Chapter Text
"What about that one?"
The elbow jab to his upper arm made him instinctively sneer, but the emotion faded as quickly as it had appeared. Lavender eyes flitted upwards behind a pair of rectangular shaped glasses. "She looks nice."
A look of humor was on his friend's tanned face, his brow furrowed in disbelief. "Nothing?"
"The opposite of nothing is something, and I seem to not understand what something I'm looking for at the moment, so if you could please...stop."
The sun-washed blond never really understood physical attraction, or for better words, didn't have the inkling for it. No amount of peer pressure would force a new feeling in him, certainly not his good friend's perseverance in surveying all the individuals in their current vicinity. With a grim expression, his friend put his cowboy hat back on his luscious but short golden curls, blue eyes closed in mourning for something Ford didn't understand.
"Don't get all up in a huff, buddy," Wayne joked as he gave his friend a finger gun and took a few steps backwards, free hand on his courier bag. "I gotta go, hope ya have a good day!"
"Yes, you too Wayne," Ford gave a curt wave, and then looked back down at the file he had been reading.
Wayne's insistence on trying to find him a partner was more a nuisance than it was helpful. In the course of his life, he had many individuals, family, friends- all who tried to find him a suitable companion. Unfortunately, old excuses no longer worked. At first, it was his focus on studies kept him preoccupied from love, and then his residency. On the dreaded day his residency ended, he knew it would only be a matter of time before this became another problem for him.
"There's far more urgent matters," He muttered under his breath, flipping to a page further in the back. Umekichi's file had grown over the past few years since Yuzuki asked him to check in on his grandfather. At first, Ford had considered something chronic, but over time, he realized it was a re-occurrence of illness; which meant there was an underlying issue plaguing his elderly patient. He just couldn't figure out what that underlying issue was.
"Sorry!"
The loud apology drew his gaze upwards. A girl with blond pigtails and a cute dress adorned with a farmer's apron was bowing to a tourist. She must have collided with the man accidentally. Well, it didn't seem like anyone was hurt. He allowed his attention to drift back to his file, and exhaled. A shadow loomed over him, blocking out the sun. The strong smell of hay and earth filled his nostrils. He looked back up, realizing the girl was now near him and leaning over to look at his document. With a quick slam, he had shut the document and his expression turned sour.
"This file contains confidential information, and you don't have permission to look at it. Excuse me." He stood up, towering over her now, at least two feet difference between the two of them.
"Uh," She blushed, and then shrugged, "Sorry? I should've asked, I....guess, I didn't think."
"Not thinking is a dangerous thing to do," He observed, hesitating for a moment. "Holly, isn't it?"
"Yeah," She replied, smiling.
"Nice work at the last festival. Excuse me." He stepped around her, glancing over his shoulder briefly as he waved. The woman was a powerhouse, he was aware, and he was also aware she was clumsy, easily distracted and somehow managed to excel in farming. It was very labor intensive work, and her small frame didn't seem to be fit for it, yet...impressive. Either way, their relationship was strictly formal, and she came in occasionally for remedies and pick me ups.
Her small wave and cutesy smile seemed to be sufficient enough of a send off, so he turned to focus on his own stride back toward his clinic.
Over the few years since Holly had arrived, a few people in town who were young and eligible had tried confessing their intentions to her. Strangely, she had declined them. Ford understood this, and on some level, he felt she was an equal in professionalism of her field. The work was more important than the distractions surrounding it.
That was something he could find admirable.