THE ASHES OF LOVE

1. STERN PROFESSOR

16 years later...

Code Blue! Code Blue!

The echoing alarm blared loudly throughout the corridors of Refugio Hospital. It originated from the Emergency Room (ER). Simultaneously...

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Come in!"

"Sorry, Professor..."

"What is it, Dini?"

"There's an emergency in the ER, and..." Professor Adit noticed hesitation in Dini's expression.

"Quickly, tell me, what's going on?"

"...and we can't find Doctor Naura."

Professor Adit was shocked. He swiftly got up from his chair and grabbed his white coat. "Let's go!"

They immediately rushed to the ER. There were already several nurses trying to stabilize the patient's condition and cleaning fresh blood that had come out of their mouth during a cough.

"What happened?" Professor Adit inquired while checking the patient's vital signs.

"The patient underwent a Punch Biopsy surgery for their sarcoma cancer three days ago, performed by Dr. Naura," explained Dr. Ashi. "They only had a mild fever until last night, but just now, they complained of shortness of breath due to chest pain."

Professor Adit took his stethoscope from his coat pocket and examined the patient's chest. The breathing rhythm sounded like the strong rubbing of fingertips in his ears. Sometimes it sounded quite loud, then slowly faded. It was evident that there was another disease apart from sarcoma.

"Does the patient have a history of pulmonary TB?" Professor Adit removed his stethoscope and switched to examining the patient's pupils.

"Yes, Professor," Dr. Ashi confirmed. "Based on the patient's medical records, a specialist from the cancer hospital diagnosed them with stage four HIV infection and pulmonary TB. In addition to complaining of repeated shortness of breath and coughing, the patient also often had recurrent diarrhea, resulting in a drastic weight loss of sixteen kilograms. The patient had been receiving category one anti-tuberculosis treatment for the past three months."

Suddenly, the heart rate on the control panel display showed a graph of ventricular tachycardia rhythm. There were no P-waves, and the QRS complex widened by more than three small squares or 0.12 seconds. Professor Adit hurriedly checked the patient's heart rate with his stethoscope. It was only beating more than forty times per minute. The patient's carotid pulse couldn't even be felt.

Damn.

Professor Adit immediately began CPR and instructed Dr. Ashi to prepare the defibrillator, while Nurse Dini quickly placed an oxygen mask.

"Increase it to 200 joules! Stand back!"

Following Professor Adit's command, Dr. Ashi and the other nurses moved away from the patient's body. "Clear!"

"Shock!"

Professor Adit placed the paddle buttons on the patient's sternum and apex, then delivered an electric shock to restore the heart rhythm. However, the graph on the control panel display showed ventricular fibrillation instead.

"500 joules! Stand back!"

"Clear!"

"Shoot!"

Still no signs. Professor Adit didn't want to give up.

"700 joules! Stand back!"

"Clear!"

"Shoot!"

Tit...tit...tit...tit...tit...

"The patient's condition is back to normal, Doctor," Dr. Ashi said with relief as she saw the patient's heart rate graph returning to a regular rhythm.

Professor Adit handed his paddle button to Nurse Dini and wiped his sweat. He was lucky today. The patient could still be saved. However, he was also frustrated and angry. This patient was under the care of Dr. Naura as the attending physician. She should have been more attentive and not neglected her duties. How could she have ignored the code blue alarm?

"After this, immediately inform Dr. Naura to come to my office," Professor Adit said firmly.

"Understood, Doctor."

***

What is that noise?

Naura groaned softly and pulled the blanket over her head. But the faint sound, like a wailing siren, still reached her ears. At first, she chose to ignore the noise, but over time, it began to bother her. With her eyes still closed, Naura reached for anything on her bed and threw it at Hana, who was also resting on another bed.

"Answer your phone already! It's so noisy!" Naura exclaimed in irritation, causing Hana, who was in the midst of sweet dreams, to reluctantly wake up and grab her phone from the table.

"Ugh... hello?" she mumbled, furrowing her brows and keeping her eyes shut.

The noise persisted. Hana forgot. "Hello?" she mumbled once more after pressing the 'Answer' button. But strangely, no one responded to her greeting. Hana rubbed her eyes and forced them open wide to check who had called her. Foolishly, there were no incoming calls on her phone, only an alarm she had set to remind herself to check her patient's blood. However, since the patient had left the hospital yesterday afternoon, she no longer needed to wake up. She simply turned off the alarm—or even considered turning off her phone—and went back to sleep.

