First Meeting

"Good morning!" Jacob greeted his parents with a wide smile. The moment he woke up that day, Jacob felt his excitement growing.

"Good morning Jacob, sit down and have breakfast." Madam Kelly ordered Jacob with a questioning look on her face when she noticed that his son is all dressed up.

"You're leaving?" She asked, sounding displeased.

"Yes mom, I have a major surgery at eight," he answered excitedly as he sat beside his mom.

"Jacob!" Madam Kelly shouted at Jacob and hit Jacob's arm.

He almost got choked with a piece of toast while his father accidentally spits out the coffee from his mouth.

"Mom," Jacob looked at her with confusion.

"You just got home last night after being gone for five years in a foreign country and the first thing you do is leave for work? How could you do this to your mother who missed you so much? Can't you just stay here for a day?"

He looks at his mom. She looks half-angry half pleading with tears starting to form in the corner of her eyes.

"Oh, come on mom! Don't be too hard on yourself. This is my job. It's been three days since my last surgery. My hands are trembling now. I miss blood, scalpel, the action," He said while hugging her and looking at his father asking for help. His mother's little stunt will not stop him from going to the hospital. He just felt that something exciting awaits him at the hospital.

"Hon, don't give your son a hard time. You knew this was going to happen once he took over the hospitals. You should at least be happy that he's home. Because of his work here he won't be going overseas for a long time." He felt his mom loosen up a bit. He gave his father an appreciative smile and a thumbs-up behind his mother who was still clinging on him tightly as if he was still a kid.

"Well then, I have to go. James is waiting for me outside. I'll make it up to you Mom some other time." He stands up and kisses his mom goodbye. He waved to his dad who nodded at him in return. Jacob quickly gets out of the house before his mom could stop him.

Outside the house, he saw his brand new black heavy tinted luxury SUV with James standing beside it.

"Thank you, James." He quickly gets behind the wheels and drives off to the hospital.

At the hospital, J does her usual routine. Punch in at 6:15 before she headed straight to the Department of Surgery. She received the endorsement from the outgoing nurse, then she arranged the nurse's station the way she wanted it to. Once everything is in order, she grabs a pen and puts it inside the left front pocket of her scrub suit and then her phone with headphones attached to the right front pocket of her scrub suit.

She put the earphones to her ears then she heard Kane Brown's 'Heaven' playing.

She heads out of the Nurse's Station and checks out the OR's Schedule Board to see if there are any major surgeries, she will be scrubbing in.

Staring at the whiteboard she frowned when noticed an unfamiliar surgeon's name scheduled at eight.

Dr. Jacob Parker, General Surgeon, Case: Mini Gastric Bypass. She read internally.

When Jacob arrived at Camila Lopez Parker Hospital, the main branch of the CLP Group of Hospitals he instructed James to go ahead to his office as he will go straight to the Department of Surgery.

When he entered the Department, he was stunned in place to see a nurse looking at a whiteboard.

She is wearing a white scrub suit, her hair is in a ponytail, she has a fair complexion, both her hands are in the front pocket of her scrub suit. She was facing the wall so he could only see her side profile but it was enough to captivate him.

"Jacob!" Suddenly someone called his name. He saw the Head of the Department of Surgery, Dr. Aaron Choi walking towards him

Dr. Aaron Choi is also a surgeon and one of his close friends. Jacob and Aaron went to the same medical school and the Choi's were close friends of the Parkers.

He felt disappointed when the nurse that captivates him turned to look at Aaron first instead of him.

But that was just for a short while because she then turns to look at him.

Their eyes met.

Her eyes are hazel brown, nose in perfect shape, she's got a rosy cheek. She has a pale lip but it doesn't matter, she still looks perfect. A few of her hair strands were on the side of her face. She is not wearing any makeup but for him, she looks elegant in a simple way and is way beyond compared to any girls he has met and dated before.

"I thought James was playing tricks when he called me last night and said that you'll do the surgery today. It's so good to see you!" Aaron talking while walking to him, when he got close to Jacob, he noticed that his attention was not on him but on the nurse behind him. A smile appears in the corner of his mouth.

"Oh!" Suddenly Aaron grabs Nurse J's shoulder and pulls her close to him. Jacob's eyebrows furrowed while looking at Aaron's hand on her shoulder.

"This is Nurse J, one of the best nurses in this hospital. Nurse J, this is Dr. Jacob Parker. He is also a surgeon, the son of Chairman John Parker. Dr. Jacob here will now take over as CEO and President of CLP Group of Hospitals." Dr. Aaron introduces them to each other.

J watches as Jacob raises his hand, she takes off the earphones from her ear and reaches for Jacob's hand. She looked into his eyes and felt a bit uncomfortable under his gaze so she glanced sideways.

In time, Dr. Aaron removed his hand from her shoulder then placed his other hand on Dr. Jacob's shoulder. "C'mon, I'll tour you around the Department of Surgery," said Aaron while dragging Jacob away from J which annoyed Jacob. He doesn't want to be away from Nurse J yet.

"And oh! By the way, Nurse J." Aaron seems to remember something then turns to look back at J.

