Dear Ex Wife, Please take me back novel Chapter 81

ATHENA

“We can't treat you. Our hospital is full, and if I get you the bill, I bet you won't be able to afford it.” Annie says, and I have to stop everything I'm doing to ensure I heard her right.

Annie is PGY-4, so she is a pain in the ass but she is good at what she does and is my senior, so you can only imagine what I have to deal with.

“Dr. Please! My father is dying and we won't have enough time to make it to another hospital!” A young girl who doesn't look to be over twenty cries as she begs her to admit her father.

“All this begging is time you’re wasting!” Annie snaps, her arms crossed, annoyance etched into every line of her face.

I slam the patient chart shut and whirl around.

“Excuse me?” My voice slices through the halls of the ER like a scalpel.

Annie turns to me with that smug little smile she always wears when she thinks she’s untouchable.

“This isn’t charity, Dawson. We have protocols and capacity limits—”

“No.” I step forward, fire burning in my chest. “What we have is a responsibility. A dying man is on a stretcher, and you're debating with his daughter over cost?”

The girl’s eyes flicker between us, wide and tearful, clutching her father’s hand like he’s the last thread holding her together.

“Do you even hear yourself?” I continue, my voice low but sharp. “What you just said wasn’t medical. It was inhumane.”

Annie’s face is red in anger. “You just got to Second year, and you think you're already senior? Tell me, Dawson, will you operate on this patient yourself? And if he dies, will you take responsibility?”

I look around, noticing everyone has stopped for a moment to Stare at me, and suddenly I'm feeling like I'm a specimen in a microscope being studied.

I take a breath, leveling my gaze at Annie. “Yes,” I say clearly. “If that’s what it takes, I will.”

There’s a ripple of murmurs behind me.

I just made it to second year, and I'm still a long shot from doing what I'm about to do. If I make a mistake, this man could die. But if I let him go, he will die too. The only difference is that I have a higher chance to save him.

Annie laughs under her breath. “You’re out of your depth, Dawson. That’s not bravery. It’s arrogance.”

“No,” I reply calmly, stepping closer, “what’s arrogant is thinking we get to play gatekeepers to who deserves a chance to live.”

I turn to the nurse at the station, “Page Dr. Lucero. Tell him I need a consult and fast. And prep Bay 3. This man is going in.”

The nurse hesitates for half a second, then nods, her hands already moving to the phone.

“You’re going to regret this,” Annie warns, her voice lower now, full of venom. “If anything happens—”

“I will take full responsibility,” I cut in, my voice firm, despite how fast my insides are turning. “So either help, or get out of the way.”

Her nostrils flare, but she doesn't say another word. She brushes past me stiffly and disappears down the hallway.

The girl lets out a trembling breath as the gurney begins to move again. Her eyes meet mine, wet with gratitude.

“Thank you… Thank you so much.”

I give her a soft nod and push down the knot tightening in my chest. There’s no time to feel anything, not now.

As we roll the father into Bay 3, Dr. Lucero bursts in, taking one look at the vitals and then at me. “You made the call?”

“I did.”

He studies me for a second, then raises a questioning brow.

“Aren't you a second year?”

“I am. Doc.” I respond.

My heart is in my throat as I wait for him to lash out on me and call me out for doing something I barely have enough training for.

But the harsh words don’t come.

He just eyes me for a second and looks like he wants to say something but thinks twice about it.

Dr. Lucero sighs, snapping on gloves.

Only then does Dr. Lucero glances at me again. “Remind me to never underestimate a second-year again.”

Relief swells in my chest, but I keep my expression even.

“Noted, sir.”

We walk out of the OR, and I see the girl still waiting. When I give her a nod and say,

“He’s stable for now,” she breaks down in tears.

She jumps towards me and hugs me while she sobs uncontrollably.

“God bless you! I only have him as the only family left. I'm in my final year, and my dream has always been to repay his kindness for what he has sacrificed to let me live my dream even though I'm not his own! I thought I'd been robbed of that chance!”

My heart swells at that, and words fail me.

I feel relieved that my risk didn't actually cost me a life. Otherwise, how would I have been able to face her?

Just as we pull apart, I hear a slow clap,

One.

Two.

Three.

“Well, isn't this cozy? One would stop to think we are at a reunion and not a hospital!”

An annoying voice I know too well reaches my ears, and I groan internally, hating the fact that she is more senior than me, so I can't even give her a response.

Not wanting more trouble, I nod at her, respectfully, avoiding the gaze from the six doctors standing behind her.

“Dr. Woods.”