The Doctor's Playmate

Chapter 42- My Pride

After taking a long, hot bath, I lay flat and stretched my aching limbs on the couch, inhaling and exhaling to ease my soreness, especially on my tummy. Aunt Flow finally visited. Fortunately, I didn’t let Sammy explore me, or else he would see how bloody my Mary was down south.

I turned my phone on to check for any messages, expecting messages from my friends after hearing the nonstop notifications.

I blocked the unknown number earlier before reading all the texts I received. Chase must be spending a fortune just to annoy me. Layla and Mika arrived home safely, and Sawyer finally answered my messages. Elisha was probably still catching up with Tom.

I also checked my photos and videos, selecting and choosing which ones to keep and upload to my social media account. I was in the middle of my task when an unknown number popped up on my screen again.

‘Leave him alone. He’s mine.’

“Oh…really…” My brow arched. I wondered who the person was until I realized who it might be.

Mika and Layla had already posted photos and updates on their social media accounts about the party that had happened earlier.

As I expected, the occurrences at the party were already on the web. It wasn’t a piece of big news, but it was already in the public’s eyes. Chase had probably seen them too.

I thought about deleting the number again but decided to answer it and see how deep the rabbit hole was. ‘I don’t understand. Who are you?’ I replied, though I already had an idea who it could be. It didn’t take long to notice the blinking dots on my screen.

‘You better ask Sammy who I am in his life. Again, leave him alone. Save yourself from the pain, girl. Don’t put your hopes high because whatever you and Sammy are having is just temporary. We belong together, and we made a promise to each other.’

I rolled my eyes. ‘Fine. I’ll ask him later. He’s just in the shower.’ My lips twitched, feeling silly. It was Demi, without a doubt. I just wondered where she got my number.

I saw the three dots move and blink. I waited for the reply, but it eventually stopped, and I didn’t receive a single word. I heaved a deep breath and thought this could be the perfect moment to ask Sammy.

I got up and composed myself before leaving the bedroom. For my sanity’s sake, I needed to know exactly who Demi was. I thought about asking Samantha earlier, but I chickened out. I didn't want her to think of me as being snoopy, though I knew she was already suspicious of me and Sammy.

“Sammy?” I knocked on his door before opening it. I didn’t see Sammy or even hear the shower inside the bathroom. I looked around the hallway before sneaking back to his room. I made up my mind to wait for him there.

I'd only been in this room a couple of times. It looked almost exactly like his room in their New Jersey mansion. His king-sized bed was in the middle, covered with gray and white bedsheets. His drapes were navy blue, and the carpet had the same hue as his apartment.

The wall near his study office-like table was full of notes and some anatomy diagrams. His desktop and laptop were side by side, along with two medium-sized photo frames.

It got my nosiness, so I went and sat in his swivel chair and checked the pictures. I smiled as I saw a collage family portrait. They were all wearing blue jeans and white shirts. It was perfectly captured near the lakeside forest and must’ve been taken a year ago since Gideon looked skinny and small.

All six of them looked amazing and happy. There was even a photo of Sam sitting between Sammy and Kyle, hugging and smiling in the camera’s direction. Then a solo shot of Sammy with Gideon in his arms, grinning and giggling together.

“Awww…Sweet!” Soon, Tom and Elisha would be in the frame with them. They needed to update it.

“Whew!” I puffed, beaming as I stared at the pictures. Yet, my eye caught the other photo frame. “Oh, wow…” I mumbled, gazing at it.

Another photo collage of Sammy when he was younger. The first one was his newborn photo. He looked so cute and lovely in his gray baby beanie with his name on it. I couldn’t help but chuckle at his second photo. It was a toddler's version of Sammy, wearing only a diaper and a stethoscope, sitting on his mom’s lap, grinning like Gideon. “Aww…you’re cute!”

The bottom photo gave me a second look. It was Sammy in the middle, and his arms were over the shoulders of two girls. At first, I thought it was Kyle and Sammy, but I realized they weren’t. Two young blondes looked almost alike. The other had braided hair, while the one on Sammy’s left had a pigtail.

I looked closer and gasped. “Demi…” I mumbled. She was the one wearing the pigtail. They seemed to be in their preteens. It only meant that they truly knew each other, probably since their nappy days. “Hmmm...patient’s daughter, huh?!” I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

I put the frames back on the table and sat comfortably in Sammy’s chair. I couldn’t help but smile as I thought about our near encounter earlier in the same space. Sammy probably continued jerking instead. “Oh, silly Sophie, stop!” I giggled, erasing my naughty thoughts.

