Just Friends to Just Married?

by Scarlet Wilson

  It pained him that she felt like that. That sweet, sunny Viv didn’t have anywhere to call home in her heart.

  ‘We reacted,’ he said firmly. ‘We reacted to...’ he smiled and flicked his fingers ‘...let’s just call it something in the air.’ His hands went back to her shoulders. ‘But we can’t let this come between us, Viv. We just can’t.’

  She reached up and touched the side of his cheek. It was the lightest of touches and for a split second he was taken back to that night and the feel of her fingertips on his skin. Their gazes meshed. ‘No, we can’t,’ she whispered. For an instant he thought he could read a world in her eyes—a world of loneliness. His heart twisted for her. He wanted to fix things. He wanted her to be happy.

  He could feel hormones surging through him. He wanted to sweep her into her arms and tell her that everything would be fine, that home could be here for them both. But how could he do that when he still hadn’t figured out where he wanted to stay or what he wanted to do next?

  The waiter appeared with a loaded tray and Duc moved to let him past, going back to his seat and putting his hands around the frozen drink. Maybe it would chill some of the heat in his blood?

  The mood had changed. The strain was starting to gradually lift between them. It wasn’t entirely natural, but he could sense they both wanted to make a concerted effort to fix this. They finished their smoothies and went back out onto the busy street, dodging the mopeds and finally entering the park.

  As they moved inside Duc turned towards her. ‘Hoàn Kiem Lake really is the centre of everything around here. The lake and temple are probably the most famous places in Hanoi city. People come here to rest, enjoy the view, and have a chance to sit back and watch the rest of the world.’

  Viv looked around. ‘Or get away from the traffic,’ she quipped sarcastically with a big smile. She was right, of course. The noise of the constant traffic could be wearing.

  The park was dotted with people. It was busy but with enough space for everyone. ‘The streets in Hanoi are always busy with motorbikes and cars,’ Duc agreed. ‘It’s nice to get a break from it. And to see a bit of green.’ He gave her a smile. ‘You kind of forget you’re in the middle of the city in here.’

  They walked amongst the dog walkers, people sitting on benches, families having picnics on blankets and tourists snapping photographs.

  ‘That’s Jade Island.’ Duc pointed to the structure in the middle of the lake. ‘The red bridge is called the Rising Sun Bridge and there’s a pagoda on the island. Want to visit?’

  Viv shook her head. ‘It looks too busy. Too crowded with tourists. Let’s just walk through the park and go out the other side.’

  He hesitated a second then slung his arm around her shoulders, holding his breath. But Viv just leaned into him, letting her arm rest around his waist as they walked.

  They didn’t talk through the rest of the park. Each step seemed to give him more confidence. Hopefully the tension in the house would lighten. What he wanted more than anything was for things between them to get back to normal.

  At least, that was what he should want. But there was a tiny little voice in his head that was out on a limb here. A tiny part of his brain that wondered, What if?

  For the last few years he’d been so focused on being a surgeon he hadn’t made room in his life for anything else. Sure, he’d had girlfriends. But only for a few months at a time. His mind was always on a million other things.

  But in these last few weeks when he’d been with Viv? In any second that he hadn’t been thinking about the hospital, his mind had been on her. There wasn’t space for anything else. Viv had captured every part of his attention. Every cell in his body had responded to her actions. He couldn’t remember ever feeling a rush of emotions like that, a connection like that. Now he was agreeing to lock all that away—to put it back in the box it had erupted out of, and not think about it any more. Could he actually do that?

  The words that she’d said echoed in his head again. I don’t know where home is. I don’t even really have one.

  His gut twisted with the memory that Viv felt that way. He’d been so lucky. He’d had something that she’d never experienced—a happy home life with interested and loving parents. He straightened up as they walked. It didn’t matter what his confusion was. It didn’t matter that every time she brushed against him, his cells exploded. It didn’t matter that since that kiss he’d wanted to do it again and again and again. He had so much uncertainty in his life right now, so much he needed to sort out. Did he want to go back to surgery? Should he try and make things work at May Mắn? Could he offer her anything other than a few weeks of hot and heavy fun that could ruin the friendship for both of them?

