The Script Of Our Stars

Not all bribes are bad.

She watches her colleagues getting excited about their vacation, which was due in 3 weeks. Her vacation got canceled, and she is definitely sad about it, but their happy faces didn't make her jealous. How can she get jealous when she gets the best early Christmas gift ever? To be precise, it's more like a bribe than a gift, but whatever.

A bright smile appears on her face when she remembers the scenes from the CEO's office as she travels back in her memories.

"He is a VIP client. Even though he left South Korea and the K-pop industry, he is still a celebrity and has an influence."

Her CEO, Mrs. Amanda, tries to make her understand the depth of this problem. Just 10 minutes had passed since she started persuading her, but she got no luck in her hands. No surprise there, Vanika is really stubborn.

"That doesn't mean that you will cancel my vacation."

She has no problem with treating that tornado man, whose name she later came to know, is Ivaan Lee. It is her duty to help the patient no matter what it takes. This profession isn't just a profession for her, it's something which she loves to do. The only problem here is the cancellation of her vacation.

"He is a celebrity and-"

'And here it comes.' She thought in her mind.

So what if he is a celebrity? That doesn't mean she has to start treating him like a god. No matter what a patient's profession is, a patient is a patient and no patient should be treated differently. According to her, it should be on the basis of what problem they have, instead of this segregation based on money.

"No discrimination in treatment, Mrs. Amanda."

Amanda sighed helplessly. If she wants to, she can threaten her with her job, but no, that was against her work ethics. Even though Amanda is at a very high position, she never lets other workers feel inferior to her. She always strives to create a positive and peaceful workplace for the workers working here. And to her satisfaction, all the workers respect her.

"See Vanika, I know you don't care about what profession he has, and I don't want to change your opinion in that case. But I want you to treat him."

She paused for a second to see Vanika's expressions before speaking again.

"I obviously can't force you to do that if you don't want to because. As the Head of Psychiatry Department, I have to respect your decision, but also to respect that same title, I have to do everything possible for the betterment of this place too...."

As the head, she is doing a very good job of handling this department and if a celebrity comes here for whatever reason it is, obviously the media will catch a whiff of it, benefiting the hospital in many ways.

Grace Hospitals and Medical College, one of the top hospital chains, research center and medical college in the entire country, as well as in the world. There are various different hospitals of the same franchisee for different healthcare problems, like, Grace Psychiatrist Hospital, Grace Cardiology Hospital, etc. Employees working in these hospitals get free health check-up and free consultancy on health related issues, with few exceptions, obviously.

In short, it has the best facilities for the public and also for the employees. But for a few years, Norris Health Care Group has been taking over popularity with the help of social media marketing, because what is seen is sold.

Due to this, their hospital is going through major funding problems as many of their trustees and donors are losing faith in them.

"Okay, let's keep the enhancement of the hospital aside as it's Ivaan's personal choice to make. Mr and Mrs. Lee do not want the best psychiatrist to help their kid, but someone who knows how to deal with emotional scars. They want someone who can help him to open up about his feelings because everyone he is close with has tried to help him, but no luck.

So, when they asked me to suggest a psychiatrist's name, your name was the first one to invade my mind. I agree that Sharon is currently the best psychiatrist we have in the hospital, but she is a practical person. Moreover, his parents told me about his psychiatrist back in South Korea, and that she had the same personality as Sharon. It's no rocket science that it didn't work out with her.

Trust me when I say this, you are the most compatible with him. So that's why I want you to treat him."

Vanika understands why Amanda wants her to do this job, but she is also sure that Anvish and Lee couple were also behind this. She quickly goes into her thoughtland.

'As Amanda said before that it is not rocket science. Sudden dinner without prior notifying. Yesterday, me and Anvish had a conversation about the very same thing. Tarika quietly listening to them but saying nothing in my defense when she usually scolds Anvish when he is making decisions for me. These are all the indicators of them working behind the scenes,' she thought.

".... So can we talk about why you aren't willing to treat him or if you are willing too, what's stopping you?"

Vanika, at this point, is tried.

"Mrs. Amanda, I am willing to treat torna — I mean Mr. Lee. I am ready to treat him but-"

"But what?"

She lets Mrs. Amanda cut her words as she takes a deep breath to calm her nerves down. She has never ever been this nervous while talking to Mrs. Amanda. She has always been the sweetest woman, but today is a completely different story.

She was confident earlier as she didn't want to lose her one-and-only yearly long vacation, but now her facial expressions had a different story to tell.

"But the problem is the cancellation of my only vacatio-"

"Oh my goodness!! Vanikaa!!"

Vanika looks at her as the nervousness fills her eyes at the thought of how she embarrassed herself in front of such a high-positioned person, but soon she sighs in relief when she hears her next sentence.

"How come I forgot that and didn't consider that a problem when I started thinking about why were you denying it? Christmas vacations are very important, especially for you, who only gets to visit her home country at this time."

From the time Vanika joined, she always considered herself lucky to have such an understanding boss, but today, she felt as if she was the happiest person ever alive on this planet. Her happiness today was on the next level.

"I have heard that you are a Pluviophile, is it true?"

A pluviophile is a lover of rain—someone who finds joy, peace of mind, and comfort during rainy days.

Amanda moves a little closer to her with her hands firmly resting on the desk for support purposes. Subconsciously, Vanika also moves ahead, reciprocating her actions. After she nods and answers with a 'Yes', she low-key knows what Amanda is going to say next.

"You can call it a bribe or whatever you want to, but I have a superb deal for you. What if I give you a one-month paid holiday on the dates you want?"

The way her eyes twinkled when Amanda said that, people might have mistaken the sparkle as the brightest star of the solar system if it was dark.

"That sounds unbelievable."

And that's how Amanda got her. Even though Vanika hadn't verbally said yes, her face had made her answer very clear. Who can say no to a paid holiday?

Vanika smiled widely while nodding and accepting her CEO's bribe before going towards her office as it was almost lunchtime now. As today is Saturday, which means her shift will end after lunch. Usually, on Saturdays, when lunchtime starts, she goes directly to the house to eat lunch, but today she stopped at the cafeteria to get herself a coffee before leaving.

'Not all bribes are bad', she concluded, at the end of her half-day in the hospital before smiling at her overjoyed colleagues and driving away.

She was very happy, but she didn't know that, apart from happiness, today she would be getting a great surprise as well.