Aria places another can of organic tomatoes on the shelf, humming to herself as she works on restocking the canned goods isle. She glances at the clock hanging on the wall, urging it to speed up, so she can finish her shift for the day and rush home before the snow storm hits. Today was dragging by slowly, and she sighs at her boring work day. But hey, at least she's getting paid, one step closer to paying off the student loans she was quickly piling up.
"Hey there!" she greets as the door bell chimes, and her third customer of the day enters.
The older man gives her a smile and makes his way towards the fridges housing the milk. Aria sets down the other cans and walks to the front register, watching the man grab a carton. She is the only employee working on the floor today in the small market. Although the owner is in the back office, she is the only employee available to juggle the restocking, the food preparation, and the customers. Thanks to the impending snow, she hasn't had to deal with many customers. The man brings his milk to the register, offering Aria another smile.
"The kids want hot cocoa, but it seems we're out of milk," he tells Aria with a thick Italian accent, making Aria notice his Italian features more. The man has a full head of thick, black hair despite his old age and a nose just slightly crooked. He wears a gray suit, absent of any wrinkles, and Aria thinks he must have stopped by on his way home from work.
"Hot cocoa is crucial to a snow day," she comments. She rings the item up, typing the price into the out-dated register.
The man tosses a candy bar onto the counter with a sheepish grin. "For the sweet tooth." This time, his words come out with a slight slur, causing Aria to raise an eyebrow while the man grimaces. He reaches into his jacket pocket for his wallet, but he clumsily moves his arm, and the wallet falls onto the ground along with his cellphone.
"Sir, are you feeling okay?" Aria questions as the man's face contorts with pain. "Maybe you should sit down" She starts to walk around the counter, but she is too slow as the man loses his balance and hits the floor with a thud. "Oh my gosh!" Aria exclaims and rushes to his side.
Luckily, she is in her final year of school, studying to be a nurse, so she immediately recognizes his symptoms as a stroke and leaps into action. The man is struggling to breathe as he clutches at his throat. Aria tries to comfort the stranger with meaningless words as she begins CPR. She pushes on his chest and curses herself for not going to the gym more often. Her arms would not be this sore already if she had only lifted weights maybe once in her life.
"Marcus!" She yelled for the store's owner and hoped he'd hear her over the roar of the oven's fan. "Marcus!" The short man finally peeped his head out the office door, and his eyes widened behind his glasses when he saw Aria's petite frame frantically pushing on a man's chest. He ran to her, his hand covering his mouth with disbelief. "Call 911! He's having a stroke. Call 911!" she urged, trying to snap him out of his shock while she continued to perform CPR.
"Okay okay," her boss muttered as he grabbed the store's phone. He rattled off the situation and address into the receiver.
"Please don't die. Breath for me. Come on. Come on," she mumbled to herself before breathing into the man's mouth. "It's gonna be okay." It was not, in fact, going to be okay. This was not okay at all. She had just told her professor how eager she was to be in the field, but this is not what she meant!
Aria continued to pound on his chest, effectively creasing his suit, for what felt like hours until she was gently pulled off him and pushed away by a medic. Her arms ached, and she now struggled to catch her breath. She watched speechless as the unresponsive man was loaded onto a stretcher and into an ambulance. His wallet and cellphone lay on the floor in his wake, and Aria is knocked out of her trance when his phone begins to ring. The screen reads "Luca" with a picture of the man and a younger version of himself smiling with beers in their hands. She presses the green button, hoping to find words.
"Papa," a deep Italian man answers.
"Uh... hi, yeah, this is the Community Garden. There's been an accident, and your father is being transported to the city hospital." Aria speaks with a shake in her voice, and she struggles to gain control of the situation.
"Cazzo!" The man's harsh voice makes Aria jump, and she knows it is not a nice word the man has said. "Is he okay? What happened?" His questions are laced with worry and fear.
"Sir, I'm sure he's going to be okay. You can meet us at the hospital to see your father and find out more information," she speaks now with an even voice, regaining emotional control.
"Okay, okay, si, si. I will meet you there. Thank you." The phone beeps as the man ends the call, and Aria turns to her boss.
Marcus nods his head. "Go," he tells her, sensing her need to be there for the man and his family.
Aria rushes to her car, not bothering to buckle as she speeds to the city hospital. Her heart is racing, and she firmly grips the wheel to stop her hands from shaking. Both of these men are complete strangers, yet her heart aches for them. Aria lost her father at a young age, and she can't help but sympathize with this man as his father's health is threatened. She needed to be there for him; she needed to see this through. The market is only a few minutes away from the hospital, so she isn't surprised when she enters to find an empty waiting room.
