Seize the Day - NaNoWriMo Attempt - Chapter 15
Haven't written anything yet today, but I worked last night, and I'm feeling incredibly tired. I will probably get up "early" tonight and write before work. Maybe for only 20-30 minutes, though. That should be enough to keep me on track to win on the 30th. ;)
Previous Chapters:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14
“You are impossible,” Hajime growled once he and Savin were in his office. This office was a little bigger than Savin’s, and the walls were painted a shade of tan instead of blue. Paintings didn’t decorate the walls, either -- though Savin had a sneaking suspicion that his father had just taken them all down.
Savin kept himself in front of his father’s office door and narrowed his eyes. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Father,” he snipped, turning his nose up in the air.
“You and the Emperor’s son!” Hajime spat, folding his arms over his chest. “How many times have I warned you to be careful of choosing your partners --”
“You’ve only ever ‘warned’ me to be careful whenever my partners happened to be male, or have you forgotten that Mari got a free pass? Or Jessica, or Angela?” Savin rattled off, crossing his own arms over his chest. He glared at his father, resisting the urge to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “And you need to stop assuming I’m dating any man I touch --”
Hajime’s frown deepened. “It wasn’t just you touching him, Savin,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s the way he looked at you for guidance -- his behavior around me --”
“You’re an intimidating man,” Savin said, bristling at his father’s accusation. “You put a lot of patients’ families off, always have. Jazz is --”
“‘Jazz’?” Hajime asked, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t you mean ‘Prince Jasper’?”
Savin clamped his mouth shut, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. “It’s -- it’s his nickname. It’s also the name he prefers to go by,” he said, waving his hand dismissively. “It’s easy to help a patient when you’re on good terms with the patients’ family -- I was only trying to make Prince Jasper feel more relaxed with me by getting to know his nickname. It’s called going the extra mile, Father.”
“Savin, you’re an awful liar, and one would think you would have learned this by now,” Hajime muttered, shaking his head in exasperation. “How long have you known the Prince? How long have the two of you been dating?”
“Is it really any of your business?” Savin growled, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Knowing him or even dating him hasn’t impacted how I treat his father --”
“But it does make you lax in terms of keeping the patient’s confidentiality,” Hajime pointed out, his frown deepening. “And Prince Jasper was calling the shots on his father’s treatment, wasn’t he?”
“Emperor Callahan asked that Prince Jasper be put in charge of his treatment, should he seem unable to make informed decisions himself,” Savin responded, shaking his head. “I didn’t break any rules, Father. I know them just as well as you do, and I intend to follow them, just like any other doctor. The Emperor’s now in his right mind to determine his own methods of treatment. Whether Jazz tries to influence his decisions or not, I don’t know -- but I’m not going to let Jazz bypass his father, unless I feel that Callahan can’t make informed decisions.”
Hajime’s expression softened somewhat, and he rolled his dark eyes to himself. “Clearly, you’ve already made up your mind on how involved you want Prince Jasper to be,” he said, shoving his own hands in the pockets of his labcoat. Savin tried not to think just how perfectly they mirrored one another. How Savin’s skin was only a shade lighter than his father’s, that their facial structure was practically the same. It was like looking into his future, except his father’s eyes were brown and not green like his own.
“Prince Jasper is an intelligent man and cares about his father deeply,” Savin said, clearing his throat as he looked away from his father. “I trust him to keep his father’s best interests at heart.”
“Then what will you do when Emperor Callahan’s pain doesn’t seem to go away?” Hajime asked, raising an eyebrow. “We can’t deny the man pain medication, if he truly needs it --”
“You still think the pain’s psychosomatic, don’t you?” Savin countered, clenching his jaw. “And if Jazz feels that his father’s pain warrants different methods of treatment, I expect him to discuss those with his father, first, before coming to me.”
