Medical Center

Cafeteria

The beeping of pagers filled the air.

"What's going on?"

Christina asked in surprise.

"Something big must be happening. Let's go."

Adam got up and motioned to the others.

The surgical interns scattered throughout the cafeteria were already moving as well.

As they passed the nurses' station, Adam once again spotted Alex, the cocky intern who acted like a top-tier surgeon but was anything but.

"Did you page me again?"

Alex asked, a mix of guilt and annoyance in his tone.

"Yes."

The senior nurse reported expressionlessly, "The patient in 4-B is still experiencing shortness of breath."

"Antibiotics take time to work."

Alex had a bad feeling but stubbornly insisted.

"They should've already taken effect."

The senior nurse countered.

She knew the effectiveness of these common medications even better than some doctors.

"She's old, practically an antique."

Alex, clearly irritated, caught the skeptical look in the nurse's eyes and noticed Adam and the others watching him. He coldly added, "If she's still breathing, she should be grateful. I have patients downstairs, ones who aren't from the Civil War era. So stop paging me."

With that, he shoved the chart back into the nurse's hands and walked off with an air of nonchalance.

"How can he be like that?!"

Liz, fierce as ever, couldn't accept it. She stepped forward, ready to confront Alex.

"Don't."

Christina pulled her back, advising, "We need to get to the meeting. This isn't our problem. If something goes wrong, someone will take care of him."

"Let's go."

Adam called out and headed toward the meeting room.

"Adam!"

Liz quickly caught up to him, blocking his path with wide, disappointed eyes. "Shouldn't we do something about this? That's a patient's life on the line."

"She's experiencing shortness of breath, not a life-threatening crisis."

Adam frowned. "If her condition worsens, Alex's attending physician will handle it. We're in a different team. We don't have the authority to interfere."

"But…"

Liz's sense of justice flared up. She knew Adam was right, but she was still unwilling to let it go.

"There's no 'but.'"

Adam said calmly, "If you're really concerned, go talk to Alex's attending or their superior."

Liz hesitated.

Snitching in the workplace was a major taboo. No one liked someone who did that.

She was already not in her attending's good graces. If she went over her team's boundaries to report Alex, she'd completely ruin her reputation.

She had a strong sense of justice, but she wasn't stupid. She had hoped Adam would step up instead.

But to her surprise, he didn't buy into it at all. Instead, he deflected it back to her, hitting her right where it hurt.

"Come on, let's just get to the meeting."

Meredith pulled Liz along, trying to calm her down. "Alex already made it clear he doesn't want to be paged again. If the patient's condition changes, the nurse will page his attending directly. It'll be fine."

"I just hate how they're treating her. Just because she's old, does that mean she doesn't matter?"

Liz vented as she reluctantly followed. "We're all going to get old one day. Would we want to be treated like that?"

Adam glanced at her, suddenly feeling a strong sense of aversion toward this beautiful, fierce, and seemingly kindhearted blonde.

He had studied psychology and had seen many cases like this before.

People like Liz, who acted like saints, often lacked principles and boundaries.

Today, she despised Alex for treating an elderly patient like she was already dead.

Tomorrow, she might fall hopelessly in love with him. And by then, everything that happened today would be completely forgotten.

This wasn't just speculation.

Self-righteous people always felt a need to "save" others. But good people didn't need saving. So, they often found themselves drawn to bad ones. The worse the person, the stronger their urge to "fix" them.

And in that process, the first person they lost was always themselves. To save one "bad" person, they'd abandon all their previous principles—even sacrifice good people if necessary.

Meeting Room

Everyone gathered.

"Does anyone know what this is about?"

"No idea."

"It's probably not bad news. After all, they can't punish all of us at once."

"Good point."

The room buzzed with speculation.

Adam sat there, flipping through patient files.

Christina pulled out a banana and started practicing her suturing technique on it.

"You've got some real skills there."

Stu, the chubby intern, grinned lecherously.

"You want to try?"

Christina stabbed the suture needle deep into the banana, lifting a single eyelid as she stared at him blankly.

"There'll be a chance."

Stu smirked, completely unfazed by the implied threat.

As a doctor, he was used to people practicing sutures on bananas. It didn't trigger any uncomfortable associations for him.

"First shift is almost over. Want to grab a drink later?"

"Oh, come on."

The female interns rolled their eyes in unison.

Adam chuckled. He knew that in the past 24 hours, Stu had asked every woman in the program the exact same thing.

His strategy was simple: cast a wide net, hope for the best.

The outcome? Obvious.

With his short, chubby build and borderline creepy demeanor, he had definitely left an impression.

Even Liz, the self-proclaimed savior of all, couldn't be bothered to "redeem" him.

"Heh."

Stu just laughed it off, taking their eye-rolls as encouragement. His persistence was truly something.

"Good morning."

Just then, a handsome middle-aged doctor walked in and greeted everyone. It was Dr. Derek Shepherd, the attending neurosurgeon.

"Good morning."

Everyone responded, though Meredith's expression immediately shifted.

"I'm about to do something surgeons rarely do," Dr. Shepherd said as he walked toward the group, his gaze sweeping across them. "I'm asking you interns for help."

The room fell silent.

"I have a patient, a little girl named Katie Bryce. I still can't figure out what's wrong with her. The medication isn't working, and all the tests and scans have come back normal. But she keeps having sudden, severe seizures."

He paused before continuing, "She doesn't have much time left. If I don't find the cause soon, she's going to die."

His words hung heavy in the air.

"That's why I need your help. My perspective alone is limited. I need fresh eyes—different ways of thinking—to crack this case and figure out what's making Katie sick."

The interns exchanged glances, their competitive instincts kicking in.

"I know you're all busy and exhausted, so I'm giving you some motivation."

Dr. Shepherd smiled.

"Whoever finds the answer gets to be my surgical assistant."

The room instantly charged with energy.

"Katie will need surgery, and the winner will get a chance to do something no other intern gets—assist in a high-level operation."

Excitement surged through the group. Eyes gleamed with determination as they silently communicated the same thought:

Competition. Competition!