“Ugh.”
I quickly shrugged it off, another shiver running through my body.
Eric gave me a sly grin. “Want me to warm you up?”
I imagined dropping into his lap and sharing one of the armchairs with him. It sounded amazing, but at the same time, my stomach tightened again, weariness dousing the heat that had ignited in my gut.
What if he was my stalker?
“You mean with the tea you hopefully ordered for me?” I said, deflecting his advances.
I dropped into the armchair opposite him, then untied my shoes, slipped them off, and pulled my feet up. Yes. That was cozy.
Eric let out a quiet chuckle.
“Sure, let’s go with that.”
He sat down again too, but contrary to me, he kept his shoes on and his feet firmly rooted to the ground, spreading his legs as he leaned forward as if he wanted me to know his attention was solely on me.
“How was your day?” he asked, raising one eyebrow while placing his elbows on his knees.
“Good? I think. I didn’t really do much.”Because I haven’t slept a wink. Because my brain is trying to convince me you’re my stalker.Areyou my stalker?Yeah, better not say that part out loud. “What about you?”
Eric shrugged. “Same, honestly. I was out having a bite to eat when you texted. Otherwise, my day was blissfully uneventful.”
I nodded, then realized something. “Wait, if you aren’t in med school anymore, what are you doing?”
That is to say, did he have time to randomly appear at my apartment to leave creepy notes on my door?
“Oh, uhm…” He gave an almost pained smile. “I’m occasionally shadowing my… friend, Bennie. He’s in IT and really into stock stuff. I don’t know much yet as I took a bit of time off to, uh, you could say find myself, but he’s started teaching me the ins and outs.”
“Cool,” I said, not knowing how else to reply. Truth be told, it sounded kinda boring to me, but then again, teaching middle schoolers sounded like literal hell to most people, so who was I to judge? Also, I imagined it was hard for him to find a newpassion after losing the chance of being a doctor. Which… might be a reason for him to develop some kind of medical fetish.
Ugh.
Why did I always circle back to that?
“Was it hard to let go of your dream of becoming a doctor?” Maybe if I got an answer from him personally, I could finally put my doubts to rest. We’d already talked about this a fair bit, but that was back when I hadn’t even considered the possibility of him being my stalker. I needed to ask him again, study his reactions to my questions, so I could figure it out.
Because I really didn’t want him to be my stalker.
I liked him. More than I probably should after just a few meetings.
I watched Eric intently, noticing his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed harshly.
“To be honest, I was so preoccupied with the aftermath of the… accident that it took a long time to even register.” He shrugged, but his shoulders were drawn up with tension. “Regaining control over my body was a lot more important and took me longer than I’d like to admit. Adjusting to my new life was hard, and letting go of my career dreams was the least of my problems. In the end, it was just a job. And who knows, I’m still really young, so maybe one day I’ll get to go back.”
I nodded.
That did not sound like someone who’d developed a medical fetish because of unresolved trauma.
Something loosened in my gut, and I finally managed a smile that felt real.
“I really hope you get to live your life the way you want to.”
Eric smiled at me, but before he could reply, a waitress came over and placed two steaming mugs of tea in front of us.
“Your food will be ready soon,” she said, then gave us a nod and disappeared again.
