Sebastian considered him rather lucky that he was not exposed for his 'right hook'. He didn't regret it, but it was bad for business, as Anthony had pointed out earlier.

He was sprawled on the couch, preoccupied in his phone.

"You're texting her?"

"That I am," Sebastian replied, not looking up.

"How are things with Cassie?"

"What things?" Sebastian looked at his friend in surprise, wondering why he was talking about Cassie all of a sudden.

"Did you talk to her? At least?"

"We broke up. Why should I talk?" He still didn't understand why Anthony was going on and about Cassie. Why should he think about Cassie anyway? And why should he talk to her?

"Seb, you were with her for a year. A year! How can you not care about her as soon as you start talking to Rayne?"

"Look, I broke up with her because I didn't want to hold her back. Trust me, she's better off without me."

Anthony shook his head in disappointment. But he decided not to talk about Cassie anymore. Cassie didn't matter to him. Sebastian did. And if he was happy, Anthony was more than happy.

✵

Rayne was in the middle of prepping her residents. They surrounded her as she gave pointers for the Angioplasty she was leading the next day.  "And, finally, we pull the catheter out. Now can anyone tell me..." she was interrupted in the middle of her prep by a phone.

She glared at her students.

"I've told you multiple times to turn on silent mode. Pagers on and phones off. That is what we follow here," She sternly lectured. She didn't like to be interrupted. Certainly not by hormonal 20ish year olds who just couldn't keep it in their pants.

She was strict about that. Her job meant so much to her. She understood what was at stake. Life. Human life. They couldn't afford to make a mistake. And that meant all of her students too. If they were to become good surgeons one day, they must learn to sacrifice some things. And that included 'phones during work'.

They all looked at one another. Taking out their respective phones from their coats and checking it to see that it was, in fact, not one of theirs.

One of the junior residents spoke up.

"Dr. Harris, we think it might be y-your phone," the guy hesitated.

Rayne stiffened in her place. Suddenly feeling embarrassed that she scolded them for her mistake.

"Take a break, you're excused," she said almost immediately, looking at her pupils. She watched them scatter away.

She was taken back by the call. Truth be told, only her family calls her, and that too, nobody calls her when she's at work.

She had been leaning in front of her desk while she was lecturing. She turned around and found her bag, opening to take out her phone.

She was even more surprised to see Sebastian's name on the screen. He had never once called in the brief period they've known each other. They've always communicated through text messages.

She stared at her phone for a moment, feeling its vibration through her fingers. And attended the call.

"Hey!" She greeted him enthusiastically. She didn't mean to sound that happy, but somehow it came to her naturally. Somehow, seeing his name on her phone made her smile. 

"Hey, can you come over?" He sounded tense.

She has never once left her work earlier before. And definitely not, when she was supervising a major surgery the next day. But something told her that he might be in need of her help.

So, at that moment, she found herself saying, "Sure thing, text me the address."

✵

Rayne had never been to this part of the area before. It seemed ... secluded. She double-checked the address. It was a gym. Why was the gym in the middle of nowhere? And why was Sebastian in it?

She quickly dialled his number.

"Sebastian, is this a gym?"

"Yeah, just come upstairs," his voice was still low. And he hung up at once.

It was a two storey building. She found the elevator and pressed up. Her hands were clammy, so she rubbed it against her skirt and continued to do so till she was met with the elevator's 'ding'.

When the door opened, she was amazed to see a gym that big, surrounded by a glass wall on one side. It was thoroughly well equipped, with rows of treadmills on her left, and various other machines. She had no idea what those were, since she hadn't been to a gym before. She was more of a 'home workout' person. That is, if you'd count 'pacing around the apartment while listening to crime podcasts' as a workout.

Her eyes searched for any movement, but she couldn't find any. There was no one except her. If someone else was in her place, they would've bolted right then and there. Hell, they wouldn't have even entered the building in the first place. But this is Rayne we're talking about. Naive, stupid, Rayne.

Considering that she'd only known the guy for a couple of weeks now, she definitely shouldn't have accepted his offer to come here. Then again, this is Rayne.

