and turned so she could have a better look. Halima gasped at the sight of the red patch on his shoulder blade.
"Wh-what, happened?" She lifted her hand to touch around the affected area. Ryan stiffened at her touch.
"I went to sleep really late last night, then I got a call this morning, a woman needed an emergency c-section. The OBGYN present in the hospital was in the theatre with another patient. Anyway, I came in after sleeping for like an hour. The surgery was a success but as I was leaving the theatre, I missed a step and fell a couple of flights down the stairs. I dislocated my shoulder and Gwen had just fixed it when you came in, she was rubbing ointment on the sore muscles. I got pretty banged up during the fall." He turned to face her. A smile forming on his face at the unmistakable relief written all over hers. "You were jealous!" He smirked.
"I have no idea what you are talking about!" She protested trying to shield her flaming cheeks from him.
"Tell that to your blushing cheeks!" He giggled then yelped in pain after she slapped his injured arm.
"Oh, am so sorry! Am so sorry I forgot...did I hurt you?"
"Uhm, yeah! Geez jealous and violent! Two things I've learned about you today!" He dodged out of the way as her fist flew to his uninjured arm. "Make that really violent." He grabbed her clenched fist and pulled her to him. "Stop with the fist throwing or I will show you my kind of violence!" He drawled his husky tone sending the butterflies in her stomach in a frenzy.
Halima pulled away and directed him to his seat. Observing the wound, she took the ointment Gwen had been rubbing on him and continued where she had left off. "Is there more to your story with Gwen?" She asked as she gently lathered the white cream on the sore muscles. "I mean did you know her before you came here?"
"Why do you ask?" He whispered his voice both affected by her touch and the sting of the painful muscles.
"Well, she looks at me like I stole you from her!"
Ryan let out a soft laugh. "Gwen and I used to date, eight years ago when we were in med school. She dumped me and I hadn't seen her since then until a couple of weeks ago when I came to this country." He inhaled a sharp breath as she applied more pressure.
"Oh, ok. Looks like she regrets her choice!" She murmured. "Don't you think you should take the day off, get some rest?" She finished applying the cream then reached for his shirt and handed it to him.
"I already placed that request, I was planning on coming to your place after my shoulder was all fixed." He pulled on his shirt and rose from the seat. "What do you say, an afternoon of movies?" He corked a brow," you do like movies don't you?"
"Uhm, yeah! My old laptop had a ton of them. I don't have any now though."
"Well, it's a good thing I binge watch anything I can get my hands on. What kind do you like?" He slowly reached for his bag and put in the machine. Halima helped him zip up and took the bag slinging it over her shoulder.
"Don't mock me...but, I love Disney movies!" She looked away to avoid his amused glare.
"Well, you are in luck my Disney princess! Because I have plenty of those too." He winked at her and followed her out after picking the bag containing food.
"But we should first get some food to Joe."