Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Love I Couldn't Clock In For: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 8

At ten o'clock that night, I made my way to sub-basement two of the med school's lab building. The hallway lights flickered. The air reeked of formaldehyde and rotting flesh.I pushed open the metal door, and a blast of cold air hit me. At the dissection table, a figure in a white coat stood with his back to me, head bent over his work. Under the shadowless lamp, his profile was sharp and clean, and the hand gripping the scalpel was rock steady."Get changed, wash your hands, and glove up in doubles," he said, without turning around. His voice was ice cold.I put on the protective suit and pulled on my gloves before stepping up beside him."The sink over there has more than a hundred instruments that were just used, and next to it is the discard table," he said. "You have one hour to scrub them clean and put them back by number." He stepped back half a pace. "If you're squeamish enough to throw up in my lab, you can leave right now."I walked to the sink. The instruments were cake

The lecture hall was packed, standing room only.The moment I walked in, the chatter dropped to a hush. Dozens of eyes swung toward me. I walked straight to an empty seat in the front row and sat down, pulling out my notebook.The bell had just rung when the doors were shoved open. Rhonda stormed in with three relatives in tow. Trailing behind them, shoulders hunched and eyes darting anywhere but at me, was Sean."Giselle, get out here!" Rhonda's shrill voice rang through the hall.The professor at the front frowned and set down his chalk hard. "Ma'am, we're in the middle of a class. Please leave."Rhonda ignored him completely, charged up to the podium, and dropped to her knees. The room erupted."Everyone, judge for yourselves! I busted my back raising this girl, gave her six hundred dollars a month, and she still says it's not enough!" She shrieked, working herself up. "She's out there taking loan-shark money and selling herself! I'm dragging her home today if it kills me. I

In the blink of an eye, junior year arrived.Over the past two years, I'd climbed from the lab's lowest rung, scrubbing instruments, to standing at the operating table as lead surgeon. All that quiet grinding paid off. I'd published a landmark paper out of Professor Cheshire's lab and started making a real name for myself in medical circles.Between scholarships, research stipends, and patent royalties, I'd put a down payment on a small apartment near campus. I finally had a place of my own.Rhonda and Sean, meanwhile, were falling apart. Sean's five-thousand-dollar loan had grown so large Rhonda had to sell her car just to fill the hole. After that, she'd hung that same brutal Family Attendance Chart around Sean's neck instead.That afternoon, I'd just walked out of surgery when my phone rang. It was an unknown number. The second I picked up, Sean's furious voice came roaring through."Giselle! Did you block Mom? Pick up her call right now!"I gave a cold laugh. "Spit it out or

Officer Marlon closed the file and let out a heavy sigh. "Even a tiger doesn't eat its own cub. That woman's completely out of her mind."I leaned back in my chair and suddenly laughed, tears streaming down my face.Did she ever actually love Sean? Please. She only loved herself. When Sean could feed her vanity and her need for control, she spoiled him rotten, no limits. But the second her precious son turned into a bottomless pit that only drained her, she raised the knife without blinking."Ms. Kerr, this case involves attempted murder and excessive self-defense, so it'll go through formal prosecution. Rhonda is brain-dead right now, kept alive on a ventilator. Sean used excessive force in self-defense and caused serious injury, so he's definitely going back in, with an even harsher sentence this time."Officer Marlon looked at me, his eyes full of sympathy. "I'm sorry for your loss."I stood up and straightened my clothes. "Officer Marlon, I stopped having family a long time