A Regret Named Me Chapter 02
Author: Mohini
By the time we left the hospital that night, a violent storm had already started.
Shawn opened the only umbrella and pulled Nadia close without a second thought, while I stood behind them in a daze. I had forgotten to bring one.
He paused for a moment before turning to me. “I’ll take Nadia to the car first, then come back for you.”
Before I could say anything, he was already shielding Nadia as they ran into the downpour.
The cold, damp wind cut through me, and I couldn’t stop sneezing.
An hour passed, and I was shivering from the cold when I called Shawn. It took a full 20 minutes before he finally answered.
I could hear a game playing in the background. Shawn sounded frustrated at being interrupted, with a brief moment of confusion in his voice.
“Sorry, I forgot,” he said. “You’re unbelievable. If you couldn’t wait, you should’ve just called a cab. You didn’t need to stand there this whole time.
“Hold on. I’ll call a cab for you.”
The next moment, Nadia’s voice came through the phone. She complained, “Hurry up and cover me. We’re about to lose!”
He cut off the call without hesitation.
I stood at the hospital entrance, my face soaked with rain and tears that I couldn’t seem to wipe away.
I ran two miles through the rain before I finally managed to hail a cab.
The driver handed me a pack of tissues and couldn’t help but say, “There have been a lot of cases of women being harassed around here lately.
“You’re a young lady, and you still dared to run around in the rain? Didn’t your boyfriend even try to come pick you up?”
Hearing that, I finally realized the danger. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
There really had been a lot of creeps around the hospital lately. Back then, Shawn had even ordered pepper spray online and put it in Nadia’s bag.
He hadn’t gotten one for me.
When he saw how disappointed I looked, he pulled me into his arms and said, “You have a boyfriend to protect you. Why would you need that?”
But at this very moment, I had neither the pepper spray nor someone to protect me.
…
When I got home and opened the door, Shawn was drying Nadia’s hair. She was wearing the matching pajamas Shawn and I had bought as a couple.
At the sound of the door, Shawn turned off the hair dryer. His expression darkened slightly.
“You’re finally back,” he said. “Nadia and I were so worried about you. We were about to go look for you if you didn’t come back soon.”
The two of them were in matching pajamas, already showered and with their hair dried.
They clearly didn’t look like they were about to leave the apartment to find me.
My eyes welled up, and the hurt I had kept buried finally came to the surface. “Did you ever think about what could happen to me out there in the middle of the night?
“I’m your girlfriend, not her!”
Shawn froze for a moment.
Nadia’s face turned bright red. She pushed him away and ran out without looking back.
Shawn clicked his tongue and was about to chase after her, but stopped.
“What’s gotten into you today? You messed up and now you’re throwing a tantrum?” he snapped. “Nadia and I are on shift tomorrow. If there’s a surgery, you’ll assist us.
“Think of it as a way to redeem yourself.”
After saying that, he chased after Nadia without looking back.
I stood there drenched from head to toe. There was mud covering my pant legs and the ground around my feet.
Somehow, I was always the one left waiting. I didn’t even get the chance to say no.
…
The next day, I woke up in a daze. When I checked my temperature, it was nearly 104 degrees.
My mind drifted in and out of consciousness, and I didn’t even have the strength to open my eyes.
I called them more than a dozen times, but neither Shawn nor Nadia answered.
I had no choice but to call emergency services.
The moment I heard Shawn’s voice, I felt like I had finally found my salvation. “Shawn, I have a fever.”
“Why is it you?” His tone immediately hardened. “I didn’t pick up, so you called the emergency line? You’re a healthcare worker yourself. How could you treat your job like a joke?”
