Hidden in the Restroom, Avoiding the Trap3 / 3

Chapter 3

"You are my attending mentor! Of course I'm going to look for you when something goes wrong!"

Hannah snapped, her eyes flashing with a fleeting glimpse of deep-seated hatred.

A disturbing thought suddenly crossed my mind.

Before I voiced it, however, I needed concrete proof.

"Alan, make your bathroom breaks quicker next time," Dr. Bradford scolded, his brow furrowed with open disdain. "The ER is a battlefield against death, and there is no room for slacking off."

"Why are you wasting time sorting charts right now anyway? Shouldn't these administrative tasks be done during off-hours? If everyone wrote charts, who would save the patients?"

He sneered at me, masking his personal malice behind administrative authority.

Swallowing the burning anger in my chest, I responded patiently.

"I only stayed late tonight because these records needed immediate review."

"I wasn't even scheduled for the ER floor tonight. Dr. Hannah Young was the designated attending on call."

Having his authority challenged made Dr. Bradford's face flush with rage.

"What do you mean by that? Am I, the Vice President, not allowed to correct you?"

"You have poor time management and need overtime to finish basic paperwork, yet you never reflect on your own shortcomings?"

Hot fury rose in my throat, but I knew better than to openly clash with hospital leadership without leverage.

The medical records on my desk were stacked nearly two feet high. The patient had been hospitalized for six months before being discharged today, requiring a meticulous handwritten summary.

Any senior doctor would take days to process such a massive file.

My voluntary overtime was now being weaponized as poor efficiency.

"Even if you weren't on the roster, you should have stepped in when the ER got busy," Dr. Bradford pressed on.

"How can a doctor turn a blind eye when a life is on the line?"

I scoffed internally. Helping out wouldn't add a single penny to my paycheck, so why should I be obligated to do her job?

Still, my professional ethics kept me from saying it out loud.

No matter how much one loves medicine, years of bureaucratic wear and tear will slowly grind away the initial passion.

I cared for my patients, but they didn't always care for me in return.

Just like in my previous life.

I had collapsed from exhaustion outside the OR, nearly fainting from hypoglycemia after saving a man's life.

In return, that very same patient shoved a blade into my heart.

Any doctor subjected to such betrayal would feel their blood turn to ice.

Hearing Dr. Bradford back her up, Hannah wept even more dramatically.

"I've heard Dr. Miller complain multiple times about how sick he is of this job. He hates saving people!"

"I even caught him during morning rounds whispering in front of a comatose patient, asking why the guy wouldn't just die already instead of wasting a hospital bed!"

She trembled visibly, shrinking behind Dr. Bradford's shoulder.

"Dr. Bradford, I can't keep working under a mentor who has zero humanity. Treating human lives like trash is terrifying!"

"How does someone without a shred of medical ethics deserve to stay on staff at this hospital?"

Her voice dripped with sorrow, putting on a masterclass of a victim act.

Lacking medical ethics?

If I lacked ethics, Dr. Bradford didn't even deserve to be called human.

The shady under-the-table deals he had pulled over the years were countless, and I had caught him in the act more than once.

I couldn't help but let out a dry chuckle.

"If you can produce a single shred of evidence proving I ever said those words, I will hand in my resignation tonight."

Hannah was simply throwing wild accusations to drag my name through the mud, but I had already cut off her initial plan.

Because of that, she hadn't had time to fabricate fake recordings or forged logs.

Without concrete evidence, neither of them could take disciplinary action against me on the spot.