Chapter 13


TW: Mentions of Anxiety attack at the very last paragraph. You can skip the last part.


Rayne hadn't seen Sebastian after that. It had been a week. Work had been hectic. But she also needed some time away from him. To think. She just couldn't think when she was with him.

The one surgery that she had missed came to bite her in the back. She had overworked this whole week. She had to stay back every night. She also did lots of scut work. But she didn't regret staying over that day. She kept telling herself that she stayed because he might've needed her. But even she knew that it wasn't the case. She stayed because she wanted to. Not because he needed help. But because she needed him.

She was on her way to work with her morning coffee, when Matthew called her. She immediately sighed, and chugged a mouthful of coffee. If she were to deal with Matthew at 7.30 in the morning, she needed all the coffee she could get.

"Rayne, we need you here right now," his tone was hushed. Her thoughts immediately went to her patients. She was especially worried about David, a kind old man, who had just undergone an Open Heart Surgery. He was still in the ICU, and they were monitoring him. She was scared.

"Why? Is everything okay? Is David alright? Is something wrong with him?" She rushed through the sentences, as if that could somehow help David.

"No, it's not David. Just, come here soon, okay?" He hung up without another word.

"Shit!" She muttered under her breath. Matthew couldn't do a thing right. The least he could do is ease her nerves by telling the whole thing, but he decided to leave her hanging, wondering what she'd done wrong.

As soon as Rayne entered the hospital premises, she was greeted by a worried Matthew.

"Why aren't you checking your emails? Rayne, this is important! Thank god you're here finally!" He blabbered away, and Rayne just wanted to shove a hand to his face and shut his mouth. But she controlled her animal instincts and decided to act like a normal human being.

"What happened? Where's Paige?" She inquiried, searching her bag for her phone, so that she could call Paige. There was no use asking Matthew about anything, she needed Paige.

"Paige is talking to our old Chief," he said with a weird look on his face, as if he wasn't sure about what he was talking about.

"Old chief? What do you mean?" She asked him confused. Does that mean they're going to have to meet their new chief soon?

"Apparently he needs some time off of work. He's taking leave. And we have to meet the new chief in about 5 minutes," He said, checking his watch. Rayne looked down at hers, to see that it was quarter to eight.

New Chief? What new chief?

"So you're telling me that we have a new Chief, just when I had skipped my surgery. Talk about bad luck," she whispered to him. She still didn't regret staying over, but she was sad about her luck, or the lack thereof. Things never seemed to work out well for her. First, it was Sean. Now it's this new chief.

No wonder Matthew was stressed. I've been here for less than 3 minutes, and I'm already thinking about running off to Neverland.

"You ready?" She heard Paige, and turned over to see her walking out from Dr.Brown's office, their old chief. Paige's face didn't seem to scream any answers, so Rayne didn't want to shoot questions and torture her friend.

"Yup," both of them replied at the same time, unenthusiastically. Rayne was confused, but she didn't want to bother the other two with questions. It seemed like they were as clueless as she was.

Rayne and Paige looked at ome other, wishing each other luck and sharing sympathetic smiles.

Paige was the first one to enter. Rayne followed her. She knocked her elbow on the doorframe, and took a second to gain back her composure. And when she did, she saw the Chief standing in front of the bulletin. His back greeted the three. Rayne's eyes widened in surprise, for she had seen it too many times to know who it was.

Sean.

"Good morning, Doctors. Anderson. Smith and Harris."

Sean's voice brought out the worst memories of the past year. Rayne shuddered at the thought. She hated being there, she hated it. Every single second of it.

Sean eyed her up and down like she was some object. It made her so uncomfortable. His eyes lingered on places you weren't supposed to look at, if you were a supervisor.

Rayne felt suffocated in her own body. She wanted to tear out her skin and run away. She wanted nothing to do with Sean. But yet, here she was. Fate had worked in the worst way possible and Rayne couldn't have been more sad about it.

