May

“Is there anything else we can do for the two of you?” May heard a voice say.

“No, I think we’re fine. Thank you, doctor,” she thought Erik’s voice replied.

May forced open her eyes, which felt as heavy as lead, only to be confused by what she saw. She was laying in a bed in a hospital room with a doctor standing nearby. Erik was also there, talking to him before the man suddenly turned and left the room. May quickly tried to sit up, but as soon as she moved, her head was filled with a splitting pain.

“Ah!” she gasped.

Erik jumped with surprise and spun around to face her. “May! You’re awake!”

He rushed over to her side and sat in the chair beside her bed. “Hey, don’t move around too much. Your head is fine, but the doctor said you’ll probably be dealing with a nasty headache for a few days.”

“My head…what?” she asked, unable to comprehend what he was saying.

That’s when Erik’s bright eyes turned soft. “You hit your head when you pushed me out of the way of the car. Don’t you remember?”

May froze. Oh, that’s right. The red sports car.

“Sort of,” she said, only half lying.

There was a long pause, filling the air with awkwardness.

“Why did you jump into the street to save me, instead of, I don’t know, calling out to me or something?”

May let out an irritated sigh and tried to sit up again. This time she pushed past the pain and propped herself up against the pillows behind her.

“It’s not like you’re in the habit of listening to what I say,” she replied simply.

Erik nodded, looking somewhat amused by her answer. “Well, without you, I might be the one in that bed, and for injuries far worse than a few scrapes and a minor concussion, so, thanks.”

“I have a concussion?!”

“A minor one,” he clarified in a hushed tone. “I just spoke with the doctor before you woke up. He said you’ll be fine for discharge later tonight.”

May let out a breath of relief. Thank goodness it wasn’t anything serious…

“Anyway, look,” Erik said, clearing his throat. “I’m really sorry about the way I acted earlier. It’s just…I really did have to leave the office right away. There was a family emergency on my mother’s side of the family, and I couldn’t wait until the end of the day to head out.”

She nodded. “I’m sorry to hear that. Honestly, part of me figured you were just pretending to have an emergency.”

Erik let out a light laugh with a smile that seemed to convey genuine amusement. It was as if all the previous tension and anger between them was gone.

“So, what about your family then?” May asked. “You should go to them, right?”

“I’m actually getting ready to head out soon. My sister has been calling me every fifteen minutes to keep me updated with things on their end. But after you fell unconscious, I had to call an ambulance, and then when they came, I decided that I couldn’t let you wake up alone.”

“That’s very…thoughtful of you?”

Erik shifted in his seat anxiously. “Hospitals are never fun for anyone. And I would know. I spent a lot of time in one when I was a kid.”

He had?

“Anyway, I’m getting out of here as soon as I fill out your discharge papers. You, on the other hand, have to wait for your roommate to pick you up before you can go.”

“You know Julie?” May asked with disbelief.

Erik shook his head. “Not much beyond the name listed in your phone contacts.”

That definitely made more sense…

“By the way, I should apologize in advance because I tried calling your mother first, and she sounded pretty upset when I told her you were in the hospital.”

She closed her eyes and grimaced. “Oh no.”

“She said that she was coming to get you herself, but then Julie called your phone and said that she heard what happened and had managed to calm your mother down. Afterwards, she offered to come and get you.”

Thank god!

“There’s no one in this world who has my back the way that Julie does,” May said with a small snicker.

“I can tell. When I told her who I was, she asked if I was the same handsome jerk who’s been giving you a hard time at work.”

“Just for the record, I never called you handsome. Those are her words, not mine.”

Erik chuckled. “Duly noted.”

Then he stood up and moved his chair back over by the wall. “Okay then, you get some rest now. I’ll be off as soon as I’m done with the paperwork.”

“Hold on, why are you filling out my discharge papers?”

Erik shot her a mischievous grin. “Well, the hospital staff will only allow partners or family members in to see a patient when they’re out cold. So, I may or may not have told them I was your boyfriend.”

May looked up at him with absolute horror. “Excuse me?”

He seemed surprised by her reaction. “Hey, you could do a lot worse than Moment Magazine’s sexiest man of the year as your fake boyfriend.”

She just rolled her eyes. “Ew.”

Erik burst out in laughter. “Look, I only did this so I could be here when no one else could. So, just play along, and let me fill out your paperwork. After that, Julie will be here, and you can go home.”

“Fine. I’ll allow it,” she said with a long sigh.

“I know it’s not ideal and all, but it’s the least I can do after you jumped towards an oncoming car for my sake. The most I can do is give you a few days off work to recover.”

May frowned. “I can’t take any time off work. I just got here!”

Once again, she noticed a soft look in Erik’s eyes. “May, for once, don’t obsess about the company. When you’re feeling better, just give me a call, and we can talk about it. Until then, I promise to be in my office, reading over the documents you left me. Okay?”

And just like that, he turned and left the room. May closed her eyes as she tried to process the day’s events. It felt like a dream, or rather, a nightmare. She had spent the morning working alone, the afternoon arguing with Erik and trying to avoid getting hit by a car, and now, her evening would be spent in a hospital bed? Could this day get any more ridiculous?!

May could feel herself sinking even deeper into her hospital bed as sleep began to tug at her mind. The last thing she remembered was the gentle look in Erik’s eyes as he left.

Not that it mattered, but maybe he was Moment Magazine’s sexiest man of the year for a reason…