KIM AND GERALD

Kim looked at Gerald questioningly, she was now very much interested in this man’s life story.

Gerald’s eyes narrowed towards Kim, he saw the puzzled look on her face, he smirked, and he could see she wanted to know more, but he would not give her any information for now.

“Forget it doc, forget I ever said anything, and don’t waste your time on me…”    

Kim rose her eyebrows, she had never spoken to anyone so “black hearted” before, he was obviously carrying something very heavy from the past, and she wanted to know what it was, she knew she should not pry for now, she would have to wait until he opened up to her, she was going to have to gain his trust, as a doctor, it should be her profession.

“I understand and I can see you are not willing to open up to me at the moment, so I’m just going to ask for some basic information, if you don’t mind of course…”

Gerald just nodded and waited for her to speak.

“I’ll need your date of birth, your age and a little more, but I’ll go through that with you later.”

Gerald snickered at how organized this woman was and how prim and proper she was, she looked perfect and obviously breathed and lived a perfectly organized and glamorous life.

“March 7, 24 years old.”

He answered the question with no extra information; Kim could see Gerald was going to take a little more time than her previous patients; he wasn’t a very open person by the sounds of it.

“Okay, now I need extra medical information, do you take any medicine as of now?”

Gerald shook his head, no medicine could solve his problem, and he had tried so many none of them worked, not once.

“What is your family’s medical history like?”

“Well.”

Kim was going to be seeing Gerald for a VERY long time if all he was going to give her was one sentence answers.

After a while, Kim was looking through the information she just gathered from Gerald; she glanced at all the papers in her lap and felt Gerald’s gaze on her again, she felt the need to ask him why he kept on staring at her, but she decided against it.

“What about you?”

Kim glanced up, he spoke. He was looking at her fixedly, his face full of curiosity.

“Me? What do you mean?”

Gerald smirked again.

“I mean, when were you born and what’s your age?”

“April 19, and I’m 22”

Gerald just nodded and did not say anything after that. After a while his mother returned and Kim was much more at ease, she smiled at Gerald’s mom and explained that Gerald would have to come on a weekly basis, she printed out a schedule for his appointments and that was the end of their very first session together.

--



GERALD.

When they arrived home, Gerald glanced at his schedule and could only sigh; he knew that this doctor was going to give up in the end, like all the others that had. Gerald held the schedule in his hand and glanced around the room, could this doctor really help the way he was feeling?

That evening, Gerald sat on his couch and thought about what his mother said earlier that day, that he had greater things to do in life, like what? He wondered, he was a good for nothing man, just like what she called him, like what his ex called him, he closed his eyes remembering the far-off memory.

FLASHBACK

“No! Gerald, I don’t need you anymore! I don’t want you anymore! Can’t you get that through your head!? I don’t LOVE you anymore! You’re a good for nothing man that cannot do anything right in this relationship!”

“What have I done wrong!? When did I ever take a step wrong in this relationship!? I have never lied to you; I have never cheated on you, hell! I never laid a hand on you or ever tried to hurt you, so YOU tell me how I took a step wrong into this relationship!? YOU explain to me what I did this time, lagi nalang ako! I tried my hardest, I did my best, but everything I do is wrong! Everything I do has a flaw, not even once have you ever praised me for doing anything right!”

“Because you cannot do ANYTHING right GERALD! You cannot do without stuffing everything up!”

“I’ve had enough of this crap; give me an example of how I stuff everything up!”

“Believe me, there is too many on my list to choose only ONE, you’re pathetic and useless.”

--

GERALD/BACK TO THE PRESENT

Then the last thing he heard was the front door slam. She left because he wasn’t perfect, she left because he was apparently useless, yet she never gave a particular example of how he was, that fight was their very first major argument, and it was brought up the morning she came home and that was at 3 am, it should’ve been him getting upset and not her, he didn’t even know why they broke up, the words that were left in his heart and in his brain were “useless, good for nothing” and “pathetic”, he knew it hurt him, he knew it made him feel like complete crap, but he wasn’t doing anything to move on, he just couldn’t.

“Anak kumain ka na”

Gerald didn’t respond, nothing was going to be back to normal, he was never going to get better, he looked around the room again and sighed as he saw a picture of his ex and him, they were smiling… he wondered when that was taken and what made them smile that day, his ex and him weren’t on the smoothest path, nor were they on the rocky road, they were always on and off, he should be used to it by now…. Yet he couldn’t get her out of his head.

--



KIM.

That evening Kim sat down on her desk, curious of Gerald’s life story, for such a good looking guy the dark circles beneath his eyes could not be hidden, and his pessimism was very heavy, his issue might not be the worst case she had ever dealt with, but it was definitely one of the cases that would be tough to crack, most especially with a guy who is not willing to share any information about what his problem is.

“Hey baby, how was work?”

Kim sighed and received an unwanted kiss on the cheek.

“Don’t call me that, please”

Kim’s roommate was persistent in winning her heart, she had been on only a few dates with the guy, and he already thought they were together, Kim only saw him as a friend, but he was preaching for a much higher standard on Kim’s list of relationships. Kim shivered at his touch as he hugged her from behind.

“Can you let me go please, I’m busy!”

Kim pushed him away and rolled her eyes at him, she went back to the papers with Gerald’s information on it, and she continued to ponder.

“Kim…”

Kim was holding in a lot of anger with this guy.

“Rick, I don’t need you getting in the way of my work, I have much more important things to do and much more important people to see. If I were you, I wouldn’t bother wasting time or money on buying me any more gifts, or wooing me, we went on a date or two Rick, were not together, please understand that. I prioritize my family, my job, and my patients; do you hear your name on that list? I don’t think so, so please leave me alone.”

Kim had never felt so rude, or bad in her life, she felt so horrible, as a doctor she wanted to make people feel better, and not bad, she watched her roommate walk out of the study and out the door, she hoped he wasn’t going to start drinking again, it happened every time she pulled a speech on him, he would walk out, drink, call Kim to pick him up, she would pick him up, he would be extremely rude about it and then the next morning will be asking Kim to look after him, Kim knew her roommate by now, she knew him far too well. She sighed and returned to her paperwork.

“Gerald Anderson, you are one tough cookie…”