*ARAMINA*
Have you ever felt as if you are outside your body watching everything that was happening around you? Well it was sort of that way for me. I vaguely felt strong arms break my fall, holding tightly under my arms. I could not hear anything other than, "I am Doctor Derek Shepherd... Emergency contact.... Operating room... Internal bleeding.... Car accident"
"Aramina!" I was suddenly brought back to my senses by Damon's voice booming in my ear. I sat me against the kitchen wall bringing his body to my front and stared at me intently.
"Dam....Oliver.....he....is....car...car....acci.....dea..." I could not get a complete sentence from my mouth as a few tears escaped from my eyes which I was struggling hard for them not to fall. I just found out this dude was my brother and was not about to let him see me cry. Oops. I guess my tears had a mind of their own.
"Aramina relax. You are hyperventilating," he said emptying the contents of the brown bag at the counter and placing it over my mouth. I wrapped my fingers around the bag as I breathed into the bag while Damon/Oliver rubbed my back rhythmically.
"Hello? Aramina are you there?" My phone was still on and Doctor Shepherd was still speaking to it. Oliver picked the phone from the ground and I felt relieved that it was still intact.
"Hello?" Oliver spoke into the receiver.
"Um,yes I was talking to Aramina is she still around?"
"Wait,who is this?"
"I am Doctor Derek Shepherd. I called to tell her about her friend"
"Well she can't come to the phone right now. She is recovering from a panic attack"
"Oh I'm so sorry to hear that. Will she be able to get here?" Derek's question earned a nod from me.
"Yes she will tomorrow because she is out of range as per now"
"Okay then. I will be sure to inform him when he wakes up."
"Thank you doctor Shepherd." Who knew my half brother could be courteous?
"You are welcome."
By the time the phone call was over I had already calmed down.
"What was the doctor talking about?" Oliver asked.
"A friend of mine got into a car accident and he called me to inform me of the unfortunate occurrence. He asked if I could get to the hospital," I said sniffling.
"Why did he call you?"
"I was listed as his emergency contact."
"Your friend you say?" he asked winking.
"Grow up dumbass," I said rolling my eyes.
"Aramina, you had a panic attack in our kitchen and you cried. How good of a friend is he?" he persisted.
"We are friends.. Sort of friends? We have kissed severally."
"Oulala," cooed Damon which made me kick his knee softly.
"Ow," he said grasping his knee as if it actually hurt.
"Why am I even telling you this?" I asked rubbing my temple.
"Because I am your brother. We are supposed to share stuff with each other," he said squeezing my hand.
"That position is earned not granted as easily as you think," I said raising my arms for him to help me up.
"What is going on there?" My father asked from the other room.
"Nothing father. Something fell from the counter but it's okay," answered Oliver.
"You know, I think I am going to call you Damon from now henceforth. Calling you Oliver just makes me feel as though I was disrespecting my father."
"Damon it is then. I actually kind of like it."
"Why did you tell him I would go tomorrow? I need to leave now," I said rushing to get my suitcase.
"You cannot leave now. If you do then father will get suspicious. Besides, you don't even have a plane ticket. It's nearly nighttime actually. I will call in a favour for you okay?" he said reassuringly. I nodded taking his advice.
"Where are you going?" I asked as he headed out the balcony.
"To call Demi," he said closing the door behind him.
****
*DAMON*
"COME ON!" I probably sounded like a psycho yelling at my phone. This was the eleventh time I was calling Demetria and she was not picking. I was sure she was just staring her screen purposefully ignoring my calls. I tried again. Relationships are truly not for the fair hearted. My heart warmed when I heard her soft voice through the receiver.
"Demetria, finally"
"I only have a few minutes. I am at an interview so say whatever it is you were going to say quickly" Ouch.
"Demetria I am sorry. The only reason as to why you saw what you saw-"
"You mean when your mouth was devouring Aramina's?"
"Demi, come on, don't be so harsh about this"
"Harsh? I'm sorry, HARSH? Harsh was when I walked in on the two of you," she said venomously.
"Don't be like that Demetria, It's been five years. You know I love you," I felt as if I had used up all my energy into saying those words.
"Oh Olly, I love you too but I can't bring myself to understand why-"
"The only reason as to why I did it was because I felt some sort of connection towards Aramina. Turns out that she is actually my sister, half sister to be precise," I said. Demi was quiet for a while which had me asking, "are you still there?"
"You are really messed up"
"What?"
"So let me get this straight, whenever you feel a connection with someone you kiss them? Or was it just your sister?"
"I did not know she was my sister! Can I see you so that we can talk about this?"
"I have to go."
"Call me back?" I asked before realising that she had already hung up.
"I am such an idiot," I said to myself.
****
*ARAMINA*
It was not easy to sleep that night. I kept thinking about how Blake was doing. I wanted to call him but I thought the anaesthesia had not worn off and that he needed to rest after his surgery. How had he even gotten into an accident? I could not wait to get there. He would receive an earful from me. I took my phone and texted Alexis letting her know that I would be going back to San Diego the next day.
****
I hurriedly prepared myself that morning and barely took a bite of breakfast.
"Morning sis. I got you something," said Oliver as he popped his head to the dining area. He handed me a thin parcel which I unwrapped quickly. All I could think about was how fast i could get to San Diego; California. Airplane tickets!
"Thank you so much," I said hugging him.
"Knowing you, you would already be prepared to leave even if you would have driven there yourself"
"Definitely. Where is dad?"
