Chapter 2

The private dining room was divided by screens. I was led to a booth at the far edge, where the curtain gave me a clear view of the large table next door.

The table was packed with cardiac surgery staff.

Sebastian sat at the head of the table, with Sabrina pressed close beside him.

Sabrina casually cut the steak into bite-sized pieces and placed them on Sebastian's plate.

She said, "Dr. Sheppard, you've lost so much weight lately, preparing for the award. Here, try this."

Sebastian didn't refuse. He picked it up and ate it.

"Thanks," he said, spearing a piece of salmon and setting it on her plate. "You've been working hard in the OR lately."

Sabrina pouted. "I don't like salmon."

Sebastian laughed. He patiently pointed to the other dishes on the table. "Then try this one. You'll like it."

The other doctors instantly started teasing them.

"Come on, Dr. Sheppard, you're not even trying to hide it, are you? The rest of us sure don't get treated like that."

"Sabrina is the star of our department. Dr. Sheppard, you'd better keep a close eye on her."

Sabrina blushed. "Stop talking nonsense. Dr. Sheppard is already taken."

For a split second, the entire table fell into an awkward silence.

Gwen, the charge nurse, chimed in, "Taken? I've been in this department for three years, and I've never seen Dr. Sheppard's girlfriend. I heard she does logistics work out in some remote region.

"Sabrina, what are you worried about? That woman has been gone for three years. No one ever sees her. You're the one working side by side with Dr. Sheppard every day. That's the real partner."

My grip on my cup tightened.

I'd been pulling all-nighters in the Kovski outbreak zone, running pathology slides nonstop to get Sebastian the key infection data straight from the front lines for his research.

To get that data, I caught malaria during an experiment and almost died there.

And somehow, in their eyes, I was nothing more than the girl stuck doing logistics and statistics.

I held my breath, waiting for Sebastian to speak up.

All I wanted was for him to say something to clear things up about me.

Sebastian set down his fork and took a sip from his wine glass.

"That's enough," he said, his tone flat. "Long-distance relationships are exhausting. Laurel doesn't really understand clinical surgery, so we don't have much to talk about most of the time."

A hint of smug satisfaction flashed in Sabrina's eyes.

"See? I told you, doctors should date within their own field," she said, smiling. "I heard she once gave Dr. Sheppard a scalpel as a gift. Seriously? Doesn't she know how fast equipment gets replaced? That thing should have been dumped years ago."

The others jumped in, "For real? Did she give him a secondhand scalpel? That's ridiculous."

I closed my eyes.

That wasn't junk. It was the scalpel from Sebastian's first successful surgery, one I had a craftsman polish and engrave with his name.

He once said it meant everything to him. Now he let them joke about it.

"Let's enjoy the meal," Sebastian said, not looking at anyone else as he placed another piece of the dish on Sabrina's plate.

The mood in the room picked back up. Gwen suddenly changed the subject. "By the way, Dr. Sheppard, the preliminary list for the Annual Medical Achievement Award came out.

"You're the corresponding author of the paper on cardiovascular regeneration blockage that's been getting all the buzz at our hospital, but who's the first author?"

"Yeah, who's that mysterious genius behind the code name Dawn? She solved the hardest theory problems and shared her patent data with us for free."

"I heard Mr. Carney's been pulling every string he can to get her to join us, but she won't show up."

I looked at Sebastian's face through the curtain.

I was Dawn.

Because I was assigned to a special international aid program, I wasn't allowed to publish any core academic achievements under my real name at home for three years. Therefore, I used a code name.

I listed myself as the first author under that alias and made Sebastian the corresponding author.

Without my paper supporting him, Sebastian wouldn't even qualify for the Annual Medical Achievement Award.

I wanted to hear how he'd explain himself.

Sebastian froze while picking up food, his eyes darting nervously.

"Dawn is a junior under one of my overseas mentors," he said vaguely. "She's an introvert who focuses only on data. Most of the clinical application work has been led by me. I'll introduce her to you someday."

He lied without the slightest hesitation. He took all my work and turned me into some weird data-obsessed loner.

I couldn't take it anymore. My stomach twisted in disgust.

I stood up, paid the bill, and strode out of the restaurant.

*****

The cold wind outside cleared my mind instantly. I grabbed a cab and went straight to the hospital's research building.

Sebastian's private sterile research lab was up on the top floor.

Only the two of us knew the password, or at least, we used to.

I entered my birthday. The lock beeped with an error.

I tried Sebastian's birthday. Still wrong.

I took a breath, looked up Sabrina's public staff record, and typed in her birthday.

With a click, the sterile door opened.