ONE
O N E
I was born september 29, 1994, and up until now, 26 years later, everything has been pretty normal.
I’m laying on the couch, netflix on the TV, and a glass of Rosè on one hand, the remote on the other. After four days working twleve hours night shifts, I finally have the next four days to do whatever the hell I want; sleeping in late, watch a bunch of romantic movies, and drink wine.
I jumped a little on my place when someone knocks loudly on my door. I set the wine on the coffee table, pause the movie and walk towards the door.
When I open the door and see a n unknown man half bent in front of my door, a hand covering his left ribs with one hand, and leaning with the other firmly placed on the wall, just then I realize that the only thing covering my body is an oversized t shirt,
I try to stretch it the most I can, until it covers almost half of my thighs.- Hola, ¿te puedo ayudar? - pregunto amablemente.
“H- hi,” the man pants “I was wondering if you could help me,” keeps panting, and covering his ribs. He is bleeding, profusely.
“Oh my God” I grab his arm and put it around my shoulders, taking almost all of his weight, guiding him to the couch. “It’s okay, sit here, I’m gonna need my first aid kit”.
I lay him where I was just a minute before, and he presses a button on the remote unintentionally with his body, changing the TV from netflix to CNN.
I leave him on the couch and run to my walk. in- closet, what happened to him? How did a wounded man get to my door? I have no idea who this man is, but I can’t leave him bleeding to death on the street, the least I can do is try to heal his wound as much as possible until I can take him to the doctor.
“Who are you? What happened to you?” I ask when I sit beside him. I can take a good look at him from head to toe for the first time. He is handsome, really handsome; honey colored eyes, blonde hair, a chiseled jaw, and a nice nose. I feel like I’ve seen him before, but, where?
He just looks at me and lifts his shirt covered in blood, showing a perfectly sculpted chest with an ugly bleeding wound in his left rib.
“How did you get that wound?” I ask, really horrified. Why did this man come to my house and not straight to the hospital? I can tell by his suit and italian shoes it is not a money thing, there must be something else that’s keeping him away from the Emergency room.
“Someone tried to stab me, I managed to stop the pocket knife before the cut turned to something ugly, but it’s still deep, so I’m thinking it might need stitches” he manages to say, with a lot of difficulty. dice hablando con dificultad “Can you clean it until I can get professional help?”
“I’m a nurse” I tell him, sheathing my hands in nitrile gloves.”I’m gonna check how deep the cut is”
“Thank you” he lays back. Everything goes silent, the only thing we can hear is the anchors voice on the TV: it’s nine o’clock already.
“So, what’s your name?” I ask while I open a small package of sterile gauze.
“Benjamin” he says, before thinking about it a few seconds.
“Well Ben, can I call you Ben?” I try to distract him from the pain.
“I guess” he does not sound too convinced, but it could also be because I’m pressing the gauze with saline solution against his wound.
“What happened? were you mugged?”
“Not exactly” he briefly says.
“...He didn’t arrive to the state dinner, two of his bodyguards arrived to the emergency room after losing and regaining consciousness toxicological exams are being run, one of the hypothesis is that they were drugged. Now a special operation has been unfolded to find Prince Benjami of Santelices.”
I freeze on my spot and look at the TV, the screen shows a picture of Benjamin, the same Benjamin sitting on my couch waiting for me to heal his wound.
“Now you need to tell me what happened” I stand up put my arms on my waist “You are a prince that’s being looked around, and you’re in my apartment, they’re gonna cut my head off!” I vent.
“No no, nothing’s happening to you!” he exclaim, trying to sit again en “ah” he pants from the pain jadea del dolor. “ someone set me a trap, and I don’t know who I can trust. That’s why I came here, I need to hide for a while.”
“What? - Is this guy nuts? “Sir, why me?”
Sir? Should I call him that or your majesty?
“Are you asking me or God?” He laughs, but soon his face turns into a grimace of pain due to the effort. He’s bleeding again. I sit again and press and press the wound with a clean gauze, keeping the pressure to stop the bleeding.
“I’m speaking to you, your majesty, Why did you come to my house?”
“You don’t need to call me that. I came because it was the first window I saw with the light on”.
“I can’t have you here” I stop speaking solemnly, It’s weird to speak like that to someone that’s about as old as me.
“Nothing’s happening to you. Please, let me stay here for a while, until I know it’s safe to go out”.
“When will that be?”
“I don’t know”
“You can stay here tonight, but then you need to leave, I don’t want to have trouble with the law… or with royalty”
“And you won’t, I’ll make sure of that”
”Okay. Now I need to keep cleaning your wound. I need to see how deep it is, I it is too much, I’m forced to take to the hospital”
He has his eyes shut tight, his forehead is wrinkled with the grimace, a little wrinkle shows in his face everytime I pass the gauze through the cut.
“No, I don’t have what I need here”
I keep cleaning, I need to stop the hemorrhage to be able to see the cut and know how deep it is. The anchor on the TV is still speaking on the background about the lost prince and how, were he not found, it would affect the royal family.
“So, since you’re in my house, why don’t you tell me what happened” I ask to break the weird silence.
“I’m still confused, everything went so fast. I was on my way to an important state dinner, suddenly we started to ride slowlier, until the car was still. I don’t know who, but someone blindfolded me and I started fighting. I think there were two different people, I know knocked a gun out, but there was also a pocket knife, I moved right in time, or the cut would have been even deeper”
“You’re a prince, shouldn’t you have bodyguards?” I ask “You need stitches, you need to get to an hospital, I’m sorry but I can’t help you.
“Yes, I had bodyguards, you heard the news, and apparently they were drugged. You can’t leave me like this, please help me” He tried to sit straight on the couch.
”Don’t move, you’re going to make it bleed again, and no, I won’t leave you like this, Im’m going to put a bandage, and I’m going to take you to the hospital where I work, I have a friend who is a doctor and can help you. I’m puting some steri-stripes to keep the cut as close as possible until we get there”. I start putting everything inside the first aid kit again and I grab everything that needs to be thrown in the trash.
“You still haven’t told me your name” He says.
“What?” I wasn’t prepared for the question.
“I told you my name, you know I’m the prince of Santelices, you know what happened to me, and I still don’t know you’re name” he stated.
“Well you’re in my home, isn’t that enough?”
“I would like to know the name of the person who saved my life, besides knowing she has good legs” he looks me from head to toes, making me blush.
Oh God, I’m still wearing only an oversized t-shirt. I can feel my cheeks wetting warm and flushed, getting redder and redder. S-Scarlett, my name is Scarlett.
“It’s a beautiful name, for a beautiful girl.”
“Really?” I laugh with my cheeks still pink “you’re hurt and trying to flirt with me?
“No, no, no I’m not trying to flirt, I’m being honest”
“Okay, mister honest, I’m going to change, we need to be in the hospital soon.” I try to change the subject, I don’t like when men flirt with me, I feel incredibly observed, and uncomfortable..
”I thought you had to put on a patch or something like that”
“Ah, yeah, you’re right” when I’m flirted with or says compliments I get stupid. I get closer to him, and, with shaky hands, put four little steri- strips.
Hello everyone! My name is Victoria, and this is a little story I've been thinking about for a while, and starting writing in spanish, but decided that I also wanted it to have an english version. This is an unedited version, so If you see anything that needs to be corrected, let me now!
