27. You did something unnatural

27. You did something unnatural
Mia's POV

A headache that made my head weigh twice its size and… and the itch was gone.
My eyes brightened with a smile as I turned to look at her.
Worry etched the face of my pale-looking, beautiful doctor as she continuously took notes I couldn’t read from.
As soon as our eyes met, she threw the book to the side, snapped her fingers in the bridge of my nose.
I reacted with a flinch.
“Okay,” she sounded breathless, like she’d been holding her breath for a long time, then took out another pill and let it rest on my tongue.
It tasted salty, then sweet, then bitter, and all I wanted to do was retch and throw up everything in my stomach.
But the feeling disappeared in a split second, leaving that morning-breath taste in my mouth.
Then I felt fine.
All good, like nothing was ever wrong to start with.
“What was that?” I asked with my face squeezed as I looked around for any signs of water to wash the taste away.
“How do you feel?”
“Okay, I guess,” I nodded as I tried to feel for any pain or, God forbid, itch. “Aside from the ache and heaviness in my body.” I forced a smile as she breathed out a sigh.
“And you—” I turned sharply, certain I caught her off guard as she widened her eyes at me.
“What?” she asked defensively.
“What was that about? I could have died!” I accused without relenting.
“I had the antidote,” she pointed at the syringe she had stabbed me with.
“Yet you didn’t. You waited until death visited me for real again. How is that fair? Aren’t you scared of losing your license?” It’d happened twice in my subconscious mind in one day, and I would be damn stupid if I didn’t speak up and fight for myself.
“I’m sorry!” she suddenly snapped and got up, turning her back to me.
Her outburst totally caught me off guard as I watched her intently with wrinkled eyebrows. I didn’t know what to feel.
So I waited with my breath bated.
“I got carried away,” her tone was mellowed now, her face unemotional.
Straight, it gave away nothing.
So I tried to school my expression to match hers until she said:
“I was so fascinated and entranced watching your near-death experience that I lost myself.” Her face shot up to meet mine at this point, and I had the sudden urge to question my sanity.
Why did her eyes look so clear when she was talking about what could have been my death?
Her cheeks were effortlessly rosy.
She looked… happy.
Like she had unlocked a psychosis from watching life slowly but violently seep out of my body.
“How the hell are you a doctor?” I spat out, aggrieved. My tone and facial expressions doing nothing to hide the fear and anger I was feeling at that moment.
“I don’t know… Or rather, I didn’t know until just now,” then she hurried to my side and cupped my hands in hers.
No matter how hard I tried to pull out of her hold, I failed. Woefully.
Despite how much strength I exerted into pulling out, it only felt like my shoulder socket was going to be disconnected.
So I paused, lest I lost my arm before my life.
Her eyes stayed on mine, fixed, while a smile—genuine and insane—danced on her lips.
“Thank you / thank you very much.”
“For what?” I asked, even though the hammering of my heart was more than enough indication that I feared what her answer would be.
“For giving me a purpose,” then she placed a kiss on the back of my palm.
I would have asked more questions if the door didn’t swing open at that moment.
She was the first to disengage from our hold as she shot up to her feet, acting like all else was okay.
“Prince Kylanor,” she called out without a stutter.
I schooled my features.
Or at least I tried to.
I tried really hard to look like all was fine.
But it was just me bottling it in, and in the end, I just appeared constipated.
“Mia!” Kylanor exhaled as he walked up to my bedside.
I welcomed his presence as he took long strides to close the distance between us.
His hands were wide open in what would have been an invitation for a hug if this ashen doctor, fascinated with my death, didn’t stand in between us.
“Oh?” Kylanor cocked his head to the side as she came to a standstill.
“I’m sorry, Prince Kylanor, but we just concluded an intense test that could have an impact on her mental state, and any external stimulation isn’t welcomed, or it could trigger the patient,” she said smoothly.
I scoffed, but looked up at Kylanor, expecting him to push the case, to notice my distress.
But none of that happened.
Instead, he nodded, and without as much as a protest, turned around and left the room.
“What did you do to him?” I asked immediately, feeling a foreboding sense.
“Nothing you didn’t see,” she shrugged with a smile as she locked the door.
“That wasn’t normal. You did something.” I snuck a scalpel in my sleeve and clenched it tightly as she came towards me.
“What is normal, anyway, human? Or rather, Mia?” she asked with a smile so beautiful, it lulled me to sleep.
I tried to find answers, but all I saw was darkness before it enveloped me like a silky duvet on a winter night.