The coffee tasted a tad too bitter, making Rina wince as she forced it down her throat. She usually preferred her coffee sweet but she knew she needed the extra boost if she were to stay awake so late in the night.

A strong gust of wind that felt high on humidity tousled her uncombed hair which she'd left loose on her back. Dark strands stuck to her neck and cheeks that were damp with light sweat as it receded. She cursed under her breath as she gathered the mess in one hand, the other desperately prying a few strays still clinging for her wet lips.

A woman sat across from her on a circular glass table, thin lips upturned. She watched her with dark round eyes that spoke of deep amusement and unfathomable mystery. Her gaze always made one feel under heavy scrutiny, like she was absorbing every miniscule detail yet all the while reserving judgment.

Unlike her, the woman had her thick copper-tinted hair up in a messy bun, leaving but a few shorter strands framing her oval face. For some reason the wind didn't bother her like it did Rina, though it escaped the doctor's notice. Each gust seemed to play with the loose strands only to arrange them neatly on the sides of her face.

"You look like you need sleep," she said grinning. She took a sip from the straw of her iced beverage before placing the paper cup back on the table. "We could've rescheduled you know."

"I know," Rina said. "But I'm always lacking sleep these days, so-" She shrugged, letting the sentence hang in the air.

They sat outside a cafe just a five minute drive from both their homes. The woman, whose name was Gale, was an old friend from her high school. It was her who'd offered her a place when she needed one while still on an internship. Their personalities still clicked even after all those years, more so this time in Rina's opinion. So even after she'd long moved out, they made sure to spare some time to meet each other every once in awhile.

"So tell me." Gale took out a stick of menthol cigarette and lit it, puffing the smoke to one side. "How're you with your crisis? You look like hell." She had never been one to beat around imaginary bushes, which was probably one of the reasons they were friends.

The doctor let out a sigh. "Well it's not going away."

She glanced at the pack lying on the table, a rare craving itching at her throat. She wasn't really much of a smoker, unlike her friend who'd long had the bad habit, but the silent killer had always helped her bear with the stresses of her life.

Catching the other woman's eyes lingering, Gale pushed the pack across the table. "Go on," she said. "But just one. Maybe two. And no chain smoking."

"Is it even still chain smoking if I only smoke two?" She grabbed the fliptop with one hand and pulled a stick out for herself.

The other woman handed her the lighter, her shoulders shrugging non-chalantly. "It's one thing to be killing myself with these things-" She flicked the ash off the burning end. "I don't want your death on my conscience too."

Rina let the pack drop back to the table, chuckling and shaking her head, before she gave in to the occassional need and lit the end of her own cigarette. "Gee, thanks for actually worrying."

Gale answered with another shrug, but the doctor knew her friend truly meant her words. The woman simply wasn't one who let her worries show.

She let out a contended sigh, blowing the smoke up over her head. She could feel the nicotine doing its thing as the cold sensation crawled down her throat. "Tell me what's new with you first," she said, cigarette resting between two fingers.

The other woman cocked an eyebrow but refrained from saying anything. She took a long drag from her stick and blew the smoke out before answering. "Nothing really," she said in a detached tone. "Still working the same job. Still underpaid. I still don't get enough sleep 'cause of effing school requirements. What more can I ask for right?"

"When are you graduating anyway? I thought Master's programs only take two years?"

"Part-time remember? And engineering's hard." She pouted. "But I only have two semesters left."

She nodded. "What about your love life? Met any cute guys lately?"

Gale laughed, shaking her head. "Oh that'll be the day," she said, her eyes rolling. "You know I don't date. I don't have the time."

"That excuse is all worn out, Gale."

"It's not an excuse if it's true."

This time Rina rolled her eyes. She knew she was never gonna win the argument, no matter how many time she brings it up. Her friend was a career driven woman and not at all interested in with love and romance. The day the woman would call on her for relationship advice would be day pigs finally learn to fly.

"C'mon! There has to be someone vying for your attention at least," Rina insisted, a desparate attempt.

Gale shook her head. "Nope. Nobody. Not a single soul."

"Or maybe you just don't notice."

She laughed like the mere notion seemed silly. "Are you that hungry for juicy gossip?"

The doctor stared at her with dead eyes, her mouth curved down into a frown. Silently she flicked the ashes of her almost forgotten cigarette before taking a long slow drag. She wasn't offended by the woman making fun of her desparation but the lack of topics for light conversation didn't make her the least bit happy.

"Well you're asking the wrong person," Gale said. "You know my life's the epitome of boring."

