Theater: NovelMaster | Language: English
Synopsis
The hospital director's daughter fell from the fourth floor.
I was fully scrubbed in, waiting to enter the OR.
The ambulance screeched into the bay, and the patient was rushed straight onto the operating table.
But at that critical moment, my husband, the Chief of Surgery, abruptly called a halt.
All because he was waiting for his first love—the returning prodigy with a foreign doctorate in surgery—so she could take the spotlight as the lead surgeon.
It was the exact same story in my past life.
That "overseas genius" couldn't operate to save her life; she had zero practical skills, only textbook theory.
She nearly blew past the golden hour of surgery.
It was only because of my stubborn insistence that we stuck to the original procedure and saved the girl.
Yet Lily felt humiliated. She jumped off the hospital roof in shame and ended up completely paralyzed from the waist down.
And my husband? He banished me to an isolated clinic in the middle of nowhere, even orchestrating a brutal gang assault against me.
When I hid, desperately calling him for help, his voice on the other end was icy.
"Claire, it was just a surgery. Did you really have to steal Lily's spotlight?"
"Now you can get a taste of what real suffering feels like."
My location was tracked through that very phone call, and I was beaten and violated to death.
When I opened my eyes again, the gurney was being wheeled right in front of me.
This time, I didn't panic. I shoved my hands into my pockets and stood back, eager to see how his precious overseas PhD planned to raise someone from the dead.
"Why is she taking so long? We're literally racing against the clock here!"
"The patient is spiking a fever, and her extremities are severely swollen."
"If she starts having convulsions, we might lose her completely."
The OR staff clustered behind me, frantic.
Yet no matter how anxious they were, no matter how hard they pushed, Ethan Vance only snapped back at them.
"What's the rush? Do any of you honestly think you're qualified to save her?"
"Lily graduated from one of the top surgical programs in the world. As long as she's holding the scalpel, there won't be a problem."
Ethan's barking left the room reeling.
Still, he had full authority over major surgeries, so nobody dared to challenge him outright.
Chloe, a neurosurgeon and my former medical school roommate standing behind me, couldn't hold back.
"If we wait any longer, she won't even make it. At least get her into the OR and intubate her—it'll buy us time!"
Consultants from every department had rushed over for this emergency, desperate to hammer out an immediate surgical plan.
Chloe's warning didn't sway Ethan. It only made him more irritable.
"General Surgery is running point on this case. You neuro folks will wait until you're told to move."
Chloe's temper flared.
"Who do you think you're talking to? Every specialty here has equal footing!"
"Besides, I'm giving you a professional recommendation!"
Ethan's face hardened, turning toward the head of Neurosurgery.
"Get her out of here. Send her back to her floor. We don't need her here!"
Fuming, Chloe spun on her heel and stormed off, glaring daggers at Ethan on her way out.
Then, Ethan's gaze shifted to me.
"Claire, what about you?"
Chloe was my closest friend. He had humiliated her and chased her out, only turning to ask me once she was gone.
His intentions were obvious.
I looked at him and smiled faintly.
"You're the Chief, and you're the lead on this operation. Naturally, I follow your lead."
Surprised by my sudden compliance, Ethan gave a smug chuckle, then glanced around at the gathered doctors.
"See that? That's the kind of discipline an actual doctor should have."
I stood calmly behind him, taking it all in.
In my past life, I had fought him tooth and nail, only for him to send me to my death for Lily Parker's sake.
I wasn't about to make the same stupid mistake twice.Just as everyone's patience wore thin, Lily finally strolled in.
Her face was caked in flawless makeup, and she walked as if taking a leisurely Sunday stroll.
The director's daughter was burning up with a rising fever. Lily walked over, giving the gurney a careless once-over.
"Did anyone take X-rays? How am I supposed to locate the fractures without imaging?"
A nurse thrust the scans right into her hands.
Lily choked on her own words for a second.
Still, she refused to admit she was out of her depth.
"Imaging alone isn't enough. I need to know the estimated blood loss before deciding if she's fit for the knife."
Nurse Brenda couldn't take it anymore. She stared at Lily with raw disgust.