The nurse at the front desk smiles at her. "How can I help you?"
"Uh... there's a man. He had a stroke. Uh, he's Italian, older," she rambles, realizing she doesn't even know his name. "Oh! Oh!" she reaches into her purse for the leather wallet she tossed in it, and she opens it to find an ID, addressed to a Guiliano Orsini. "Orsini!" she tells the nurse. "Guiliano Orsini."
The nurse types on her keyboard, searching through the patients. "It looks like he was admitted a few minutes ago. He's stable now. Would you like to see him?"
"Yes! Thank you thank you!" Aria quickly follows the nurse down a long hallway, nervously wringing her hands.
Hospitals normally bring her peace as she's been accustomed to the atmosphere now for four years, but now, she is plagued with worry. Stable is good. Stable is alive. Is stable awake? Is stable stable? Aria's mind races as she conjures up all the possibilities of what stable could mean. She nearly runs into the nurse's back when she stops at a room.
"Here you are. He's resting now, but you are welcome to wait here with him," the nurse tells her, opening the door for her.
"Thank you," Aria repeats mindlessly before walking into the room.
The room is filled with incessant beeping from whirring machines, and a few cords lead to the man lying in a bed with his eyes closed and black hair disheveled. His suit is replaced by a hospital gown, and she can't help but smile at the sight. The man seems too professional, too powerful to be wearing a dingy hospital gown. She sits at his bedside, pulling out his wallet and phone from her purse. She places them on the nightstand and sits back in the chair. As he sleeps, Aria gets a good look at the man, noticing the scar on his left eyebrow and tattoo creeping down his neck. Without his beaming smile, Aria can't help but think the man looks scarier. The wrinkles on his forehead show just how much the man worries, and there aren't many laugh lines beside his eyes. Aria guesses the man is in his fifties, yet his body does not support his age. Toned arms disappear under the blanket, and she wonders how a 50-year-old business man can be so buff. His muscular build shows that they do not share the same hatred for the gym. The man is definitely attractive, in a silver fox minus the silver kind of way.
The door opens, bringing Aria out of her thoughts, and a man she recognizes as Luca stands in the doorway. His lips part with a gasp as he stares at the older man. His eyes roam over all the machines, and then finally fall on Aria's small frame sat upright in the chair, eagerly waiting to meet Luca. His eyebrows furrow, and he looks at her with disgust.
"Who the fuck are you? I swear if you are some gold-digger that thinks they can profit off my father's accident..." Luca stalks towards her, his hands clenching into fists and his blue eyes glaring at her.
Aria's eyes widen and she quickly stands up and backs away from the advancing man, trying to create distance between them as she raises her arms defensively. "I'm not a gold-digger," she flinches at the term, confused by the interaction. "I'm Aria. I was there when he had his stroke. I just wanted to see-"
"A stroke! He had a stroke? Cazzo!" He runs his fingers through his messy hair, and it looks like it's not the first time he's done that today. His dark black hair matches Guiliano's, and he wears a suit with a tie loosely pulled away from his tattoo-covered neck, adding to their similarities.
"Yeah, I think so at least. I don't know. I'm not a doctor. I just-" she tries to explain, but he interrupts her again.
"Where's a doctor then?" Luca demands.
Aria shrugs, "I don't-"
"Do you know anything? Cristo. Why are you even here?" he barks with malice laced in his words, looming over her threateningly.
Aria narrows her eyes at him and stands up straighter, unfazed by the fact he has at least a foot on her. She's prepared to speak some manners into this rude ogre. The audacity of this man baffled her, and her hand ached to slap him. Instead, she pokes him firmly in the chest. "I'll have you know-"
Again, Luca cuts her off and roughly grabs her hand. This time, his glare could kill, and it scares the confidence out of her. "Be careful, puttana. If you want to keep that finger, I suggest you don't touch me, and I suggest you get the fuck out," he warns, and something about him tells Aria he will gladly put his money where his mouth is.
When Luca drops her hand, she quickly grabs her purse and rushes out of the room, not daring to look back at him. So much for comforting the family.
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A/N
Alright guys. So here's this. Idk what I'm doing with it. Idk where it'll go or how much I'll work on it. But the idea came to me, and I think I'm gonna try to work on it. Lemme know what y'all think!