Waiting. Oh, oof waiting was awful. Octavio stood off to one side of the waiting room, shifting his weight back and forth. He looked at the crumpled paper in his hand. He looked at the pattern on the wall. Counted the chairs in the room for the sixtieth time. Tried to amuse himself by focusing on the quiet “whir whir whir whir whir” of his joints as he bounced slightly. Glancing at his phone to check the time, he was sorely disappointed to discover it had only been three minutes and change. This was excruciating.
Finally, finally, he was summoned into the back office to be seen by the school physician. After a short chat with the nurse who took him in, he was left…to wait some more. As soon as the door was shut he was going through everything that he could. Reading the posters, testing the scale, stealing a cotton ball from one of the jars only to shred it in moments and have to throw it away.
Octavio started trying to build something with the tongue depressors from the jar, but the tremor in his hands kept him from getting far before they collapsed into a heap again. He was on his third attempt when the door finally opened, which caused him to startle, and the little wooden bits went all over the floor. In an instant, he’d forgotten about them and was already shoving his crumpled and stained paper in the direction of who he presumed to be the campus doctor.
❝ Was told to give this to you. Something about managing my prescriptions and ‘routine check-ups.’ But we reeeeally don’t got to do those, I’m not in Pee Tee anymore. ❞ The last comment was more hopeful than factual. The less time he had to sit around getting prodded at, the better. He was fine, and full healed as far as he was concerned.
❝Sorry for the wait, I was—❞ Akihiro pauses when he sees a good number of tongue depressors plummeting down to the floor in a cluttered heap. Ah, what a waste. ❝...getting coffee.❞ He finishes anyway before putting his cup of coffee down on his desk and taking the piece of crumpled paper offered to him from his patient. As he gives it a quick read, his eyes immediately zero in on the name Silva and instant recognition brightens his expression.
❝Oh, you’re Octavio Silva from Silva Pharmaceutical! I was hoping to meet you today!❞ He had been told that he’ll be meeting the potential heir of the pharmaceutical company and just as he had read, the young man is sporting a pair of prosthetic legs. But Akihiro knows better than to stare unless he’s examining so instead, he settles himself down on his seat behind his desk and gives the paper another read.
He then places it down on his desk and gently slides his palm over it in an attempt to smoothen its crumpled surface. Judging by its poor state, Akihiro could see that the student holds little concern for his own well-being and he simply couldn’t let that fly.
❝If your routine check-ups aren’t necessary, then they wouldn’t have been mentioned here at all, don’t you think?❞ He states with a warm smile, tapping his finger on the paper for emphasis. ❝I do want to know the reason behind your avoidance. Does it make you uncomfortable? Because I can tailor your check-ups to fit your comfort.❞
