After My Husband Slandered Me for Trainee, I Ended Their Careers

After being forced off the operating table, I sat in the corridor for a day and a night. I didn't move until the surgery ended and Elmer walked out. Then I braced my numb legs, stepped forward, and blocked his path. "Elmer, it's not that I was out to target Sadie today. She's a residency trainee. She isn't qualified to be on the operating table yet. On top of that, she didn't scrub in properly, and when I pointed it out, she wouldn't admit it. In surgery, scrubbing in is the most basic thing there is. If she can't be rigorous about that, then when an accident happens, no one will answer for her." "So did one happen?" Elmer looked at me coldly. I opened my mouth, but before the words came out— Sadie had already trotted to his side and tilted her face up with a smile. "Dr. Henson, thank you for standing up for me today, and thank you for the chance to be on the table. How about I treat everyone to dinner?" The people around us cheered and egged her on. Elmer nodded, his face carrying a tenderness I had never seen before. Sadie looked over at me again and said graciously, "I don't blame you for what happened today. You should come along too." I said nothing. Elmer frowned and turned to soothe her. "Don't mind her. She's just not good enough, and she talks too much and loves to lecture people." The corner of Sadie's mouth curved. "Then let's go." I watched their backs as they walked away. My fists loosened and clenched, clenched and loosened. In the end I laid a hand over my belly. I had planned to tell him once today's surgery was over. But now there was no need. ... By the time I finished the miscarriage procedure and got home, it was already midnight. Elmer was already back, sitting in the living room handling work. When he saw me, his expression went icy. "Out this late, not answering messages, not picking up the phone—where have you been? Don't you know how dangerous it is out there alone?" As he spoke, he set down the takeout he'd brought back. "If you haven't eaten, eat now, then get some rest." I looked at the leftovers in the takeout box. The corner of my mouth twitched, but I said nothing. I changed out of my shoes and poured myself a glass of hot water. After I drank it, still saying nothing, I turned to head back to the bedroom. Elmer frowned and caught my wrist. "Deidre, who is this temper of yours for?" I pulled free and smiled. "You're overthinking it. I'm not in a temper." Elmer sneered. "You come home this late, and when you finally do, I talk to you at length and you don't say a single word back. You say you're not angry? Who's going to believe that?" My lips moved, but I didn't speak. He went on: "How many hours has it been, and you're still not over it? What, do you need me to coax you? Well, let me tell you—today I'm not going to coax you at all. I'm going to tell you that you brought this on yourself." I looked at him in disbelief. He sneered. "From the moment you got on the operating table, you kept picking at Sadie. When she scrubbed in, you had something to say. When she gowned up, you had something to say. Isn't that a textbook case of someone who isn't good enough yet loves to lecture others? Kicking you off the table was exactly the right call." Not good enough, yet loves to lecture others. That was the second time I'd heard that line today. I suddenly wanted to ask him: back when no one dared to take on his father's surgery— who was the lead surgeon who saved his father's life? But the words reached my lips, and it all just felt utterly pointless. He wouldn't care. If he cared, then as the second assistant surgeon today, I wouldn't have been driven off the operating table by him. After the surgery, he lectured me in front of everyone. Afterward, he went off to eat with the young, pretty female student. And after I came home from the miscarriage, another lecture. Today, I've lost count of how many times he's defended Sadie. Something suddenly occurred to me. I lifted my head, looked at him, and asked out of curiosity: "Elmer, did you sleep with Sadie?"

