Chapter 22: The Feelings Fading

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The steady hum of the hospital was beginning to feel like the background to Emily's life.

Every day, she entered those sterile halls and joined the whirl of activity that was medicine.

Yet, lately, there was something different in the air.

Every shift with Liam felt like an unspoken promise, a quiet acknowledgment of their budding relationship, but also a constant reminder of what they had to lose.

They were in dangerous territory, and both of them knew it.

It had been three weeks since they agreed to give things a try, and the unspoken tension that lingered between them had become palpable.

Emily couldn't deny that there were moments when her focus wavered when the warmth of Liam's smile or the touch of his hand felt like a distant whisper calling her to abandon all the walls she had spent so many years building.

But just as quickly as the warmth appeared, her internal defenses snapped into place.

She had worked too hard and sacrificed too much to let herself be distracted by something as risky as love.

The idea of letting someone in, especially Liam-her rival, her competitor-was terrifying.

But then there were the moments when she saw him in a different light: the way he cared for patients, the way he navigated through surgeries with a mix of precision and genuine compassion.

She watched him effortlessly collaborate with the other residents and attendings, blending into the fast-paced world of Johns Hopkins.

There were moments when she could almost see beyond the layers of competition between them when he was no longer just the rival that had pushed her to work harder, to be better.

He was someone she could imagine having by her side-not just in medicine, but in life.

But Emily knew all too well how fleeting those moments could be.

And as they made their way through another grueling rotation, those fleeting moments became harder to grasp.

It was nearing the end of their month-long shadowing rotation, and the stakes had never been higher.

Liam and Emily were now in the midst of one of their toughest assignments yet: a high-risk thoracic surgery.

Their attending, Dr. Marshall, was one of the most well-respected surgeons in the field, known for his no-nonsense attitude and precise, calculated approach.

Every moment in the operating room felt like a test, not just of their technical skills, but of their ability to hold their own in a high-pressure environment.

The night before the surgery, Emily found herself in the on-call room, reviewing the procedure notes for what felt like the hundredth time.

Her mind kept wandering, drifting back to the way Liam had been looking at her during the previous day's rounds-like he was waiting for her to say something, anything, that would break the tension.

But every time their gazes met, she couldn't bring herself to speak, to acknowledge the unspoken bond between them.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear the door open.

It wasn't until she felt a shadow fall over her that she looked up.

Liam stood there, leaning against the doorframe, his hands in his pockets.

His face was weary, the exhaustion from the past few weeks evident in the dark circles under his eyes, but his expression was open, inviting.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked his voice light but laced with something deeper.

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