What's that sound again?

Naura grabbed a pillow and covered her head, hoping the noise would stop soon. But it turned out that the sound could penetrate the pillow and reach her ears. She threw the pillow aside, kicked the blanket, and groaned in frustration.

For God's sake! She had just finished her night shift. Why couldn't there be a moment of peace?

Naura clicked her tongue and threw the pillow towards Hana, who was sound asleep. However, the pillow only caused her to turn over and pull the blanket higher, making Naura even more irritated. "Hey, can't you let me sleep in peace? Answer your phone!"

With laziness, Hana responded to Naura's annoyance, "That's not my phone. My phone is off." Then she returned to her deep slumber.

Naura was puzzled. She reached out her hand to the table next to the bed. She fumbled around, but there was nothing there. Although half awake, Naura remembered that the items that were originally on the table were now scattered on the floor. She struggled to open her eyes, as if they were glued shut with super glue, and leaned to the side of the bed, trying to reach her loudly ringing phone. She still wasn't willing to get out of bed. Finally, after stretching her body and arms, she managed to grasp the noisy object.

Still half-hanging at the edge of the bed, Naura checked the name displayed on her incoming call. Who dared to try and wake her up so early in the morning?

'Professor Crazy'

Naura's eyes widened immediately. Her drowsiness disappeared instantly. Of course. No one would dare to wake her up except for this particular Professor. He was the most talented senior surgeon at Refugio Hospital and a ruthless professor to Naura. Whether he had military training in the past or not, his teaching methods were undeniably tough and extremely grueling.

"Oh, what do I do now?" Naura panicked when she saw there were fifty missed calls from Professor Adit.

"Hey, Naura! Professor Adit is looking for you." Ashi suddenly appeared from behind the door, startling Naura and causing her to fall off her bed. Ashi hurriedly approached Naura. "Hey, are you okay?"

Naura winced in pain because her head had hit the floor. But that wasn't her main concern right now. "Is it true that Professor Adit is looking for me? Why? Did I cause trouble? Again?"

Ashi looked at Naura for a moment and then sighed deeply. "You really haven't changed," she commented with pity, "there always seem to be crises happening because of you."

"What kind of crises are you talking about?" Naura shook Ashi's hand gently. "Tell me quickly!"

"Do you know the patient named Mrs. Dwi?"

Naura nodded. "She has sarcoma cancer, and I just performed a biopsy surgery on her a few days ago. Why? Did something happen to her?"

"She had a heart attack and nearly died."

"What?!"

***

Naura's sneakers echoed down the hospital corridor with swift and wide steps. She was in such a hurry that she didn't have time to tidy up her disheveled brown hair, and she paid no attention to the sauce stains from last night's meal still visible on her irregularly fluttering white coat. Her swollen eye bags, caused by lack of sleep, were quite prominent on her Indo-Asian face, which hadn't been washed at all. Upon closer inspection, there was still some saliva residue at the corner of her reddened lips. Some patients who accidentally crossed her path even held their noses—disliking Naura's distinctive body odor. Some senior doctors and nurses who had known her for a long time could only shake their heads. They were very familiar with her behavior. When it got to this point, it meant she had a big problem with Professor Adit. And for sure, he wouldn't let her off easily this time.

Naura finally arrived in front of Professor Adit's office. She paused for a moment—taking deep breaths and exhaling slowly repeatedly—before finally mustering the courage to open the door.

"You called for me, Professor?" Naura tried to hide her nervousness as she saw a man in his forties sitting in front of her, engrossed in medical records on his desk.

Professor Adit lifted his head. As expected, when he saw Naura, he roughly placed the documents he was holding on the table and fixed her with a deadly stare. Naura was sure that if there were lasers in his eyes, they would have instantly killed her. Thinking about it, no one could withstand his gaze—not even senior doctors—except her. Perhaps it was because she had gotten used to being scolded by him. But it was still terrifying.

Naura swallowed hard and tried to put on her sweetest smile. "I was informed by Dr. Ashi that you were looking for me, Professor. Is there a problem, Professor?"

