Chapter 340: Compared
Happy New Year!
Only one chapter today, but maybe five tomorrow :)
Mina's petty spat with Doctor Rebecca lasted longer than she wanted it to. When she had originally accosted the woman, it was only because she truly felt that the doctor did not care about Dom's recovery or treatment at all.
Somehow the argument spilled out of Dom's recovery ward and into the lab, where there were several other doctors, including Doctor Witt, listening to the women go back and forth with one another.
When Mina discovered that Rebecca was also a Witt, she felt her mood shift from anger to disappointment. Many years ago, when Mina was fourteen, the person she was working with gave her a newspaper article that featured 'the young genius' Rebecca Witt.
The article was mainly focused on her innovative breakthrough in testing for multiple common viruses at the same time. In a newspaper interview, Rebecca Witt said she was put off by the amount of time she had to wait for her flu test results.
After tinkering with the existing test for years, she wondered if she could combine other common ailments tests and succeeded at the age of seventeen.
Mina remembered reading that Rebecca was nominated for a governmental award but was snubbed by a boy who had discovered a way to make chickens produce more eggs.
Back then, Mina believed that Rebecca had been cheated, but now, she realized that the woman was unfit to represent the 'brilliant minds' of the country.
"Knowledge of a few medical terms does not quantify you as smarter than me," Rebecca replied, and Mina responded in binary. For some reason, it was the only way she could think to set herself apart from the people she had just called dumb.
"While you try to figure out what I just said, I would like a real doctor to see my friend." Dom had no idea what Mina's counting meant, but he was excited. He was witnessing the nerdiest catfight, by two of the sexiest smart women he knew, and he could tell he was not the only one interested.
"Mina, what is your IQ?" Doctor Witt asked.
"One-seventy-one, but I haven't had that confirmed. I was only eight when the test was given to me." Dr. Witt looked at his sister who looked annoyed by Mina's nonchalance regarding an IQ that high.
"Why don't we test you again?" He asked and Mina shrugged.
"The best way to confirm if the test you were given was genuine and accurate is to retest," another man said.
"Will knowing that information somehow change the fact that my friend was given an antidepressant while in isolation?"
"How long have you been taking the antidepressant?" One of the men asked Dom, who answered the same way he answered Mina. "Stop taking it; you'll be fine." Mina was taken aback by the reaction she was getting from the men around her. None of them seemed concerned at all.
"Aren't you all physicians? Shouldn't you be upset?"
"We are physician-scientists. Dr. Witt and his sister are the only ones who are patient enough to practice medicine." The man who had spoken was probably the weirdest looking one in the group, with Doctor Witt being the most handsome.
"Mina, you came to have your friend checked by me, right? I'm telling you he will be fine, but right now we are all more interested in you." Mina backed away and stood closer to the wheelchair Dom was in.
"Why?"
"Because of your IQ. If it's as high as you say, you aren't living to your full potential."
"That's not a reason," Mina answered. She had begun to feel nervous and started to pull Dom backwards with her.
"Relax. We are all single men, and you are an unmarried woman."
"What does that mean?" Dom asked, and Mina was glad she was not the only one put off.
"What does that mean?" President Lee asked. He put extra emphasis on the word 'does'. He had rushed from the room where he was monitoring the pair to make sure they didn't get themselves killed in an escape attempt. Ian knew the men who worked in the biomedical department were eccentric, but he did not realize they were so bold.
"President Lee, we were just telling Mina that her ovaries are like gold to us. We don't need marriage, just her genetics." Mina shuddered again. Dom looked up at her and gestured for her to leave, but before she could take more than a few steps, one of the men called out to her.
"If you choose me, we won't even have to live together." Mina was so embarrassed she literally ran away pushing Dom as fast as she could.
----
Mina made it back to Dom's room where she flopped on the bed holding her stomach in laughter. Dom was even more tickled by what had just occurred. He kept mocking Mina who playfully jested with him; seemingly oblivious to the person who was standing outside the door. They knew she was there; they just ignored her.
Dom asked Mina if she were interested in any of the men who had asked her to become their child bearer and she narrowed her eyes at the man. He knew she was once pestered by a classmate who assumed she had a high IQ, which was why she did not go around advertising the information.
"Do you know there are social clubs dedicated to linking people with a high IQ?" Mina asked.
"What? Why?"
"Because," Rebecca interjected. "Offspring from two individuals with a high IQ, will most likely have a higher IQ. Everybody wants their child to be the next Mario Chivas." Mina nodded. The man had pioneered modern medicine in Pan, and he was a national icon.
"It isn't fool proof," Mina said, and she meant that literally. "People with an IQ as high as mine aren't always all there," she added. "Sometimes, they have severe social disorders." Rebecca took the opportunity to jump in.
"Like the people on the third level," she said, which made Mina's ears perk up. She had only ever met one person with an IQ higher than hers, and the man did not speak much. It made her grateful that her family insisted she socialize, but Mina also knew that method might not have work on anyone else. In truth, she was well on her way to becoming Rebecca before her parents intervened.
"Can I go there? To the third floor?" Mina asked and Dom felt betrayed.
"You're leaving me?" He asked, and Mina sighed.
"Can't you come with me?" Mina was about to ask, but then she remembered that Dom had lost his rank because of her. "Never mind, I will stay here with you." Rebecca could not believe what she was witnessing. If Mina did have a one-seventy-one IQ, she was not just high functioning, she was noteworthy. Most people like her had very little to no empathy, but Mina seemed normal.
"How did you learn that behavior?" Rebecca asked, almost beside herself with envy. She had worked with the men, who had openly declared Mina a suitable partner for years, and not once had they ever considered her a valid option.
"I had a good teacher," Mina replied, just in time for Doctor Witt to show up with President Lee.
"Who?" Rebecca asked, she was once again agitated because she believed that Mina was lying to her.
"My sister, but she isn't around to take on any new students. Other than her, the only other person I can think of is Dom." Dom's eyes widened, and Ian smirked. She may not have realized it, but Mina had just compared Dom to her sibling, a woman no less.