After My Boyfriend and Best Friend Betrayed Me, Regret Haunted Them Nightly Chapter 05
Three years later, the plane glided smoothly above
the Pacific Ocean.
I looked out the window at the twilight, my hand
instinctively resting on my right arm.
The fractured bone from three years ago had
healed well enough, though a dull ache still
lingered whenever it rained.
After my injury back then, I accepted my German.
mentor Dr. Schmidt’s invitation to join his research.
team.
He had invited me long before that, but back then,
I couldn’t part with my patients, Preston, and my
friends.
Dragging a heavy suitcase home full of
excitement, I was met with the simultaneous
betrayal of the two most important people in my
life.
During those three years in Germany, I turned myself into a precise, flawless machine.
Days were spent doing research with Dr. Schmidt
at the hospital, evenings were for physical therapy
at the rehab center, and late nights were spent
grinding through medical literature until midnight.
I just couldn’t accept it.
After over a decade of hard studying, my life had
an infinite future ahead. How could I accept letting
it stop there?
Late at night, when my old injury flared up, I would
stare at the ceiling until dawn.
If not for that baseball bat, if Preston had just
picked up that call, would my life have turned out
differently?
But there are no “ifs” in this world.
An urgent announcement suddenly cut through
the cabin. I heard the head flight attendant calling,
“Is there a doctor on board?”
My body reacted before my brain. I unbuckled my seatbelt and stood up without hesitation.
In the back of the first–class cabin, an elderly man
clutched his chest, his face pale and grey, gasping
for air.
“I’m a doctor.”
I knelt to check his pulse and pupils, motioning for the flight attendant to bring the emergency kit.
“Suspected acute myocardial infarction. Lay him.
flat immediately, give him oxygen, and administer sublingual nitroglycerin.”
The man’s wife sobbed, unable to speak, so I asked about his medical history while
administering care.
The flight attendant held her hand, trying her best
to soothe her.
When the plane made an emergency landing,
paramedics boarded with a stretcher, and I carried the IV bag, following them all the way into the
ambulance.
The ambulance sped away with sirens blaring.
Sitting inside, I watched the familiar streets pass
- by.
I hadn’t expected my first stop back, three years.
later, to be my former workplace–the Holt family
hospital.
The harsh lights of the ER lobby were blinding. I
calmly explained the in–flight situation to the ER
doctor.
Once the patient was wheeled into the ICU, I let
out a breath and turned to leave.
A familiar voice, thick with shock, called out
behind me.
“Julissa? Is that you?”
I stopped in my tracks.
Preston stood there in a lab coat, his mask pulled down to his chin, holding a freshly printed ECG.
Three years had passed. He had grown much thinner, with dark circles under his eyes.
Breathing heavily, he stared at me, keeping a restrained distance of several steps.
“Where… where have you been these past three years? You resigned without a word. I looked for you everywhere. You moved, changed your
number, and no one knew where you went.”
I remained silent, looking at him calmly.
An ER nurse rushed over in panic. “Dr. Holt, the patient has been transferred to the ICU.”
I gave a slight nod and stepped aside to clear the
way.
Preston hesitated, unwilling to step away as the
night breeze caught the hem of his coat.
“Wait, Julissa. Can you give me your number?”
“Your arm… how are you doing?”
I frowned and cut him off in a flat tone. “Your
patient is waiting. The golden window for MI
thrombolysis is only two hours. Don’t waste time.”
Preston gritted his teeth and headed into the
operating room without another word.
The autumn breeze seeped through my collar, and
I tightened my cold fingers into fists.
It didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would.
Time really could fade everything. Meeting an old
ghost face–to–face, my heart didn’t miss a single
beat.