Stitches in my Heart

Chapter 2

Marcus Andrews was already in the President's boardroom, deeply engrossed in his own thoughts of his own time when he was the president and the chief of surgery. He had made his peace with his sacrifice and his current position but he did sometimes find himself thinking of how things would have been if he hadn't fired Dr. Han and subsequently gotten fired himself. Aoki was busy on her phone with a donor, facing the window.

Glassman, Lim and Melendez entered the room respectively.

Andrews: "what is this urgent internal meeting about? Right before such an important surgical event for this hospital"

Glassman, getting irritated at all four of them for standing during such an important conversation, pointed at them to take their seats. "I think we need another Chief of Surgery".

"What?" Neil, Audrey and Marcus blurted out together. Aoki sat composed with her hands clasped together.

Glassman looked at Lim with assuring eyes and went on "I don't mean we need a new Chief, I mean we may need another chief. Two chiefs, so they co-lead the entire department". Filling in the silence as neither Neil, Audrey or Marcus spoke up, Aaron went on "The responsibilities, the level of patient care especially with the high stakes cases we are taking now, the burden of the doctors, residents, nurses and other surgical staff has tripled recently and we narrowly avoided getting license suspension and other restrictions on this hospital after last year's quarantine. This isn't the first time, this conversation has come up, it has been on the table for a while."

Glassman looked at Andrews and Aoki knowing that they were aware of the wishes of the board and the Foundation, for two chiefs, even during Marcus' time as Chief. Glassman understood, this was not the best time to bring up this conversation as Audrey was the first female chief and she would naturally feel resentful and be made feel incompetent, even though that was never the intent behind this conversation.

"Are you insinuating I am not doing my job right?", said Lim trying to hide the disappointment in her voice.

"Not at all. You are an excellent Chief, one of the best I may add and I have no doubts, that you will be able to carry on this responsibility with the best of your abilities. And I am not saying that we are going to have two chiefs. It was just an idea of mine, that is why I called for this internal meeting first.", said Aaron.

"Wouldn't having two chiefs complicate the process and especially the decision making as opposed to one person having the authority to call the shots? Not to mention that the hospital has never had two chiefs of surgery before" Neil contradicted.

"Dr. Lim, you are the Chief, if you feel like this discussion isn't necessary then we will end it right here." Said Aoki, while Aaron nodded in agreement, fiddling with the Rubik's Cube in his hands.

Audrey sighed back into her seat and fell into contemplation. Marcus knew the idea was coming from a practical intention. The workload of the surgical department had increased but he wasn't going to point that out, out of respect for Audrey.

Audrey, broke the silence and went on reluctantly "I mean, I can't deny that I wouldn't mind the extra help. The workload especially the administrative one that comes with the position, has increased things on my plate. I know I can do this job most efficiently and effectively but I am also not too arrogant to admit that two people, can share the responsibilities and co-chief the department better and I can take on more trauma surgeries this way."

Neil, Marcus, Aoki and Aaron looked at each other but let Audrey finish.

"Let's do it. Let's bring on another chief", Lim said in her calm authoritative voice.

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