"Just 'cause you prefer boring."

"Boring is quiet. Who doesn't like a quiet life?" She stubbed the cigarette in the ashtray in the middle of the table.

Rina pursed her lips, giving the other woman a flat stare. She for one didn't like it and in fact thought her boring life was one of the main reason for her crisis.

"Oh Rina," her friend said, her voice light and teasing. "Just 'cause you're a drama-" Her brows knitted. "Lover? Seeker? Well you get the point." She waved a hand. "Doesn't mean everybody else is."

"Fine," the doctor said. "I just can't believe you're still not interested in getting a boyfriend. You've had only one your whole life. And that was years ago." She stubbed her own cigarette in the ashtray.

Gale cocked an eyebrow. "Wait." She held her palms out. "I'm supposed to be asking how you're doing. Not the other way around."

Rina slumped in her seat and sighed. In truth she was hoping to avoid the topic the whole night. Though it seemed her friend was not one to let it go.

"Quit stalling and start talking." The other woman crossed her arms over her chest.

"There's nothing to talk about," she said, a faux disintrested tone in her voice. "I still hate my job at the hospital and I still wanna quit. I still wanna stop being a surgeon and be - I dunno - unemployed sounds really good right now." She shrugged. In her mind she prayed the other woman wouldn't pry. She had sulked with the darker shades of her emotions far too many times and didn't want to revel in despair for another night.

"Still in a slump huh?" Gale smiled weakly.

"Pretty much," she said, her eyes watching her friend intently. She saw no signs the other woman would pry and inside she sighed in relief.

The pair stayed quiet for a few seconds and Rina was grateful not to be forced to elaborate. Though in her attempt to stary her thoughts from the shadows that threatened to consume her, the bizarre events of that morning came rushing back to her in the silence. The whole thing seemed determined to pester her mind in its idle times. She then thought about telling Gale and decided it would probably be best. Perhaps if she told someone and heard the ridiculousness from her own mouth, she'd finally be able to erase all traces of it from her memories.

"Oh hey." She bit her lip. The time was now or never, she thought. She should just go ahead and let the words roll off her tongue. What was she scared of anyway? There was no risk of judgment with Gale.

"I had a really weird thing happen to me this morning," she finally said, her eyes gauging her friend's reaction.

"Do tell." The other woman leaned forward, resting her arms on the table. "What kind of weird?"

"Extremely weird." Her eyes widened a bit, a theatrical motion on her part. She didn't want the other woman catching a wiff of her unease. "But I haven't slept a wink for days so I don't think it's anything to worry about. It still makes for a good story though."

"Okay? Go on. Go on." Gale made shooing motions with her hands.

Rina couldn't help but smile then, amused at her friend's interest. She had always been a good listener, she thought with gratefulness. She then went into the details of what had happened, her previous reserve dissmissed and forgotten. She couldn't remember the exact words and went with paraphrasing a few lines of the conversation. For some reason, perhaps the lighting, a shadow seemed to have suddenly descended over the other woman's face. The doctor found herself wondering but decided it must be some illusion. Her friend didn't interrupt her to clarify, not even to pose concern or light commentary, as she went on and told the story. When she was finished her sole audience had lit another cigarette. Rina watched as she took a long drag before any words left her mouth.

"Are you sure you heard them right?" There was a hint of something other than curiosity in Gale's voice. They had known each other fairly long that it didn't escape the doctor's notice.

"Yes?" she said, her face a shaky mask of indifference. "It was probably some weird foreplay I know nothing about. Or it could be just my mind playing tricks. When a person's lacking so much sleep, cuckoo things tend to happen a lot." The chuckle that left her lips sounded insincere and shallow to her own ears.

In her her Rina panicked, the idea that what she'd heard could be true sent her thoughts in a spiral of disarray. She was kind of hoping her friend would laugh with her, help her scratch the whole thing off as something stupid and incredibly funny. But instead of joining her in an attempt to subdue her unfounded anxiety, the other woman remained silent, eyes blindly staring at the tip of her lit cigarette.

"You okay there Gale?" She posed the question hesitantly.

"Huh?" Gale blinked her eyes and what looked up to her were eyes midly overcast. "Oh. Yeah. Just-" she said between humorless chuckles. She paused and bit her lower lip before speaking again. "Can you tell me exactly what you heard?"

Rina's brow knitted. Of all the things her friend could've asked, why meaningless details of what had been said? "Why does it matter? I probably just misunderstood them."

"Yeah. You're right." Her laugh seemed forced and humorless as she shook her head. "That's a really weird story Rina."

