THE ARCHANGEL'S SECOND CHANCE

CHAPTER 2

His uncalled attention.

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Currently having their lunch break, most of the doctors were at the exclusive medical staff’s cafeteria, a place meant for all employees working under Proxima Medical Center. And within the huge area, a certain table with only two female doctors were filled with nothing but lazy silence.

“Doc, do you think reporters will flock here again since we’re already done with our 3-day free medical assistance?” Mandy Moore, a cardiologist and Elliana’s best friend, asked, sleepily tilting her phone from left to right as she stared at her reflection from the unlit screen.

“I don’t want to be interviewed again; you know.” She sighed, continuing what she’s doing while her head is resting on her arms by the table. She blew her bangs and felt her blonde hair hit her forehead after being risen up for a few milliseconds.

Hearing no response from Elliana who usually answers a second after she was asked, she turned to her right and saw her sitting quietly while staring at her untouched food and unopened orange soda can.

Raising her brow, she pulled out from her sleepy posture and leaned on the chair lazily. She put her phone down the table and reached out to snap her fingers in front of Elliana, causing for her to move back and blink, finally out of her own train of thoughts. “What’s bothering you, Li?”

Mandy observed her as she tucks her hair at the back of her ear, a habit she usually does whenever she can’t figure out what to do. “What will you do if you saw someone for the first time, but you feel like he’s giving you an impactful impression?” she asked and lifted her gaze to meet her best friend who’s blankly looking at her.

If I just took a cab, put on my earphones, and sleep all the way to my house after the 3-day free medical assistance, I shouldn’t have felt his presence, experienced teleportation with a man grabbing me like a doll, and unmask my presence because someone pinned me like a hostage. Elliana sighed as she reminisced what happened yesterday.

“You look like a lost puppy because you found a potential boyfriend?” Mandy bluntly interpreted, making her eyes go wide with how her question was rephrased inside her best friend’s mind. “Mandy!” she hissed, but the called latter just grinned and sit up properly.

“I just want to know your opinion since you asked what’s bothering me. But what you said just made me feel more bothered.” She frowned, causing for her best friend to laugh loudly and earn the attention of the other medical workers that is having their lunch at the cafeteria.

Elliana looked around and heaved a sigh before lifting her hand and gestured for them to continue eating. And since she owns the hospital, Proxima Medical Center, where she works as a general surgeon, none of the medical staffs disobeyed and all finally ignored their table.

Once they all averted their gazes, she turned back to Mandy whose face is now red because of laughing too much to the point that she’s now wiping her tears. “Mandy, do you want me to put all the patients in the children’s ward under your care?” she asked, causing for her to automatically stop laughing and laugh the remaining tear from her right eye.

“No, ma’am.” Mandy’s weakness are kids. According to her, she just sucks at dealing with kids and every kid who was left in her care ended up crying and telling their parents to pick them up and never leave them with Mandy anymore.

Elliana nodded in response and crossed her arms as she silently waited for Mandy’s answer t her question. Not being able to take the silence she’s giving off while the two of them were in the middle of a staring contest, Mandy sighed and raised her hands in defeat.

“If that’s what you feel, then you should go and meet him again.” She said and shrugged. But seeing Elliana look at her with dissatisfaction on her face, she rolled her eyes and spoke again. “What I mean is that, since he gave you an impression that made you think about him, then you should go and meet him again so all that troubles inside your head will be answered by that man himself.”

Now, it was Elliana’s turn to raise her brow. “Why should I meet him again?” she asked, challenging Mandy who just looked at her with eyes that mentally asks her if she’s actually serious on her question. “If you can’t stop thinking about something, you want to have it. You won’t think about him if he means nothing, right?” she asked back in a duh tone.

Elliana paused. She actually has a point. She just absentmindedly nodded as she went back on staring at her untouched food. I just can’t help but wonder who he is. He has those eyes that makes you want to lock eyes with him forever. He intrigues me a lot. With a sigh, she picked up her fork and slowly twirled the alfredo pasta, watching its every move.

Mandy, on the other hand, just stared at her best friend as if she lost her mind. Who on Earth could make her this distraught? She just sighed when she remembered what happened last night. She can’t even talk to Elliana on phone because she just keeps on humming a yes or no in response and didn’t even bothered to speak more.