  He couldn’t do that to Viv. He had to put her needs first. She needed family. She needed a friend. That was his job here.

  ‘Want to do some sightseeing?’ he asked as they emerged from one of the other park entrances.

  She looked around the busy streets. ‘What’re my options?’

  A whole host of inappropriate thoughts flashed through his head. He gave his head a shake but couldn’t help but smile. He pointed in one direction. ‘A few blocks west is St Joseph’s Cathedral.’ He looked her up and down.

  ‘What?’ she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

  ‘You have to be dressed appropriately to get in. But you’ll do. No photos inside, though.’

  Viv wrinkled her nose. ‘What are the rest of my options?’

  Duc looked around, racking his brain. It was weird. The place he’d lived a good part of his life—and everything had just gone out of his head. Maybe it was because of the way Viv had tilted her head and was looking up at him?

  He waved one hand. ‘There are other historical touristy places. There’s Hoa Lo Prison, the Vietnamese Women’s Museum and the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre.’

  She folded her arm across her chest. ‘You want to take me to a prison?’

  He gave a shrug. ‘Only part of it exists as a museum any more. What about the puppet theatre, then?’

  Viv blew a dark red strand of hair from her eyes. ‘Actually, let’s get something else to drink. I can’t believe I’ve only walked across a park and I feel as if I’m ready to keel over again.’

  Duc shot her a sideways glance. ‘Coffee or wine?’

  She looked at her watch just as his phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and couldn’t help his surprise. He turned to screen towards Viv so she could see the name as he answered.

  ‘Ron, it’s good to hear from you.’

  He waited, flicking it to speaker so Viv could hear too, expecting Ron to ask about a patient, but he didn’t. Instead he spoke slowly. ‘Duc, thank you for your offer. I wanted to call to let you know that I’ll accept. I’ve spoken to my family over the last few days and we all agreed there needs to be a work-life balance. I also want something that will challenge me again and let me feel as if I can make a difference. May Mắn will do that for me. I can give you three days a week. And you had better keep that sparky Scottish midwife on duty. I like her. She has passion for her job and her patients. If you’re happy with those terms, I’ll hand in my notice today.’

  Duc’s mouth was hanging open. He literally couldn’t believe it. Viv had moved over, leaning over the phone but pressing against his side so she could hear part of the conversation. She tried to hide her squeal as she jumped up and down.

  ‘What was that?’ asked Ron.

  Duc smiled. It felt like an enormous weight had lifted off his chest. ‘That was your sparky Scottish midwife.’ He kept grinning as Viv gave him a wink and then turned a cartwheel on the pavement, much to the amusement of some passers-by.

  ‘Ah, good,’ said Ron, oblivious to the sight that Duc was currently seeing. ‘I look forward to keeping working with you both. Email me the contract.’

  Duc agreed as Ron rang off, the
n he turned and grabbed Viv around the waist and spun her around. ‘We’ve got an obstetrician!’ he shouted.

  ‘We’ve got Ron!’ she shouted back, laughing.

  Duc shook his head. ‘I can’t believe it. I can’t believe he’s accepted and he’s giving up his other job.’

  Viv’s eyes twinkled. ‘I told you he was ready for a change.’

  ‘How on earth did you know?’

  She kept laughing. ‘Let’s just call it women’s intuition, which means that you had no chance of sensing it. Now, weren’t we going to get a drink?’

  ‘Hold on,’ said Duc as he grabbed his phone again and spoke to Sen for a few moments. ‘Right, contract on its way. Let’s hold him to it before he changes his mind.’

  ‘Why would he change his mind? He’s getting to keep doing a job he loves, without the pressure of running a department and managing a dozen other doctors. And...’ she put her hand on her chest ‘...he gets to work with me.’

  ‘He does,’ Duc agreed. ‘Lucky him.’

