Dental Love Story

"Are you the new dentist?", the voice of the man in the corner was directed at me. I had caught a glimpse of the owner. He seemed to be in his late twenties, with spiky bushy hair. He was wearing a short-sleeved white shirt, which suits the hot weather of Darwin. He does not have the most athletic body around- you can see the slight bulge of he tummy underneath the work shirt, but one can see traces of muscle through the sleeves of his shirt- he's got strong well-built arms. To top it off, he's got nice small eyes, eyes that I would strangely find attractive. He was half-smiling at me with the question. I smiled back and muttered "ya", not my most confident answer, but I thought it sounded somewhat cute. My mind was then preoccupied with making a good impression at this new workplace, yes, I thought, that would be my priority.

****

I met him again on the first day of work. He is my colleague. We both graduated at the same time, but he had been working there straight after graduation, while I was floating around, drifting from one clinic to another.. until I end up here in a sweltering hot place like Darwin.

He made me feel welcome. I feel I can ask him anything and he would do his best to help me, seeing that he's got more work experience compared to me. Often during the day he would pop by to my room, asking me questions, showing care and concern with my work and progress. What a nice fellow, I thought.

And of course I wasn't the only one who felt the same. All the other people in the workplace adore him, well most by the way, not counting the two associates most favored by the boss. But the rest of the people love him, from the front desk girl receptionists, to the numerous dental assistants, to the fat practice manager with a huge waistline that you can see his tummy wobbles every time he moves. He is a golden boy in the clinic, welcomed by everyone, loved by people and patients, and  always nice and considerate towards other people. That what makes him tick, I observed. Oftentimes I got somewhat jealous with him, but what an absurdity, he is very nice towards me that I cannot stay jealous for long. But I do wish I am somewhat like him, loved by everyone, get along well with people. I hate that part of myself that is mostly shy and introverted, quiet with nothing much intelligent to say, boring and trying to be nice to get people's approval, because I have a wrecked, low pathetic self-esteem. I have so many intrapersonal issues that I have to take medications for it. How it is helping me God knows, it's something I was forced to take by my parents, who feared I was going crazy. So I took it, religiously, every night, a tablet a day before bed. But I still have all these issues of low self-esteem, self-doubt, self-defeating negativity, self-condemnation, all those issues that I had to deal with from being bullied very badly in high school at a tender age of 16. In summary, I have alot of baggage, yet he still treats me very nicely.