Professor Adit laughed. His laughter was even scarier than the antagonist in the Mak Lampir movie. Naura's premonition grew worse.

"A problem?" Professor Adit repeated Naura's words. "Of course not. How could the daughter of Refugio Hospital's owner have any problems? With her position, she should live very comfortably here. And those who work for her should serve her well and tolerate all the mistakes she makes. Because if not, there will be arbitrary dismissals. Right?"

Naura's forehead furrowed slightly. "I don't understand what you mean, Professor."

Professor Adit leaned back, folding his hands. "You!" His voice rose. "Do you think that just because you're the daughter of President Jimmy Wiraldi, you can act and work as you please here?"

Naura shook her head quickly. "No, Professor. I—"

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Professor Adit interrupted her. "I despise mistakes or carelessness, especially when it concerns a patient's life. I entrusted you as the responsible doctor for that patient. Your abilities are beyond doubt. But today, once again, you made a fatal mistake. Is it because you're so arrogant about your abilities now that you forget there are patients who need extra care?"

"Professor, this isn't what you think," Naura tried to explain. "I was just a bit careless today because last night there were many emergency patients due to accidents. It affected my sleep, and I—"

"Dr. Naura," once again, Professor Adit didn't let her finish her sentence. "How long have you been working at this hospital?"

Naura looked uncertain. She couldn't count exactly how many years she had spent at the hospital. What Naura knew was that her experience in the emergency room exceeded that of other doctors. And surely under the guidance of Professor Adit.

"You are no longer an intern. You are a specialist surgeon. You are soon going to replace me as a professor in this hospital. Your experience in handling emergency patients is beyond question. You can spend hours in the operating room without getting sleepy because you understand that a patient's life is in your hands. But now I hear you complaining about lack of sleep—does that justify neglecting a patient who almost died of a heart attack?"

"Do you realize that your foolish actions could put the life of the patient you were fighting for in danger?!" Professor Adit stared even more intensely at Naura. "If it weren't for Nurse Dini notifying me, the patient might already be in the morgue now."

Naura couldn't argue anymore. All that came out of her mouth was, "I apologize for my foolish actions, Professor." Her head hung low. What Professor Adit said to her was true. Everything that had happened was her fault. She couldn't make any excuses to defend herself.

Considering how yesterday she insisted on helping Mrs. Dwi when other doctors couldn't or, more accurately, when no one wanted to make an effort because the patient's chances of survival were only 30%, but she ended up neglecting her.

A long sigh escaped from Professor Adit's lips. His sharp and deadly gaze suddenly softened when he saw the regretful expression on his favorite student's face. He realized that perhaps he had been too harsh on Naura all this time. But if he hadn't been, Naura might have become just like other wealthy kids who acted arrogantly and took things for granted.

"I will give you one more chance," Professor Adit said, making Naura lift her head, which had been staring at the tips of her shoes all this time. "You can still be the responsible doctor for that patient. But on the condition that if you do something that endangers a patient's life, you won't be allowed to touch the operating room for a month. Do you understand?"

Naura's brown eyes widened, and a joyful smile spread across her face. She bowed deeply in front of her professor. "Thank you, Professor!" She exclaimed happily.

"Hey, don't get too excited yet," Professor Adit said, wagging his index finger as a sign that he wasn't finished talking. Naura was confused. What else could there be? "Even though I've forgiven you and allowed you to continue caring for the patient, you still have to accept a punishment for neglecting your duties."

"A punishment?"

"Because of your careless actions, I will add eight extra hours of work per week in the Neuropsychiatry and Psychometrics division."

"What?" Naura was shocked. Did she hear him correctly? That was a division where all the patients had mental disorders, and it had absolutely nothing to do with her profession as a surgeon. Had Professor Adit lost his mind? Naura laughed bitterly. "A... Are you kidding, right? That's completely contradictory to—"

"Ah, I'm not asking you to work as a doctor there," Professor Adit interrupted, further confusing Naura. "But as additional help. I heard one of the nurses there resigned because of her advancing pregnancy. The lack of medical staff is making it difficult for the doctors to complete their reports. You know yourself that the number of employees in that division is quite limited. So, while they wait for new staff to arrive, you'll be helping them."

What? Seriously?

TBC