The CEO and The Doctor

1. "I'm not interested in your babbling."

(1761 words)

It was a regular day at work for me. Slow and without much workload. Until it wasn't.

I had started working at the hospital a few months ago as a junior doctor after having graduated from medical school. In all those months, I'd had busy days and relatively quiet days. I had seen numerous patients and cases. Dealt with multiple emergency cases. Observed many surgeries and even assisted in some.

But no day matched the chaos of that particular one. Yet, for me it was just another case. Another day of a patient being rolled-in critical. Until it eventually became much more than that. I was clueless of my impending fate. Of the rollercoaster ride my life was about to become.

It was 7 pm. All was calm in the hospital. There wasn't much patient flow, so I sat doing some documentation.

The calm of my surroundings turned to dust within seconds as panic and chaos struck around. I lifted my head in confusion to look at the source.

A VIP patient was rolled into the VIP section on a stretcher. I looked at him from afar. All I could see was a blood soaked white shirt. The senior doctor I worked with called me, telling me to report to the operation theatre in the VIP section ASAP.

I rushed up to the OT, changing into my scrubs and scrubbing in as fast as I could. A member of the staff helped me into my gown, another helped tie my cap and mask, and then I hurried into the OT where an entire team tended to the patient who had been brought in.

It was a case of a gunshot wound in the abdomen. I didn't have time to ask about his name or any other details as he was swinging between life and death, and required immediate intervention, but from where I stood, I thought he looked familiar.

As I slipped my gloves on, I didn't know my life would forever change henceforth.

———

I stifled a yawn, taking another sip of my coffee that wasn't doing much to keep me awake. I had been in the hospital for the past 36 hours running on minimum sleep. My eyes looked out the windows nearby for a moment. It was a sunny day. I wondered if I would be able to finally go home that night.

My hands flipped the pages of a patient's file I was told to go through. Seeing everything normal, I started preparing their discharge documentation.

"Hey, Aysel." A familiar voice spoke before a redhead stood before me.

"Hey, Eva." I replied tiredly.

She knelt down in front of me, and I glanced at her, getting confused at the excitement she was radiating. She placed her hands on my knee and nudged me while I worked on completing the discharge form. "Is it true? The Aiden Knight was operated on here last night?"

I sighed, summoning one of the staff to take the discharge form from me. As he took it and left, I met my work partner and best friend's gaze. "Is that even something to get excited over?"

"Yes. I mean, the Aiden Knight was here. At the hospital I work at. And I wasn't there at the time. This is the first time I'm bummed at not being on night duty." She gushed, pouting at her sad fortune at the end.

I sighed again, shaking my head. "Don't be so dumb, Eva. That man is scary and dangerous. You should be seeking cover with him around, not getting stoked at the idea of seeing him."

"Oh come on," she waved off my remark. "I bet people make up stories about him being dangerous and all that because they're jealous of him."

I raised an eyebrow at her sarcastically. "And why would they be jealous of him?"