“But if you’re his boyfriend, he’s going to confide in you about certain things. That’s just how it goes, Savin. What if he comes to you, worried about his father, and wants support from his partner and not a medical professional? Are you going to be able to separate the two?”
“I will do my best to keep my integrity as a doctor,” Savin answered, forcing himself to relax his jaw. He ran his fingers through his hair, brushing it out of his eyes with a sigh. “Look, Jazz and I -- we only just started dating. And I would prefer it if you kept that particular piece of information to yourself, okay? Jazz doesn’t want his father to know, just yet.”
Hajime rolled his eyes, pushing his own glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Of course the two of you are dating,” he said, disappointment lacing his voice. “You’re thirty years old, Savin. When are you going to realize that this -- ridiculous phase of yours is just that, a phase?”
Savin’s fists clenched at his sides. “I’m bisexual, Father,” he spat. He turned on his heel, fingers grasping the doorknob tightly. “It’s not just a fucking phase.”
He stepped out of his father’s office, resisting the urge to slam the door shut behind him, instead closing it with a soft click as the lock moved into place. Savin then stormed down the hallways, determined to leave the Palace and go back home, if only for a few hours. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, sending Jazz a brief text explaining that he needed to take care of something at home.
Just as he finished rattling off that text message, he sent one to Mari. Need a drink. Wanna join me? he asked. He didn’t dare glance at the time -- didn’t stop to think that maybe, just maybe, she’d be at work at the hospital.
Same bar as before? Mari sent back moments later. He could almost hear the worry in her tone through her typed words.
Yeah. I’ll meet you there. Be there in ten.
Relief flooded him, making it easier for him to breathe, as anger had restricted his chest. He felt his eyes sting with tears, frustration still pent up within his shoulders and neck. Just a few drinks, he told himself. Then he would go home, and he would get some sleep, and he would go back to the Palace and do it all again tomorrow.
Once Savin arrived at the bar, he wasn’t at all surprised to see Mari’s car already present in the parking lot. Seeing it brought a brief smile to his lips, and he shucked off his lab coat, leaving it in the car as he got up and walked inside the bar.
“I’m going to kill my father,” Savin murmured as he settled into his booth with Mari. She pushed a glass towards him, one filled with his preferred drink of choice. He snatched it off the table, tipping it back and downing it in one gulp. “I swear to god, if he says it’s a fucking phase one more time...”
“He found out about you and the Prince, I take it?” Mari asked, sipping her martini. She sighed into her drink before putting it down on the table. “Marry him, Savin. Then Hajime can’t say it’s just a phase, anymore.”
Savin snorted into his empty glass, nearly choking on the drops that still clung to the back of his throat. “Yeah fucking right,” he muttered, settling his glass back down on the table. “You know he’d just sit there and wait for me and Jazz to get divorced, if we ever made it that far. And he’d repeatedly tell Jazz that I’ve been with women, too, and that I really don’t like men.”
Mari snickered, pushing her drink aside and leaning her arms on the table. “So what’s it like, working in the Palace?” she asked, attempting to change the subject. It was a welcome change, at least, as the anger started bubbling within Savin’s chest all over again.
“It’s -- I’m not gonna lie, it’s fucking weird,” Savin said, shaking his head. “I’m just glad that Emperor Callahan is allowing me to continue helping out the hospital. I wouldn’t want my surgical skills to get rusty, y’know?”
“It can’t be any weirder than dating the Emperor’s son,” Mari said, keeping her voice low against the noisy background of the bar. “You two are dating now, right?”
Savin felt his face burn at the question, and he turned his head away from Mari. He glanced around the low-lit bar, noticing there were several people dancing on the small dance floor in the corner, others with their arms slung on top of the bar, their hands all wrapped around glasses of various shapes and sizes. The atmosphere helped him relax a little, his shoulders no longer bunching together painfully. “Yeah, we are,” he answered, his voice equally quiet.