"Dr. Parker!" Brenda emphasized the word 'Doctor'. "Do you actually know how to perform surgery?"
"Right now isn't the time to calculate blood loss! She needs to be in the OR this second. Every minute out here puts her closer to the morgue!"
Lily glared back, her tone sharp.
"Are you the lead surgeon, or am I?"
"You're just a charge nurse. How dare you talk to me like that!"
Brenda had worked in this hospital for over twenty years; her clinical instincts and experience rivaled any physician's.
Lily looked haughtily toward Ethan, whining,
"Ethan, if they look down on me this much, maybe I should just walk away."
Ethan immediately stopped her, glancing my way.
He leaned in close, whispering something in Lily's ear.
Whatever he said, Lily finally conceded.
"Fine. Move her into the OR."
A collective sigh of relief swept through the room as the team scrambled to wheel the patient in.
Yet once inside, another agonizing wait began.
The staff turned to me, desperately waiting for me to take charge.
I watched the girl's heart rate plummet on the monitor, my expression steady.
"Claire, please, at least secure her airway so her lungs don't collapse," someone pleaded.
I hesitated, on the verge of stepping forward.
Just then, Lily walked in, fully scrubbed.
Every eye in the room fixed on her with palpable contempt.
If this young girl died because of a quack, the staff looked ready to rip Lily apart.
Oblivious to the hostility, Lily sashayed forward, glanced down at the patient, and sneered.
"It's not even as bad as you made it sound. Calling me in like this... I didn't even get to finish my face mask."
Brenda gritted her teeth so hard they nearly cracked, but held her tongue.
Ethan walked in right behind her. Lily gave a pleased hum and stepped beside him.
"Ethan, with you here, this surgery is guaranteed to be a success."
Ethan leaned down, gently brushing his cheek against hers.
"Of course. You're the best surgeon in the world."
Their shameless intimacy made the surgical team exchange baffled, uncomfortable glances, before looking at me.
Behind my surgical mask, my eyes betrayed a storm of fury.
Not because of their tawdry affair, but because of the fragile life slipping away on that table.
Unable to hold back any longer, I spoke up.
"Can we begin now?"
Lily rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue.
"What, you want to do it?"
"Who are you to boss me around? I'm the lead surgeon!"
"If you're so capable, why don't you go earn an Ivy League doctorate yourself?"
I didn't answer. Suddenly, the vitals monitor let out a piercing, erratic alarm.
Brenda shrieked in panic.
"Code blue! She's in V-fib!"The OR descended into chaos.
"Quick! Charge the crash cart!"
"Defibrillate at 200 joules!"
"Clear! One, two, three—shock!"
Nurses scrambled while everyone threw themselves into saving her.
Terrified by the sudden panic, Lily threw herself into Ethan's chest and began sniffling.
"Ethan, this is terrifying!"
"I don't want to be in here. Let me out!"
Nobody had time for her cheap melodrama, least of all me.
Ethan cradled her like a porcelain doll.
"It's okay, babe. Once they stabilize her, you can take over."
After two brutal minutes of CPR, the monitor registered a steady rhythm.
But our window was slamming shut. Brenda was on the verge of snapping.
"Dr. Parker, are you going to operate or not?"
"If not, get the hell out of here!"
Lily shot her a venomous glare, then pointed a gloved finger at me.
"This kind of low-level procedure is beneath me."
"You," she commanded, "you do it."
I narrowed my eyes.
A chill ran down my spine.
I had purposely stayed in the shadows, waiting until the absolute breaking point to intervene.
Yet Ethan had called me out earlier, and now Lily was locking onto me like a heat-seeking missile.
As I hesitated, Ethan piped up.
"Claire, since Lily asked you to step in, do it."
His expression was unreadable, masking whatever scheme they were cooking up.
The moment the room heard that I was taking over, a wave of relief washed over everyone's faces, like sunlight breaking through storm clouds.
Brenda rushed to guide me to the table.
"Dr. Bennett, we can't let them play games anymore."
"A girl's life is on the line, and they're treating it like a joke!"
I gave Brenda a reassuring nod and stepped up to the table.