Elmer's eyes flickered, then instantly went cold. "Deidre, Sadie and I only have a simple mentor-trainee relationship. How can your mind be so filthy?" I twisted my lips. "Only you know whether it's filthy or not." With that, I turned to leave. Elmer grabbed my wrist and gave a soft laugh. "Deidre! Don't tell me you keep going after her again and again because you're paranoid and think there's something between me and Sadie?" My expression stayed flat. "I'm not going after her. Everything I said was the truth." Elmer smiled as if he hadn't heard me. "All right, I know you're jealous. But can't you be a little more generous about it? We've been married almost five years now. There's no need for jealousy like this. Sadie and I really have nothing going on." As he spoke he stepped forward and pulled me into his arms, his fingertips lightly rubbing the side of my waist. "Are you upset because I've been too busy lately and haven't spent enough time with you?" "If that's it, I can have someone arrange time off for us tomorrow. Tonight we can enjoy ourselves." He lowered his head to kiss me. I turned my face away. "It's not a good time for me today." Elmer frowned. "Isn't your period over already?" I pressed my lips together and said nothing. He made a move to lift my skirt. In my panic, it slipped out. "I'm pregnant." Elmer stared blankly for several seconds before it sank in, his eyes full of excitement. "You're pregnant?" We'd been married five years. We'd started trying for a baby a year ago. Nothing had ever come of it. Now that there was a child, he was surely thrilled. It was just a shame. Too late. I looked at his joyful face and poured a bucket of cold water over it. "But I've already gotten rid of the baby." His whole body went rigid. As if he couldn't believe it, his voice shaking. "You... what did you say?" I straightened up, took a step back, looked at him, and said each word slowly and clearly. "I said, I had the abortion. The baby is gone." "Why?" Elmer's eyes went red in an instant, and he seized my wrist. "Deidre! You just told me you were pregnant, and now you say you got rid of the baby! What kind of joke is this?" I kept my lips pressed together. "I'm not joking. I found out yesterday. I'd meant to tell you after the surgery, but then I decided there was no point." Something suddenly occurred to Elmer. "So, just because I threw you off the operating table, you got rid of our child?" "Yes." I nodded. "On what grounds?" Elmer's eyes were bloodshot. "Deidre! What right did you have? That was my child too! What gives you the right to not discuss it with me, to not even tell me, and just get rid of it!" I smiled. "There'll be plenty of women wanting to have your children later on. Elmer, let's get a divorce!" Elmer's pupils quaked. I had no interest left in wondering what he was thinking. I just felt so tired. I wanted to rest. "Tomorrow we'll draw up the divorce papers." I turned and went into the bedroom and lay down on the bed. Outside came the sudden sound of a door slamming. I closed my eyes. My lower abdomen was still cramping, pang after pang. Only when I curled up into a ball did it ease a little. Elmer didn't come back all night.

The next morning, at eight o'clock sharp. I showed up in the General Surgery handover room right on time. Elmer hadn't arrived yet, but Sadie was already there, sitting by the window with a cup of coffee in her hand, chatting and laughing with the resident beside her. When she saw me come in, her smile faltered for a moment, and then a look I couldn't read surfaced in her eyes. I looked away and went to my seat. I opened the medical records system and started going over today's surgery schedule. On the schedule, my name had been moved to the third slot, for a routine appendectomy. And the first slot listed Sadie's name, right there as lead surgeon, with another name beside it—Instructing Physician: Elmer Henson. A residency trainee is already cleared to perform a laparoscopic appendectomy on her own? I stared at that schedule for three seconds, then let it go and closed the page. After the handover ended, the department chief, Fabian, called me over. "Deidre, come here a second." I went into the office and had just sat down. Fabian said, "The hospital held a meeting yesterday. General Surgery is setting up a Pancreatic Subspecialty Group, and it needs a deputy director to lead it. I decided on Elmer, and then I put your name forward too. Your professional skills are strong, and the two of you are married, so working together would definitely be easier." I was stunned for a moment. Pancreatic surgery is one of the hardest directions in general surgery—complex operations, high risk, and plenty of complications. Whoever lands this subspecialty group is the most promising of all the department's rising talents. I held down the excitement in my chest, and before I could even thank him. Fabian went on, "But first thing this morning Elmer put in a request to the Medical Affairs Office." I froze. "What request?" "He wants Sadie brought in too, to compete with you for the one spot. Whoever wins goes." "Sadie?" I almost thought I'd misheard. "Someone who hasn't even earned her residency certificate yet?" "Elmer says she has strong academic credentials, three high-impact peer-reviewed journal publications, and her supervisor is one of the top names in pancreatic surgery in the country. You, on the other hand, are just an ordinary graduate student, and your supervisor isn't well known." Seeing the look on my face, Fabian quickly added, "Of course, you have a month to make your case. In the end it comes down to professional skill and surgical volume. You can definitely do this." I didn't know what I was feeling. After I left Fabian's office, I stood in the corridor for a while. The General Surgery corridor is long, its walls lined on both sides with photos of past chiefs and the hospital's history. The first time I walked into this corridor during my internship, I looked up at those photos and silently swore that one day my photo would hang here too. Now I was just one step away from that goal. But the person standing in the way of that step was the one closest to me. Someone who isn't even qualified to be on the operating table, someone who can't even do the surgical scrub right. This is how Elmer protects her? My eyes stung. In the end I took a deep breath, pushed all the tangled thoughts out of my head, and turned toward the operating room. The third-slot appendectomy wasn't a major surgery, but I never take any surgery lightly. When it was over, as I came around the corner in the corridor, I ran straight into Elmer. When he saw me, his steps paused, his lips moved, as if he wanted to say something. I didn't stop. We passed each other like two strangers. "Deidre," he called after me.

