Just a Simple Love Story by Kimberley Nunes (best historical fiction books of all time TXT) 📖

“… Hmm. Yes… Of course…”

By every minute he got angrier. Out of reflex I reached over the table and laid my hand on his arm. He first looked at my hand resting on his arm and then fixated my eyes. There’s not much I heard or even caught from the surroundings. I felt his flexed arm relax beneath my touch, as well as his tightened jaw. His voice sounded controlled and deep. I knew if I kept on looking into those eyes I would liquefy any moment.

Fortunately, or rather unfortunately I felt someone grabbing my shoulder. Letting go of the young Benz’s arm I turned around to face a grim looking Renee. Just my luck!

“What are you doing sitting here and flirting around?” he acidly asked.

Cool it, Kaite, just don’t let this ass get to you.

“My, Renee. It’s nice to see you, too. How may I help you on this beautiful day?” I smiled, which pissed him off even more.

“Don’t ‘my Renee’ me, damn brat. Where have you been the entire day? Don’t you know that Professor Octavio has been waiting for your report?” I sighed irritated: “The report is due at 5pm, isn’t it? I’ve completed everything and will drop it off right away.” “Whatever” he hissed and stomped off.

I rolled my eyes shaking my head in pure agony.

“Who was that creep?” the Benz’s low voice inquired.

I sat back and sighed again.

“That creep is just a sour co-worker sucking up to my boss” I explained. “There are a few more of that sort. Talking about sour, what’s up with you and your brother’s wife?”

The irritated look on his face reappeared.

“Don’t remind me” he huffed. ”She annoys the shit out of me. That woman hasn’t visited her husband even once since he has been transferred to this hospital.”

Sebastian venomously spat out the words her husband. “And now she demands I come and pick her up to visit him. She has a driver’s license and her own car.”

“She does seem to be quite nasty” I cautiously formulated.

“Hn, nasty is an understatement.”

PEEP-PEEP-PEEP

“Excuse me” I mumbled searching for my pager. Quickly glancing at it I hooked it back to the belt loop of my short tight navy blue skirt.

“I’m sorry, Sebastian” I apologized. “I need to get going. That somebody reported back to my boss.”

Both of us stood up slightly annoyed and walked together towards the entrance of the canteen.

“I need to head this way, then” I pointed to my left.

He nodded once: “I’ll take this one.”

“See you around” I waved good-bye.

“Yeah, I guess” he briskly replied before walking into the opposite direction.

I swiftly made my way to the office, collecting the papers I needed to hand my boss and headed straight to his office.

A shudder ran down my spine before I knocked on the door leading to my superior’s office. I always got the creeps seeing that guy.

“Come in” a low voice cooed.

Gulping once I opened the door and tried putting on a cheerful smile.

“Ah, Kaitlynn Noakes!” he hissed like a snake. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

My cheerful smile disappeared right away. My gut clenched and my instincts screamed for me to run. Run as fast as I could and as far as possible. No! Pull yourself together, Kaite. Pull yourself together, damn. He might act like some creepy snake, but he is human too, right?

His waist-length black hair was the only human trait as it seemed. His extremely pale skin, those pronounced cheekbones, the brownish-black eyes… Damn.

“Pro… Professor Octavio” I managed somehow.

“Now, now, child. Please take a seat and don’t be so formal” he smiled sending tremors up my spine. I nodded and cautiously walked over to the chair in front of his desk.

“Tea, coffee or something else?” he asked before pressing the intercom, waiting expectantly for my answer.

“Um, just water, please” I replied.

His smile growing even wider he spoke: “Then water it is! Kasper? Get us a water and my usual! So Kaitlynn. I heard the great news. The BNG-29 was implanted successfully.”

“Yes, Sir” I affirmed.

A soft knock echoed through the room.

“Enter” Octavio demanded.

“Sir,” his personal assistant Kasper started, “I bring the water and your herbal tea.”

The way this Kasper guy talked and behaved made me wonder. He treated Octavio like some great Lord. But he wasn’t the only one. Renee and his friends addressed him in the same manner.

“You can leave now, Kasper” Octavio commanded.

Before leaving my sight Kasper shot me a sharp glance. Good Lord, what’s wrong with these guys?

“May I ask you something?” I felt quite courageous at this moment.

He arched an eyebrow before smiling in his own macabre way.

“I’ve been wondering for quite some time, why some of the people act so weird around you.”

Right after blurting out my thoughts I bit my tongue. I dared glancing over at the department’s chief.

“I’m sorry for…”

“Please don’t be, child” he cut me off. “You’re truly an observant one, aren’t you?”

My uneasiness grew. Suddenly a whole-hearted laughter resounded through the room.

“I’m thoroughly intrigued by you, Doctor Kaitlynn Noakes! I already had a feeling you would turn out to be a good catch. Specially, when you turned up at my office door with the idea of developing the very device that was operated into Ian Benz’s brain, yesterday. The profound research and precise developmental work… it’s pleasurable to me.”