The doctor eyed her friend in silence, taking a sip of the bitter coffee that had gone cold in its cup. Her friend seemed awkward, and awkwardness wasn't something she sported often. Was she perhaps hiding something, she wondered. Was she purposely keeping a secret from her? No, she decided, simply because she was Gale. She knew she had issues with lying and knew as well exactly why. She doubted the other woman would do so so easily. She trusted her, of course she wouldn't.

But then she couldn't help but feel worse after telling her. Rather than shaking it off, she knew the memory would from then on haunt her. A good thing that she was off duty for another day was what she thought; she'd have more time to sort her mind out - to ponder on what she was gonna do. Not that it would her help her though was something she knew to be true. Her ears would be on high alert for those voices the next time she steps in the hospital. The thought that they had to belong to two of the consultants then crossed her mind, and she chided herself for even considering the whole thing had really happened.

Gale's continuous nudging of her feet with hers broke her train of thought. She looked up and was met with the sight of her friend leaning over the table.

"Hey," she whispered. "Don't look, okay? But the guy over at the other table has been staring at you for a while now."

"What guy?" Rina angled her body to look without a second thought, only to be stopped halfway by the other woman's grip on her arm.

"Hey! I told you not to look!" Gale's voice remained low. "Or at least be discreet about it."

She sighed not understanding what could be the big deal. She resorted to slowly turning her head to the side, her attention focused on her peripheral vision.

The doctor failed to register the sound of a bell chiming behind her as she pretended to stare at some random spot to her left. As far as she could tell there was nobody sitting at any of the other tables placed so neatly behind them, though one chair was pulled out as if it had indeed been sat on.

Her brows were furrowed and her forhead had creases when she turned to look back at the woman sitting in front for her. Her friend, for some reason, was suddenly fiddling with her phone, continuously sipping at the perspiring drink in her hand. Unease turned her stomach.

"Well, he's gone now," she said, intentionally vying for the attention.

The other woman's head snapped up. "What? Oh!" She leaned to the side, perhaps to get a better look the other tables. "Guess he is."

"What did he look like?" Rina narrowed her eyes at her as the gears in her head turned. Gale was acting odd, more so than her usual oddness. Had something happened perhaps? But why was she not telling her?

Her friend made a humming sound, brows knitting before she answered. "I dunno." She shook her head. "Didn't get a good look at him. Like a decent guy?" She shoved her phone back in her pocket.

The doctor raised an eyebrow. "So he has two eyes, two ears, a nose, and a mouth. Good to know he doesn't have horns coming out of his head."

"Hey!" Gale slapped her hand lightly. "I couldn't really stare at him you know. He'd see me."

"Yeah well, he's gone now. That's that." She shrugged. It seemed as fast as the awkwardness had come it was then suddenly gone. She'd do well to let it go, she decided. Perhaps there was something else bothering the woman that might not even concern her.

"He did have that nice tan you're so fond of." Her friend wiggled her brows at her.

"I thought you didn't get a good look?" She raised an eyebrow at her, her face painted with exhasperation.

Her friend shrugged and gave her a tight lipped smile.

Rina rolled her eyes. She was about to give the other woman a good light scolding when her phone beeped. She pulled the gadget out of her bag and sighed as she read the message she just received. She glanced at the time at the top right of the screen and slumped. Leave it to her mom to ruin a nice night, she thought. Couldn't she get a break for even a short time?

"Big momma looking for you?" Her friend glanced at her wristwatch. "2A.M.! We've outdone ourselves this time." She chuckled.

"Yeah." She pulled her bag over her right shoulder and rummaged for her car keys. "We better go, it's getting late anyway."

Gale nodded, quickly finishing her drink and stubbing her cigarette in the ashtray. She took out her own keys and her phone from the pockets of her shorts and frowned. "Well, nobody's looking for me yet." She stood just as the doctor did.

"I miss hanging out like this though," Rina said, smiling as they started for the parking lot. And of course she meant her words. She always felt the heavy weight on her shoulders somehow lifted a fraction whenever she met with the little bubble of frankness and oddity that was Gale.

"Text me when you're free again." The other woman shrugged, glancing discreetly to her left. "Unlike you, I still have free time."

"Thanks for rubbing it in Gale." Rina laughed.

After a few seconds, the door of the cafe swung open, chiming the bell hanging in the way of its edge. A tall, tanned man stepped out, turning his head from one direction to another. He stopped when he spotted the two women sauntering across the paved walkway.

The man shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket and sighed. Quietly, he started after them.