Untitled Chapter

Chapter 1

Lilith Pov’s

I was tired.

My back hurt from standing for countless hours, my neck had grown stiff and my legs threatened to bail on me but I had to keep moving.

I took the blue hospital gloves off my hands and dumped them into a bin nearby before washing my hands in the sink.

I had just walked out of my third surgery, each lasting over three hours and the workload today had been so much that there was barely any break in between.

I had been awake for fifteen hours now and from the way my eyes were beginning to blink repeatedly, I knew sleep was catching up with me.

I washed the drowsiness away, splashing cold water onto my face so that I'd be more alert because there were still many other patients waiting to be tended to.

Having been in the ER all day, I hadn't gotten time to check on my regular admitted patients though I had a nurse check on their conditions this morning.

I loved my work here as a pediatrician and having worked in this field for three years now, I could say being a doctor was tough.

Honestly were it not for this being my passion, I would have quit long ago.

There were days when you never slept, others when you got devastated, others when you didn't even know what to feel but in the midst of that all, you still remained to be the doctor, the patient's hope.

It had been quite a burden for me during my earlier years when a patient's family would look at me with so much hope in their eyes even when the situation wasn't looking so good.

It tore my heart so bad, to see a child so young in a painful situation, battling against a rare disease so as to survive.

I remember crying almost every week during my first year, the pressure being so much for me to endure.

It was also along that time when I got to meet my best friend, Oliver. He had tremendously helped me grow out of that phase and were it not for him, I don't think I'd have come this far.

Oliver and I had gone to the same medical school though at that time, we hardly knew each other. I only knew him as a classmate then.

Then after completing our studies, we somehow got placed in the same hospital and it was from there our friendship grew.

He was the only friend I had, not that I was antisocial but he was the only genuine friend I had. He knew me just as much as I knew him.

Most of the people around me remained to be acquaintances and that made me appear quite reserved to the public.

It was really a great way to keep trouble away from you and I was glad from the barely there attention I received from others.

Walking into the female locker rooms, I changed out of my surgery attire into my regular clothing and then put on a white lab coat over.

I then went to the hospital cafeteria to grab a quick coffee that would keep me active for the next few hours.

Later on I went through my patient's files as I analyzed each one of them, checking how they were progressing and how slow or fast it was being.

I was almost done with the files when my phone rang and I had to stand up from my seat to check where it was ringing from.

My office wasn't a pleasant sight to see at the moment, files lay all over and there were some bit of cake crumbs on the sofa where I had comforted a crying child.

Finally finding the phone, I slumped back into my seat, a smile forming on my face when I saw who was calling.

"Orion?" The other side of the line was quiet and I scoffed while looking at the screen before saying another hello.

That was typically how my brother would react. He loved pulling pranks on me and it was not until I cleared my throat a third time that he answered.

"Lily, my little sister, how have you been?" He sweetly asked and I pressed the phone closer to my ear as I told him how life had been for me.

Orion was in the military and I only saw him during specific times when he visited us but that wasn't consistent either.

I was usually worried about him, everyone in the family was and it had taken us a while to respect his choice of profession.

At least he called us regularly since it did lessen the tension we had in our hearts, especially the worry our parents carried along.

"That sounds tough, did you at least eat?" He asked again after I'd told him what had happened at the hospital today.

I was silent, the last time I had eaten being a few hours before my night shift yesterday.

"Don't tell me you're drinking coffee right now," Orion sighed loudly before asking me to grab something from the cafeteria.

I didn't get to reply before I heard a loud bang from his end followed by him cussing under his breath. The sound was quite familiar so I asked him what was happening.

"Orion, what was that?" I heard another creak then the jingling of keys before another bang followed.

"Guess what?" I could tell that he was rubbing his hair from how sheepish he sounded as he asked the question.

"You're home," I replied passively while trying to arrange some of the read files on my office table.

"How did you know?" he asked again and I almost stood up at his response.

"Wait, you're really back?" My eyebrows rose and I tapped on the table excitedly, hoping it wasn't another of his prank.

"Of course, I wanted to surprise you though," he sighed aloud and then asked, "How did you know?"

"I can tell from the creaking sound of the elevator," he hummed to himself and promised to be discreet next time.

"Does Luce know that you're back?" She was our elder sister who lived further away from here though closer to our parent's house.

"Not yet, I wanted to see the baby of the family first." Orion made a funny giggling sound that made me laugh.

There was actually a child in our family but Orion loved to tease about me being the last born.

Luce had a two year old son named Lucas, whom I loved dearly and would often babysit when I got time.

"When will you be done with work?" He asked so as to make cooking arrangements before I was back.

"I'm not sure, but by 7 I'll be done." I checked through my remaining activities of the day just to be sure.

I thanked him for choosing to cook my favorite foods and we ended the call shortly after he said we'd talk more at home.

I had barely relaxed back into my seat when a nurse came rushing in with a file in her hands.

"Dr Ashford, the patient in room 11 is sweating profusely, their blood pressure isn't stable either."

I quickly stood up and followed her into the pediatric ward where a six year old girl sat at the very end, her forehead sweaty as her family surrounded her.

I politely asked everyone to step away as I did the necessary checkup till her situation appeared stable enough.

She was one of the young girls battling leukemia and for the three days she had been admitted, I knew it was tough for her and for her parents.

I asked the nurse to update me on her condition more often before assuring her parents that everything was under control.

I took this time to monitor the other children here and finding nothing alarming, I decided to grab a quick snack as Orion as advised.

