Ch. 3
It didn't take him long to find his intern. Cristina was hiding in the stairs room, gasping for air. What Burke really wanted was to hold her and tell her that things would be fine, but his better judgment told him there's a fine line to walk on as her attending.
He paused for a moment, fixing his eyes on the bruises inflicted by Liz Fallon's death through the glass of the door.
Burke pushed through the wooden door, which gave out a banging sound. She was about to leave when she knew who entered, but he couldn't let her go. He could let go of Liz Fallon, but not Cristina Yang, the woman who was beginning to make him light-headed.
"I—" Anger and frustration filled her face as she tried to say something.
He was afraid to touch her with words, so he grabbed both of her hands in his and tried to rock her.
"Let her go. We have to let her go." His face was calm, almost void of emotion, yet it was disturbingly consoling.
The teary eyes of hers pained him. He was sure it was love he was feeling for her, not just pity. She glanced down, then up, and down again. He wouldn't mind if she fell in his arms, but he knew her momentary lapse of vulnerability would soon be ovewritten by her forceful display of resistance.
Burke's hands didn't leave Cristina's for one single moment. There she was, looking like an injured puppy that was in need of a hug, something he was ready to give, but refrained from.
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Soon it was another day, a busy day. Burke knew he ought to be hurry or he'd be late for his surgery. Instead he paused as he sipped his Cappuccino two feet from the nurse station.
Burke could have walked off without looking back. He was a man of pride and he wasn't ready for rejection. Yet, curiosity made him motion backwards to see if Cristina picked up the mocha latte he ordered specifically for her. The coffee guy said that's what the curly hair doctor ordered last night. Burke hoped he's right. It was too girly a drink for Cristina Yang, he thought to himself.
Why was he handing her coffee he wasn't sure. There must have been a better way to transmit his feelings, but he wanted to be discreet.
She picked it up. Maybe it'll work out. Maybe.
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