  He slung his arm back around her shoulders. ‘All of a sudden this day seems a whole lot brighter. I’ve got my best friend back, and I’ve got an obstetrician that we know and we can trust.’

  Viv’s hand came up and interlinked with his hand on her shoulder. He pretended to ignore the tingle that shot across his skin.

  ‘Didn’t you promise me wine?’

  He laughed. ‘Oh, so it’s wine now? The coffee is out the window?’

  Her face looked slightly more serious. ‘I think we should celebrate,’ she said.

  She was saying the words, but he could see something else going on behind her eyes.

  Home. Those words were still echoing in his head. She’d never really had a home. She’d never staying anywhere long enough to let that happen.

  Something stirred inside. She’d already told him she liked it here. She’d just persuaded a top obstetrician to work for May Mắn permanently, and Ron wanted to work with her.

  Viv might be Scottish, but was there any reason she couldn’t make a home in Hanoi?

  The seed started to sprout in his brain. He gave her hand a squeeze. ‘Wine it is. Let’s go.’

  CHAPTER TEN

  THE TENSION IN the house had lifted and Vivienne finally felt as if she could concentrate on her job and enjoy it. She was learning as much as she could about the health of the people in Hanoi and getting more in tune with the specific conditions here that could affect pregnant women.

  Duc had started humming again. That meant he was more relaxed.

  She should be happy. She should be delighted. She should be able to write off what had happened between them as just a blip.

  But somewhere deep inside it felt like so much more.

  One kiss had stoked a whole lot of illicit thoughts about her best friend that she was trying really hard to lock away in a box somewhere.

  Every now and then they would brush against each other or she would find herself looking at him in a different way. And either of those things would send a whole host of tingles down her spine. It was as if someone had just flicked a switch in her body.

  Before, Duc had stayed safely in the ‘friend’ category.

  Could she really ever feel that way about him again?

  Part of her was hurt that he clearly hadn’t wanted things to proceed between them. No. Strike that. Part of her was devastated.

  It hurt to know that he’d been the one to stop. He’d been the one to reject her.

  She couldn’t even explain it to herself. But the fact that it had been Duc who had pushed away. It hurt more than ever.

  With the rest of the guys she’d been involved with, there had been no real expectations. Sure, she’d thought she’d had her heart broken a few times, but the truth was there had been no promises. No happy-ever-afters. All the break-ups had been inevitable. She’d gone into the relationships knowing none of these were the guy to capture her heart.

  But Duc? That was different. That was a whole host of emotions and hormones for a guy she already loved and respected. A guy she laughed with. A guy she didn’t hesitate to throw her arms around. This wasn’t some random pick up in a club. This was Duc. The one solid relationship she actually had with a man.

  And he’d kissed her then backed away.

  She was trying so hard to put on a brave front and pretend that her heart didn’t feel as if it had been ripped clean out of her chest.

  But in order to keep things in check, she pushed all those thoughts away and jammed them in a box in her head, somewhere out of reach. She’d learned to live like this a long time ago. When her adoptive parents had gently tried to push her in certain directions. When they’d both died in quick succession and the rest of her adoptive family had kind of faded into the background. When she’d tracked down her birth parents and realised there were no happy endings. Not for her anyway.

  For the most part, she tilted her chin up and smiled.

  She had to. She had a job to do. The staff here were some of the nicest she’d ever worked with. She was slowly but surely tackling the language barrier. Some nights she asked Duc to speak to her purely in Vietnamese so she could practise.

  She’d become familiar with the surrounding area, the restaurants, the shops, the shopkeepers, the local transport.

  The city was bright, colourful and vibrant and she felt surprisingly safe for a foreign girl in a strange place.

  Some things didn’t change, of course. She still burned everything she attempted to cook.

  Duc still laughed at her regularly as she set off the smoke alarm in the house and had to open the doors and windows to let the smoke out.

  Three months, that was how long she’d been here now.

