Chapter 5

Caught 

Brian's gaze focused on the face, it didn't seem familiar. He sat up instantly and greeted her. 

"Good morning, ma'am." 

It was the A&E nurse from yesterday morning when Brian was first rushed to the hospital unconsious. 

"You? What are you doing here?" she demanded, ignoring Brian's greeting and pointing her pinkie finger to the floor, indicating she meant that particular room. 

Brian stared at her, his mind suddenly going blank. 

During the drive back to the hospital, his intention was to find his doctor and explain what had happened and then plead for a readmission at least for that night. But Aleya's devastating W******p message got in the way, causing him to nearly suffer another medical emergency. Thankfully, the kind nurse at the reception came to his rescue.

The lady's cold piercing eyes unnerved Brian. In that instant, he had a flashback to what the nurse had muttered under her breath: "I'm taking a lot of risk doing this." 

His forehead furrowed as he thought of a good explanation to give that would not put the nurse in trouble. 

"I...I'm sorry, I can explain," he began, feeling the tension in the room thickening. 

The door clicked shut just then. 

"I'm all ears!" the lady snapped as she banged the door and folded her arms across her chest. "Explain to me what you're doing in the nurses' on-call room!" 

Brian's eyes darted around the room as the lady's revealing words explained the severity of the situation. If this was the nurses’ on-call room, surely it was reserved for female nurses only. And he was a male! 

Swallowing hard, Brian went on, "I was trying to find my room last night, and may have missed my way and accidentally entered the wrong room,” he lied. He couldn't possibly tell her the truth in order not to implicate the nurse that helped him. 

"Forgive me," he added solemnly and clasped his palms together for effect. 

But the nurse was too smart to buy his made-up excuse. 

"Bloody liar!" she flared, the spite in her eyes made them go dim. "If you don't tell me the truth at once, I'm reporting you to the hospital management. You must be a criminal who tried to escape paying for a bed space, that's why you sneaked in here to pass the night." She reached into her handbag to bring out her phone. 

"Please, I'm not a criminal," Brian protested quietly. Feeling his bladder heavy with urine, he started to climb down from the bed. 

The nurse, thinking Brian was about to attack her, screamed, "Help! Somebody help!" 

Brian felt helpless not knowing what else to do. This lady - whoever she was, was determined to create chaos. 

Meanwhile, the nurse that had helped Brian was at the reception documenting her report from last night's shift into the record book. She was seated with her back to the entrance of the reception, apparently that's why she didn't see when her other colleague had arrived and headed straight to the call room. 

The commotion from inside attracted her attention. Immediately, she closed the book and dashed towards the direction of the noise. Approaching the door, she paused in the corridor and listened. 

"Nurse Lucia is here? Oh my God!" 

Tension and fear made her face turn white. She checked her wristwatch, it was a little after six in the morning. "But she's not supposed to arrive until eight o'clock," she sighed. 

Lucia was known to be an impulsive character. Everyone in the nurses’ unit was wary of her. Scratch that, everyone in the hospital was terrified of her! "Heck, I'm in trouble," murmured the nurse as she quickly pushed open the door. 

"Help me! Somebody help me, please! This criminal wants to harm me!" Lucia continued to scream dramatically. 

"What's going on?" the nurse demanded, her gaze fixed on Brian's puzzled face which had turned red with embarrassment. He had retreated to a corner and stood with his two hands raised above his head in surrender. 

Lucia spun around to face her. "Can you believe this, Helen?" she remarked in a shrill voice, pointing at Brian. "I caught this criminal in our call room. He broke in here to pass the night to avoid paying for a bed in the in-patient ward!" 

"And when I confronted him," she continued, making a fist with her hand, "he attempted to strike me." 

Helen's mouth opened in shock. She wondered if the humble guy whom she took pity on was indeed a dangerous person. 

"I'm sorry...but is this true?" Helen managed to ask, her gaze not leaving Brian's face. 

"Are you doubting me?" Lucia cut in, not wanting Brian to speak. She was now livid with rage. "I told you I caught this criminal right here and you're asking him nicely whether it's true." 

"This is all your fault!" she raged on, her tone filled with indignation. "It was your shift last night, so how did he sneak in here without your notice?" 

A thought seemed to strike Lucia and she jerked her head. "The criminal is your boyfriend, isn't he? That's why you're defending him," she accused. 

"Nurse Lucia!" Helen scowled at her. "How can you say such a thing? I was only..." 

"Forgive me ma'am," Brian interrupted tersely, not wanting Helen to spill the truth. He was determined to face the consequences alone. 

"I really meant it when I said I lost my way and ended up in the wrong room." 

Helen stared at him in surprise. Brian shook his head subtly as a warning signal for her not to refute his claim. 

"Liar! You think you can fool me?" Lucia scoffed, looking from Brian to Helen and back to Brian. "It's either you tell me the truth now or I'm reporting you two to the hospital management," she threatened.  

"Please nurse Lucia, let's not allow this to escalate out of proportion. If he said he missed his way, then he must have done so." Helen pleaded, hoping to persuade her colleague otherwise. But Lucia was anything but understanding. 

"Nonsense! You're defending a bloody thief and criminal who was going to attack me, huh?" 

"That's not true please," Brian interjected, "I merely stood up from the bed because I wanted...I needed to use the bathroom," he pointed to his groin. 

"What's the commotion about?" A male voice echoed at the doorway just then. Everyone turned in the direction of the voice. 

"I was hearing screams and loud voices on my way out, so I decided to find out what's happening" 

It was doctor Philip; Brian's doctor. He was also on call-duty last night and was about to leave for home when he heard the commotion. 

The moment Brian set eyes on him, his body began to shudder violently and his bladder gave way. He peed on himself.