"He left early. It was something about settling a business deal with Lexor and cop"
"Will you handle him when I come back?"
"Sure. I can drive you to the airport if you want"
"I would love it if you did," I said as he took my suitcase.
****
I was so relieved when we landed. I alighted from the plane and walked into the airport.
"There she is!" exclaimed a man who had a camera on his neck. Suddenly lots of people came towards me who I recognized to he journalists and the press.
"How did you feel when you found out about your long lost brother?"
"Is your brother illegitimate?"
"Is Damon Cole going to replace you as chief executive officer of Villa Enterprises?"
"How do you feel about all this?"
"How do you feel that your very own mother, Aria Cole lied to you?"
"Are you going to be close to Damon?"
"Is he going to work side by side with you?"
Wait, who even gave them the idea of Oliver becoming C. E. O? Or better yet, who leaked to the press that I had a long lost brother? The series of questions overwhelmed me.
"No comment," I said pushing past them and headed to my car which I had arranged for it to be there. I drove recklessly and did not care about the cars that hooted at mine. On arrival I headed to the marble reception desk to find a nice looking lady behind it. She wore green scrubs so I assumed she was a nurse. Her black hair was held behind her head by pins and wore a beautiful smile as I approached her.
"Hello, I'm here to see a patient by the name Blake?"
"Full name of the patient please?"
"He is a detective; Jésus Bryann Blake." I watched as she keyed in his name on the computer.
"The patient is in the Intensive Care Unit room fourteen."
"The ICU?" I felt my voice morph into a whisper. "Can I see him?"
"It's not visiting hours yet so you will have to wait till tomorrow. The patients there only get to have two visitors a day and they already came in."
"Can I ask who?"
"I can't give you their names but one was a young blonde woman with a striking appearance and the other was the head of his department." A blonde haired woman? Corrine.
"What? Tomorrow? That's too far," I said feeling desperate.
"I'm sorry ma'am but there is nothing I can do," she said sympathetically. I tried pleading with her but she was adamant at her refusal. I honestly could not continue to feel that way for another minute so I did the only thing I could do.
I stood slowly and groaned clutching at my stomach and screamed for help.
"Miss? Are you okay?" The nurse behind the desk came to my aid. Since it was only the two of us present, i collapsed to the floor and pretended to faint.
"Somebody page Doctor Avery!" she exclaimed. "Oh shoot. I forgot I was taking the night shift alone. I will go get him." I heard her footsteps fade as she scurried off. I opened one eye and saw nobody around. I rushed to a closet with the tag 'EXTRAS' on it and walked in. Much to my awe I found scrubs in there, lab coats, gloves, surgical equipment you name it all present.
"You can do this" I said to myself as I quickly changed my clothing into the dark blue scrubs I found. I grabbed a grey coloured stethoscope and placed it into the pocket of my coat along with a pair of sky blue gloves. That ought to do it. Letting down my hair and making sure that my clothes were safely tucked away, I took in a deep breath and courageously walked out of the room.
On my right I looked to see the nurse explaining to a female doctor that I was there a few moments ago. If I left quietly i could go unnoticed. Oh who was I kidding?
"Doctor!" I heard and stopped dead in my tracks. "Did you see a young lady in a maroon dress shirt and black leggings lying here?"
"No I haven't. I just came from the emergency room after a patient puked on me," I said giving the best shot of russian accent I could. For a minute there I thought the nurse would recognize my hair and shoes but she did not. Score.
I pushed the elevator button and they opened as I pressed number three of the buttons. A young resident with curly hair stood at a corner holding a chart. His hair reminded me of a certain guy I used to know a while back. I used to come here when I was a kid so I knew my way around the place. My mother did her residency and attending years as a general surgeon here. She was the next Meredith Grey from Grey Sloan Memorial; Grey's Anatomy. I smiled to myself.
The doors opened and I gathered all the courage I had to walk out of the room. Marble floors greeted me as I took a few steps outside the elevator.
"Aramina?" I heard someone call out. I turned to meet the eyes of the resident from the elevator. Oh wait, that was Mason! He was my mother's intern when she still worked here. No wonder the hair rang a bell!
"Mason!" I exclaimed hugging him.
"Whoa, I did not know you were an attending here. I guess I should pay more attention to detail than I thought," he laughed. He was always such a jolly guy, even in his teen years. We went to the same school for two years before he switched schools due to his father's job transfer.
"Actually I am not a doctor," I whispered. "I came to see a friend of mine in the Intensive care unit and the nurse at the reception could not allow me to do so. She said that such patients only got to have two visitors in a day. So I changed into scrubs and chose dark blue ones since they are the attendings' scrubs and realized that I would not get pointed out easily."
"That's witty of you. Sadly those are the rules. I hate them too," he said and I laughed, really laughed. It felt good.
"What is the name of your friend?"he enquired.
"Jésus Bryann Blake. The nurse said he was in room fourteen"
"The popular detective? Yeah actually I was going through his chart right now. Doctor Shepherd is out for the night and I am the resident on call. I was actually going to check up on him. Would you like to come with me?"
"Of course," I said following him down the hall. I had assumed that I would get multiple stares from the medical staff around since I assumed they knew their doctors but nobody seemed to care. It was a big hospital anyway. Attending scrubs? Wonderful choice.
I saw Mason stop in his tracks and open the door to room fourteen. I walked in and immediately felt weakened by the horrible sight that greeted my eyes.
~°~°~°~°~°~