Chapter 4While I Fought for Breath, He Peeled Shrimp for His Intern

“Patient’s blood pressure is dropping!”

“Cardiac arrhythmia detected! Get the defibrillator ready!”

“Increase the epinephrine drip!”

Inside the operating room, it was controlled chaos.

I could feel my body growing cold.

Outside the closed doors, Mia was leaning on Liam’s shoulder, sipping her milk tea and pouting.

“Liam, I’m suddenly craving crawfish. The spicy kind. Like, really, really spicy.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Liam opened a food delivery app and ordered a fifty-dollar deluxe spicy crawfish platter.

While they waited for the food to arrive, he even found the energy to discuss a new project at work with Mia, strategizing how to present it to senior management to maximize his own credit.

A passing head nurse saw them and walked over, frowning.

“Sir, this is an emergency area. There is a patient fighting for her life in there. We need the family to remain quiet.”

Liam looked up, annoyed. “Were we being loud? Are we interrupting you from saving the world?”

The nurse, stunned by his brazen attitude, could only shake her head and walk away.

The food arrived quickly.

Liam took the bag and opened the containers on the bench right outside the ER doors.

The fiery, aromatic scent of chili and garlic instantly filled the sterile corridor.

Mia clapped her hands in delight at the sight of the bright red crawfish, then her lip jutted out.

“But I don’t want to peel them myself. I just got my nails done. What if they get dirty? And my hands will smell.”

Liam pulled on a pair of disposable gloves. “I’ll peel them for you.”

A moment later, a perfectly shelled, plump piece of tail meat was pinched between his fingers.

“Here, Mia. Open up. Ahhh—”

Mia ate it in one bite. “Liam, you’re the best!”

This was the scene that greeted Director Evans as he rushed down the hallway, several grim-faced department heads trailing behind him.

His sheer presence silenced the entire corridor.

Director Evans stopped directly in front of Liam. His voice was ice.

“Move.”

Liam, about to peel a second crawfish, looked up in confusion. “Who are you? Can’t you see we’re eating?”

Director Evans glanced at the takeout containers on the floor, and his face turned to stone. Without another word, he shoved open the doors to the operating room and strode inside.

The doctors inside looked up and saw him as if he were a savior. “Director Evans! What are you doing here?”

Director Evans scanned the monitors, then looked at my condition on the operating table. His voice trembled with a rage so profound it was almost silent.

“This is… this is Rachel Vance! From Helios Global!”

“What in God’s name are you people doing! Why isn’t she on a heart-lung machine? Who approved this conservative treatment plan!”

The operating room fell into a dead silence.

Outside, Liam and Mia, who had been about to complain, froze, their expressions locked in place.

Helios Global.

Rachel Vance.

The two names combined like a bolt of lightning, striking them right between the eyes. The crawfish in Liam’s hand fell to the floor with a soft splat.