THE STRANGER'S IDENTITY

The next morning, I woke up feeling so fresh. I got ready for the day quickly and rushed to the hospital. The call of duty had to be adhered to despite what had happened between me and Vincent. I needed to prove the jerk and his whore wrong.

I know. I know.

I did not need to prove anybody wrong, right? Right! But I could not help the urge to see the looks on their faces when I made it through and got that title. Then they would know that I was not just a poor dreamer.

I had wanted to be a doctor from an early age. All my life, I always pushed myself toward that dream. I made a lot of sacrifices for me to reach this stage. Nobody had any right to tell me that I was not worthy to be a doctor. The handsome stranger was right to believe that I had all it took.

That older man, huh! Remembering him alone brought a smile to my face and a throb between my legs. I blushed all the way down the long hospital corridor, memories of me and the older man playing in my mind. The soreness from our heated moment was still there, but it weirdly felt all sweet.

Regrets were nowhere to be found in my mind. He was the reason I was feeling so energetic, so lively. He was the reason why I could meet that cheating son of a bitch and walk past him like he never existed.

I was happy, re-energized, and all that thanks to that one-time moment with a random daddy. That is all that mattered—that I was happy, no longer weeping over things that didn’t matter. Things I could not control.

I walked right into the conference room and slid into the empty seat, which, to my disdain, was next to Vincent and Marylyn. The rotten idiots. If there was another empty space, I would have shifted there and escaped the negative vibes from the duo. But there was none.

They both smirked at me, their smug expressions igniting anger in me. But I held my cool tight, refusing to let them mess with my mood.

Just then, Chief Rooney cleared her throat. The room fell silent as she addressed the group. “Today is the first day of your future at Brookside General Hospital. At this final stage, it is not only your knowledge that will be tested, but your strength too. This is not a place for the weak.”

My leg bounced nervously under the table, and I heard a giggle from both Vincent and Marylyn.

“You might want to quit right now to avoid embarrassing yourself in the end, dreamer!” Marylyn murmured, just loud enough for me to hear.

I ignored her and maintained my focus on the chief. I was not a weakling. Failing was not an option. Giving them the satisfaction of seeing me fail was not an option either. I had to either make it or MAKE IT BIG! No other choice!!!

“All the same,” Chief Rooney continued. “I wish everyone all the best. And without further ado, let me introduce you all to Brookside’s most acclaimed surgeon.” He paused, looking toward the door.

All the eyes in the hall followed suit, and the door slowly swung open. A tall figure started marching in, his domineering presence and heavy steps commanding immediate attention. Everyone sprang to their feet in respect and honor, except me, whose stomach dropped as my eyes locked with the man’s.

That same pair of eyes…

That same face…

That same scent…

And that bandage on the face.

I had fucking attended to that wound the previous day.

Even from where I sat, I trembled after seeing the similarities.

“No motherfucking way!” I cursed under my breath, our gazes still locked while still frozen in my seat.

It was he. The man whose car window I had smashed. The man I had injured. The man I had tended to.

The same man I pressed a kiss on. The same fucking man I had sex with the previous night.

He stood right before me—tall, neat, with his Italian-made three-piece suit. Bold, cold, hot, and sexy. Just like I remembered him from our previous encounter.

“This can’t be happening,” I murmured to myself in denial again. I took a long blink, hoping that I would open my eyes and find another man staring at me. Just any other person, but not him.

“Hi, Dad,” A voice echoed beside me, and I immediately peeled my eyes open and shot up in befuddlement and denial, turning to the direction the voice came from.

It was Vincent; his face lit up in recognition of the man before us. My breath caught in my throat, my gaze darting between the two men in disbelief. My heart raced as realization sunk into my system, shaking me to my innermost core.

“D…Da…Da…d?” I stammered, earning the attention of everyone.

Vincent turned to me with a smug expression that dropped the moment he saw the look on my face. “Yes. This is Senior Surgeon Dr. Aldrich De’Luka, my father.”

No way! That should be a very bad joke!

“Yes, Leylla. This is my soon-to-be father-in-law. Why do you seem so shocked?” Marylyn asked with an equal amount of curiosity that everyone had.

A thousand knots formed in my belly. My stomach rumbled loudly, causing everyone to smirk at me. But I didn’t give a damn whether they laughed or not. All I wanted was to just wake up from this horrible nightmare that stood before me. All I wanted was someone to tell me that I was just hallucinating.

But no one said such a thing. And the figure before me didn't change even a bit. Even after blinking a couple of times, his tormenting figure remained the same.

And she asked why I looked shocked. ‘Because this can’t be fucking happening, for shame’s sake!’ I howled inwardly before slamming back into the seat, shame and disbelief washing over me.

The fuck!

How could I have broken up with the son and then fucked the father the next minute?

“Are you alright, Miss Leylla Marie Monroe?” Everybody shifted their attention to that voice, while I froze again for the ...nth time.

He called my name?

My full freaking name? How so? This man and I are supposed to be strangers, right?

“Umh, sorry… You know her, Dad?” His supposed son, Vincent, did me the honor of asking, and I inwardly thanked him for that because I was dying to know that too.

How could the man that I thought was a total stranger turn out to be not just the senior surgeon but also know me by my full name?

And for fuck's sake, did he really have to be Vincent's dad?