Aside from that unusual behavior, she also started their Thursday morning with a tired face, dull eyes, staring out of nowhere, and even telling people to cover up for her and do the surgeries that she was supposed to handle for today. Mandy isn’t the only one who’s wondering why their angelic general surgeon ended up like a walking corpse. Everyone in the hospital, even the patients, wonder why.

“Look, Lia, if you want to, I can accompany you to go and-” Mandy’s words were halted when they heard a series of loud, quick footsteps, causing for the two of them to turn on the person who broke the rule of no running inside the cafeteria.

“Doc.” The female intern spoke between her pants. “You shouldn’t run inside the hospital, especially in the cafeteria where people spend their breaks and eat their foods.” Elliana reminded, but the young staff just nodded before heaving a deep breath to prepare herself for stating her reason on why she’s in a hurry.

“Doctor Winters, President Vincent of Dela Vin Enterprise is looking for you.” She announced with a wide smile, obviously looking excited despite the opposite reactions she got from the two doctors who’s listening to her a while back.

Mandy looked confused on why a bigshot will ask for their boss. Elliana looked surprised and scared on why is he there, and how did he find her. “He looked so hot with his casual look! But it’s a shame that he wanted none of us to go near him, though.” She dreamily sighed.

Biting her lower lip to make her feel anything just to make her move, she stood up and removed her white coat before rushing out the cafeteria. “Doc, he’s in the main lobby!” the intern shouted, making her raise her hand and wave without even turning around to say a proper thank you.

Left alone, Mandy twirled the end of her shoulder length hair and just watched her walk away and just forget that she’s not alone in the first place. What happened to her? Her bluish eyes then turned to the female intern who’s giggling while watching her go. “He’s definitely the reason why Doctor Winters seemed to be not in her usual self today.” She commented.

Mandy’s attention got taken by that statement. A smirk played on her lips before picking up her phone and stood up, removing her white coat and ran after Elliana who’s about to turn after walking fast. “Take care of our belongings, intern!” she shouted as she briefly turned around to wave at the woman who just looked at her confusedly but still nodded in return.

Why is he here? How did he- ugh. He must be rich since he’s a president of some big company. Elliana’s internal monologue matched up to her fast heartbeat, unstable breathing, and eyes that is fixated on the direction towards the elevator.

Biting her lower lip, she squeezed herself in the elevator who opened in time, but only has a single spot left before it goes overload. Calm down. He’s just a vampire who- okay, he must be not an ordinary vampire but still, he’s a fellow nonhuman so don’t panic. “Wait! Don’t close that door or I’ll haunt you in your sleep!”

Her eyes went wide when she saw Mandy trying hard to run while waving her hand to stop them from going. “Don’t close that door!” she shouted again, making the male intern beside Elliana put his hands on the door’s end to stop it from automatically closing.

“But doc, it’s already full and-” the man who stopped the door just got yanked away from it when Mandy reached them. “Don’t worry, intern. The elevator’s not full now.” She grinned and pressed the button, making the door close in front of the intern who stared at her with surprised eyes.

Silence accompanied them, and all of them were just staring at Mandy who heaved a sigh of relief and fixed her hair that’s messed up from her running. Noticing that, she smiled and looked at all of them. “Chill, docs. That intern can either wait for another elevator or just run by the stairs to go to wherever he’ll go.” She laughed.

Elliana just sighed and looked at their fellow doctors. “Please don’t mind her.” she apologetically smiled, causing for all of them to either let out a small chuckle before averting their gazes, or just nod and look at Mandy with a weird glance for the last time before acting like they’re now minding their own business.

Inside the elevator filled with eight people who only has enough space to move at least a step each, Elliana couldn’t help but feel anxious as she stared at the number that’s slowly decreasing, staring from the 5th floor till it reach the 4th… 3rd… 2nd… and ting!

As it rang, her heart literally fell along with it. Breathing in and out, she watched the elevator open and the people inside going out ne by one, with some excusing themselves as they passed by her.

