Matthias intertwines his fingers with his wife's as the nurses wheel her to the operating room.

"Sir Bouchard," Adrien utters as they reach the entrance to the room. "You are only allowed until here."

Matthias nods in assent and kneels down to go closer to his wife. Céline quietly gazes at him with a gentle smile on her face.

"I'll see you after, okay?" Her husband whispers.

"I'm starting to miss you already," she whispers back.

Matthias softly chuckles and presses his lips on the back of Céline's hand. "I'll be right here, waiting for you." He stands and nods at Adrien, giving the sign that they may take her inside the operating room.

And just as they wheel her away, the husband and wife continue to keep their gazes on each other until the doors close.

After four hours, the operation finished successfully.

Céline is back in her room, still asleep. Matthias has been with her since she was wheeled out of the operating room.

Matthis couldn't stop showing his gratitude to Doctor DC. He was even on the verge of tears as he continues to thank her.

And regarding Adrien's answer to the date...

He said yes to the doctor's offer. Though he said it in the most lax way he could muster, he was excited about it.

"Even if you're looking up because of my height I still feel that you're looking down at me."

"Exactly, idiot," the doctor snaps at him and pushes another chart to his chest. Adrien holds it in shock. "See you at eight," she continues and enters Céline's room to check on her vitals post-operation.

The doctor has gone back to her usual self.

Adrien is used to it already, though. He still keeps a smile on his face as he walks to the nurses' station of the department and even greets Nurses Mylene and Rose who are also working on their patients' charts. He takes a seat with them at the table and goes straight to work. That is, until Nurse Mylene brings up a certain topic.

"Doctor DC seems...out of touch today," she quietly comments as the three nurses work quietly on their charts.

"Really?" Adrien asks, pouting and stealing a glance at the doctor who has gone out of Céline's room again. He can't stop thinking that she's taking him out in a few hours. It's making him feel so giddy inside. "She's been acting nice to me."

"I think Nurse Mylene means in a general sense," nurse Rose adds.

"Do you think it's because..." nurse Mylene trails off, looking at the other female nurse knowingly.

"I have a feeling."

"Am I allowed to know this part of the gossip or should I leave?" Adrien questions them, lost with whatever silent signals the two nurses are sending to each other.

"It's not technically gossip since it is true. It's about time you know, Nurse Adrien." Nurse Mylene throws a wary glance towards nurse Rose. "I think dealing with Céline bothered her."

"...it might be because she relates to Céline in some way," Nurse Rose adds piquing Adrien's budding curiosity.

"What do you mean?"

"Doctor DC never wanted to specialize in cardiology," Nurse Mylene starts, her voice low. "Her heart was set in becoming part of the pediatrics department. She wanted to be a pediatric surgeon."

"Then why isn't she one?" He inquires, furrowing his eyebrows.

"It's heartbreaking for her to be around children and babies."

Nurse Mylene heavily sighs, feeling sorry for the doctor. "Just like Céline, Doctor DC...can't get pregnant."

------------

Adrien continues to bounce on the balls of his feet, waiting for to see the doctor arrive at the exit of the hospital since their shifts end at the same time.

He takes a look at the time on digital wristwatch.

20:15

15 minutes have passed, he could still wait. She might just be busy.

And after what the nurses told him...he can't get his mind off of it.

"Doctor DC met an accident four years ago. She was with her parents in the same car when it collided with a ten wheeler truck. She and her mother were the only survivors."

The voices of Nurses Mylene and Rose go through his mind as Adrien remembers what they told him.

"The doctor recovered fast. Finishing her residency was her main goal for a speedy recovery. She did well in all her physical rehab and even continued to study her books when she would be on the hospital bed."

"The loss of her father did not discourage her, it actually pushed her to be a better doctor. It was only a year after when they discovered something in her body that utterly broke her heart into a million pieces."

"You do know that you could have waited inside, right?"

Adrien jumps a bit in shock when the doctor suddenly appears by his side.

"Doctor," he breathes out with wide eyes.

She scoffs, "Did you think that you're the only one who can surprise a person like that?"

"I-I never meant to do tha-"

Adrien is interrupted with Doctor DC's laugh, and he won't deny that it's such a lovely sound to the ears.

"Come on, let's go," she says after clearing her throat from laughing. "I'm in the mood for something Asian tonight," she finishes then throws a wink at him.

The doctor saunters off to the sidewalk and Adrien follows, making sure to start walking beside her.

"You wouldn't mind Asian, right? Like a bit of the Eastern cuisine?" Marinette continues the conversation, placing her hands in the pockets of her coat as the night is quite chilly from the afternoon rain a few hours ago.

Adrien lets out a nervous breath and admits, "Well, the closest thing I got to acting Asian was that I learned Mandarin before so-"

"What, really?" Marinette exclaims, finding herself getting excited. She stops at the sidewalk to gape at the nurse.

