The Unlucky Turn by Mark Twain 352

“Zeus, you’ve always been the most promising young doctor in this hospital. How could you make such a rookie mistake?”

Zeus had become an attending physician in his twenties; looking across the entire country, that was an exceptional achievement. The Director couldn’t fathom how he dared to dig his own grave like this.

Faced with the Director’s disappointment and confusion, Zeus remained silent. What could he say? That he had been provoked into irrationality by Leilani? That he was desperate to prove he was better than her? Saying those reasons out loud would only make him look pathetic.

The Director, seeing his silence, shook his head helplessly. “For this ncident, a formal reprimand will be placed on your file, and your surgical privileges are suspended for one week. Go home and take some time to eflect on yourself.”

Walking out of the office, Zeus’s steps felt as heavy as lead.

The hospital was like a small, enclosed ecosystem; within half a day, the news of Zeus’s near-disaster in the OR had spread through the entire ɔuilding. The fact that Zeus was their star doctor only made the gossip :ravel faster.

n the corridor, a few passing nurses whispered among themselves, glancing at him with a mix of curiosity and pity.

‘Did you hear? Dr. Sloan almost caused a major accident today…”

‘Seriously? Isn’t he usually super steady?”

‘Who knows? Maybe the pressure finally got to him…”

“Dr. Sloan is in trouble now. I heard the Director was furious. I wonder if it’ll go on his permanent record.”

“There goes his promotion for the second half of the year. Two years of

work down the drain.”

The words drilled into Zeus’s ears uncontrollably, darkening his expression as he quickened his pace to leave the hospital.

Deep into the night, Zeus sat on the sofa in his apartment, a glass of strong liquor sitting on the coffee table before him, the amber liquid glinting coldly under the lights.

He stared at the glass, the scene in the operating room replaying in his mind on a loop. It was a lapse in judgment. He had thought the patient could handle a thoracotomy. He never expected that even with the lowest-risk intervention, the patient would hemorrhage so massively.

If… if Leilani knew about this, what would she say? He remembered clearly what Floyd and Leilani had said to him last time.

The thought of Leilani sent a surge of resentment and indignation through his chest. Why? Why did Leilani, a social pariah who hadn’t even gone to medical school and had spent four years in prison, easily win Mr. Dillon’s appreciation? While he, the elite cardiac surgeon of Alloy City General Hospital, had to suffer a crushing defeat in front of her?

Zeus grabbed the glass and downed it in one gulp. The alcohol burned his throat, but it couldn’t extinguish the flames of obsession in his heart.

‘Leilani…” Zeus muttered her name, his eyes turning sinister.

He miscalculated today, but he wouldn’t give up. Sooner or later, he would achieve something undeniable and slap her in the face with it right in front of Floyd. He was going to let Leilani know: A country bumpkin like her could never compare to a real doctor. When that time came, he would send Leilani rolling back to the countryside where she belonged!

Meanwhile, at the downtown mall in Alloy City, Leilani had just parked her car when she suddenly sneezed twice in a row. Rubbing her nose in

confusion, she felt it was a bit odd.

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