“I figured as much,” Mari said, a slight smile making its way across her face. “You seemed to really like him -- and not just because the sex was good.”
Savin felt his own lips tug upwards at that and shook his head. “Christ, the sex is amazing -- but yeah, I wouldn’t date someone just because of that,” he said, laughing quietly. He picked up Mari’s drink and took a sip from it. “I dunno, I just felt that there was something -- something different about him. I can’t really explain it.”
“Something you didn’t have with me?” Mari asked, raising an eyebrow. “I mean, you almost married me, Savin -- and you haven’t considered dating anyone since.”
Savin’s smile fell, and he looked down at the drink he had pilfered from Mari. “Mari, you’re my best friend -- Jazz is....” He looked up from his drink, meeting Mari’s gaze. “There is definitely something different between him and you. It just feels entirely different, like --” He cut himself off and sighed, shaking his head. “It sounds stupid, but it feels right. I don’t think it’s ever felt that right with anyone, not even you. And especially not this fast.”
“It’s not stupid at all -- people say that sort of thing all the time,” Mari said, shrugging one shoulder. She leaned back against the booth, taking her drink back from Savin. Something about her body language felt off -- maybe it was the way her hair hung in front of her eyes, or the way her shoulders slumped, just slightly. “Just don’t get carried away by it, alright? You just met this guy -- and he’s not just some regular guy, either. He’s the Prince. If the two of you were to actually get married...”
“I know, I know. He’ll one day be Emperor. Which would make me Emperor, and -- yeah, I don’t fucking think I’m cut out for politics,” Savin grumbled, putting a hand to his face. He rubbed his cheek for a moment, still feeling the lingering burning from his alcohol in his throat as he swallowed. “I’m gonna go get another drink,” he said after a minute. “Want me to get you anything?”
“I’m alright,” Mari said, giving a slight wave of her hand. She smiled at Savin as she put her martini to her lips, tipping the glass back slightly.
Savin nodded, sliding out of the booth. As he turned away from her, he could see the slight frown forming on Mari’s face. He shrugged it off, giving himself another shake as he made his way to the bar.
She couldn’t be jealous, could she?
Next Chapter
Previous Chapters:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14
“You are impossible,” Hajime growled once he and Savin were in his office. This office was a little bigger than Savin’s, and the walls were painted a shade of tan instead of blue. Paintings didn’t decorate the walls, either -- though Savin had a sneaking suspicion that his father had just taken them all down.
Savin kept himself in front of his father’s office door and narrowed his eyes. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Father,” he snipped, turning his nose up in the air.
“You and the Emperor’s son!” Hajime spat, folding his arms over his chest. “How many times have I warned you to be careful of choosing your partners --”
“You’ve only ever ‘warned’ me to be careful whenever my partners happened to be male, or have you forgotten that Mari got a free pass? Or Jessica, or Angela?” Savin rattled off, crossing his own arms over his chest. He glared at his father, resisting the urge to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “And you need to stop assuming I’m dating any man I touch --”
Hajime’s frown deepened. “It wasn’t just you touching him, Savin,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s the way he looked at you for guidance -- his behavior around me --”
“You’re an intimidating man,” Savin said, bristling at his father’s accusation. “You put a lot of patients’ families off, always have. Jazz is --”
“‘Jazz’?” Hajime asked, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t you mean ‘Prince Jasper’?”
Savin clamped his mouth shut, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. “It’s -- it’s his nickname. It’s also the name he prefers to go by,” he said, waving his hand dismissively. “It’s easy to help a patient when you’re on good terms with the patients’ family -- I was only trying to make Prince Jasper feel more relaxed with me by getting to know his nickname. It’s called going the extra mile, Father.”
“Savin, you’re an awful liar, and one would think you would have learned this by now,” Hajime muttered, shaking his head in exasperation. “How long have you known the Prince? How long have the two of you been dating?”