I had to force myself to not let my jaw fall agape. There was no way I could hide my surprise, though.

His hearty laughter echoed throughout the office.

“Don’t be so surprised. I’m just stating the facts here. Did you really think I would miss out on something like this? Although that brainless surgeon played the mentor figure, did you really think I wouldn’t keep tabs on you? I mean you are after all my best worker at the moment.”

My jaw dropped to the floor, which made my opposite laugh even harder.

“Do you really mean this, Doc?” I asked incredulously.

He lifted his cup containing the herbal tea to his lips. Before sipping it, he cautiously blew the clear greenish-brown liquid.

“As usual, he didn’t allow the leaves to soak long enough” he grumbled, while setting down the cup. “Anyways, Doctor Noakes. I-“

“Please just call me Kaitlynn. It doesn’t sound right for you to address me so formally” I interrupted him smiling widely. All my anxiety had flown away. I felt pretty comfortable, in fact.

“As you wish, Kaitlynn. Then do feel free to drop all titles and formalities while addressing me” he returned my smile, while leaning back in his seat. “I believe you came here to drop off your report?”

“Oh, yes” I handed him the file with the entire report on the research and development of the BNG-29. “It’s all in there.”

He nodded laying the file aside. “I’ll go through it later. But first, tell me, what are you planning to do next?”

I was taken by surprise, as I hadn’t anticipated him asking me something like this. Although, thinking about it, it was a legitimate question.

“First of all, I need to finish the stacks of paperwork lying in my office” I tried to win some time.

He nodded understanding.

“To be honest, Octavio” I started after pondering and coming to the conclusion that the truth would ultimately be the best answer. “I haven’t thought about any new project, yet. Everything went so fast… I mean the research took less time than expected and the development was so much fun... I didn’t have the time to wrap my mind around anything new, yet.”

He smiled: “Good answer, Kaitlynn. You’re not just a good worker, but and honest one, as well. Don’t worry about finding anything new right away. Revel in the glory of your great achievement.”

This guy was forcing me to actually like him.

“Thank you.”

There was a brief silence for a moment before I decided that it was time for me to get back to work.

“I need to get back” I told him while standing up.

He chuckled once. Before I could walk out the door Octavio called after me: “Keep up the good work, Doctor Kaitlynn Noakes.”

I smiled to myself, walking past a grumpy looking Kasper.

Before returning to my office I dropped by the intensive care heading straight to the room Ian was stationed in. Without really thinking I slowly opened the door to his room to be surprised by Sebastian sleeping on a visitor’s chair. He looked tired, but peaceful. I quietly made my way over to Ian’s report file, flipping through it, checking for any abnormalities. But to my relief there was nothing unusual. In fact, his results seemed way better than I had expected. I tried my best to slip the file back as softly as possible. Content with my achievement I turned around and headed for the door. Before leaving, though, I covered up the sleeping Benz on the chair with a spare blanket, making sure not to wake him up.

I cautiously opened and shut the door, walking through the corridor and to my office to work some more before heading for dinner with an old friend and former professor.

Enter: Annoying Red-Head

 

One week had passed by in a frenzy after implanting the BNG-29 into Ian’s brain.I constantly kept on meeting up with Sebastian, sometimes having meals in the canteen or some coffee. We had exchanged numbers as we were growing closer day by day, becoming really good friends. We talked for long periods about everything and nothing.

It had become a habit for me to either buy two cups of coffee when going to visit Ian or receive coffee from the younger Benz when he came to hang out in my office, as other family members and friends visited his brother.

It was quarter to four. A meeting had been scheduled at 4pm this afternoon, as contrary to expectations, Ian had not woken up. It had become a habit for me to swing by every day and check his data. Never once were the results negative in any way. I sighed heavily while changing out of my laboratory attire and into my casual wear, as my shift would end at five o’clock, anyways. I slipped my mobile into the breast pocket of my blouse and made my way to the conference room. The door was open wide and a lot of voices spoke in total chaos. I had attended a few conferences and was sure that this one would go by pretty much the same way the others did. Taking a seat at the back I allowed my eyes to wander around the spacious room. There were doctors from various departments, some I knew, and others I had never seen. I greeted a few colleagues by nodding or smiling. A couple of minutes before the conference was supposed to start my vibrant friend and splendid surgeon Gin Thompson entered the room. He flashed his brightest smile and strolled over to where I was seated.

“Kaite” he greeted while crushing rather than hugging me.

“Hi Gin” I managed to return.

“It’s great to see you here. I actually didn’t expect you” Gin informed scratching the back of his neck.

I chuckled and shook my head: “I would have given any conference a wide berth, if it wasn’t about the BNG-29.”

My chuckle had died down and I sighed in defeat.

“Also, I’m worried about Ian” I admitted.

He nodded once and caringly stroked my hair.

“Thought so. But don’t worry,”