They Were the Stars, I Was Just in Their Orbit Chapter 04
“Dr. Parker, I still have work to do. If there’s nothing else, please leave.”
In an instant, Nina’s face turned deathly pale.
“Nina, come here.”
Ethan stood not far away, his gaze passing over me as if I were a stranger.
Maybe that was for the best.
I gently pulled my sleeve free and walked away.
Yet not long after, the three of us ended up gathered in the operating room again.
A coworker had called out today, and I happened to be covering for her.
The patient’s condition was unusual, and the hospital was taking the case very seriously.
So Ethan was the lead surgeon, and Nina assisted.
I took a deep breath, scrubbed in, and carefully checked every sterile instrument in advance.
Halfway through the surgery, every nerve in me was still pulled taut as I forced myself to be careful with every move.
Both of them looked solemn.
“Hemostat.”
I handed the hemostat to Nina.
Suddenly, her hand trembled.
With a sharp clang, the hemostat fell to the floor.
Before I could bend down, Ethan’s cold voice cut in.
“Switch out the nurse.”
“Lily Grant, take over.”
After I left the operating room, cold sweat dampened my back.
Fortunately, it was only a small interruption. The surgery went very smoothly.
After work, Nina left in a daze.
Then Ethan loomed over me, his face drawn with exhaustion and his voice heavy with disappointment.
“How could you make a mistake like that? How are you even a nurse?”
I looked up in disbelief.
“You saw what happened. That wasn’t my fault.”
“Are you trying to say it was Nina’s fault?”
Ethan’s eyes instantly turned cold.
“April, when did you learn to shift blame onto other people?”
I suddenly understood. For Nina’s sake, he was determined to make me take the blame.
My hand drifted to my chest before I realized it.
There was no wound there, but it hurt so badly I felt like I might die.
I did not know what Ethan said to the nurse manager.
The next day, I was reprimanded in front of everyone, and some patients’ family members happened to overhear it.
Word spread quickly.
“That nurse, April Reed, can’t even hold a scalpel steady, and they still let her into the OR. Who knows when she’ll end up getting one of us killed?”
To quiet the backlash, the hospital suspended me for a week.
The nurse manager sighed. “Administration is pushing hard. I’ve expedited your resignation process. You should pack up your things today.”
At three in the afternoon, I changed back into my own clothes and packed all my belongings into a cardboard box.
When Ethan ran into me, he frowned.
“The hospital is firing you over something this minor?”
I shook my head. “I’m suspended.”
At that, he clearly breathed a sigh of relief and reached out to rub the top of my head.
“Then treat it like a vacation. Get some rest. I’ll take you somewhere next week.”
I murmured a response and walked out of the hospital.
He did not know I would never come back again.