"Can you put on a little lipstick? You look a bit pale." J glared at him, raised her right brow, she puts on her face mask then thought to herself 'what for?' She put her earphones back to her ears then walked past them back to the nurse's station.

The two men look at her with astonishment. "Ok, never mind. She's always like that." Aaron mumbled to himself. Jacob can't hide the spark in his eyes. He was so amazed by this nurse's attitude that he wants to get closer to her.

J stayed at the Nurse's Station since then in the hope of avoiding getting in the way of Dr. Choi and Dr. Jacob Parker. For some inexplicable reason, there is something in the way Dr. Jacob Parker looks at her that makes her heart uneasy.

After a while, the head nurse of the Department came along with other nurses and started delegating work for their shift.

"Okay, guys! We have a series of surgeries today. Let's see...at eight we'll be having MGB with Dr. Jacob Parker at Theatre One, he is the son of Chairman Parker and will be taking over as the CEO of the CLP group of Hospitals. You might want to assist him and take this chance to show off." Head Nurse Jing fervently announced to four nurses at the station.

J ignored the sudden skip of her heartbeat at the mention of Dr. Jacob Parker's name.

"Then at nine, Caesarian Section with Dr. Amelia Jones at Theatre Two. At twelve we have two Cataract Surgeries. One with Dr. Yves Tan at Theatre One and the other one with Dr. Vince Brown at Theatre Three. Now choose which one you want to scrub in." Then she noticed Dr. Aaron and Dr. Jacob approaching them.

"Good morning Dr. Choi, Dr. Parker. Are you done with the tour?" Head Nurse Jing greeted them and J could tell that she is trying to impress the new CEO.

"Yes, so what do we have here?" asked Dr. Aaron as he looks at each of the nurses gathered around the station

"Oh, we are just having a briefing. By the way guys, this is Dr. Jacob Parker the new CEO and President of CLP Group of Hospitals. Dr. Jacob, these are the nurses on duty this morning. This is Nurse Simon, Nurse Pete, Nurse J, and Nurse Maggie." Head Nurse Jing started to introduce them one by one with an air of excitement in her voice.

Jacob turns to look at the group of nurses at the nurse's station. His gaze focused on Nurse J, whose eyes are looking down at the clipboard in her hand reading whatever it is that's written in there.

"Right! Since Dr. Parker is here, who wants to assist him in his surgery?" Head Nurse Jing asked her nurses.

Everyone looked at each other except J.

No one seems to have the courage to be in the same Theatre room with the CEO of the hospital. Afraid that they might commit an error and get on the bad side of the CEO. They are not yet familiar with the attitude of the new CEO. So, it is better to play it safe.

Head nurse Jing looked at J. "How about you Nurse J? Since you have extensive surgical experience." she looked at her in time that J raised her head and asked.

"Head Nurse Jing, I thought Dr. Gonzales will be having 3 CABG for 3 consecutive days before his vacation out of town. The first one we did yesterday. So, the second and third ones should be scheduled for today and tomorrow. Did he cancel it or reschedule it since it is not on the board?" She asked, ignoring the feeling that someone is staring at her.

"Oh God, I forgot to write it there. Right, you will be assisting Dr. Gonzales at twelve so you should prepare the patient and family this morning." Head Nurse Jing said as she slapped her palm on her forehead.

Jacob frowned, although he knows that it is unintentional and she has a valid reason but why does it feel like he was snubbed.

Eventually, Head Nurse Jing insists that Nurse Pete and Nurse Maggie should assist Dr. Jacob at his surgery.

After an hour, the surgery is done. Jacob came out of OR Theatre One and headed over to the nurse's station to write down his orders on the patient's chart. A smile appeared on his lips when he saw J reading a book called Dr. Pestana's Surgery Notes. This time she is not wearing a face mask. Just one look at her beautiful face makes all his vexation earlier disappear.

J felt someone's gaze so she lifted her head to find Dr. Jacob looking at her with a smile. He is so handsome, especially when he smiles, which makes her heart skip a beat. And she doesn't like that feeling. It makes her uncomfortable chiefly when she looks at his eyes. So as much as possible she tries to not look into his eyes. She knows by the look of Dr. Jacob that he is a playboy.

Suddenly her phone rang. It was placed on her table in front of her so Jacob can see that the name of the caller is Lance. His brows furrowed as he felt like something was gripping his heart.

Is he jealous?

No. That's not possible.

He has never been jealous before.

J excuses herself as she answers the call. "Hey!" He heard her say and God how he wished she was speaking to him. He felt a poignant longing for a girl to speak to him but if it was another girl, he could get more than just speaking to her.

But this Nurse J is different.

She paused for a while listening for whoever was on the other line was saying. Then she heard her speak again "I can't. I have surgery at twelve. It will take five to six hours before it is done. By the time it finishes, that would probably be five or six in the evening." Though he was acting busy writing on the patient's chart, he was wondering what Nurse J and that guy were talking about.

If he was uncertain earlier, now he is certain that he is jealous.

"Okay. Yes, please. I'll call you when I get home. Bye." As soon as she finished the call she was startled when Dr. Jacob deliberately dropped the patient's chart on her desk then walked out without a word.

She even heard the door slam.