“Is it really any of your business?” Savin growled, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Knowing him or even dating him hasn’t impacted how I treat his father --”
“But it does make you lax in terms of keeping the patient’s confidentiality,” Hajime pointed out, his frown deepening. “And Prince Jasper was calling the shots on his father’s treatment, wasn’t he?”
“Emperor Callahan asked that Prince Jasper be put in charge of his treatment, should he seem unable to make informed decisions himself,” Savin responded, shaking his head. “I didn’t break any rules, Father. I know them just as well as you do, and I intend to follow them, just like any other doctor. The Emperor’s now in his right mind to determine his own methods of treatment. Whether Jazz tries to influence his decisions or not, I don’t know -- but I’m not going to let Jazz bypass his father, unless I feel that Callahan can’t make informed decisions.”
Hajime’s expression softened somewhat, and he rolled his dark eyes to himself. “Clearly, you’ve already made up your mind on how involved you want Prince Jasper to be,” he said, shoving his own hands in the pockets of his labcoat. Savin tried not to think just how perfectly they mirrored one another. How Savin’s skin was only a shade lighter than his father’s, that their facial structure was practically the same. It was like looking into his future, except his father’s eyes were brown and not green like his own.
“Prince Jasper is an intelligent man and cares about his father deeply,” Savin said, clearing his throat as he looked away from his father. “I trust him to keep his father’s best interests at heart.”
“Then what will you do when Emperor Callahan’s pain doesn’t seem to go away?” Hajime asked, raising an eyebrow. “We can’t deny the man pain medication, if he truly needs it --”
“You still think the pain’s psychosomatic, don’t you?” Savin countered, clenching his jaw. “And if Jazz feels that his father’s pain warrants different methods of treatment, I expect him to discuss those with his father, first, before coming to me.”
“But if you’re his boyfriend, he’s going to confide in you about certain things. That’s just how it goes, Savin. What if he comes to you, worried about his father, and wants support from his partner and not a medical professional? Are you going to be able to separate the two?”
“I will do my best to keep my integrity as a doctor,” Savin answered, forcing himself to relax his jaw. He ran his fingers through his hair, brushing it out of his eyes with a sigh. “Look, Jazz and I -- we only just started dating. And I would prefer it if you kept that particular piece of information to yourself, okay? Jazz doesn’t want his father to know, just yet.”
Hajime rolled his eyes, pushing his own glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Of course the two of you are dating,” he said, disappointment lacing his voice. “You’re thirty years old, Savin. When are you going to realize that this -- ridiculous phase of yours is just that, a phase?”
Savin’s fists clenched at his sides. “I’m bisexual, Father,” he spat. He turned on his heel, fingers grasping the doorknob tightly. “It’s not just a fucking phase.”
He stepped out of his father’s office, resisting the urge to slam the door shut behind him, instead closing it with a soft click as the lock moved into place. Savin then stormed down the hallways, determined to leave the Palace and go back home, if only for a few hours. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, sending Jazz a brief text explaining that he needed to take care of something at home.
Just as he finished rattling off that text message, he sent one to Mari. Need a drink. Wanna join me? he asked. He didn’t dare glance at the time -- didn’t stop to think that maybe, just maybe, she’d be at work at the hospital.
Same bar as before? Mari sent back moments later. He could almost hear the worry in her tone through her typed words.
Yeah. I’ll meet you there. Be there in ten.
Relief flooded him, making it easier for him to breathe, as anger had restricted his chest. He felt his eyes sting with tears, frustration still pent up within his shoulders and neck. Just a few drinks, he told himself. Then he would go home, and he would get some sleep, and he would go back to the Palace and do it all again tomorrow.
Once Savin arrived at the bar, he wasn’t at all surprised to see Mari’s car already present in the parking lot. Seeing it brought a brief smile to his lips, and he shucked off his lab coat, leaving it in the car as he got up and walked inside the bar.