  Ron had served his notice at the obstetric hospital and had started with a bang. It had taken him five minutes to get on board with some of Joe’s ideas about community clinics, and she’d found herself screening pregnant women alongside school-age children who were coming for vaccinations and older people getting treated for long-term health conditions.

  He’d agreed with all the protocols she’d started within the hospital and helped oversee staff training.

  She’d just gathered some notes for the clinic this afternoon when Sen appeared at the door with some letters in her hands. ‘Oh, sorry, I was looking for Duc.’

  ‘He’s gone to see a patient. Someone with suspected appendicitis, I think.’

  Sen gave a nod. ‘I printed out the emails he asked for. I’ll just leave them on the desk.’

  She disappeared and Vivienne glanced at the pile of papers. Something caught her eye and she froze.

  She didn’t mean to read a private email—but it was just sitting there and Sen had already seen it.

  It was formal, thanking Duc for his enquiry, with a string of dates and steps he’d have to take if he chose to go back to his surgical position.

  He hadn’t mentioned a single thing. Not once.

  She looked further down the page. Duc had only sent the original email a few days before.

  She gulped. He was planning to go back to his job. It was hardly a surprise. He’d always said he didn’t want to stay at May Mắn permanently, and this would only ever be a temporary solution.

  Her mouth was dry. But he hadn’t mentioned it to her. He hadn’t said anything at all.

  She took a deep breath. She had a job to do. She had to get on.

  She’d only taken a few steps when she heard a screech and a loud bang outside. She didn’t hesitate but turned and dropped the notes back onto the main desk and ran down the corridor. Two of the nurses were already at the main entrance.

  Viv ran up behind them and stared at the disaster outside.

  A lorry was on its side. The front of the lorry looked as if it had hit the side of a crumpled car. The traffic outside the hospital had come to a com
plete halt with only a few mopeds snaking past.

  She ran outside with Lien and the two nurses hot on her heels. She dropped to her knees on the road, bending down to look through the broken glass at the driver. His leg was twisted at an ugly angle and he was unconscious. She put her hand under her scrub top and punched out some of the shards of glass, so she could reach inside and feel for a pulse and check for breathing. He had one, and his breathing seemed steady.

  Lien shouted over to her, ‘I’ve got a heavily pregnant woman here. Do you want to swap?’

  Viv nodded but as she turned to move away a flash of red caught her eye. Her heart rate stuttered. She knew what she was seeing. A small leg under the wheel of the truck.

  ‘Lien!’ she screamed. ‘I think there’s a kid under here.’

  Duc appeared at her back, closely followed by Joe. They exchanged glances and Duc dropped to his knees and partially disappeared beneath the twisted metal. He looked up and spoke a few whispered words to Joe.

  The nurses had run back inside to grab some supplies, and they reappeared, one with a mobile trolley and one with a wheelchair.

  Joe’s face was serious. ‘Viv, you swap with Lien. Shout for me if you need a hand. Duc and I will take care of this.’

  Her heart twisted in her chest. She knew they were trying to protect her, and a grateful part of her brain kicked in. She was primarily a midwife. She wasn’t a children’s nurse. Could she even be useful to them anyway?

  Lien was still at the other car. She gave Vivienne a nod and they both ran, swapping places.

  The little red trouser leg had imprinted itself on her brain and it took all her strength to focus on the woman in the car in front of her. She wasn’t just pregnant. She was very pregnant.

  Viv spoke in her best broken Vietnamese. ‘I’m Viv. I’m a midwife at the May Mắn Hospital. How many weeks are you?’

  The woman had both hands on her stomach and tears running down her face. ‘Thirty-nine,’ she breathed. ‘But my waters have broken.’

  Viv looked further into the car. There was a damp patch on the front seat between the woman’s legs. Viv turned to one of the nurses. ‘Can I have a BP monitor and a stethoscope? And a portable Doppler.’ The woman had the window down in her car, and Viv reached her hand in to release the door. The worst impact had been on the other side, so thankfully the door opened with a couple of tugs.