Mandy looked at Elliana and a playful smile went on her lips. “Move now, doc.” She grinned and hit her back, causing for her sightly move forward before glaring at the woman who snapped her out of her thoughts using physical means.

With a sigh, Elliana rolled her eyes and tucked her hair at the back of her ear before walking out the elevator, with her best friend following behind her. As she listens to her own footsteps that click against the white, tiled floor, she glanced at the glass window beside her and watched her reflection stare back at her, mirroring her nervous expression.

Do I look okay? She thought as she observed her hair that’s tied in a half ponytail with a black butterfly clipped on her left side. A quarter of her hair were resting on her right shoulder, whereas the rest were flowing freely on her back.

Focusing too much on her reflection, she bumped on a person which made her move back and touch her cheek. “Sorry.” She quickly apologized as she turned to look at the person she bumped, but her apologetic eyes soon went wide with shock as she looked at the man who’s looking at her with his eyes showing no emotion.

There in front of her stood Vincent on his black shirt, denim jeans, and a black mask covering his nose and mouth, emphasizing the beauty of his greyish eyes. His black hair is just normally combed down, unlike his hair that was brush up to compliment his formal outfit yesterday.

Mandy, feeling the building tension between the two, hid her smile behind a small clear of throat before slowly backing away, just stopping when she’s a few meters away from the two. She leaned by the window and crossed her arms as she watched the scene unfold.

“I heard your looking for me.” Thank goodness I didn’t stutter. Elliana spoke and fixed her hair that’s resting on her right shoulder. “I’m quite impressed that you found me in a short period of time.”

Vincent nodded and looked down, tracing her ID lace till it reached her ID card. “It wasn’t hard to know who Elliana Winters, the founder of Proxima Medical Center, is.” He said before looking back to her emerald eyes. “I assume that you have an idea why I’m here for you.”

Elliana played it safe by chuckling and shaking her head no. But unfortunately, her answer gave her the opposite. Vincent grunted and snapped his fingers, causing for time to stop and for everyone except them to excluded all the humans in their conversation. “You’re lying.” He said, his eyes turned red.

Just like déjà vu, she felt her back touching the cold surface of the wall when she was trapped between his arms in just a millisecond. “Your blood is driving me crazy, Elliana.” The way her name rolled out his mouth gave her some unknown feelings, making her feel uncomfortable with how he’s affecting him.

It was a strange combination of fast heartbeat, paused breath, and unwillingness to move her eyes away from his. Indeed, having him near her gives her more reasons to feel the emotions she hasn’t felt before. It was a change that brought fear inside her heart.

“Did you know that I need to cover up my nose just to lessen my sensitivity to humans?” his low voice asked as he leaned forward, his red eyes bored holes on her. “You made me want to drink blood from real flesh again.” His eyes traveled down her lips, lingering there for a few seconds before looking down at her neck.

Surprised by what he said, she blinked twice. “What?” she asked, almost like a whisper. He looked up and met her green, confused eyes. “Angel, I tried to follow the rules so the bastards up there won’t bug me anymore.” Beneath his mask lies a smirk she failed to see.

“I drink tasteless blood from blood banks, but your scent made me want to regress back to who am I back then.” With that, he leaned down to her neck before tilting his head up to meet Elliana’s nervous gaze. He pulled his mask down and showed his lips curved up in a smirk, and his fangs were on full display.

“Now, can I have a taste?” His question made her instincts run wild inside of her. Again, as if everything was just repeated but on a different place, Elliana pushed him away when she unmasked her presence and call out her real form once again.

“You shouldn’t ask permission on something you know you can’t have in the first place.” She said, her gold eyes were seriously looking at the man who remained smirking while looking at her as if she wasn’t someone who’s from the heaven.

“I’m not actually asking for permission. I was just testing how will you react, Elliana.” He said and put his mask back, his eyes went back to its usual color as well. He then snapped his fingers, making the time return back to normal. “Be careful, Doctor. I never ask permission in anything I want to do.”

“Remember my name, because you’ll be seeing me more than you expect.” Giving her a warning, he turned around and walked towards the exit, making sure he is meters away from any human as he walks and left the angel who stared at his back with disbelief in her eyes.