330-332

Chapter 330: Forced Blessings 566  

"Haha."  

Adam couldn't help but laugh.  

"What are you laughing at?"  

Christina asked, clearly annoyed.  

"Do you even need to ask?"  

Adam scoffed, "A doctor may perform countless surgeries every year and forget them, but for the patient, it's a once-in-a-lifetime event. How could they possibly forget who performed their surgery?"  

"..."  

Christina's face stiffened.  

As rational and intelligent as she was, she hadn’t thought of that…  

It must be because she was too involved!  

That had to be it!  

"No."  

George shook his head. "Mrs. Drake hasn’t woken up yet. Dr. Burke admitted it himself."  

"What?!"  

Christina and Meredith exclaimed in unison.  

"What exactly did he say?"  

Adam asked curiously.  

"He said that after he finished the surgery back then, he had an uneasy feeling, like he hadn’t thoroughly checked before closing up the patient's chest cavity."  

George continued, "The patient seemed fine post-op, and he was in a rush, so he let it go. Until today, when the chief of surgery and Dr. Bailey removed a surgical towel from the patient’s body. As for why he didn’t report it back then..."  

"Fear."  

Adam sighed.  

"Exactly!"  

George nodded. "At that time, he had just become an attending physician and wasn’t as well-known as he is now. If he had made such a basic mistake and it went to court, he’d be in a terrible position. The hospital’s legal team, fearing liability, would likely have recommended firing him immediately to cut their losses."  

Attending physicians often work in partnership with hospitals, and if the costs outweigh the benefits, hospitals will always choose the most favorable option.  

A newly promoted, unknown attending physician is nothing compared to the hospital’s reputation and potential financial losses. Letting him go would have been the obvious choice.  

So, even though Burke was already an attending, he wasn’t as bold as intern Grey, who had the guts to admit her mistakes head-on. He simply covered it up and moved on.  

But now?  

Adam speculated.  

For one, Burke had realized what Christina hadn’t—the patient would remember who performed their surgery. Destroying records wouldn’t change that.  

Secondly, Burke was now a highly respected surgeon and the top cardiothoracic specialist at the medical center. He was even the leading candidate for chief of surgery.  

Under these circumstances, the hospital had a strong incentive to protect him.  

Lastly, the patient had a good temperament. Burke likely figured that as long as he sincerely apologized and offered a decent settlement, the issue could be resolved without much trouble.  

Taking all this into account, Burke felt secure enough to openly admit his mistake.  

If even one of these conditions hadn’t been met, things could have turned out very differently.  

"Actually, I really agree with what Dr. Burke said at the end."  

George sighed, "He said that even the greatest doctors make mistakes. When we do, we should admit them without hesitation instead of being afraid of punishment. Otherwise, everyone suffers."  

The group fell silent.  

His words struck a chord.  

Doctors are human. How could they never make mistakes?  

If a mistake is unintentional and admitted, forgiveness should be possible.  

That would be the ideal scenario.  

But in reality, one mistake could destroy years of hard work overnight.  

Meredith punctured a patient's heart. Burke left a towel inside a patient. These weren’t isolated cases.  

In many similar situations, doctors often had a gut feeling afterward that something was wrong.  

But because the consequences were so severe, when faced with choosing between their own careers and their patients, they naturally prioritized themselves.  

Reality didn’t allow for an ideal middle ground.  

"Enough of this."  

Adam interrupted the somber, self-reflective mood with a laugh. "The hospital will definitely implement new policies because of this. Work hours will likely be reduced significantly. For most people, that’s actually a good thing."  

"I don’t want that kind of 'good thing'."  

Christina, now calm after realizing the issue didn’t involve her, scoffed, "I think the current pace is just fine."  

"That’s not up to you."  

Adam shook his head. "Right now, we’re doing 5 AM to 7 PM, seven days a week—577. After both Meredith and Dr. Burke had surgical mishaps, and given that overwork contributed to them, the hospital might enforce new rules, like capping weekly hours at 80. If that happens, you won’t even be allowed to stay at the hospital as much as you want."  

"Less than 80 hours a week?"  

Christina exclaimed, "That’s 13 hours a day, six days a week at most! No way am I following that rule. Adam, don’t tell me you think this is a good thing?"  

"Of course, I hate it too."  

Adam sighed. "But if the hospital enforces it, I’ll have to comply. Otherwise, if something happens, even if it’s not your fault, it’ll still be your fault."  

If a medical dispute ends up in court, and you’ve broken the hospital’s work-hour policy, you’re automatically at a disadvantage.  

"I actually think a mandatory work-hour cap would be nice."  

George smiled. "Doctors are people too. We need lives outside of work."  

"No ambition at all."  

Christina immediately gave him a disdainful look.  

"Forget it, let’s not think about it. Let’s just relax at the party tonight."  

Meredith shook her head, as if trying to shake off the stress.  

Her disciplinary hearing was still pending, but based on her boyfriend, Dr. Shepherd’s, past experience, she was likely facing at least a month of probation.  

"I wonder what kind of guy Liz’s boyfriend is? As her friends, we need to check him out properly."  