I enjoyed swiveling and swaying on the chair like a kid when Sammy’s desktop screen lit up and popped a notification. “Oh, cute…” I murmured, seeing Gideon hugging a cat on his wallpaper. “Aww…”

However, my eyes caught a few labeled folders on the screen. There were a couple of them, but one truly piqued my interest.

‘Demi and Jess’ was located on his taskbar's lower folder. “Hmmm…” I sat up straight and grabbed the mouse, clicking it.

There were loads of sub-folders of photo and video files inside. It looked like a portion of the backup photos and screenshot images were dated years ago. I selected a few and clicked to enlarge them.

“Oh…” my jaw dropped as I saw Sammy and Demi during their teenage years. They happily hung out, hugged, and kissed each other, surrounded by friends and families. The closeness was uncanny, and I couldn’t help but feel a pang of insecurity.

It seemed I didn’t need to ask him about her since the answers were already screaming in front of me.

I had no right to question him about it since we were nothing but friends. What bothered me was that he never mentioned Demi to me and had lied about it when I saw the same gift of the girl I identified as Demi on his own table. “Interesting...” I murmured. My throat felt tight, and my emotions were all over the place.

“What the hell are you looking at?!”

My heart almost jumped out of my chest when I heard Sammy’s voice. I looked at him and knew right away he was upset. “Sa…mmy…” I gulped.

“What are you doing here?” He grunted, death glaring at me as he walked to my side. “The hell, Sophie? Why are you here and touching my things?” he snappishly asked.

I was speechless, feeling embarrassed and guilty. I slowly stood up and looked at him. “I…I was just…” I couldn't form my words right away.

Sammy looked at the screen. It was a photo of him with Demi. She sat on his lap while they laughed and looked intimately at each other.

Sammy grabbed the mouse and minimized the photo. “Don’t you ever touch any of my stuff again,” he groused, looking at me with his piercing glare. It was a different side of Sammy that I deserved to see. “Now get out…” he calmly stated this time.

I kept my tears at bay, “I’m sorry…” I quickly apologized. I didn't mean to be intrusive, but my curiosity got the best of me. I stepped back, walked away, left his bedroom, and headed right next door.

There, I slumped my body in bed and cried. I knew part of it was my stupidity, and the other was my hormones. “Stupid, Sophie…” I muttered with sadness. Sammy and I were nothing, but I felt betrayed for not knowing Demi.

I had already shared my past and troubles with Chase with him, but he never disclosed any information about Demi. “Ugh! From now on, I will keep everything in me again! Ha! I’ll never share it with you!” I sniffled, wiping my tears and snot.

My sad tears and tiredness soon engulfed me, and I didn’t realize I had fallen asleep. Elisha tossed and turned beside me on the bed, waking me up. “Elisha, go to sleep….” I grunted, glaring at her.

“I’m sorry…I can't,” Elisha said, facing me with a sad face.

“Did you drink coffee?” I dumbly asked.

“I haven’t drunk coffee for months now,”

“Oh yeah.”

“I’m sorry….”

“It's okay….” I yawned, rubbing my nose. “What’s bothering you?” I asked.

“Nothing…” Elisha puffed.

“I know you, Elisha. Spill, I’m listening,” I murmured, closing my eyes to listen to her. “Go ahead…”

“Nothing. I just thought about Kyle. He’s in the hospital.”

My eyes opened and dilated, staring back at her. “What?! What happened?” I was now fully awake after hearing the news.

“Fractured ribs. Max beat him black and blue,” Elisha answered.

I puffed, knowing the answer to my question of where Kyle had been earlier. “Deserved, but yeah... I guess that’s enough. We all got him hard already.”

“I know. Well, Sam said he’s fine.”

“He’ll be fine. Please don’t worry.”

“I am not,”

I snorted. “You are. That’s why you’re anxious.” The lady was obviously concerned about Kyle. I wasn’t happy to hear the sad news either. However, Kyle’s payback time wasn’t over yet.

“Whatever! Let’s just sleep,” Elisha yawned, rubbing her tummy.

I scooted closer and hugged her. “Yes, Nighty…” I said, closing my eyes to continue my interrupted sleep. Yet, I failed as the thought of what happened earlier crossed my mind.

Elisha had fallen asleep quickly, so I carefully moved and turned to check on my phone to see if Sammy had messaged me. He didn’t, and I truly understood if he was upset with me.

I thought about sending him a simple apology text but changed my mind after thinking about Demi. “I’ll sleep on it…” I murmured, letting my pride swallow me.

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