Chapter 2

As Yvette stepped out of the OR, the team was gearing up for an emergency surgery. Suddenly, she got emotional outside.

"Yael, am I really that useless?" Yvette asked.

"Don't say that, Yvette. You did great. It was your first time leading such a major surgery, and you didn't even pass out right there. That's already something," Yael reassured her.

"No, Yael, I need to prove myself. I don't want to be the one dragging everyone down. Let me go back in. Let me open the chest myself and do the bypass," Yvette insisted.

"Alright, I'll let them know. Get ready, and you're going back in as the lead surgeon," Yael said.

"Listen up, everyone. Dr. Draycott is taking the lead on the open-heart surgery. No one moves unless I say so," Yael announced.

The comms went dead silent. Nobody wanted to say another word about that crazy pair.

I kept my eyes glued to the monitor. The patient's vitals were tanking, and the ECG line looked like it could flatline any second.

"Vanessa, I'm back," Yvette called out.

She kicked open the OR door, still in her original scrubs, and swaggered over to stand right next to me.

"Doctor, you're not sterile anymore," a nurse protested.

The nurse tried to stop her, but Yvette just shoved her aside.

"Vanessa, can you show me how to saw open the chest?" Yvette called out.

"I'm not here to play games with you," I snapped.

I didn't even look at her, just threw that out there as I got ready to start the surgery. There was no time to waste.

She instantly got annoyed, gave me a hard shove, and set her instrument tray down with a thud, blocking my path.

"Vanessa, come on, just tell me. Don't be so stingy," Yvette whined, practically pouting at me.

That shove was no joke. I almost crashed into the equipment cart, and my side was burning with pain.

But with the patient's life hanging in the balance, I couldn't afford to argue with her. I had to get the surgery started, and fast.

When I ignored her, she doubled down and started shaking me by the arm.

She clung to my arm with both hands, shaking it back and forth.

Being a surgeon wasn't child's play; we spent years training just to keep our hands rock steady.

I had had top-tier surgical training. No way someone who could barely hold a scalpel could ever compete with my grip.

My arm didn't move a muscle.

I was at my limit. "Yvette, if you're going to act crazy, get the hell out of here. Stop making a scene and quit getting in my way."

As soon as she heard that, she started sobbing and whining into the comms. "Yael, Vanessa doesn't want to teach me at all. I begged her, but she just left me hanging. I just know she thinks I'm dumb and can't do anything right."

Yael didn't even pause; he went off on me over the comms.

"What's so hard about sharing a little knowledge? Your dad died young, right? Did your mom, the one who picked up junk for a living, ever teach you how to act like a normal person?" he snapped.

He knew my single-parent background was my Achilles' heel. I grew up with my mom busting her ass every day, picking up junk just so we could survive.

Back in school, the other kids gave me hell for it, always looking down on me. Their parents even banded together and tried to get me expelled.

"Our kids can't go to school with some trash-picking kid. That's so gross," they all complained.

After graduation, Yael was the only one I ever told about it.

He once held me close and said my heart was pure. He told me it didn't matter if my mom picked up junk for a living. Even if I did it myself, he'd never judge me.

But now, he was using the cruelest words, tearing apart the last bit of trust I had in him.

I was so mad that I could've shattered my teeth.

But I knew now wasn't the moment to confront him.

Once the surgery was done, I'd take my time settling the score with him.

I glanced back at the monitor, and my heart dropped; the patient's ECG was about to flatline.

And Yvette was squinting at the glare from the surgical lights and just reached out to fiddle with the lamp arm like it was nothing.

Her gloves were already contaminated from outside, and now she was waving them all over the sterile field without a care in the world.

She had absolutely no clue what sterile even means.

Our entire surgical area was compromised.