Odette frowned, her gaze piercing and filled with disapproval. Her voice cut through the tense air, each word a blade aimed at me.

"Verena, you’re the only doctor here with experience treating brain-dead patients. Is your career really worth more than saving your husband’s life?"

"Especially when he ended up like this trying to save you!"

Her tone grew sharper, laced with both judgment and disbelief. "Saving lives is a doctor’s duty, your duty. And this isn’t just any patient. This is your husband!"

"Brain death has a 99% fatality rate. Are you really willing to let Matias die just to protect your job?"

The weight of her words crashed over the room like a tidal wave. Milana and Alastor turned ghostly pale, their faces drained of all color. Without hesitation, they dropped to their knees, their trembling hands reaching toward me as they pleaded, their voices broken with desperation.

I kept my gaze fixed on the screen, ignoring the chaos around me.

“Defeat!”

The game’s failure notification blared from my phone, loud and mocking. I stared at the screen as the crystal shattered into pieces, then flung the phone aside in frustration.

“This is all your fault! You just couldn’t shut up, could you?!”

“That was my promotion match, and you ruined it! Buzzing around like flies, so damn annoying!”

Alastor knelt at my feet, trembling. His once-proud face was now creased with desperation as he looked up, his voice weak and pleading.

“Verena, please… As long as you save Matias, we’ll give you anything—anything you want…”

Around us, the crowd began to stir, their whispers swelling like ripples in still water. Realization dawned on their faces, their expressions shifting—some with pity, others with suspicion.

A few elderly women exchanged disapproving glances, their faces pinched with judgment as they looked me up and down.

Before I could speak, the door to the hospital room burst open.

A young nurse came rushing out, her face drained of color, panic etched in every line of her expression.

“Dr. Hewitt, Dr. Hewitt, his blood pressure just dropped! He might not survive!”

Her voice wavered with a sharp edge of panic.

Odette turned to the nurse, her eyes flashing with irritation before she shifted her dark, penetrating gaze back to me.

“Verena,” she began, her tone hard, “I’ll ask you one last time: are you sure you won’t go in to see him?”

I held her gaze, silent.

The wound on my wrist pulled painfully, fresh blood trickling out, vivid and red.

Under the weight of Odette’s stormy gaze, I slowly nodded, the action deliberate yet filled with resolve.

Seeing this, Alastor grabbed my arm in a desperate, frantic motion. Before he could utter a word, Milana’s wail cut through the air, raw with emotion.

"How can you be so heartless?"

Her voice cracked, trembling with grief.

"Matias dated you for seven years, never once caring that your family was poor!"

"He’s handsome, well-educated, with countless women vying for his attention, yet he chose you, he insisted on marrying you!"

"From the moment you two began dating, wasn’t everything you ate, everything you wore, bought by my son?"

"When you married, you brought nothing, a poor family, no dowry, but we never looked down on you."

"Even your tuition for your master's and doctoral studies came from Matias’s pocket! Now his life hangs by a thread, and you..."

Milana’s words sliced through the air, each one heavier than the last, dripping with sorrow and fury.

By the end, she could no longer hold back, her sobs spilling over in a torrent of despair.

The crowd could no longer hold their tongues. One by one, voices rose in condemnation, their words sharp with disapproval.

"Young lady, is your job really more important than this? You can always find another job, but if your husband dies, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life!"

"Exactly! He treated you like gold, loved you with every ounce of his heart, and now you’re just going to turn your back on him? How can you forget where you came from?"

"Saving lives should always come first, especially since he got hurt trying to save you. What’s there to hesitate about? I just don’t understand!"

"How could she be so cold-hearted?"

The whispers around me grew louder, a wave of judgment crashing over me.

I sat motionless on the bench, my lips pressed tight, unyielding like a stubborn rock.

When I didn’t respond, Alastor, on the brink of collapse, clung to my pant leg, his grip desperate as he begged.

"Verena, how about this?"

"You go in and save him, and as a token of our gratitude, we’ll transfer the house and the car to your name..."

At the mention of the offer, I finally raised my gaze.

Noticing my expression soften, Alastor’s face lit up with relief, his chest heaving as he pounded it in victory.

"Verena, don’t worry, I swear on it!"

"As long as you save Matias, the house, the car, even all our savings, they’re yours!"

A ripple of astonishment spread through the crowd.

Everyone was moved by the depth of Alastor’s fatherly devotion.

I looked down at him, my thoughts calculating quietly behind my gaze.

The combined worth of his house, car, and savings easily ran into the millions.

Selling my career for that wasn’t the worst trade.

But, I raised my eyes again, my voice softening with a touch of reluctance.

"Alright, I’ll save him. But..."

Alastor’s face brightened instantly, his eyes locked on mine with an eager hope.

I drew out my words, speaking deliberately, as if each syllable weighed on me.

"But you’ll need to sign a contract with me first. Without that, what if you decide to go back on your promise?"

At this, Alastor’s smile faltered, disbelief flashing in his eyes.

