Chapter 97.

"Beeeeeee~eeeeeeeeeee~eeeeeeeeeeee~eeeeeeeeee~eeeeeee…"

"Wha~t happ~ened all of a sud~den?! J~ust when we finally sta~bilized his condi~tion his heart sudd~enly stopped with~out any si~gn or warn~ing!"

Somehow, in the strange condition I found myself in, I heard a man's murky, muffled out voice. It sounded very similar to when you were underwater.

"Calm do~wn. Pa~ss me the de~fibrill~ator!"

"3. 2~. 1."

"Bzzzzzzzz~zzzzzzzzzt"

"Beeeeeee~eeeeeeeeeee~eeeeeeeeeeee~eeeeeeeeee~eeeeeee…"

...

"3~. 2. 1."

"Bzzz~zzzzzzzzzzzzzzt"

"Beeeeeee~eeeeeeeeeee~eeeeeeeeeeee~eeeeeeeeee~eeeeeee…"

...

"3. 2. 1~."

"Bzzzzzzzzzzzz~zzzzzt"

"Beeeeeee~eeeeeeeeeee~eeeeeeeeeeee~eeeeeeeeee~eeeeeee…"

...

"3~. 2. 1."

"Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz~zzt"

"Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep…"

"We've... somehow brought him back. His vitals have returned to normal. They've finally… stabilized." Whoever said that sounded winded, they were completely exhausted.

Somehow it seems I came very close to death again. It was unnerving to think that in a certain way, one of my psychotic exes nearly killed me in reality while I was inside a nightmare.

I weakly opened my eyes and discovered a plastic piece over my mouth and nose. Two men looked down at me from both sides of the bed. One had a white lab coat on, the other wore scrubs. They both had face masks on, but they both appeared exhausted.

When I traced a path through my memories, I vaguely understood the situation. I'd collapsed and vomited blood in front of Boss after that ridiculous hallucination.

"Mr. Genovese, can you understand us?"

I turned my head toward the doctor, with a bit of struggle, I nodded in his direction.

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

With a hoarse voice, I answered, "th-ree."

"What is five plus four?"

"Ni-ne"

"Good, it appears there isn't any immediately apparent damage to your mental faculties."

"Keep your eyes on my finger."

He moved it right, left, up, and down. I followed it closely with my eyes as he instructed.

"It seems your sensory abilities are also intact."

"You may rest for now. You finally appear to be out of the woods."

"How long have I been unconscious?"

"It's been two weeks since you fell unconscious."

"Two weeks… Doctor, is there something wrong with me? Do I have some sort of chronic disease that's endangering my life?" It was hard for me to digest.

The doctor looked at me strangely for a moment before he revealed, "We were initially certain something had to be wrong with you, but after thoroughly examining your condition over the last two weeks... the only thing we determined was... you were in perfect health. Shockingly so at that. I'm ashamed to say it, but we couldn't find a single thing wrong with you despite the grim reaper almost claiming your life..."

"That can't be-"

"You're in peak condition and could never be better. Your body is... how should I say it? Strange? In my twenty years of experience, quite frankly I've never seen anything like your case. It's like you're not even... no, forget that, I'm being rude and making biased presumptions. Just because I haven't seen anything like it doesn't mean it's impossible. It could just be people like you never need to see a doctor to begin with."

"What the hell do you mean I'm in perfect condition! There has to be something wrong with me to collapse the way I did. I even coughed up blood! Freaking blood!"

"Maybe it's just stress."

"You're a doctor yet you're coming up with the same diagnosis an amateur without any expertise like me would? There's no way simple stress can really be causing everything I'm going through! There must be something wrong with my brain. I must have hit my head and developed brain damage somewhere!"

"I really don't know what you want me to say. Your brain is a perfect masterpiece and shockingly well developed without any signs of abnormalities."

I slumped back deeper into the bed unsure of what to say. I was at an extreme loss right now.

"I understand you may be confused and you're scared after you just made it through a life-threatening ordeal only to be told nothing is wrong with you, but you should just be thankful that you at least got away with your life in one piece. There are many cases who aren't as lucky as you."

Lucky? This is lucky? This is hell.

"Yeah… I guess you're right. Thanks. I was just... overreacting."

They did save my life, I couldn't be ungrateful towards them for having simply done their job.

"Well then, we'll be taking our leave, we have other patients to tend to. We're always short-staffed here."

"Haha. It's got to be tough on you as a doctor. The reason I didn't try to become one was because of how stressful it would be. At times working inhumanely long shifts where a single slip up could lead to another person dying. The worst part being when you can't save someone, the responsibility suddenly falls on your back to inform the family of the crippling news. I'd end up crushed by the overbearing responsibility that comes with that sort of position."

"Yeah, this job definitely isn't easy. It's by far the most stressful profession in the world; but if no one made any sacrifices, do you have any idea how many of the lives that could be saved would be lost? Life is a precious thing that shouldn't be squandered lightly."

He was definitely still a pure-hearted doctor, far removed from the doctor in my earlier nightmare. The aversion I held towards hospitals in my heart might have ever so slightly decreased thanks to this strangely zealous, true to his ideals, doctor. However, in my eyes, he was still only a single small flame feebly flickering, one of which barely visible amidst the darkness in this corrupted world of questionable medical practices.

"I hope you can keep up that mentality. I've seen a lot of different types of doctors and they're definitely not as dedicated to the cause as you are. Even if there is something wrong with a patient, there are some doctors who will pretend there is nothing wrong simply because they have no interest in shouldering the responsibility that comes with treating them. They'd rather push all the hard work off to someone else to avoid opening up a can of worms for themselves. They only want the easy to handle patients because the only thing on their mind is putting in the least amount of effort to reap the most profit. Once those types finished their hellish education, their mindset was one of slacking off, taking it easy, and living a life of luxury and riches."

"I'd never do anything underhanded or low like that. I made a vow to treat all patients equally no matter what their ailment may be, I will do everything in my power to help them. I want my patients to have unwavering trust in me, as such, I will never lie to them in a manner like that."

The doctor exited the room after he put in his two cents. The male nurse in scrubs followed closely behind him.

To think, they really couldn't find anything wrong with me. I let out a long dejected sigh. Dying might not have been so bad. Rather than a sense of relief from the good news that nothing was wrong with me, it actually increased my anxiety instead.

Knock. Knock.

A short time after they left the room, I heard a knock from the entrance. When I looked over I realized it was none other than Val.

"You've finally regained consciousness?"

"Eh? Ah. Yeah. It seems… so."

"Is that all you have to say to your boss who's been put through quite a bit of stress thanks to you?"

"Sorry."

"Sorry? I'm not really looking for an apology."

"Then what am I supposed to say?"

"How would I know? How about maybe... professing your undying love for me? Of course, that's just a joke though."

"I love you."