"You? Wesley Sykes?"

"Its Dr Wesley Sykes princess." He strolled in and placed his helmet on the desk. I had to move my laptop out of the way before the heavy black head-gear broke my keyboard. It landed with a resounding thud, that sounded eerily similar to a Judge banging his or her gavel. 

"Is this my office?" He looked around slightly impressed. "Not bad."

I slammed my laptop shut and stood up. I opened and closed my mouth for three seconds but was horrified when no words came out. Wesley Sykes was back?

You know when little boys are so cute, you tell their mother, oh he's gonna be a heartbreaker? That was Wes. He was the cutest little boy who grew to be every woman's dream man. 

And everyone else's nightmare. Wesley was the most troublesome teenager, the resident 'bad boy', his list of trouble was longer than Eminem's in his prime! Slim Shady might not have been back but the guy who was, was ten times worse.

Many people thought it was relief when he and his father moved to Cape Town, never in a million years did I think he would come back. Especially because I knew how much he hated this little town.

He used to stay four houses down from us and my mom loved him because he was always so nice to our guests. My parents owned a little inn and most days I was too young to help. He'd swing around to help out, wash dishes, mow the lawn, entertain the guests, you name it. I hate to admit it but at some point, I had a crush on him but I knew he'd never look at me that way. Which was fine, I wasn't interested in being on his long list of conquests anyway. When I was nine he stopped coming around so often and I barely saw him at school. After twelfth grade, he left and no one heard from him. Until now.

"I would introduce myself, but it seems you already know who I am." Of course, he didn't remember me. I tried to ignore the fact that, that stung a little.

"I wouldn't be so proud of that. Nobody is saying good things about you." 

He shrugged and stepped closer. "I'm ok with being the villain." 

The scent of him was slowly drifting up my nostrils. It was subtle but I could smell the sweet bergamot mixed with leather coming off him. He smelt like danger and sin. Like something forbidden. What was it they said about the forbidden fruit? I had to step back.

"I can't believe you're the new doctor..." I was saying more to myself but apparently, he heard me.

"Really? I've been an expert on the female anatomy long before I became a doctor."

"TMI Wes!" I scrunched up my face and lightly shook my head as if to banish the idea of him studying the female form in very creative ways. He froze when I called him the old nickname my mother used to call him and I wanted to kick myself.

He was looking at me as if he recognised me but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Well, I wasn't going to help him figure that out. Just as I was about to walk away, he called my name.

"River?" A small smile spread across his face, as he openly studied my face. Then his eyes dropped and took their time coming back up to mine. 

"River Coleman? You're River Coleman..." He said the last part like he was stating a fact. He looked like he wanted to add something but decided against it.

I don't know if this was a thing, but I think I had high school PTSD. I hated when someone looked at me because subconsciously I thought they were making fun of me. I was a chubby kid growing up and my case only got worse when acne hit. On my thirteenth birthday, the boys in my class bought me a pizza and wrote a note that said, 'happy birthday pizza face.'

I also had braces for most of my teenage years but my teeth were something that I actually liked about myself. I owed that to the braces, I guess. Years later, with a clear face, slim figure and perfect teeth, I was still insanely insecure.

"What?" I said defensively, hugging my laptop to my chest as if it was going to protect me from him.

"Nothing. You look good, didn't recognise you for a second."

I didn't know if that was a compliment or an insult, either way, I couldn't trust it. The boys at school would lie to me and fold over with laughter when I believed it. 

'Hey Pondie!' They always called me everything but my name. Stream, pool, puddle, lake, anything but River. 

'You look cool today.'

'Really?'

'No!'

I closed my eyes and shook my head again. It was weird how Wesley's presence was making me feel insecure all over again. Probably because he represented the 'popular kids'. I needed to get out of this room.

I quickly mumbled 'welcome to the practice, Dr Sykes' and squeezed past him. I was starting to feel disorientated and my breathing felt laboured.

Please Lord, let me make it to the bathroom. I mentally prayed. Do not let me have this panic attack out here.

