Patricia avoided Roman as much as she could for the rest of the day, and even the following morning, leaving for work before he could wake up.
While working, her phone vibrated. She took it out and read the reminder notification: "Report to Dr. Roman's office about patient 305." Her mood immediately soured. She had completely forgotten about the report. If she remembered, she would have called in sick just to avoid seeing him. She looked around for another doctor who could take her place. There was one female doctor not currently attending to anyone but Patricia had never spoken to her before and didn't know how to approach her.
Groaning in frustration, she realized there was no way around it. She might as well get it over with.
She headed to Roman's office and knocked. No response. She knocked again, but still nothing. Annoyed, she turned and walked over to the secretary's desk.
"I am supposed to report to Dr. Roman, but it looks like he's not in his office," she said, confusion written on her face.
The secretary looked up, equally puzzled. "I thought you knew. I assumed you were here on his orders?" That was the only reason she didn't question her when she saw her approaching. She had witnessed Patricia being brought in before and didn't think much about it.
Patricia shook her head. "No, I was scheduled to give him a report on a patient who's about to go in for surgery."
"Oh," the secretary said, flipping through a file. "Well, unfortunately, he's not in today. If it's urgent, I can give you his assistant's number, he might know where Dr. Roman is."
Patricia already had Kay's number and replied, "No, it's fine. I will come back later." Then she gave the secretary a small smile and walked away.
She had already tried her best, there was nothing else she could do. She could just drop the report on Dr. Miss's desk and send a message instead. That should be enough, right?
But halfway through convincing herself, she stopped in her tracks and let out a groan, flinging her arms up in frustration. How could she even think of endangering a patient's life? No petty reason, especially not a personal one. justified that. Still, Roman had explicitly told her not to call him, no matter how urgent it was. Wouldn't he misunderstand if she reached out to Kay?
She decided to wait for him at home, just like he instructed.
Patricia spent the rest of the day tending to patients and finally returned home around 8 p.m.
"Miss Patricia, welcome! Dinner will be ready soon," Maria called from the kitchen as Patricia walked in. Seeing her again brought a pang of guilt. She snapped at the poor woman just the day before, forgetting that Maria was only doing her job. Taking out her frustration on her had been unfair.
"Erm… Maria, I am sorry for snapping at you. I…"
But Maria quickly interrupted with a warm smile. "It's fine, Miss Patricia. You were right, I should have called you. I have gotten used to calling Mr. Roman for everything. I am sorry you had to go through that."
Her response made Patricia feel even worse. Maria wasn't even upset, despite not being at fault.
"Thank you," Patricia said softly, offering a grateful smile.
They exchanged a kind look, and Patricia silently vowed not to let herself lash out at Maria again, no matter how bad things got.
Recalling Mr. Roman, Patricia asked, "Is he around?"
"Yes, he came in about twenty minutes ago," Maria replied, and Patricia's eyes widened slightly.
"Okay, thank you." She smiled, pulled a file from her bag, tossed the bag onto the floor, and made her way to his room.
As she reached the door, she noticed it was slightly ajar and hesitated before stepping inside.
"I…" she began, but her voice trailed off when she realized the room was empty. If he wasn't here, then where could he be? She wasn't familiar with the upstairs layout and couldn't guess where else he might have gone.
Just as she turned to leave, her eyes landed on a file resting on the table beside her. Curiosity piqued when she saw it was a patient's file. She picked it up and began skimming through it. One detail stood out, the fact that the patient had undergone an abortion before. She glanced at the name: Michelle. The name rang a bell, but she couldn't immediately place where she had heard it. Just as she was about to look at the patient's face, a voice spoke suddenly and sharply behind her.
"What are you doing?!"
Startled, Patricia flinched and dropped the file.
Turning around quickly, she gasped upon seeing how close Roman was. Her breath caught as her gaze dropped to his bare, wet chest, muscular and glistening. A drop of water fell onto her shoulder, and as she looked up, she saw his damp, slicked-back black hair. He had just come out of the bathroom.
"I… I couldn't find you so…"
"So you decided to invade my privacy?" He interrupted, his expression dark and unreadable.
"No, I got curious and read through it. I am sorry for going through your things," she explained quickly, hoping to diffuse the tension.
He didn't respond immediately, just continued staring at her, and the silence made her increasingly uneasy. Was he still upset?
"What are you here for?" He asked at last, stepping back slightly.
"This." She held out the file toward him. "The report on the patient in ward 305, you asked for it, but you weren't in the office today."
He exhaled and took the file from her.
"Speak," he ordered.
"The patient is ready for surgery, but they refused to let us take another scan to check the condition of her other organs," she reported, watching his face for a reaction. But there was none, he looked as if he already knew.
"Okay. You can leave," he said flatly.
She frowned, wondering if she had heard him right.
"The patient still needs a scan. Aren't you going to do something about that?" She pressed.
"Your part is done. The surgeons will handle the rest," he replied with a sigh.
She looked up to him, finding him absurd but then noticed he looked a little pale. Could it be the soap he used in bathing or was he ill?
"Are you alright?" She asked, concerned.
"My health is none of your business. Leave," he said coldly.
Offended, she scoffed inwardly. 'Like I care,' she thought bitterly, then turned and stormed out of the room.