Incision, intubation, suction—seamless and swift.
Brenda stood beside me, passing instruments with practiced precision.
Without a single word spoken, every tool I reached for was already in my hand.
Even though I had performed this exact surgery in my past life, I didn't dare drop my guard.
The girl was in critical condition. Falling from several stories up had crushed her skull and shattered the bones in all four limbs.
Every step required surgical perfection.
Sweat beaded across my forehead. While the neuro team closed the cranial repairs, I took over the limb reconstruction.
Once the craniotomy was done, the neurosurgeon stepped back, nodding at me.
I prepared to debride and set the fractures when Lily piped up again.
"Ethan, I want to learn trauma surgery from Claire."
I glanced at her in disbelief. Her face was plastered with a provocative smirk.
Without a second thought, Ethan said,
"Of course. Lily can watch whatever she wants."
"Claire, you don't mind, do you?"
I couldn't refuse, nor did I have the time to argue.
Lily sashayed over, physically bumping Brenda out of the way.
"Claire, let me be your scrub tech."I knew damn well she wasn't there to "learn."
A glance at the monitors showed the patient's vitals trending downward again.
We didn't have a single second to waste.
I forced my mind into total focus.
"Forceps," I demanded, holding my right hand out.
I waited. And waited. Nothing.
Lily's grating voice chimed in.
"Oh Claire, there are so many forceps here. Did you want toothed or smooth?"
"Smooth."
Only after I answered did she finally slap the tool into my palm.
And that was only the beginning.
Every single instrument I requested was delayed, second-guessed, and fumbled.
By the fifth time, she leaned in and asked,
"Did you want the laser scalpel or the harmonic scalpel?"
I shot her a lethal glare. The smug satisfaction on her face made me want to drive the scalpel straight into her chest.
How could someone treat a human life with such utter disregard?
"If you don't know what you're doing, step back and watch," I said coldly. "Brenda, take over."
I didn't have time for her games. The scalpel was in my hand, and I had a life to save.
Lily sneered under her breath.
Shunted aside, she stood nearby, yammering incessantly.
"Claire, if all domestic doctors were as rigid as you, medicine would never evolve."
"Come on, teach me! I've only read about these techniques; I haven't tried them hands-on yet."
I kept my eyes fixed on the wound.
"If you haven't done it hands-on, go practice on cadavers or watch training videos."
Stung, she bit her lip and scoffed.
"Keep your little secrets, see if I care. Acting like you're hot stuff."
"You've just been stuck in this hospital longer, that's all. You're nowhere near as smart as Ethan."
"He's the Chief of Surgery, and you're just a glorified technician who slices people open."
I blocked her out entirely, which only fueled her rage.
Suddenly, she shoved my shoulder.
"Hey! I'm talking to you! Don't you dare ignore me!"
That shove couldn't have come at a worse time.
I was in the middle of resecting necrotic tissue along the brachial artery.
Her force threw my hand off balance.
The tip of my blade nicked the arterial wall.
Blood erupted in a high-pressure jet, spraying across the drape.
The entire room gasped in terror.
"Clamp it! Suction, now!"
"BP is tanking to sixty! We have to stop the bleed immediately!"
Lily froze, pale and stunned by her own screw-up.
Ethan's voice cut through the panic.
"It's fine. Just achieve hemostasis and keep moving."
Hearing his reassurance, Lily seemed to find her spine again.
She leaned down, whispering venomously into my ear:
"Oh my, Claire... look at the massive mess you've made!"
"If Director Harrison finds out you botched his daughter's surgery and caused this, how badly do you think you'll be punished?"
I snapped my head toward her, eyes burning with rage.
"What did you just say?"
Right then, the anesthesiologist sounded the alarm.
"Dr. Bennett! Oxygen saturation is dropping fast! You have to close this bleed now!"
Lily leaned closer still, whispering softly against my ear.
Between the shrieking monitors and her hushed words, she sounded like a demon crawling straight out of hell.
"I don't think this girl is going to make it."
"But that's okay. Even if she dies on the table... you're the one taking the fall."
Chapters (4)
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Watch & Promotions
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