I stopped, but I didn't turn around. He spoke. "You should drop out. You've got no right to compete with Sadie." All those years of effort, and what I got back was that I had no right? I bit my lip and looked at him. "Elmer, whether I have the right or not isn't for you to decide." I finished a busy morning of work. Then I went to the cafeteria. I had just gotten my food and sat down. A cheerful voice rang out beside me. "Dr. Henson, thank you for letting me be lead surgeon today. I'm so happy! Getting to have a wonderful mentor like you is a blessing I must have earned over lifetimes." I looked up. I saw Sadie beside him, practically dancing with excitement. Elmer wore an indulgent expression. As if he sensed my gaze, he turned his head, met my eyes, and then froze for a moment. Sadie noticed too. She pursed her lips but said nothing. I lowered my head and kept eating. But the voice beside me didn't go away. Sadie chattered on with Elmer. He didn't show the slightest sign of being bothered. I finished my last bite and got up to leave. Suddenly a panicked shout came from the doorway. "Dr. Henson, we've got a big problem! The patient from yesterday's gastrectomy has developed severe peritonitis." Elmer's expression changed, and he turned and ran out. Sadie ran out after him. I paused for a moment, then tugged at the corner of my mouth, thinking it had nothing to do with me. After going upstairs, I was just about to head to the lounge for a nap. When a young nurse grabbed hold of me. "Dr. Dudley, the chief is looking for you!" Before I could react, she had already dragged me into the office. Elmer and Sadie were already standing inside. The moment he saw me, Elmer said, "The second assistant surgeon for yesterday's operation was Deidre Dudley. It had nothing to do with Sadie." I stared at him in disbelief. "Elmer, what nonsense are you talking about?" Elmer didn't look at me. "As the lead surgeon, I bear responsibility too for the patient's infection caused by her inadequate scrubbing in. I can accept the discipline along with her." I stared at him. He stood ramrod straight, his tone calm. From start to finish he didn't spare me a single glance. It was as if he meant to crush me alive. I took a deep breath, forced myself to stay calm, and looked at Fabian. "Director James, the operating room has a recorder that runs the whole time. One check and we'll know." Elmer said flatly, "That one wasn't on." Then he finally looked at me. "Dr. Dudley, even though you're my wife, when you make a mistake you have to own it. Admit it now and you can get lighter treatment. Otherwise the penalty is having your medical license revoked." Wife. Ever since Sadie showed up. When had he ever treated me like his wife? I clenched my fists. "Director James, every member of the surgical staff in that room can testify that Dr. Henson pulled me off the table partway through yesterday." Soon the people who had been present were called in. "Who was the second assistant surgeon yesterday?" The group looked at one another, then answered in unison, "Dr. Dudley." I went rigid all over. Elmer turned his head and sneered. "Did you hear that? Dr. Dudley, stop struggling. There's no point." Sadie stood behind him, tipped her chin up at me, her face full of smug satisfaction. My eyes went red. "Elmer! What gives you the right to treat me like this?" Elmer's tone didn't waver. "Dr. Dudley, it's right there in black and white on the surgical record. It's your name signed on it. You're not going to claim that isn't yours, are you?" "When did I ever sign anything?" "Whether you signed or not isn't for you to decide." He stopped looking at me and turned to Fabian. "Director James, it's in black and white. It's settled. I'm requesting that Deidre Dudley be removed from the project group and Sadie Chandler brought in directly." Fabian looked troubled and was about to speak. Just then, the door was shoved open from the outside. "I can testify for Dr. Dudley!"