I cleared my throat several times before I could really answer her. “Yeah,” I said.
“Oh, thank goodness. When Raphael found me at work and said Gabriel had taken you to the hospital, I was so scared. I came to see you, but you slept the entire time, and Gabriel made me go home, and I—well, I know you had been missing him, so I left you in his care, but that wasn’t a mistake, was it? Are you mad—”
“Kaia.”
She took a deep breath over the line.
Kaia was usually pretty cool and collected, except when she was worried or nervous.
“I’m okay.”
Or, at least, I hoped I would be, considering Gabriel had placed me in his room and given me back my phone.
Those two things alone would mean I was wrong about him, didn’t they?
Perhaps he’d only taken me back here because he was worried.
I would have preferred he asked me first, but maybe my worry was caused by the lack of sleep.
I gripped the phone. I didn’t know anymore.
“Are you really okay? What did the doctor say?”
I opened my mouth to answer her, but the problem was, the doctor didn’t exactly tell me what was going on. I was basing everything off Gabriel’s words and the fact that the hospital discharged me.
Shouldn’t they have told me what was going on with my health?
Why would they discharge me to the care of a man who was nothing to me? Weren’t there laws about these kinds of things?
I was fortunate enough not to be familiar with hospital visits, but something about this entire thing felt off. Shouldn’t the doctor have told me what was going on and not Gabriel, who was nothing more than my boss…
Or at least, I was still telling myself he was nothing more than my boss.
My heart raced as I looked around the room once more.
“I’m okay,” was all I said, not knowing how to answer her.
“Where are you?” Kaia asked.
“At Gabriel’s house.”
She didn’t reply for a moment. Then, “Does that mean you guys worked out whatever was wrong? And did he tell you why he left for three weeks without a word?”
“I —” I shook my head. I didn’t know how to answer any of her questions. “Kaia —”
“I think it’s a good thing.”
“You do?” I leaned back against the headboard and dragged the blanket over one shoulder. It wasn’t cold, but I was shivering.
“Yeah. If he treats you right, I don’t think it should really matter if he’s our boss. And you don’t know where this might lead, but we were already planning on quitting the place soon, right?”
“Right,” I said, my voice soft. I didn’t know how to interrupt her and tell her about my fears and confusion.
“Right, so it won’t matter if things work out with Gabriel or not. I think you should have fun, Bianca. It’s been over a year since you dated anyone, and this doesn’t have to be anything serious.”
The monster every other fucker out there is scared of.
I should be scared of him.