Chapter 37 Superwoman

Chapter 37 Superwoman

Ryan

My eyelids parted painfully as bright light hit me from the right side of the room.

“Where am I?” I whispered slowly to myself.

It was then I felt a warm hand on mine. For a moment it felt like Lily’s.

I closed my eyes, wanting that feeling to last a little while longer.

But my gushing anger would not let the moment stay.

She had left me for another boy. Forgotten everything we had shared together just because of some lavish mansion inhabited by spoiled brats who knew only how to abuse and bully women.

I jerked up immediately and Sarah’s scream filled the air.

I drew back in shock.

Sarah? How on earth did she even know I had been in an accident?

“Doctor! Doctor! He’s awake!” she stood up, running toward the door.

Disappointed, I collapsed back onto the bed.

In the blink of an eye the middle aged doctor ran in with my mother and Sarah by his side.

“She already knows Mum?” I hissed silently.

The doctor moved toward me with quiet efficiency and began his examination. He placed the stethoscope against my chest and listened carefully, his brows slightly furrowed in concentration. Then he checked my eyes with a small torch, moving it slowly across each one. He pressed gently along my ribs asking me to tell him where it hurt, checked my reflexes with a small hammer at my knees, took my blood pressure and pulse and wrote everything down without rushing. He asked questions in a low measured voice while scribbling notes onto his clipboard, pausing occasionally to look at me as though reading something beyond my answers.

“I’m fine,” I said, trying to wave him off. I already found him unnecessarily thorough.

“Ryan, you clearly are not. Allow the doctor to do his job,” my mum scolded, noting my nonchalance.

“See, I’m fine,” I tried sitting up but my body could not lie.

It felt as though I was carrying an entire building. The pain was so intense I yelped involuntarily.

Sarah ran to my side, panic written all over her face as she helped me lie back down.

My mum, as usual, placed both hands on her forehead. Nervousness and worry were written clearly across her face.

Then a deep piercing hatred for Lily ran through me.

She was the cause. The cause of every single thing that had happened today.

I loved her, she knew I did, and that had been her leverage all along.

Without further protest I gave in to the doctor’s examination.

Sarah stood beside me holding my hand gently. I was simply too weak to pull it away.

“You’re lucky Ryan. The accident didn’t cause much harm because of the early rescue. Thanks to your girlfriend who called in quickly,” the doctor said, nodding at Sarah.

“Called in?” I asked, confused. How had she even known what happened?

My mum quickly walked toward Sarah and pressed her hands firmly in hers with gratitude.

“I’m so grateful my dear. You really saved his life,” she said.

“You shouldn’t thank me ma. That’s the least I could do for Ryan,” Sarah spoke with genuine confidence.

“You can do more than this for him, can’t you?” the doctor threw the question at her with amusement.

“Yes sir,” she replied, keeping her face neutral. Only I could tell she was burning with embarrassment on the inside.

“You’re a lucky man. Finding love at this young age,” the doctor said, sounding impressed.

Before I could respond, Sarah cut in.

“You’re mistaken sir. I am not Ryan’s girlfriend. We are just friends who share common interests at school. Besides, Ryan is in love with someone else,” she said confidently.

I did not know whether to laugh or cry, be happy or sad. This was the second rejection I had received in less than forty-eight hours, even though I had no feelings for Sarah whatsoever.

“My bad,” the doctor said before exiting with my mother.

Sarah sat beside me without permission and brushed a few strands of hair away from my forehead.

“How did you know I was in a crash?” I asked, removing her hand from my face.

“Does it matter?” she asked, completely unbothered.

“Of course it does. I want to know how you got all friendly with my mum, brought me to a hospital and all of this. What exactly is your intention Sarah?” I burst out.

“It’s obvious. I wanted to save your life. Are you that ungrateful?” she retorted.

“What is your intention? I don’t have feelings for you so why are you making the whole thing feel romantic?” My voice was harsh.

