LOGINEmilia's POV
The next morning was total chaos. Richard already disappeared before I woke up. And I was almost running late to work. I grabbed my car keys on the table, slammed the room door shut, and I ran down the spiral staircase. I didn't have breakfast because I couldn't bear to waste anymore time. I spotted my car parked amidst the other cars. A black Chevrolet which matched the color of my shirt and pants. I got in, and I drove out immediately. Getting to the hospital, I saw patients being dragged on a stretcher. I knew it! I had a bad feeling about today right after I saw the news this morning. A plane crash happened nearby, and most of the patients were brought to our hospital. “Doctor Emilia,” Janet called as soon as her eyes settled upon me. “The ICU is full, we need support,” she said in an uneven voice. “Got it!” I hurriedly moved to the ICU. Damn! There were a lot of injured people. Some were bleeding profusely, while others already passed out. I went to the sink, I washed my hands, I put on my gloves, and I wore a face mask. My eyes darted first to the little girl crying beside her mother, her mother already lost consciousness and the girl had a severe wound on her hand, and a bruise on her forehead. She wore the most unlively expression I had seen on a five year old. I knelt beside her, “Come one little one, let the doctor treat you.” “My mommy,” she pointed at her mother with teary eyes. “Don't worry baby, your mother would be fine,” I said to her. I held her hand and I took her to the corner of the room. She sat on the hospital bed while I administered treatment. “Would my mommy be fine?” She asked again. “She would be fine, dear,” I reassured her. After I bandaged up her wound, I injected her with a serum that would make her dose off. She was too worried about her mother. I made a mental note to check back on her. “Doctor Emilia! You are needed in theater room four,” a nurse yelled from afar. “Coming!” I clutched onto my lab coat tightly, and I sprinted to the theater. An operation was ongoing. There were about seven doctors and five nurses in the room. “He had a brain tumor, a hit from the crash worsened it. We need to undergo a craniotomy to save him.” The doctor standing beside me said. I nodded. The doctors already split open his skull, and they already took out the bone flap. An older doctor caught a glimpse of me. He dropped his ultrasonic aspirator on a tray, and he made space for me. His shift was probably over, so I was to take charge. I moved closer to the patient, and I took a look at the MRI scan. The scan showed that he had a huge tumor, but looking at the open skull under the microscopic light, I couldn't find a cause for his deficits. The other doctors also seemed tired, some concluded that the tumor was in an inner part of his brain, and it couldn't be removed. I took the smallest sized operating scissors from the nurse's tray, and I also tried to locate the tumor. All effort was to no avail, and the man's pulse was dropping. We needed assistance. The man would die if we do not find the tumor on time. “The authorities called Adrienne Coal, an international surgeon, he'd be here in a few minutes,” a nurse announced. That was a relief. But we did not abandon the man, we still kept trying our best while waiting for the international surgeon to arrive. The door sprang open shortly. “The doctor is here,” a voice called. I turned to see the doctor, but instead I got the worst shock of my life. That was not an exaggeration. The international doctor turned out to be the man from last night. I froze. I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me. He was Adrienne Coal? The best surgeon? The nurses made way for him, and he hurried over to the patient. I put my head down trying to avoid eye contact. He took a quick check on the man, and he checked the scan too. “Damn it! The tumor was in the left-mid part of his skull, it has spread a lot,” he said. His tone was everything but professional. The other doctors eyes widened. Shit! The tumor was in the left-mid part all this while. The MRI scan played a trick on us. “We have to cut open the mid part of his head too,” Adrienne said. “Isn't that dangerous? Cutting him twice?” Doctor Ember asked. “A vertical cut. That's the only way to save his life,” Adrienne responded. We nodded, and we started the operation all over again. Adrienne did most of the job. His experience was on another level. But altogether, the surgery was a success. I tried my best to avoid him after the surgery ended. I didn't take off my face mask, I only took off my gloves, and I washed my hands. As I turned to leave, I heard a sharp voice call “Doctor Emilia?”EMILIA’S POV I returned to the hospital through the side entrance, hoping the quiet hallway would help me settle my thoughts before facing another busy day. Adrienne had left the apartment several minutes before me, just as we planned, but my body still remembered the warmth of his hand and the way he had looked at me before I walked away. I kept my eyes lowered as I moved through the corridor, pretending to be more interested in the patient files against my chest than the people passing by. Then I heard footsteps behind me, followed by a familiar voice calling my name. I turned and found one of the junior nurses smiling at me. “Doctor Emilia, you and Doctor Adrienne came from the same direction this morning,” she observed casually, tilting her head as though she had only just noticed the coincidence. “Were you both attending to an emergency somewhere?” My stomach tightened, but I forced a small laugh and adjusted the files in my arms. “Not exactly. We were both coming from the s
