Chapter 5 - Hospitals and Truths
The emergency room at Saint Jude’s Hospital smelled of antiseptic and ozone. I sat in a plastic chair beside Leo's bed in the burn unit, holding his uninjured left hand while an IV dripped pain medication into his veins.
His arm was wrapped tightly in thick layers of sterile white gauze, but the color had returned to his face thanks to the morphine.
"Eighteen submissions?" Leo asked softly, his voice raspy from the stress.
I offered a small, apologetic smile. "Eighteen. Twelve by rear-naked choke, four by armbar, two by triangle."
Leo shook his head slowly, a faint, disbelieving laugh escaping his lips. "I thought you got those calluses on your knuckles from pruning rose bushes."
"I do prune rose bushes," I said, stroking his fingers. "Leo... I'm sorry I didn't tell you. When I met you three years ago, I was completely burned out. I had spent eight years in intense training camps, living in an environment where everyone was aggressive, loud, and constantly trying to prove how tough they were. I hated who I was becoming."
I looked down at our joined hands.
"Then I met you in that quiet coffee shop near the university," I continued softly. "You were reading a textbook on quantum computing, you opened the door for an elderly lady, and you talked about your students with so much patience and respect. You were everything the fighting world wasn't. You were gentle, kind, and peaceful. I wanted that peace so badly that I buried the rest of my life."
Leo squeezed my hand back. "Maya, I don't care that you can throw a 200-pound man across a yard. But I do care that you felt like you had to hide your past from me."
"I was afraid you'd look at me differently," I confessed, feeling a rare tear slip down my cheek. "I was afraid you'd see a weapon instead of a wife."
Leo pulled my hand up to his lips, kissing my knuckles gently. "I see the woman who just saved my life. And honestly? Watching you flip Derek like a sack of potatoes was the most incredible thing I've ever seen."
Before I could answer, the door to the private room swung open.
Arthur and Evelyn stepped inside. They looked older, diminished, stripped of the booming arrogance that usually filled whatever room they occupied. Arthur held a brown leather envelope in his hands, while Evelyn refused to look me in the eye.
"Leo," Arthur said, his voice hesitant. "How are you feeling?"
"I have a second-degree burn and a four-thousand-dollar ER bill, Dad," Leo said coldly, his tone sharper than I had ever heard it. "How do you think I am?"
"We... we came to talk about Derek," Evelyn said, stepping forward. "The police said if you press charges, he's looking at felony assault. He could lose his job at the logistics firm, Maya. He has a family!"
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"He should have thought about his family before he threw my husband onto a four-hundred-degree piece of steel," I snapped, standing up from my chair and stepping between them and Leo's bed.
Arthur looked at me, a mixture of fear and reluctant respect in his eyes. He slowly laid the leather envelope on the bedside table.
