Chapter 4

Christina had disconnected from the machines that were taking her pulse and threw her food tray on the floor with great anger without even trying to eat a single bite of it, the plates had not broken from the impact because food was served at the hospital on disposable plates, but the food was scattered all over the floor, had to call general services to clean up all their mess. Christina was too angry, both at her husband for being a jerk and uninterested in her, as well as at herself for allowing her own life to become hell. The doctor did not think twice before approaching Christina and hugging her, at first she did not want to accept it, her arms remained in the air as if what was hugging her caused her terror to touch him. But then she felt confident, and simply, she hugged the doctor, letting her face hide in her chest, ready to start crying in him, taking advantage of the fact that the doctor caressed her hair to comfort her. "Don't worry, if your husband doesn't show up in at least 2 days, you can tell me where I should leave you, you must have a relative who can receive you and whom you can remember at this time so that he can help you" says the doctor, leaving from caressing his hair to caressing his cheek and looking into his eyes. Christina had her eyes lost in a corner of the room, therefore, she did not realize anything that the doctor was doing. "No doctor, I don't have anyone, I have nowhere to go" Christina lies to him. The truth was that Christina had not forgotten that she had an older sister living in the same city just a few houses from hers, in fact, from her house she could always walk without using her car. Christina knew that her sister would be willing to help her by giving her a roof over her head and food while she sought to fix her life and her marriage as legally and as quickly as possible, however, Christina was going to take advantage of her situation if she had an accident and having faked a loss of short-term memory to get revenge and live a new life away from her macho and cowardly husband, and a selfish, humiliating and not compassionate mother-in-law with whom she did not like to be around. A few minutes passed, the doctor had once again taken charge of laying Christina down on her stretcher, sheltered her, and reconnected the devices that she had connected before to also go find the person in charge of general services and ask her to please Christina's room tidy again leaving it spotless. Christina was realizing how wonderful that man could be, she just wanted to know if he was single and would be willing to be with a woman who had the past like her. "Well, I don't have any more shifts for today, but since I'm a single man and no one is waiting for me at home, I like to kill what's left of my time chatting with my patients, of course, I only do it with those who allow me to do it and give them my confidence" says the doctor to Christina after having finished their work. General Services had arrived as soon as the doctor called her, and she was about to finish cleaning up all the mess on the floor made minutes before. Christina smiles when she hears it, because it seemed that having that accident had been the only good thing that could happen to her in her life at that moment. "What do you want to talk to me about, doctor?" Christina asks. "Can?" the doctor asks Christina before moving to the edge of the bed and sitting down to make himself more comfortable. Christina nods. The doctor sits on the edge of the bed, just near Christina's feet, supporting her spine on the small rail that the stretcher had. "I don't know, tell me what you can tell me if your short-term memory failure allows it, I mean, tell me what you can remember about yourself, I don't know, you have to have men. Hobbies, what things you like, what you don't like, how you met your husband, how long have you been married, do you have children, etc" says the doctor. "Wow, those are too many questions, do you ask your trusted patients all the time whether they're a man or a woman?" Christina asks with a small nervous laugh coming out of her mouth. "I know, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have bothered you with so many questions," says the doctor, also letting out a nervous laugh. "As you know, I remember that I am married, but what I know is that my marriage is a hell that I can't wait to get out of," says Christina. Why do you say it's hell? does your husband mistreat you? does he hit you? does he insult you? is he a sexist? says the doctor Dr. Reynolds smiles back without even feeling uncomfortable. "No, I only do it for the patients who catch my attention and I think they are pretty" the doctor replies. "Do I look pretty to you?" Christina asks curiously. It had been a long time since a man had told her that she was pretty, those words of hers were heard for the last time from her husband's mouth the day they got married when he saw her in her wedding dress after walking to the altar. "Yes, the truth is that yes, you are pretty, and you seem to be a very nice person," says Dr. Reynolds. "Thank you," Christina replies, feeling flattered. "Were you able to contact your husband?" asks the doctor. "No, he never answered, and he didn't call back, letting me know he didn't care about me at all," Christina replies registeredly. Christina was devastated, but that was the honest truth; Neither her husband, nor her family, cared about her, if they had, they would have already gone to the hospital to look for her to find out if she was okay.