“You think highly of yourself Ryan. Mistaking my safety measures for romance is actually funny,” the mockery was clear in her voice.

“What do you mean?”

“What do I mean? How could I possibly have romantic feelings for a boy like you? No, you are definitely not my type. Keep trying though, maybe Lily will accept you one day,” she dropped that last sentence like a bomb.

“Same advice to you. Work on your confidence and maybe you’ll find the nerve to face Kelvin,” I refused to accept defeat.

She shot me a furious glance then spoke.

“I have the perfect opportunity to strangle you here and now but no. You just got into an accident because of Lily and it would not be right for you to die a second time over a girl,” her words landed and left me completely speechless.

I hated seeing the small smile of victory at the corner of her lips. But what could I do? We were already used to fighting and reconciling. That was simply how we operated.

“Thank you for saving my life Sarah,” I did not even notice when the words slipped out.

“Sure. You need to recover fast so you can help me with the maths assignment tomorrow,” she replied, completely expressionless.

“Tomorrow? Which assignment? When did Mr Ohio give another one?” I was thoroughly confused.

“That was why I was calling your phone earlier. When you refused to pick up—”

“I did not refuse. I was driving. Safety measures,” I interrupted her.

“Safety measures? Coming from someone who still ended up in an accident. Blame your driving, poor guy.”

“Sarah, enough,” I feigned annoyance.

“Fine. Let me finish my story. So I checked your location and something had clearly gone wrong. Luckily I was nearby.”

“So that was how you rescued me? Superwoman.”

“You flatter me.”

“That was sarcasm!” I cried.

“No, you know how much I love being called Superwoman. You’re falling in love with me Ryan!” she cried out dramatically.

If not for the drip needle attached to my hand I would have jumped out of that bed and chased her around the room the way we chased each other around the classroom on bad days.

Fortunately my mum walked back in before I could attempt it.

Sarah stood up immediately.

“I have to be on my way ma’am,” she announced.

“Running away?” I mocked and she pulled a face at me.

“Come on Ryan, her family might be worried about her. Come on dear, let me see you out,” my mum said warmly, guiding Sarah toward the door.

I watched them leave together.

Sarah was tall, nearly as tall as me, which was something that had always surprised me since I stood above almost every girl I had ever met. She moved with a quiet, unbothered ease that most people probably mistook for confidence. She was not unattractive, anyone with eyes could see that, but I had spent enough time sitting beside her every day to be completely immune to whatever effect she might have on anyone else. To me she was simply my seatmate who had somewhere along the way become my study partner and then somehow made herself permanently comfortable in my academic life. She did not take notes in class. She borrowed mine. She did not complete assignments. She watched me complete them. She rarely studied for tests. She read over my shoulder.

And yet without fail, on every difficult day, on the days when I forgot my lunch or skipped breakfast or sat staring at the board without seeing anything, there was always a container of food appearing on the desk beside me with no explanation attached.

We fought constantly and reconciled just as quickly and that, I supposed, was the entirety of what we were.

The door swung open and Mum came back in alone, her expression shifting the moment she crossed the threshold.

“I warned you not to leave the house. You refused to listen and see where it has landed you,” she said, her voice sharp with a worry she was expressing as anger.

She had every right.

She ranted for a solid few minutes and I simply closed my eyes and let the rhythm of her voice wash over me without resistance.

“Did you see her?” The question came out soft, signaling that the fire had finally burned down.

“Yes,” I replied casually.

“So what happened?” she asked.

“Nothing,” I said. The word carried more weight than I intended even though I tried hard to sound fine.

She wanted to push further. I could feel it.

“Mum, please. I need to rest. We can talk later.”

“Okay,” she said after a pause.

“What about Dad?” I asked.

“He had an emergency at work and couldn’t come.”

I nodded and closed my eyes.

A few minutes later sleep pulled me under without asking for permission.