It should have been a beautiful morning, complete with sunshine streaming through the window and the fresh scent of the flowers the doctor had brought in for her. Unfortunately, that doctor was Eli, and his presence ruined everything.
"Good morning," Eli greeted as he stepped inside and placed the fresh bouquet into a vase.
"My morning was good—until a few seconds ago."
Instead of taking offense at her cold response, Eli just laughed, pulled up a chair, and sat beside her bed. "I'm here today, just as promised."
Ceres rolled her eyes helplessly and pulled the blanket all the way up to her neck. "I don't recall agreeing to any such thing."
"I don't understand." Eli looked into her eyes, clasping his hands together as if scrutinizing her every expression.
She was already drowning in guilt, and now that she was facing him directly, the weight of it felt twice as heavy. Not only had she killed him in her past life, but now that she had been given a second chance, she was choosing to lie to his face.
"Aside from your brother, you don't remember anyone else, right?" Eli asked quietly. "So, why do I get the distinct feeling that you hate me, and that you're actively avoiding me?"
"You look like trouble."
"Hey! It's rude to judge someone without getting to know them first."
"Whatever." Ceres turned her back on him and closed her eyes.
She was terrified of spending time with him. She was afraid that if she stayed too close, she would only fall deeper into this inescapable quagmire called love.
Staring at her lonely back, Eli couldn't help but remember the times he had seen her around the pediatric ward. She had always been so vibrant and cheerful. She was a woman who could never be associated with the word gloomy—not even when she first learned about her brother's medical condition.
"I'll just read you the basics today," Eli said, met only by silence from the figure huddled under the covers. "Once you can walk a bit, I'll take you outside for some fresh air." Still silence. "You're not sleeping on me, are you?"
"Ugh! You are so annoying!" Belle snapped, tossing the blanket aside. "I don't want to hear anything about my work. I'm stressed enough with other things."
"Then shall we just talk about the people here and the things you used to do?"
"You really can't read the room, can you?"
"There's nothing written on the walls to read."
"Jesus!" Ceres wanted to punch his handsome, oblivious face, but her underlying guilt forced her to clench her fists and breathe through the irritation.
"You were a wonderful nurse," Eli started.
The unexpected compliment stunned her into silence. As far as she knew from Isabelle's residual memories, the original nurse had actually shared very few direct interactions with Dr. Rivera. Though, that hadn't stopped the poor girl from falling in love with him from afar.
"You were incredibly good with the children," Eli continued softly. "You helped anyone whenever you could, and you always cheered the staff up with those candies you kept in your pockets."
"I cheered you up?"
"Yeah."
Ceres finally turned around to face him fully, though she still kept the sheets pulled tight over her torso, terrified he might somehow see her ugly assassin scars.
"It happened not that long ago," Eli explained, a gentle smile touching his lips. "Whenever I was having a particularly rough day, you would sneak past and leave a few candies on my desk. It always made me smile. I didn't think I'd be receiving candy at my age."
"I don't remember doing that," she said. It was the partial truth and a partial lie. She remembered the memory of Isabelle doing it, but as Ceres, it was a kindness she had never performed.
"Not only that, you were friends with almost everyone in our department."
"Almost? So not quite everyone. Who were my enemies?"
"I wouldn't call them enemies, but you just didn't see eye to eye with them."
"So I need to be wary of those people. Got it."
Eli chuckled at the stark contrast between the past Isabelle and the woman sitting before him. Before the accident, she would have immediately defended those coworkers, insisting they just had different personalities or misunderstandings. Now, she simply concluded she should be wary of them without a second thought.
"Time's up!" Ceres announced, sitting up straighter in the bed. "You can leave and get back to your rounds now."
"I didn't know there was a time limit on my visits. I haven't even been here for fifteen minutes."
"I say it's over when it's over."
"How are you ever going to recover your memory if you keep me at arm's length?"
"But I don't want to remember anything right now. I just want to recuperate in peace."
Eli placed his fingers on his chin, deeply contemplating what he could do to break through to this woman who so strongly opposed his presence. He genuinely wanted to help her. "Hmm. How about I bring Neon here tomorrow?"
"No!"
Eli stiffened at her sudden, sharp outburst. He had honestly thought the idea of seeing her brother would bring her joy. "I thought—"
"No!" Ceres rejected the idea instantly.
The sensory images flashing through her mind felt raw, as if they had happened only yesterday, and they terrified her. Just like the original Isabelle, Ceres had a deep affection for children. If Neon was going to be her younger brother in this timeline, she absolutely refused to let him see her looking broken.
"I don't want him to see me like this," she whispered, her voice tightening. "I can't be a weak older sister in front of him."
"But your brother has been looking for you frantically. We had to hide the flash flood incident from him because we were terrified the shock would worsen his condition. Now that you're safe, aren't you going to let him see you?"
"Still..."
"Isn't it a bit selfish to keep him away, Belle?"
Ceres swallowed hard, trying to put herself entirely in Isabelle's shoes. If she were truly his flesh and blood, would she shut him out? Would she let her pride prevent him from knowing she was alive?
"Just because he'll see you in a hospital bed doesn't mean you're weak," Eli said, his voice dropping to a gentle, grounding register. "Living for him, doing your absolute best to provide for his needs, and fighting to come back to him... that isn't weakness. You are incredibly strong, Belle. Stronger than anyone else I know."
Ceres opened her mouth to reply, but a sudden, violent vertigo gripped her. It felt as though she were being violently pulled backward into a dark, bottomless abyss. The light in the room vanished, and Eli's voice faded into static. She couldn't see, couldn't hear, and couldn't feel the bed beneath her.
When Ceres finally snapped back to her senses, the room was bright again. Eli was gone.
The lingering disorientation left her feeling incredibly frustrated.
"So, what now? Did we actually reach an agreement?" she muttered aloud to the empty room. No one was there to give her an answer.
She let out a heavy, defeated sigh, running a hand through her hair. [This is exhausting. How am I ever supposed to stay away from him when he keeps pulling me back in?]