"B-But this doesn't mean that I still remember!" He immediately clarifies in a frenzy. "Please don't get your hopes up."

"I'm not," she utters, still in shock. "Okay, maybe a bit. I just did not expect someone like you to learn a whole different language that is not used that much in our country."

He teases her, "Maybe fate made me learn it in order to woo the Asian side of you."

"Don't push it, newbie."

They arrive at a small restaurant that serves Chinese cuisine. The mix of the scents of different spices fuel the hunger of the two new customers.

"Marinette!" A middle-aged, stout man with wide eyes and a tall nose greets her with a booming loud voice from behind the kitchen counter where the customers can see the different chefs preparing their meals.

"Ping!" The doctor lively greets him back. "Bring out two of your specials!"

"Got a date, doctor?" He asks, craning his neck to take a look at Adrien who was watching silently with wide eyes.

"Yup!" The doctor answers and grabs the arm of Adrien to pull him close to her. "Tell me, is he cute?"

Ping winks at her. "The cutest," he replies and goes back to tossing the fried rice in his wok.

The doctor smiles sweetly at the nurse. "You should be thankful that he finds you cute, too. Ping is very picky with the men I bring with me here."

Adrien tenses up and swallows down a lump in his throat. "Men?" He breathes out in disbelief.

The doctor suddenly busts out laughing. "I saw the shift in your gaze, you were judging me! You just want me to butter you up when I say that you are the only guy I've brought with me here."

The nurse only blushes as the doctor pulls him with her to a free table for two by the wall. They each take their seats and Ping saunters to their table to place two plates of fried rice in front of each of them.

"Two specials for tonight," he announces.

"You're the best, Ping," the doctor cheers then grabs her set of chopsticks lying on the table. Ping walks back to his station and the doctor invites Adrien to eat as well.

"Are...are you a regular here, doctor?" Adrien timidly asks.

"Call me 'Marinette' when we're out like this," she immediately tells him. "And, yeah," she answers, "Although Ping does not look Asian at all, I baptized him with that name because his food is just too good!"

The nurse is bewildered with how the doctor, rather Marinette, is acting now. She is always so serious and strict in the hospital, even smug sometimes. But here he sees a woman enjoying a plate of fried rice and eating it to her heart's content. The way she was even joking with the chef on how she brought someone cute with her tonight came as a surprise and added a lot of weight to his outpouring heart of love.

Adrien takes the chopsticks from the table and grabs a bit of rice with it before placing it in his mouth.

Oh my God, the doctor is right. It is good. The taste of the garlic mixed with some chili and spices that add flavor to the dish - he immediately grabs another bite of it and enjoys the taste of the rice.

Marinette watches his apprehension turn to enjoyment and finds herself amused with it. She smirks at him although he does not notice it being too engrossed with the food in front of him. "Is it really that good that you forget you have to talk to your date tonight?"

“S-Sorry,” Adrien immediately apologizes, bringing a hand to his mouth as he almost spat out the food in it. Stupid, stupid, stupid! He thought as the urge to slap himself in the face becomes strong. You have the woman you like in front of you and you decide to stuff your face with food.
 
“Don’t be,” Marinette utters and picks a piece of ginger mixed with soy sauce and vinegar with her chopsticks. “Here,” she says with a smile, bringing it near his mouth. “Try this, Adrien.”
 
He could feel his face flush to its maximum as he leans in to take the food with his mouth. He chews it, hiding how shy he feels and how much he wants to savor what the doctor gave him since it might be the last time she might do something like this for him.
“Doctor-“
 
“Marinette,” she immediately corrects him.
 
“Ah, yes, sorry.” Adrien clears his throat and starts again, “Marinette…” Oh my God, saying her name feels like a dream come true. “I hope you’re not forcing yourself to act like this with me.” He grabs his glass of water and brings it to his mouth.
 
“What? Flirtatious?”
 
Adrien coughs as he almost chokes on the water. He instantly places the glass back on the table and grabs a paper napkin to dab it on his mouth. “N-No,” he clarifies, “I mean…you can still be strict around me like how you treat me at the hospital. It must be tiring for you to act nice with me.”
 
Marinette chuckles softly as she thinks of what the nurse said. He’s not wrong. He’s used to her strict and cold demeaner so, of course, it is a surprise to him that she is acting is such a carefree way.
 
She asked him out for a casual date and he said yes. She might as well enjoy the time to de-stress from the worries and problems she faces every day at the hospital.
 
“If there’s one thing you should know about me is that I carry a different persona when I’m at the hospital or when I’m training you. But since we are here tonight on a date,” she brings a hand towards his resting on the table and places hers on top, grasping onto it gently, “and work should not matter now, I might as well treat you like a date. Is the Adrien of five years ago happy now?”
 