EMILIA’S POV Adrienne’s message arrived just after sunrise, while I stood before my wardrobe, wondering what kind of day I wanted to have. He asked me to meet him after work, and unlike his recent messages, this one mentioned no patients, files, or emergencies. It was personal, and that simple difference made my heart beat faster than I expected. When I entered his car, I immediately asked where we were going. Adrienne glanced at me, amused, before pulling away from the hospital parking lot. “You’ll find out,” he promised, keeping one hand on the steering wheel. “And before you ask, we’re not going to my apartment.” His answer made me curious, suspicious, and strangely excited. “Why not?” I asked, turning toward him with a small frown. “You’re the one who invited me.” Adrienne’s expression softened as he watched the road. “Because I don’t want every moment we share happening behind a locked door. I want one day that isn’t connected to fear, secrecy, or Richard.” His words touched
ADRIENNE’S POV I had barely finished my morning rounds when I opened the hospital security report again. The faint trace of disinfectant on the blackmailer’s photographs had stayed in my mind for days. It could have meant nothing, but I had learned not to ignore small details when someone was deliberately hiding the truth. “Doctor Adrienne, are you looking for something specific?” the security supervisor asked, standing beside my desk with a tablet in his hand and a cautious expression on his face. “I need access records for restricted staff information,” I replied, keeping my voice low. “Not patient files. Staff schedules, employment records, private contact details, anything that requires special permission.” The supervisor frowned. “Why do you need that information?” I slid a written request toward him. “Because someone may be using hospital access to gather information about one of our doctors. I don’t want the staff alerted yet. If the person knows we’re watching, they’ll st
EMILIA’S POV The club looked exactly as I remembered it, loud music shaking the walls, colored lights flashing across the crowded room, and strangers laughing as though nothing terrible had ever happened. I stood outside Justin’s office, reminding myself that I had not returned to relive the past. I was there because someone was using that past against me, and I needed answers. Justin looked up when I entered, surprise crossing his face before concern replaced it. He pushed the papers on his desk aside and leaned forward. “Emilia, what are you doing here? You should have called first.” I closed the door behind me, keeping my expression calm while studying his reaction. “I wanted to speak privately, Justin. This couldn’t wait.” He pointed toward the chair opposite him, his eyes moving over my face as though searching for an explanation. “You look worried. Is something wrong?” I sat down, keeping my handbag tightly against my lap. “Someone has been blackmailing me,” I answered, watc
EMILIA’S POV I told myself Adrienne’s distance was necessary, that I had no right to complain when I was the one refusing to make a decision. Still, knowing something was necessary did not make it hurt less. His silence followed me everywhere, filling the spaces between my thoughts and making even the busiest hospital corridor feel strangely empty. At work, I caught myself looking for him without meaning to. I glanced toward his office whenever I passed the doctors’ wing, slowed down near the consultation rooms, and listened for his voice during morning rounds. Each time I remembered he would not be waiting for me, something inside my chest tightened. “Are you looking for someone?” Janet asked, appearing beside me with a file pressed against her stomach, her curious eyes following the direction of my gaze. “No,” I answered too quickly, adjusting the papers in my hands. “I was only checking whether Doctor Williams had arrived.” Janet raised one eyebrow. “Doctor Williams is in the
ADRIENNE’S POV Adrienne noticed Emilia before she noticed him. She stood near the nurses’ station, holding a patient file against her chest while pretending to listen to Janet. Her eyes kept moving toward his office, waiting for him to look up. He did not. He forced himself to remain focused on the report in front of him, even though he had already read the same sentence four times without understanding it. “Doctor Adrienne, the laboratory results for room twelve are ready,” Janet informed him, placing the file on his desk with a careful smile, but her eyes moved between him and Emilia as if she could feel the tension neither of them was willing to explain. “Thank you, Janet. Please leave them here, and remind the nurses to monitor the patient’s temperature every two hours,” Adrienne instructed, keeping his voice calm while he avoided looking at the doorway where Emilia had finally turned away. He had not stopped caring about her. That was the problem. If he had stopped caring, d