Unfortunately on my way to the bathroom, Lucy saw me. The one time I needed her to actually keep her nose glued to her keyboard.

"Riv? You okay?"

I didn't have time to reply because I flew into the bathroom, at least I had the good sense to lock it. I let the cool grey door support me as I tried to suck in all the air in the world.

There was banging on the door. For a tiny Asian woman, she sure knew how to rock a door.

"Riv? Are you good?"

"Yeah..." I breathed out hoping she could hear me. This was so embarrassing. I'd been out of high school for how long? Why was this still haunting me? And why did this have to happen at work, of all places?

"You don't look good."

"Gee, thanks Lucy."

"I'm going to call Dr Sykes."

"No Lucy, please!" Silence. He was the reason I was having this panic attack in the first place.

"Lucy?" I swear to God if she went to go call him, I was going to kill her. If my anxiety didn't get to me first. I was starting to get dizzy and the pain in my chest tightened.

"River, open the door." Well, that was quick. It shouldn't have been a surprise, Lucy was the most efficient person I have ever met.

"River..." That was a warning. In between gasping for air, I thought about how ironic it was that I was hiding from the only person who knew how to help. "Don't make me break down a door on my first day."

I didn't doubt for a second that he could do that. I turned around and unlocked the door. Wesley stepped in and locked the door before Lucy could enter. He took both my hands and squeezed.

"The symptoms you're experiencing are a result of anxiety. Nothing harmful is happening." I couldn't say anything. I wanted to shrink away because this was so embarrassing. I tried to pull my hands away but he only held on tighter.

"I can't- I can't-"

"Ride it out. You just have to ride out the attack. Breathe deeply through the nose and out through the mouth. It's ok River..."

As I focused on his words and drowned out the embarrassment of it all, I slowly felt my heart rate slow down. He was breathing with me. His expression was blank like this was a routine procedure for him. After what felt like split seconds, everything around me stopped spinning. My lungs had opened up and my vision was clear.

"I'm sorry this is...so embarrassing." I apologised when I could catch a breath.

"We both know that's a lie." His hold on my hands loosened and they came up to stroke my arms. "We deal with pregnant women for a living, we've seen worse."

And just like that, he had me smiling. My smile was probably infectious because he was smiling too. I could feel the beginning of a headache take over, sleep tonight was going to bang. Now that I was relatively ok, I stepped back, letting his arms fall away from me.

He had a concerned look in his eyes.

"Is this the part where I tell you my life story?" I don't know why I was defensive but I just was. This was pathetic and embarrassing. I needed to save face.

He shrugged. "If you want to."

I wasn't expecting that. I was hoping he'd respond with something witty and then he'd laugh and I'd roll my eyes and walk away. No, I wasn't expecting him to offer a shoulder to cry on.

"I'm not one of your patients Dr Sykes."

"Never said you were Miss Coleman."

"It's Nurse Coleman." I threw his words back at him as joke. It was a weak attempt to ease the tension in here but he still looked at me with worry.

I couldn't stand the pitiful look in his eye so I walked out of the bathroom. Whether Silas would approve of it or not I decided to take the day off. If this is what it would be like working with Wesley Sykes, I was in for a nightmare.

The drive back home was longer than it needed to be. Where were all these cars coming from, weren't they supposed to be at work? I tapped on my steering wheel as I impatiently waited for a red light to turn green. 

Around this time of the year, business was slow. On most days my mother just hang around the inn, watching telenovelas, waiting for me to come home. She was pleasantly surprised when I came in.

"Hey baby, why are you home so early?"

"Quiet day." It was a lame excuse but I didn't want to explain that I basically fell apart in front of Wesley frikken Sykes. I tried to disappear to our house at the back but she followed me.

"Oh. Did you see Wesley's back?" Of course, she knew he was back. He was like the son she never had.

"Yes Mom, he works at our practice but you probably know that already."

"He's also staying with us. Room 3, how kind of Lucy to refer him to us?"

I forced myself to smile. "Yes. Very kind of her."

Damn that Lucy...too efficient for her own good!