Milana couldn’t hold herself back any longer; her voice quivered with raw emotion as she cried out.

"Matias is in critical condition! How can we waste time on a contract?"

"My poor son! How could he end up marrying someone so ungrateful?"

I gave a helpless shrug, my tone unwavering.

"No contract, no surgery."

The crowd murmured again, their voices thick with condemnation.

Some of the more fiery onlookers looked as though they were about to lash out in their frustration.

Just then, another nurse burst through the door, her uniform streaked with blood.

Her voice shook, a mix of shock and urgency in her words.

"The patient just lost consciousness. Before he did, he asked me to deliver a message."

"He told me to stop pressuring Verena. He knows how hard she worked to get this job."

The mention of Matias losing consciousness sent Milana collapsing to the floor, her grief too heavy to bear.

Her face was ashen, her body trembling so violently that words seemed impossible to form.

Tears streamed down Alastor’s face, his pain evident as he dropped to his knees, his head bowing to the ground with such force it seemed he might choke on the weight of his own grief.

Between clenched teeth, he rasped, his words barely escaping.

"His life is on the line. I’ll keep every promise. Just... please..."

I glanced at the elderly couple, their faces etched with worry and exhaustion, and for a brief moment, doubt clouded my mind.

My parents had passed when I was young, and the concept of familial love had always felt distant.

But when I met Matias, things were different. He had introduced me to his parents early on, and their warmth had been something I’d never known.

The Campbells, so kind, so genuine, had never once made me feel inferior because of my background. They had taken me in as one of their own, showing me a care that left an impression I could never forget.

The year I was preparing for my postgraduate exams, Matias, always feeling sorry for me, would often bring over home-cooked meals made by his parents.

Each meal was a feast in itself, four dishes and a soup, perfectly balanced with both meat and vegetables. Milana even took the time to learn how to cook the dishes I loved, always going the extra mile to make me feel at home.

They were warm, kind-hearted people, offering me a love and care that felt like a balm to my soul.

When Matias and I married, I had nothing to my name, no job, no car, no house, and even my tuition fees were covered by the Campbell family.

At the wedding banquet, a few of Matias’s relatives couldn't hide their judgment. Some distant cousins exchanged sharp words and whispered behind my back, looking down on me for what I didn’t have.

Matias’s parents didn’t hold back in the slightest. In front of everyone, they made their stance crystal clear.

"Verena is a good girl, the daughter-in-law we’ve chosen for our family."

"Anyone who dares speak ill of her will never cross the threshold of our house again."

At that time, I was young, uncertain, and overly sensitive. Hearing their words struck a deep chord within me.

At that moment, I made a silent vow to always honor Matias and his parents for the rest of my life.

They had given me something I’d never known before: a complete family and a taste of the kind of love I had longed for.

And now, Alastor and Milana knelt before me, their faces worn with age and desperation. Their eyes pleaded with me, silently begging.

I lowered my gaze, unable to look them in the eye any longer.

The wound on my wrist pulsed painfully, each throb making it hard to catch my breath.

As the elderly couple continued pleading on their knees, Odette rushed to their side, her movements swift and urgent.

"Verena, what are you doing? Not only are you refusing to save your husband, but now you’re trying to take away this elderly couple’s assets?"

"For the sake of money and your job, you’ve completely abandoned your conscience? How disgusting."

With a sharp glance in my direction, she raised her voice, brimming with self-righteousness.

"Don’t waste your breath begging her. I, Odette, will risk my career and reputation to save the patient. Not just because it's my duty as a doctor, but because I still have a conscience!"

Her impassioned words rang through the crowd, sparking applause.

People praised her, lauding her as a model doctor, and at that moment, I felt small and selfish in comparison.

A faint smile curved my lips as I ignored the sharp sting on my wrist and joined in with the applause.

"Then I wish you the best of luck."

Odette shot me a venomous glare, her eyes burning with hate before she turned and walked toward the operating room.

It wasn’t until her figure vanished behind the closed door that I slowly reached for my trembling wrist. Cold sweat beaded on my forehead, and the pain in my body was now more than just physical.

Alastor and Milana, too preoccupied with their worry for Matias, helped each other to their feet and hurried off, determined to gather money for his treatment.

The crowd began to thin, the chatter dying down as people trickled away.

My vision blurred, and my consciousness began to slip away like sand through fingers…

When I finally opened my eyes again, I found myself lying in a hospital bed.

Maevie Yesron, my close colleague, was sitting beside me, her face etched with concern.

"Dr. Scott, you’re finally awake!"

"You’ve been asleep for a whole day and night; you scared us to death."

Still groggy, I propped myself up, surprised at how much time had passed.

Clearing my throat, I spoke, my voice hoarse and weak. "Matias... How is he?"

Maevie hesitated for a moment before responding cautiously.

"Dr. Hewitt spent ten hours fighting to save him. He made it through and is out of danger now."

A weight settled in my chest, and I wasn’t sure whether to feel relief or disappointment.