“I’m going to kill my father,” Savin murmured as he settled into his booth with Mari. She pushed a glass towards him, one filled with his preferred drink of choice. He snatched it off the table, tipping it back and downing it in one gulp. “I swear to god, if he says it’s a fucking phase one more time...”
“He found out about you and the Prince, I take it?” Mari asked, sipping her martini. She sighed into her drink before putting it down on the table. “Marry him, Savin. Then Hajime can’t say it’s just a phase, anymore.”
Savin snorted into his empty glass, nearly choking on the drops that still clung to the back of his throat. “Yeah fucking right,” he muttered, settling his glass back down on the table. “You know he’d just sit there and wait for me and Jazz to get divorced, if we ever made it that far. And he’d repeatedly tell Jazz that I’ve been with women, too, and that I really don’t like men.”
Mari snickered, pushing her drink aside and leaning her arms on the table. “So what’s it like, working in the Palace?” she asked, attempting to change the subject. It was a welcome change, at least, as the anger started bubbling within Savin’s chest all over again.
“It’s -- I’m not gonna lie, it’s fucking weird,” Savin said, shaking his head. “I’m just glad that Emperor Callahan is allowing me to continue helping out the hospital. I wouldn’t want my surgical skills to get rusty, y’know?”
“It can’t be any weirder than dating the Emperor’s son,” Mari said, keeping her voice low against the noisy background of the bar. “You two are dating now, right?”
Savin felt his face burn at the question, and he turned his head away from Mari. He glanced around the low-lit bar, noticing there were several people dancing on the small dance floor in the corner, others with their arms slung on top of the bar, their hands all wrapped around glasses of various shapes and sizes. The atmosphere helped him relax a little, his shoulders no longer bunching together painfully. “Yeah, we are,” he answered, his voice equally quiet.
“I figured as much,” Mari said, a slight smile making its way across her face. “You seemed to really like him -- and not just because the sex was good.”
Savin felt his own lips tug upwards at that and shook his head. “Christ, the sex is amazing -- but yeah, I wouldn’t date someone just because of that,” he said, laughing quietly. He picked up Mari’s drink and took a sip from it. “I dunno, I just felt that there was something -- something different about him. I can’t really explain it.”
“Something you didn’t have with me?” Mari asked, raising an eyebrow. “I mean, you almost married me, Savin -- and you haven’t considered dating anyone since.”
Savin’s smile fell, and he looked down at the drink he had pilfered from Mari. “Mari, you’re my best friend -- Jazz is....” He looked up from his drink, meeting Mari’s gaze. “There is definitely something different between him and you. It just feels entirely different, like --” He cut himself off and sighed, shaking his head. “It sounds stupid, but it feels right. I don’t think it’s ever felt that right with anyone, not even you. And especially not this fast.”
“It’s not stupid at all -- people say that sort of thing all the time,” Mari said, shrugging one shoulder. She leaned back against the booth, taking her drink back from Savin. Something about her body language felt off -- maybe it was the way her hair hung in front of her eyes, or the way her shoulders slumped, just slightly. “Just don’t get carried away by it, alright? You just met this guy -- and he’s not just some regular guy, either. He’s the Prince. If the two of you were to actually get married...”
“I know, I know. He’ll one day be Emperor. Which would make me Emperor, and -- yeah, I don’t fucking think I’m cut out for politics,” Savin grumbled, putting a hand to his face. He rubbed his cheek for a moment, still feeling the lingering burning from his alcohol in his throat as he swallowed. “I’m gonna go get another drink,” he said after a minute. “Want me to get you anything?”
“I’m alright,” Mari said, giving a slight wave of her hand. She smiled at Savin as she put her martini to her lips, tipping the glass back slightly.
Savin nodded, sliding out of the booth. As he turned away from her, he could see the slight frown forming on Mari’s face. He shrugged it off, giving himself another shake as he made his way to the bar.
She couldn’t be jealous, could she?
Next Chapter