Chapter 3
As I was about to wish the ground would swallow me up, a calm, slightly amused voice came to my rescue.
"Alyssa, come here," Ellen called out.
I stiffened and looked up, only to find Ellen watching me.
There was no reproach in her eyes, only a teasing amusement.
I shuffled over to her like a puppet on strings.
"D-Dr. Godwin..." I stammered.
My voice was so quiet, it was barely audible.
Ellen gave my shoulder a reassuring pat, then turned to Julian, who was lying in the hospital bed.
Julian's expression was even more dramatic than when I'd had to insert his catheter yesterday.
His mouth was hanging so wide, like he could fit an egg in there.
His eyes were huge as saucers, staring at me and Ellen like we were some kind of world wonder.
Ellen reached out with mock annoyance and checked Julian's forehead.
"Has the fever scrambled your brains? Or is the pain too much for you?" she teased.
Her tone was so casual, like a mom teasing her clueless kid.
My mind went completely blank.
A wild, yet somehow the only explanation flashed through my mind.
Was Ellen Julian's mom?
My famously strict and cold mentor was actually the mother of my sworn enemy, the guy whom I'd been feuding with for ten years?
This realization blew my mind even more than my earlier social death moment.
The doctors around seemed unfazed, like they'd seen this a hundred times before.
Brian grinned and teased, "Dr. Godwin, your son really yelled 'Mom' with some serious energy. Looks like he's recovering well."
Ellen gave Julian a glare.
"Recovering well? Please, I think his brain got wiped clean," she said.
Then she turned back to me, her expression shifting back to that no-nonsense, professional look.
"Alyssa, you're taking over the dressing changes and keeping an eye on him," she said. "Make sure you log his wound status, the color and amount of drainage every day. Give me the report before your shift's over."
I froze.
"M-me?" I stammered.
"Yes, you." Ellen's tone brooked no argument. "As his assigned intern, can you manage it?"
"Yes, I can!" I said, straightening up and speaking loudly.
Let's be real, when one's mentor gave one a task, even if it was totally nuts, one had to agree to it.
Ellen nodded. She didn't spare me another glance, leading the whole group off to the next room.
The whole crowd filed out in no time.
It was just me and Julian left in the room.
The only thing keeping us company was the nearly empty IV bag hanging on his nightstand.
The air was thick with awkward silence.
I kept my head down, staring at my toes, wishing I could turn invisible right then and there.
Julian didn't say a word either.
His stare was so intense, my scalp was about to catch fire.
I had no idea how much time had passed.
Finally, he spoke, his voice hoarse and coming out through gritted teeth. "Alyssa."
"What?" I mumbled, not daring to look up.
"You did that on purpose, didn't you?"
"No!" I blurted out, way louder than I meant. Heck, even I jumped at my own voice.
I snapped my head up, locking eyes with him. He was staring at me as though saying, "Yeah right, I don't buy it for a second."
"It was just... instinct!" I protested.
"Instinct?" Julian let out a cold laugh. "I called out for my mom. What's instinctive about that?"
I was left speechless by his question.
He was right.
I couldn't exactly tell him that after ten years of feuding, my knee-jerk reaction was to snap at him every time he opened his mouth, could I?
Seeing him looking so determined to get to the bottom of things, I steeled myself and went for it.
"Well, you were screaming like a stuck pig. I thought you were about to kick the bucket, so I answered out of basic human decency," I shot back.
"You!" Julian snapped, his chest rising and falling with anger.
The movement pulled at his wound, making him grimace and bare his teeth in pain.
As I watched him all flustered and totally at a loss, my awkwardness vanished.
That familiar urge to bully him bubbled right back up.
I walked over, grabbed the record book, and cleared my throat, pretending to be all official.
"Alright, Julian, as your assigned intern, I'm about to ask you some questions about your condition," I said, putting on my best professional act. "Work with me, okay?"
He glared at me for a long moment, then finally spat out three words through gritted teeth. "In your dreams."
I kept my cool, and with a deliberately slow, almost taunting motion, picked up the IV bag by his bedside.
"Oh? Is that so?" I said, my voice playful. "This bag's almost empty. If you don't play nice, who knows how long you'll have to wait for the next one?"
His eyes fixed on the last drops of fluid in the IV tube, and his expression went through a whole range of emotions.
Finally, he took a deep breath, like he was surrendering to fate, and lay back on the bed.
"Ask away," he muttered.