Feeling for my hospital card over the pockets of my lab coat, I smiled at the kids one more time before waving them off and walked out.

I spotted Oliver standing at the very end of the hallway and having not seen him for the entire day, I rushed towards him and held onto his arm as I hugged him.

"Where have you been?" I whispered softly and looked up at him because something felt different with him.

To my utter dismay, it wasn't Oliver's face that I was met with, rather, an unfamiliar man stared back at me.

I blinked away unbelievably and it was then I seemed to realize why he felt different.

This was not Oliver. I had jumped onto a stranger thinking it was my best friend.

I didn't know whether this was a side effect of being awake for so long but I had been so sure that it was Oliver from afar.

I now felt slightly shorter than I normally was when I was with Oliver and my eyes followed my left hand that held onto the man's arm.

I withdrew my hand immediately, my face warming for a second as I got a good look at the man.

Seeming to have no control over my own eyes, I ogled at the sight before me.

The guy was surely tall, he had thick transparent glasses framed on his eyes and a well trimmed cut that highlighted his looks more.

He had a black jacket on his arm and I couldn't help but stare at how good he looked in the simple white shirt.

I spotted an expensive looking watch on his right wrist before my eyes went to his arms again.

He really had large arms.

He hadn't even folded the sleeve of his shirt fully but it was so noticeable if you were close by.

There was a small file in his left hand and it was then I realized that I had just been staring at him.

I took two steps back and looked away while trying to hide my blushing cheeks because the man was still staring at me.

I shifted on my feet and looked at him again but surprisingly this time I found him much closer than before.

I had surely moved two steps away, right? I shook away my reasoning for now and looked up at him confidently.

He hadn't said a word and it was starting to feel strange now. I thought of what this attractive man would be doing in a children's ward and having no plausible reason, I went for my first assumption.

"Are you lost?" My voice somehow felt shaky as I asked and I saw the man slightly push his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he continued to look at me.

"No," he replied confidently and I saw him try to discreetly look around him before he whispered a yes, his expressions still as stoic as ever.

"Which department were you looking for?" I looked at the file in his hand and beckoned him with my eyes so that he'd let me have a look.

I'm not sure if I was paying too much attention to him but I hadn't seen him blink, even for a second.

He passed me the file but still didn't reply my previous question. It wasn't uncommon for patients to get lost in this large hospital.

My eyes scanned over his file briefly and I had to do a double take when something at the center of the page caught my attention.

This man was no patient, he was a surgeon. A cardio-thoracic surgeon at that.

My eyes blinked over the words before I looked up at him. Surely I would have known if this face belonged to a surgeon here, right?

His emerald green eyes shifted all over my face and I looked down at the file again as I called, Dr Lorenzo Davis.

This time he blinked, his left hand went to the back of his neck and he looked away.

"You've been working in this hospital?" My words didn't make sense because if he really worked here, he wouldn't have gotten lost.

"No," he curtly replied again as he adjusted the jacket still in his arms and then looked at me.

"Ooh, so you're new here?" I filled in the details for myself since the man seemed to be a yes or no person.

He gave me a firm nod at that and I looked at his file again just to be sure where he was supposed to go from here.

Seeing the familiar name of Dr Marlin made me smile briefly as I sighed in relief. At least I knew where his office was.

I was just about to direct Dr Lorenzo to where the general surgery department was when he moved closer and pointed at the top of the file.

I dumbly stared at him, when the words he'd uttered passed by with me hearing none of them as my senses shifted to how close he was.

"I was told to meet her first." I looked at him in confusion then down at the paper to get ahold of what he was saying.

"Dr Karin?" I asked after reading the name first and he nodded after my confirmation.

Dr Karin had been away for the past week. She was supposed to do a special operation abroad so I wasn't so sure if she was back yet.

"Okay, you just have to walk down this hallway then on your left, you'll get to the lobby. You'll take the lift till the second floor and the secretary there will guide you."

He didn't respond to any of the words I said, his head was somehow angled my way and it appeared as if he was bending.

I called his name twice before he seemed to realize and I wondered how he could just easily zone out.

Perhaps he was just as tired as I was.

I repeated the directions once again, this time I properly defined everything then gave him back his file.

He took it reluctantly and when I noticed that he wasn't planning on leaving, I questionably looked at him.

He didn't say anything, so I went for my guessing ability. It only worked on children but I gave it a try.

"Are you afraid of getting lost again?" I playfully asked in a smile but to my surprise, he nodded.

He stared at me confidently and after realizing that he was dead serious, I led him to the general surgery department.

This time I took a different route from the one I'd explained to him and I hoped he didn't think of me as a liar.

We quietly got there after a massive flight of stairs and after briefly speaking to the secretary there, I took him to Dr Marlin's office.

I brought him till outside the door and after confirming that he was comfortable, I turned to leave after a final smile.

What I didn't expect was for him to softly tap the back of my shoulder when I was about to leave.

I expectantly looked at him as I waited for what he wanted to say. He rubbed his left hand over the back of his neck again and looked away for a second.

"Y-your name?"

My eyes widened disbelievingly and for a moment I got dumbfounded. He had asked so softly, like it was very important.

"I'm Dr Lilith Ashford." I passed him a small smile as I put both of my hands into my coat pockets.

He stared for a while longer and having nothing more to say, I turned to leave. This time he didn't stop me.

My steps wobbled halfway and with that I knew someone was watching me.

Dr Lorenzo Davis.

Just by thinking of his name, I knew the hospital would be a different place tomorrow.