The group exchanged looks.  

"Has Liz talked to you today?"  

Christina asked.  

"No."  

Meredith shook her head, puzzled. "Why?"  

"Nothing."  

Christina grabbed her tray and walked off.  

Adam also smiled and left with Bianca.  

"What’s going on?"  

Meredith sensed something was off and grabbed George before he could sneak away.  

"You should talk to Liz."  

George had a guilty look.  

But under Meredith’s piercing gaze, he quickly caved and spilled everything.  

"LIZ!!!"  

The moment Meredith heard the truth, she nearly lost it.  

What was supposed to be a small gathering with a few friends had now turned into a massive party with dozens of doctors—all thanks to Liz.  

She had agreed to move in with Liz and George on impulse.  

But the moment they moved in, she regretted it.  

She’d wake up to find Liz, in her Hello Kitty pajamas, standing right in front of her.  

Then Liz and George would bicker like besties, giving her a headache.  

And now this.  

Just imagining all those people crowding into her home made her head want to explode. 

Chapter 331: A Doctor’s Daily Life  

Afternoon.  

The medical center seemed to be enveloped in an air of restlessness.  

"Great, 14 cases. Which kind? Hmm, just get a mix of everything."  

Dressed in a white coat, Liz was making a phone call in the hallway, securing the most important thing for tonight’s doctor’s party: alcohol!  

"Make sure it’s from a local brewery, and don’t forget to bring some nuts."  

Alex suddenly appeared behind Liz, speaking casually.  

"I'm ordering office supplies."  

No one liked Alex, including Liz.  

That’s why this doctor's party had grown from just a few people to dozens, and now even over a hundred—including interns, nurses, and even their boss, Dr. Bailey. Yet, Liz still had no intention of inviting Alex.  

Having a boss at a party like this was never ideal because it meant people wouldn’t be able to fully enjoy themselves.  

But when word spread throughout the hospital and the boss asked, "Am I invited?"  

Could anyone actually say no?  

Liz and George certainly didn’t have the guts to.  

"Oh, of course," Liz responded.  

Alex simply dropped a casual remark and walked away—nothing like his usual shameless self.  

He wasn’t stupid.  

Not long ago, he had posted Liz’s candid photos all over the hospital, only for Liz to retaliate mercilessly. After that, Liz was no longer the joke—he was.  

So, he had wisely started keeping a low profile.  

No more ambiguous smirks, no more provoking people—he had even adopted a brooding and mysterious persona.  

And how effective was it?  

Well, just look at Liz.  

"Local brewery, with some nuts," Liz quickly confirmed over the phone.  

Her initial extreme anger had faded like dust in the wind.  

Emergency Room. 

"Dr. Duncan, will you be at the party tonight?"  

"Hmm, we’ll see. If there aren’t any patients, I’ll stop by."  

"Awesome!"  

"I'm going too."  

"Count me in."  

At the nurses’ station, the nurses were chatting excitedly.  

Interns were overworked, but nurses weren’t any better. The stress was overwhelming, and outside of work, their social opportunities were quite limited.  

Hospitals were profit-driven. To maximize efficiency, they often hired just one nurse to do the work of two, keeping them constantly on their feet.  

And when unexpected emergencies happened, hospitals operated at extreme intensity. Nurses had to push themselves to the limit just to keep up.  

But that kind of struggle was the type that made them want to quit after just one experience.  

With such a workload, maintaining a normal love life was tough.  

Male nurses were rare, and female doctors were also relatively uncommon.  

This imbalance, combined with the long hours working together, led to frequent workplace romances and countless friendships—especially in the world of medical dramas.  

Adam had walked in on these situations more than once.  

He had also received plenty of flirtatious hints from attractive nurses, but he had always politely declined.  

Apparently, they hadn’t given up.  

Now, they seemed to believe that their past failures weren’t due to a lack of charm, but rather a lack of a crucial tool: alcohol!  

As the saying goes: Alcohol is the matchmaker of desire!  

And no one understood that better than Westerners.  

Beep! Beep! Beep!  

The emergency alert sounded at the nurses' station.  

"Okay, Mary, bring the emergency cart!"  

The head nurse gave orders while informing Adam, "Dr. Duncan, we’ve received a distress call."  

The emergency cart had a defibrillator and other lifesaving equipment.  

"Notify Dr. Lewis."  

Following standard procedure, Adam reported the situation and quickly followed the nurses toward the patient’s room where the alarm had been triggered.  

When they arrived and pushed open the door, they were instantly dumbfounded.  

Dr. Doug Ross was leaning against the sink, shirtless. One hand was bracing the counter, the other pressing against the wall—right on the emergency alarm button, completely unaware of what he had done.  

Hearing the door open, he turned his head, revealing a face twisted in embarrassment.  

"Uh… hi."  

"Hi."  

Faced with this awkward situation, Adam played it cool and casually greeted Dr. Ross before shutting the door behind him—completely ignoring the pink-clad figure hiding on the floor in an attempt to disappear.  

The head nurse didn’t react much, but young Nurse Mary, dressed in pink scrubs, turned bright red.  

