Page 44 of Scorched Hearts

Elle turned her head away, though she took Maya’s hand. “Of course. I think we need to talk about some things first, though. I need to tell you some things, at least.”

“I’m listening.” Maya’s heartbeat jumped into her throat. Was Elle breaking up with her? She didn’t like the serious tone of Elle’s voice, nor the way she wouldn’t look into Maya’s eyes, turning her head away. She kept her hand in Elle’s, hoping she couldn’t feel her rising heartbeat. Elle remained quiet, making her even more nervous. “What is it, Elle?”

“It’s… It’s difficult for me,” Elle turned her head to finally look at Maya. She took a deep breath in, then began. “I owe you a true apology, first of all. You know that apologizing doesn’t come easily to me. Actually, I think this will be the first time in my life when I have to do it from the bottom of my heart without being a coward. But I hope you’ll be patient with me.”

Maya nodded, unable to speak due to the growing tightness in her throat. Elle understood.

“Thank you. I’ve been reflecting on my past a lot the past few days, and as you know, working on my feelings for the past few months. But here in the hospital, a lot of memories came to my mind, some that I’d forgotten, some I’d hidden away on purpose. But lying here all on my own, it was impossible not to confront certain things.” She paused, Maya could see that saying these things took a lot of effort. “I thought about the way things went down between us, and the way I behaved.”

She took time to look deep into Maya’s eyes before saying, “I behaved very selfishly a lot of the time, and never really faced the way I betrayed you back then. I need you to know, I regret it, truly regret it, to this day, and I’m sorry for what I’ve done. Being with you was the best time of my life. Being with you now is invigorating and dear to me. I’ve never felt about another woman the way I feel about you, not in all these years. Maybe it’s different for you. Maybe you’ve known more intense love. But for me, it’s always been you. That’s the way I feel, and that’s what I needed to say.”

Having said everything, she carefully took her hand away, giving Maya time to think. Maya stood in complete awe. Everything she’d needed to hear from Elle, everything that was on her mind, had just been put into words and offered to her on a platter. She scrambled to put together a well-thought response, something that would match Elle’s intensity, but her lungs seemed in a horrible hurry and her eyes welled with tears, blurring everything and making her overwhelmed with positive emotions.

“Elle, give me a moment, I’m sorry, I--” Maya struggled to put the words together. “I’m really glad to hear this. I’m so relieved.”

Elle smiled. “Do you accept my apology?”

“Yes! Yes, Darling, I do.” Maya took Elle’s hands this time, but that wasn’t enough, so she leaned in and gave her a kiss. What was supposed to be a short kiss quickly turned into a long, tongue-laced one, and they had to remember at the end of the day, they were in a hospital.

“I’ve been waiting to put this behind us for so long,” she added, still dizzy from the kiss.

“And you understand that I’d never do this to you again?”

“I… I trust you, Elle.” Maya nodded. Her chest was fluttering with excitement, and an overwhelming feeling of hope nested safely in her mind. “So would you… Would you like to officially get back together?”

“A million times yes. Though I don’t want you to think I apologized only to get back together. If you’d prefer to stay friends, or whatever else, I’ll be… I’ll be in pain, but I’ll understand.”

“Don’t be silly.” Maya shook her head. “That was the most heartfelt apology I’ve ever received. I would love for us to get back together. I think that the past few weeks have shown me that more than anything.” She looked aside for a moment, flustered. “Besides, I wanted to tell you that you’re not alone in feeling that what we had—have—is special. I also haven’t felt for anyone what I feel for you, Elle.”

Having heard that, Elle seemed more relaxed. The familiar smile crept up her lips, and she leaned in to whisper something. “Let’s celebrate.”

“What do you mean by that? Aren’t we celebrating?” Maya looked at her, not understanding. Elle looked mischievous, her eyes sparkling like a little kid’s. “Elle?”

“Do you think you could smuggle in a drink?” She winked.

“Elle, this is a hospital, and you had a grave brain injury. Do you think that as a doctor, I’d actually bring in alcohol?” Maya laughed at the idea, messing with Elle’s hair. “You can survive without it.”

“Come on, I’m bored to death here. I want to celebrate with you. I hope you can stay for some time longer,” she explained innocently.

“I can bring you non-alcoholic champagne and stay overnight. How about that?” Maya stood up from the edge of the bed where she’d been sitting.

“That’s perfect.” Elle nodded. “But what do you mean? Aren’t you working?”

“I took some time off,” Maya explained. “Two days to actually spend time with you and make it a little less boring here, hopefully.” She looked around. “The white color everywhere is truly dreadful, huh?”

“I’m actually going insane because of it. I don’t think I’ll be able to look at anything white for the rest of my life.” They laughed a little, enjoying this relaxed atmosphere after their tense confessions. “If we move in together, nothing can be white, Maya.”

“All right, we’ll see about that. I’m not giving up my flat. I just bought it.”

“I have a house, though.”

“How about we have this conversation some other time?” Maya leaned in to give Elle another kiss and was warmly received by her lips. “I’ll go and get that wine.”

Once she was back, they opened the bottle and pretended as if it were really making them tipsy, getting more and more creative in their ways to imitate a state of drunkenness. They also made use of the hospital’s games, quickly abandoning sophisticated pursuits like chess or even checkers in favor of the games clearly meant for families with little children.

They got so loud at times that a nurse had to come in, reminding them to respect the other patients and be quiet.

“I feel like a little child,” Maya said, choking down a laugh. She couldn’t remember a time when she’d laughed this much. “I should know better. I’m a doctor.”

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