"I'm stepping in as the new Chief. Dr. Brown desperately needed a vacation," he continued, "So, you all report to me now."

He smiled devilishly with his perfect teeth as his eyes stayed on Rayne, a little longer than necessary.

"I don't want to waste your time," He spoke.

So much for not wasting time. If you open your mouth, it immediately becomes a waste of time.

Rayne shrugged off her thoughts and tried to listen to what he had to say.

"But it has come to my attention that one of you have the habit of skipping your surgeries." He had a file on his hand, and he spoke while he looked at it, as if he was reading from it. But Rayne doubted that. She knew that he most likely made up his mind the moment he stepped foot into the room. He made up his mind to taunt her. And she knew that there was no way she could run from it.

'It was one time for god's sake!' She wanted to scream. But for the sake of her reputation and her career, she decided against that. Even Rayne was not that stupid.

When none of them replied him, he raised his eyes from the file to look at them. Scratch that, to look at Rayne.

"Do you have anything to say, Dr. Harris?" He smirked.

"Yes, it was one time. I've never done it before that or after," she said defensively, trying not to sound too arrogant. But she soon understood that she'd failed in doing so.

"In case you didn't understand, I am your superior, I am your chief. When you address me, you either call me Dr. Miller or Sir. Do you understand that, Harris?" He glared at her.

He sounded like a stupid alpha. She regretted that she once found that attractive. She regretted that it once made her want him.

She also noticed that he'd dropped the 'Doctor' in front of her name. And she realized that, it had become personal, and he was no longer talking about her skipping surgery.

She lowered her gaze to look at the floor, not trusting her words. Sean was still looking at her.

"When I ask a question, I'd like an answer." His words were harsh.

Rayne tried to remain calm. She had faced tyrants in her job before. He was just like one of them. She just had to do it one more time. No biggie.

"Yes, Dr. Miller," her voice was faint, and she was feeling dizzy. From all the questions, and all the things that had to do with Sean.

"What was that? I can't hear you?" He walked towards her and stood beside her. They were inches away from each other, and Rayne suddenly took a step back to gain some distance between the two. Also to gain some courage.

"Yes, Dr. Miller," she slightly increased her volume.

Paige looked at her helplessly. Both Paige and Matthew knew about Sean's relationship with Rayne. How it was before and how strained it was then.

Sean took a step forward, just as Rayne had took one back. He was now standing right in front of her, his hands dangerously close to her waist. He brushed his hand against her, and she trembled in response. He smugly smiled at her reaction.

"You can go now." He looked at her straight in the eyes.

Rayne stood transfixed in her spot, not having the strength to walk. Soon Paige found her friend's hands, and tried to lead her out of the room.

But they were immediately interrupted by Sean, "Dr. Anderson and Dr. Smith, I want you to assist me in a surgery next week. So stay, we should talk about it."

Rayne took one last look at her friend, as if she was asking for the way to go out of the room. She thought it was sad, how he still had control over her life. Over her. She'd just wanted to be away from Sean, but when the opportunity presented itself, she couldn't even trust herself to move her own legs. She felt like she could faint any moment.

Somehow she gathered her courage and was about to open the door, when Sean spoke again, "I'd expect you to be a good girl, Dr. Harris, we don't want you getting punished now, do we?", he smirked, stressing those words. And she understood exactly what he meant.

I hate him. I hate this place. I hate everything.

Rayne closed the door on her way out. She was stood in front of his room, catching her breath. Her body tensed up, and she found herself catching for breath. Her eyes were blurry from the newly formed tears. She supported herself by leaning onto the wall next to her. Her hands were all sweaty. She tried to open her bag and take her phone out. But she dropped it.

"Shit!" She cursed herself. For dropping her phone. For being affected by Sean's words. For being weak. For being her.

She closed her eyes and slowly concentrated on her breathing, and waited for a few minutes till it became regular.

And then, she did the only thing that came to her mind. She called Sebastian.

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