Rhekker || Never Let Go

Chapter 10: Wishes Come True

[Resuming from 4×7]

[Chicago Med, Lobby]

"Man, those vanilla lattes never get old, do they?" With a paper cup in her hand, Ava takes the stairs down from the cafeteria.

Walking along with her, Connor raises his eyebrows mischievously, "Why do people think drinking black coffee makes them cool?"

"We don't, we are cool, so we drink black coffee." Ava lifts her chin. Looking at each other, they both chuckle in a good mood.

Since Connor's confession, there's been an increasing chemistry between them. They've been going out together — even to Will and Natalie's engagement party. These past few days, they hadn't had even a single disagreement.

Ava is full of joy and has almost put her secret behind her. If things can just keep going this way, she'd rather he never know.

But some things can't be hidden forever. On this day, the thing she fears most finally happens.

"Is that my dad?" Looking down from the staircase, Connor frowns. A group of people has just walked out from the conference room, and among them, an invidious figure — Cornelius Rhodes. He rushed down the stairs, "Hey Dad."

"Connor! Hello." The man turns around. Approaching the duo, he looks at Ava, "Hello Dr. Bekker."

Ava doesn't respond. Her temples are pulsing heavily. Looking at his smug smile, she has a bad feeling.

Shaking Cornelius's hand, Connor is not sharing his father's mood: "You are a little far from your office, aren't you?"

"Didn't you hear?" Cornelius raises an ill-intentioned smile, "I have a seat on the Board now. I guess we'll be seeing more of each other." Deepening his smile, he doesn't forget to nod to Ava before leaving.

Ava is still in shock. She always knew Cornelius's nature, but never thought he would go this far to control Connor. No wonder he agreed on the donation so abruptly— he must've calculated for this all along.

By the time she's straightened out her thinking, Connor has already learned the truth from Gwen Garrett. "Unbelievable." Connor almost can't contain his anger, "He is always trying to undercut me, trying to have some kind of power over me."

"Oh..." Mechanically following his steps, Ava can't manage to attend to him. She can't believe she gave Cornelius a chance to be on the Board. She doesn't know, her distraction immediately stirs up Connor's suspicion:

"Wait a second... Did you know?"

At this, Ava finally realizes she's given herself away. But it's too late. Connor changes to an affirmative tone, "You knew and you didn't tell me." He looks at her, his anger towards his father now turned to the one he loves: "So instead, you lie to me, to my face for weeks?"

"I didn't lie, I just didn't mention it." Ava attempts to defend herself, but her guilt makes it appear weak.

"No Ava that is a lie! That's great. Thank you very much." Mocking her ruthlessly, Connor storms off.

[Chicago Med, E.D.]

"Code Orange! Code Orange! Everybody out now!!!" Following Maggie's nervous shouts, all the people in the E.D. flood to the door.

In the hybrid O.R., Connor is hectically trying to transfer his patient. "Ava!" He spots the woman running past the door, "Bring me a gurney!"

"They are all in use." Seeing the situation in the room, Ava rushes in to help.

Looking at the weak patient, Connor knows it's too late to leave now. He runs to the door and shuts it, "This room has positive pressure ventilation. We are safe as long as we stay in here."