Adrien utters breathlessly, “Over the moon.” He could not contain the joy in all his senses, he was beaming with glee. He wants to make the doctor happy. He wants to help her forget the pains of her past and help her realize that there are things worth more that she deserves now.

"One day, she experienced abdominal pain that was becoming too unbearable for her, thus she was rushed to the hospital. It was there that they saw obstructions around the area of her uterus."

"Adhesions caused both her fallopian tubes, where the egg travels from the ovaries to the uterus, to twist around the nearby areas of tissue around it. These brought great damage to the tubes."

"To ease the pain, Doctor DC decided to have a salpingectomy, the surgical removal of both her fallopian tubes. That is why she can never naturally conceive a baby anymore."

“Tell me about yourself, Adrien.”

“What would you want to know about me, Marinette?”
 
She shrugs nonchalantly. “Anything, honestly. I don’t really know a lot about you aside from the fact that you like me,” she teases.
 
Adrien bashfully rubs the nape of his neck. “You keep on bringing that up.”
 
“Is it a lie, though?”
 
“N-No,” he shyly replies and grabs an ounce of courage to tell her that he first graduated with a degree in Fashion Design. “I did not earn that much income with the jobs I got before becoming a nurse,” he continues. “So aside from seeing you again, I think another blessing I got from being a nurse was that I found a purpose in my life and at the same time not worry too much on my finances.”
 
“So, you’re happier as a nurse?”
 
“Not just happy,” he answers, “I feel more content, more fulfilled.”
 
Ping arrives at their table to take away their empty dishes and leaves two teacups and a teapot with freshly-brewed jasmine tea filled to its brim for Adrien and Marinette to enjoy.
 
Marinette pours into the two teacups and hands one to Adrien. “I’m happy you feel that way. A lot of people lose their interest and experience burnout because of how tiring and demanding the job could be.”
 
After bringing the cup of hot tea to his lips for him to sip from, he utters, “As long as you continue to give me work, then I think I won’t be like the rest.”
 
“You better mean what you say or else I’ll hunt you,” she threatens him causing the both of them to laugh.
 
"What about you, doctor?" Adrien asks, placing the teacup back on the table.
 
"What about me?"
 
"Is there...um...” Adrien starts, “anything you would like to share about yourself?"
 
"Like what?" Marinette asks, raising an eyebrow and propping an elbow on the table for her to rest her chin on a closed fist.
 
"I don't know...maybe how you became the doctor you are now?"
 
“Hmm,” she hums. "I find that a bit too much to ask for a first date."
 
"S-Sorry, I...I didn't think of tha-"
Marinette interrupts him, flashing a sweet smile toward his direction, "But if you ask me out to something like this again, I might say yes."
 
Adrien almost falls off his seat. “Ask you out…” he whispers. “You want to go out with me, again?”
 
She refills his teacup for him. “Why not? We almost have the same schedule of shifts and you live right beside me. It’s nice to have someone to talk to and perhaps, relate to.”
 
Adrien smiles and refills her teacup in return. “Someone…” he murmurs as he recalls the words of Nurses Rose and Mylene. Not only did they tell him about Doctor DC’s medical past, they also told him something else that affected him in a way he cannot describe and fathom.
 
“Even if you say that you like me, please tell me if you have a girlfriend because I’m clarifying that I am not hitting on you or anything of that sort.”
 
He breathes out in a laugh, “I don’t have a girlfriend, never had one actually. Studies and work takes up most of my time.” And you’re the only one in my mind, Marinette.
 
Marinette lets out a sigh of relief. “Oh, that’s good. I don’t want to cause a fight. I hate being in the middle of people’s business.”
 
What about you, Marinette? You must have had someone that caught your eye."
 
Without missing a beat, she answers, "No one. I don't have the time and I think I have high standards. Love may be something that I’ve never experienced." And the nurse sees how the doctor forces out a smile then makes herself busy by sipping her hot tea.
 
"Doctor DC was engaged to her boyfriend of three years. He was a doctor and they spent their residency working and studying together. They were preparing to get married but that accident changed their relationship. In the end, Doctor DC decided to break up with him, leaving them both heartbroken. Hm, I'm not even so sure if she has moved on from that," Nurse Rose finishes. “In the area of love and maybe a normal life, Doctor DC is not one of the lucky ones. That's why even if people call her the 'Devil', those who know her past would understand why she acts that way.”
 
Adrien decides to not continue with the topic as his heart starts to ache against his chest. He expected her to not tell him the truth but it’s painful when he knows that the woman he likes had to suffer such heart-wrenching life events. He finds it amazing and sad how strong and unfazed Marinette has become. And maybe he has entered her life to help her move on even if it means not ending up with her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi! I hope you liked this short chapter :))

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