I was still on my phone when I stepped into the elevator. It was empty. Most people in our office had gone home already.
The doors were already closing when I heard footsteps outside the elevator. I pressed the open button.
When the doors opened again, I felt my heart skip a beat at the sight of Kayla. She looked tired, though, but was still beautiful.
“Oh, hey,” she said in surprise, having no choice but to step in and join me.
“I didn’t know you were working late, too,” I said casually.
More than two months have passed since our interview with the scam victims. We’ve done much research, paperwork, and more interviews since then. We’ve also gotten a response from the other party’s counsel.
The case was progressing, but the two of us — I wasn’t sure where we stood at this time. We never had another chance to open up to each other again, so all our time together had been purely about work. She still made me feel sensations and emotions that I had not felt with anyone else. But I just ignored all of those and focused on the work we needed to do. I was able to convince myself it was better this way.Safer and free of complications.
“Just finished up something,” I said. “How are you?”
“Good,” she said. “Just tired.”
Small talk was the best we could do when given the opportunity.
“You should rest more,” I told her. “Maybe you’ve become a workaholic like your dad.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
We stayed silent for the remainder of the ride down. When the doors opened, I said, “Well, glad we didn’t get trapped this time.”
She threw me a puzzled, surprised look. I felt like she was about to make a witty remark but decided against it at the last minute.
As soon as we stepped out of the elevator, I saw her pause and press her temples with her fingers. She hurriedly walked before me, then began to sway as if she were about to fall.
I was worried. I rushed to her and instinctively reached over to support her. “Kayla, are you okay?”
She had her eyes closed. “I… I’m fine…” She was struggling to stand straight. I could tell that she was not okay. She looked a little pale.
“Come on, I’ll take you to a doctor,” I offered. “Let me drive for you.”
“I can take an Uber,” she insisted. “I just need to sleep this off.”
“What do you feel? Are you dizzy?”
She took a few steps forward but then ended up blacking out. I caught her just in time and brought her to my car, carrying her into the back seat.
“Kayla, I’m taking you to the hospital,” I told her. “You have to see a doctor.”
She mumbled something, indicating that she’d regained consciousness. But she was probably ill with something. I was greatly worried.
At the emergency room, I called my doctor friend George. He told me he’d run tests on Kayla first. While I waited, I called Janna, and we had our coaching session over the phone instead of online. When it was done, I checked on Kayla, who was lying down on a bed in the emergency room.
“Hey,” I said softly. “How are you feeling?”
Kayla turned her eyes to me. “You’re still here?”
“Of course,” I said. “Why would I leave? They haven’t released your test results yet.”
“I’m feeling better,” she said. “Thank you for taking me here. But I can handle it myself now. I know that you have other things to take care of. And Riley must be waiting for you.”
“It’s okay, Kayla,” I said. “I’ve called Riley. We’ve been doing more sports together on weekends, you know. And sometimes at night, we get to eat dinner together already.”
“That’s good to know,” she answered. She looked slightly surprised that I was sharing these things with her. But she was the only one in the office who knew about Riley, anyway.