Open Heart: Second Year {On Halt}

Chapter 20- Intangible

Aurora left for Mass Kenmore the following morning. Unlike Edenbrook, she had to begin her shift exactly at six and before I boarded for T, she was gone. I hoped she fared well in our hospital's chief competitor and would get a chance to work consequent to her merit, not family.

Sometime today, Gwyneth was going to call and I was to offer her our services in order to unravel her mysterious disease causing abrupt loss in weight. I knew no matter what her problem was— DD would solve it within a few days at max. I was that confident in my team. I... wasn't confident on how Ethan would regard this. Every cloud had a silver lighting but in our case, Ethan was the thunder we never wanted to loom over our heads.

After entering the biometrics, I headed towards the department, taking the stairs as usual. Mornings were now often quiet, the hallways harboring lone nurses and sounds of faint heart monitor. I wasn't used to this silence in the sixth floor because my intern year involved juggling compelling cases, running room to room to make sure your patients were alive and trying to hide in some closet (I did that twice, I swear) in case your attending was pissed upon you. But this year...this quietness bothered me.

The hallway bridge which led to our department had no closure, rather opened foyer with balustrade and over it, steel railings which opened to the southern wing on one side and atrium on the other. Every time I passed by, my eyes naturally drifted to the almost completed section of our hospital—construction of the southern wing was halted because of absence of funding, but somehow, Panacea had decided to aid our hospital and provided the funds to have it developed. Which was simply confounding because we were facing with imminent unemployment while this pharma company was playing Bruno Zevi here. Naturally, I thought that they were planning R&D volume II but that would be too obvious. But to be honest, it made me dislike their shady nature even more.

A looming staircase which led to the fourth floor directly was finally completed, and I mildly felt intimidated by that structure. It felt as if someone was planning to climb on Pantheon with cobblestones. Of course, there weren't any cobblestones here. That would be ill-luck for all gurneys and my heels.

For reaching the department, there was only one turn of hallway which parted from the bridge. The foyer continued to the labs in front while to the left corner led to Anesthetics department.

When I rounded in the corner, I halted in my steps with surprise.

In front of me, Dr. Hirata was headed this way but...there was something puzzling about her posture. Usually, she carried an air of confidence and moxie but currently, her eyes were darting everywhere in general as if she did not wanted to be seen. I pushed myself behind the corner wall, hiding myself from eyesight and watched her taking hesitant steps towards Ethan's office. I knew Ethan wasn't here yet because he was caught with a last minute filing of conference allotment which was happening at the end of this month in Edenbrook, so why was June...

My eyes narrowed. There was something wrong. First of all, she always arrived at 8am and today she was way too early.

She glanced towards the place I was standing and I involuntarily crept back, training my ears on the sound of her heels which was starkly audible in the empty corridor. Her footsteps skidded for a few beats before stopping. I held my breath, counting five before peeking again.

June was now standing in front of Ethan's office and was watching it with hesitation. Her hands reached for the doors which needed password to open from outside in his absence and stopped— wiggling her fingers as if deciding to enter or not. Her face was pinched with demurral, eyes straining back and forth between the door and the floor. My heart thumped along in anticipation of her movements.