“Anya and Japen are both in a relationship with each other,” said the doctor.
His ears perked up at what he heard, and a smirk formed on his lips. No wonder Japen couldn’t answer his question directly about his relationship with Anya.
“Since when have they been here?”
“Five months.”
“Patients?”
“Both are patients.”
At that moment, he looked at the doctor. “What?”
“They came here together, and I found that both have mild PTSD. We accepted them, especially since Anya pleaded. In the past months, they did nothing unusual and have been good patients. I was shocked to know that Azora knew them. The two never mentioned anything about the Briones.”
He gazed into the distance. Anya and Alibata hadn’t mentioned anything about the two either. A moment later, he pulled his cellphone from his pocket but found no signal. His eyes narrowed.
The doctor seemed to understand what he wanted to do and laughed. “You can’t find cellular signal around the area, Lamech. You need to travel far to get enough signal to call Alibata.”
“Do you have WIFI?”
“No. We don’t have anything for you to connect to the outside.”
He raised an eyebrow and put his cellphone back in his pocket. “How do you connect to the outside?”
“Landline. We have a telephone here.”
He grinned. “It’s not secluded at all.”
Hana nodded and looked into the distance again. “But we only give access if it’s an emergency. Anyway, their guardians know this place. They can visit the patients during visiting hours.”
“That explains why that guy knew nothing about Azora’s whereabouts,” he muttered. He looked into the distance again before speaking. “Can I stay in this place?”
“Under normal circumstances, we don’t allow a normal person to stay here. But Alibata explained your situation, so you can stay with us in the guardian’s house at the back of this building.”
He nodded and stuttered his thanks. He had seen the guardian’s house when he and Azora toured the area earlier. Eman had explained that he and Hana lived there. There was no problem with him staying there because, as Hana and Eman had said, their patients were not crazy, so he was free to wander around. What he should avoid was having a relationship with a patient. Lamech laughed at that.
“I need to ask Azora and see how she behaves to confirm my assumption,” Hana said.
“No problem with that. I will try my best to assist you.”
“Good. I really need your help in assessing her situation.”
The doctor excused herself, leaving him standing on the balcony. He looked into the distance again, but a moment later, someone suddenly hugged him from behind. He froze in shock. For a few seconds, he couldn’t speak, but when he came to his senses, he quickly unwrapped the small arms around his waist and turned around. He saw Sena, the female patient Hana had been talking to earlier.
Lamech blinked and let go of the woman’s arms. “Hey,” he said.
The woman smiled and stepped forward. She quickly wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him. She even buried her face in his chest. Lamech was almost breathless from shock.
“Sena,” he said, trying to pry her arms off. “Please let go,” he pleaded. He wasn’t used to women hugging him out of the blue.
Due to his job and demeanor, women who just wanted to play often avoided him. But now that a stranger was hugging him suddenly, he didn’t know what to do or say to make her step back. Others might see them and think something was going on between him and Sena.
Sena eventually stepped back and looked up at him. She bit her lower lip and seemed to want to convey something with her eyes, but he didn’t want any part of it. He averted his gaze and furrowed his brows slightly to show his annoyance.
“We are strangers, so don’t do that again,” he warned.
But instead of responding, Sena reached for the back of his neck and stood on tiptoe. She planted a firm kiss on his lips before breaking away and running back inside the building. Lamech’s eyes widened, and his lips parted as he watched her retreating figure. His eyebrows knitted together, and his teeth clenched in frustration.
If she weren’t a patient, he would have sued her. He took a deep breath before taking long strides inside. He looked for Hana but couldn’t find her in the vast building. He encountered Eman in the hallway and called out to him.
“Do you know a patient named Sena?” he asked.
Eman thought for a moment before smiling at him. “There’s a patient named Sena who arrived here last week. Why?”
Lamech’s expression darkened. “She kissed me.”
Eman blinked, then burst into laughter. “I thought it was something serious. It’s normal for Sena to kiss male patients here. She probably thought you were a patient, so please understand.”
Lamech’s face grew even darker. “She grabbed my thing below. That’s not normal.”
Eman’s smile slowly faded. He gestured for Lamech to follow him, and he promptly complied. They entered the couple’s office, and Eman seated him in the visitor’s chair while he searched for a folder. A moment later, he sat in the swivel chair behind the wooden desk and opened a red folder. He read for a while, then looked up at Lamech.
“Please repeat what you said earlier,” he requested.
So, Lamech repeated his complaint. Eman frowned. “According to the records, she only kisses male patients. That’s all it says here. Are you sure about what the patient did earlier?”
“I’m sure of it,” he replied firmly.
“I see. In that case, it’s the first time-”
Lamech cut him off. “There is something wrong with a girl grabbing things she shouldn’t. You said she only kissed male patients, so you need to check whether she only kissed them.”
“No one has reported that she grabbed-”
“They must be lying about it or covering for her. They are still your patients, so why trust the validity of their arguments? You must check it. Sena’s case might not be as simple as it seems. She might not belong here, or she might be a threat to other patients.”
The corner of Eman’s lips lifted, and he burst into laughter.