Nikita

There in front of me stands the face I never thought I would see for the next three months. He should be protecting the Russian borders; that is what people like him do. Not come to hospitals with a group of officers.

Are they here to arrest me because of the stupid man who had been murdered? Well, I'll have him know the man looked way too familiar to Yuri even to be whatever they called him, but hey, we can't all have what we want now, can we?

Officer Qiao is looking at me disapprovingly when I make it out of the elevator. I want to tell him that what I feel is expressed in how I look, but I don't really have the strength. I'm too tired of everything that has happened, and I just want one day of peace.

Hopefully, that isn't too much to ask. I want to ask him what he's doing here, but I don't. I'm not a suspect of anything, and I'm no informant either. Whatever they could want from me, they can get it off the CCTV, and if they didn't, then there were so many people at the optical earlier.

He can ask them what happened. I walk past him, not even bothering to greet him. I need to process what I just saw, and this officer looks like the one person I don't want to see right now. I make my way to maggie at the reception.

I know she's done with her shift and is just resting there. Maybe she can tell me a bedtime story or something about my parents and who could have had anything on them at the hospital. I want to know many things because that is the only way to make sense of what I just watched.

"Hey Maggie—" I greet Maggie, but a familiar voice interrupts me. What the hell is going on now?

"Officer, it was him. I saw him," the woman in a hijab says as she points at me. One look at her is enough to tell me she is not Arabic and is just using that as a cover. It takes me a while, but I remember her voice. It is the voice that had been in my bed a few days ago.

The one that drove me nuts and had me coming undone. It is the voice of the woman who was laughing with my most trusted employee back home. It's the voice of the woman who's got me asking so many questions that I have no answers for yet.

This woman has got me questioning everything I believe in, and her mother hasn't made it any easier for me. Maybe I should just punch her right in the face and let her know how I'm feeling, but I know officer Qiao will be mad at me.

I wonder whether my home is still intact or they have turned it upside down looking for something they will never find.

Somehow I know the video was deliberately sent to me. They had watched it and even maybe tailored it to make them look different in my eyes, but nothing about what they have done so far has worked.

Or maybe this is just another ploy to get me worried and act stupidly,, leading them t what they really want. However, I would like to believe I'm smarter than that, even if I feel like scaring her into oblivion right now.

"Well, excuse you too, whatever your name is. What do you want? Come to spy on me so you can go and tell, mommy? Huh?" I taunt, and she smirks, but it lasts only a few seconds.

What is it with the women in my life anyway?

She looks like she just walked off a runway.

Honestly, if she weren't a suspect in my case against her mother, then I would have considered giving her a second look, but right now, she makes me want to puke. Officer Qiao is watching our interaction with a constipated face.

I want to tell him I understand how he feels but what's the point? We're both trapped in a space with a woman who claims to want justice for something that I didn't even know. Bored, I turn back to Maggie to continue our conversation.

"How are you today, Maggie?" I ask my favorite nurse, and as usual, she just smiles at me. Now that I take a closer look at her, she has aged. She looks different. Her wrinkles are showing up even more, and it feels like I'm about to lose another person I care about.

I know I can't slow her aging, but damn the universe for taking everything from me. Now I only have Maggi and the woman looks like her days are numbered. I think Maggie senses the worry on my face because she pinches my stiff cheeks.

What is there to be pinched anyway? Either way, she gets her satisfaction and looks behind me to the woman who seems to be obsessed with me. I want to blast her to wherever but there are too many witnesses.

"C'mon child, don't worry. Fix this; only then will you be able to fix anything that comes your way," Maggie tells me, her tired voice full of love. This woman always knows what to say. I just smile at her and turn back to the bunch of chaos.

Adjusting the stethoscope on my neck and dumping my face mask in the recycle bin, I feel I'm now ready to deal with women. Officer Qiao looks at me, waiting for me to do anything, something, but what am I supposed to do anyway?

One thing is obvious. He had come to the hospital to see me, and this woman just happened to show up. Otherwise, he would have told me that I'm needed at the police station for questioning or whatever it is that they want with me this time.

I smile at him, hoping he can help me understand what is happening here, and he nods at me, something that I'm suddenly so grateful for.

The squadron that had come with Officer Qiao looks at me, worried for some reason, but I feel that the woman her is the least of my problems. Not even the video I just watched could elicit such a reaction.

It seems like together and forever has to be more than just a concept this time.

"Ma'am, calm down and please explain what you mean," Officer Qiao says, and I smirk at him. A man who has always loved bullets since childhood looks constipated by just looking at this woman. I understand him, though.

I want to tell him he'll be okay, but he's an officer of the law; I shouldn't be encouraging him, especially since he's always been a pain in my ȧss.

Maybe this is his karma, but then everyone knows that the current situation is no one's karma and humanity is greedy.