She hummed a song while she covered the distance. She felt that it was too big for someone to be alone in, wondering why Sebastian chose to be there without anyone else. As she turned to her right, she could see a black door far from where she was standing. She went towards it and opened it to find a small office. There were a number of tables, chairs and a couch.

On the couch, she found Sebastian. He looked like he was in pain.

She ran over to him, and his eyes lifted up to look into hers, reflecting his pain.

She understood that he was hurt, couldn't figure out where he'd hurt himself.

"Are you hurt, Sebastian? Where does it hurt?" She looked at him like he was one of her patients, smiling softly to make them feel comfortable enough to tell her anything.

"My ankle," he breathlessly replied, as he clutched her hand.

"Here, let me take a look," she knelt down and his eyes traced her every movement. Her hand was still in his.

She tried to touch his ankle with her other hand, but he winced in pain, slightly tightening his grip around her arm. She could feel her heart picking up its pace. But she couldn't help him if he held onto her, so she wiggled her hand away from his, and she took his hand in hers, taking control of the situation. He was pleasantly surprised by this action, but he went along with it, the pain erasing his line of coherent thoughts.

She tried to calm him down by slowly tapping on his arm with her fingers in a rythmic manner. Somehow she forgot all about her insecurity, and he was all she could think about.

Sebastian hissed as Rayne tried to move his leg to take a better look. Finally, she decided that she'd have to shift her position to get the better look. She released his hand from hers and stopped low, so that his ankle was in her line of vision, parallel to her eyes. She examined closely and found out that it was slightly swollen on the lateral side.

"It's just a sprain. You'll be okay in no time," she touched his hand again, in comfort.

"But we should take you home. I'll be back with some supplies, wait right here," she instructed.

He was reluctant to let go of her hand. Of her. But, he did. 

Before she crossed through the door, she turned, "What do you feel like eating?"

He thought for a second, "Pretzels."

She came back in 10 minutes with bandages and painkillers. And Pretzels. Just like he'd asked.

At the sight of her, he opened his arms as if he wanted to hug her, but then he felt conscious that she might not respond in the right way. And he managed to splutter,  "Yay, pr-pretzels!" 

"Wow, You've never been this happy to see me," she said without thinking and blushed at the after thought.

'Oh, You have no idea, dragă'

"Here," she handed him the Pretzels and painkillers.

Then she knelt to the ground again and started to wrap the bandage around his ankle. He sat there motionless, trying to take in all of her. He could never grow tired of looking at her. She caught him staring and quickly averted her sight. But she could still feel his gaze on her, and heat spread throughout her body. He forgot all about his Pretzels and she was all her could think about. 

She could feel her hands shaking as she touched his skin. She was not this nervous even for her first major surgery. She couldn't understand why her body was reacting like this. As that thought creeped into her mind, she felt her go scarlet again.

When she was finished with his leg, she took a seat opposite to him. 

"What are you doing in a gym all alone?" Rayne pulled her hair back so it doesn't fall on her face. She crossed her legs and leaned on the chair.

He looked at her intently, forgetting all about her question and getting lost in her eyes. He was staring at her again. He'd been doing this a lot lately.

"I wanted to train," he cleared his throat, gaining his composure.

"You should be more careful with the weights," she said, as she looked around the place once again.

"Nah, I tripped while walking. That's how I sprained my ankle," he chuckled.

'No, you do not get to laugh like nothing happened. I was scared, you big fool.'

But she just replied, "Anyway, you should be more careful, we don't want you getting hurt again, now, do we?"

'Is she angry because I made her miss work?' his thoughts ran wild.

They sat in silence for a minute, her looking at her feet, and him taking his sweet time to look at her.

When he was done eating, she held out her hand. He made her insecurities vanish. He took it without another word, "Let's get you out of here."

He had one of his arms around her shoulders, while she supported his weight by holding onto his waist. Both of them clearly flustered by the contact. 

Sebastian was limping, his ankle was sore, but a smile still made it to his face knowing that she was with him and they were okay.

✵