Life of a Medical Intern

Chapter 5

"So... I guess you have finally decided to grace us with your presence." I raised my head and saw the head of the department Dr. Saleem eying me carefully up and down with an unpleasant look in his eyes. I furrowed my brows in confusion but otherwise remained silent. "Seems to me that you are disobeying our strict rules to be present in the hospital daily and never participate in the current strike. You never showed up from the day you were assigned here and that calls for punishment." Excuse me? Ok now I'm confused. I opened my mouth to object when he interrupted me. "You Know," he faced his colleagues wearing a smirk, "The kids of those who work in the government are always trouble. They act all cocky and think they're superior or something." Then he abruptly faced me in disgust. "They think they're too good to work. Isn't that right daddy's girl?" I stood there looking at him with my mouth open. His hate was radiating around him. I could feel it.

"Yeah, take the Minister of Interior Affairs' son." That was another attending. Dr. Marwan. "He's been here 2 months already and he's always late. He even sleeps during on calls. I caught him once sleeping on duty inside the ultrasound room." Then he murmured something which sounded like 'spoiled brats'. Ugghhh! No way are they comparing me with HIM! I tried hard not to roll my eyes in this one. I knew the guy they were talking about. We go way back. He was my senior, one year ahead of me in med school. He hated my guts and always thought of me as his rival. Him being the minister's son and me, well, being the daughter of the university's president at that time. May I remind you that I was that shy girl with the glasses and he was that show off rich kid with all the fancy cars and the newest brands of smart phones you never even heard of. Anyway, that ended up by awfully hating each other.

Ok! Can anyone please tell me what's going on? Because I never missed a thing since I started working here ."Excuse me, but I think something's wro...".

"Are you implying that you know better than us?" Dr. Saleem interrupted in a rage. Uh oh! Wrong move. " N-no. O-of course I'm not," I stammered. "I-I just w-wanted to sh-show you that I..."

"So now you're trying to show me how I manage my work?" His voice raised an octave. His eyes red with rage and I think I saw smoke crawling out from his nose. As a reaction, I took 2 steps back. Breathe Asma. Just Breathe. Everything's gonna be OK. Just calm down. I felt like I was a convicted murderer and this was my trial. 5 pairs of eyes were staring back at me, watching my every move and waiting for my response.

Ok, think. This man is a police officer with whichever high rank he got and also a doctor. Maybe if I acted like I was soldier in the army or something he might cool down, hopefully. I cleared my throat of its sudden dryness and blurted out "No sir. I'm sorry sir." I didn't dare to look him in the eye while saying so, so I just kept my gaze to the floor.

"Then what did you wish to achieve by what you said?" I recognized the voice to be of Dr. Marwan's. I raised my head slowly but still no eye contact. It's now or never. I took a deep breath and said in surprisingly confident tone "Sir, I've been here less than a week. I've started Monday and covered the on call on my first day. I also came yesterday to the OR and observed all the operations, and I'm here today for the outpatient clinic. That's why I don't understand why I'm in this predicament accused of being absent. I've never been late."

"Not according to this attendance sheet, you're not." I quickly raised my head and dared to look at him. Excuse me? What attendance sheet? Was I supposed to check on one of those? Dr. Saleem seemed to notice my confusion so he held a piece of paper with its front facing me. Of course I was standing in a distance so I couldn't make out anything of it except for a bunch of lines. He continued with a sinister smile. "It says here that you were absent since Monday till Thursday, which is today may I remind you. There's no signature next to your name and that's because you never attended any of the morning meetings held here every day. The sheet covers the whole week and your week is empty. "

Morning meetings? Here? "Dr. Saleem I didn't know..." I started but I didn't get the chance to finish. He suddenly pointed the paper to me accusingly. "Did you really think that you can fool us all by coming here, getting assigned to your unit, never coming to work in solidarity with the ongoing strike and get away with it? What are we to you, children?" He closed his eyes and put his fingers on the bridge of his nose as to ease a headache. He continued his speech with his still closed eyes. "You are a doctor. You took an oath, an oath that compels you to help people even in your darkest hours. This isn't a game we're talking about. These are real lives, lives of helpless people whom entrusted you with it. If you can't handle such a burden upon your shoulder then I suggest you get out before you hurt someone."

I can't believe what I just heard. He can't be serious. This is big; it's really, really big. I can't just GET OUT. Medicine is my life. I worked hard for it. I was breathing hard. I had to remind myself to breathe so I don't faint in front of my superiors/enemies. My eye sight was blurred from the accumulation of tears in them. I can't let them see me cry. Thank God I was a geek with glasses. I'm not weak and I certainly am not at fault here. I didn't know there was an attendance sheet. Maybe if I could explain this to him somehow..

I straightened my back and raised my head up looking straight ahead, right into his eyes, ready to object on this nonsense. He finally put the paper down on the desk in front of him and met my gaze smirking. My stomach must have known what I was about hear because it twisted horribly making me nauseous.

"As the head of the department and after a long negotiation with my colleagues, I hereby declare that you, from this moment, no longer work at this hospital. You must take your documents and return to the internship affairs to deal with you." He studied my reaction for a while but when he didn't see what he wanted he took a breath and spat the next line with all the hate in the world.

"In other words, Dr. Asma," he paused. "YOU. ARE. REJECTED!"

A/N

OMG can you believe them.. Even after all these years I still remember this moment as it was yesterday. Horrible is the word for it.

This chapter is dedicated to the sweet rainbowbrook

Her wattpad featured memoirs: Pretty Little Butcher, was what inspired me to write my own.

She was with me when I first wrote this book before I took it down.

Thank you.

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