"The party is tonight, isn’t it? Can’t they wait?"  

The head nurse shook her head. "So impatient. Young people these days!"  

Patient Wing. 

"Hey, we heard about the party tonight. Can we join?"  

The hospitalized patients were starting to tease.  

"Sorry, we’re not the organizers," Adam replied with a smile. "Besides, you all need rest. No getting out of bed."  

Hospitals in the U.S. prioritized bed turnover for profit.  

If you weren’t seriously ill, you wouldn’t even get admitted.  

And once you were admitted? The costs were so high that no sane person would want to stay long-term.  

Patients wanting to attend a party? Yeah, right.  

"Doctors actually have a social life? Who knew?"  

"Yeah! When I close my eyes at night, they’re here. When I wake up in the morning, they’re still here. I thought they lived in the hospital like superheroes."  

"Bet you can’t wait to get off shift and start partying!"  

"Don’t drink too much—I’ve got surgery tomorrow!"  

The patients kept cracking jokes, getting more and more animated.  

Adam chuckled.  

Doctors always looked down at patients—literally.  

Patients were lying in bed, doctors were standing. That positioning reflected their relationship.  

Patients had to look up at the people diagnosing their fate, putting them at a psychological disadvantage.  

Nobody liked feeling powerless.  

Now, seeing the doctors in a more casual, human light, it was no surprise that the patients were enjoying themselves.  

7:00 PM. 

A group of doctors and nurses, now dressed in casual clothes, gathered and headed to Meredith’s apartment.  

Adam was a little late, finishing up a patient’s discharge paperwork until 8:00 PM. Finally, he drove over with Bianca.  

"Looks like they’re having fun."  

Even before entering, he could hear the lively music blasting from inside.  

When he stepped in, the place was already packed.  

The most eye-catching sight? A table where one man and two women were downing drinks while dancing.  

On the left was Meredith, on the right was Cristina, and in the middle—George.  

An absolute mess of tangled limbs and drunken movement.  

"Dr. Duncan!"  

"Dr. Duncan!"  

"Dr. Duncan!"  

Adam’s arrival instantly drew the attention of a group of women, all eagerly greeting him.  

Unlike the sterile white coats and pink scrubs of the hospital, they were now dressed in stylish outfits, each trying to outshine the others.  

Chapter 332: A Call from Peggy  

Grey’s Apartment. 

The party was in full swing.  

In America, social circles are a thing.  

Even though this was a party with over a hundred guests, after Christina, Meredith, and George finished their awkward dance on the table, they stepped down and ended up gathering in a room with Bianca—drinking and chatting.  

Everyone else was just there to fill the space and set the mood.  

Since this was Meredith’s home, it made sense that she wasn’t a fan of such a big party.  

After all, once the party was over, she’d be the one dealing with the mess—who knew what kind of trash or unmentionable things she’d find scattered around?  

What really made her grit her teeth in frustration was the fact that Liz, the party’s supposed organizer, was still stuck in the hospital—doing the very brain surgery they all wished they could be performing.  

Adding insult to injury, Meredith had just been disciplined, so she decided to go back to her old ways—chugging alcohol like there was no tomorrow and letting out wild screams every now and then.  

“You’re not jealous?”  

Christina, her eyes hazy from alcohol, glanced at Bianca before gesturing toward Adam, who was surrounded by women.  

“Why would I be jealous?”  

Bianca took a few sips of her drink, feeling more outgoing than usual. “Adam and I are just friends. I’m not his girlfriend. Besides, he’s a beast—I’m actually kind of relieved when he’s like this.”  

The moment she said that, Christina and Meredith’s eyes lit up with the fire of a million degrees of gossip.  

“A beast? How so?”  

“Spill it!”  

“It’s nothing.”  

Bianca wasn’t that drunk yet. She knew Adam didn’t like her talking about their private affairs, so she quickly changed the subject.  

“There’s definitely something!”  

“We’re all friends here, and we’re doctors. What haven’t we seen? What’s the big deal?”  

“Exactly! Bianca, do you not think of us as friends?”  

There was no way Christina and Meredith were letting her off the hook. They took turns pushing her, their words getting heavier and heavier, determined to satisfy their curiosity.  

Opportunities like this were rare.  

If it were any other guy, and he was as impressive as they suspected, he’d probably be bragging about it non-stop.  

But Adam was too low-key. He was clearly extraordinary, yet he never showed it off.  

Mysterious and powerful—exactly the type that drew women in.  

“I really can’t say…”  

Bianca, unable to withstand the pressure, half-heartedly admitted, “Let’s just say… I can’t keep up.”  

“OMG!”  

Christina and Meredith, both seasoned veterans, immediately understood and gasped dramatically.  

“What’s going on?”  

George, who was a bit tipsy, looked at them in confusion.  

“She just said she can’t keep up. What’s so shocking about that?”  

“I’m seriously thinking about moving out.”  

Bianca took another swig of her drink, unable to hold back her complaints. “Otherwise, after working 14-hour shifts every day, I come home only to have another exhausting shift. I feel like I’m falling apart. If any of you can get Adam’s attention, I honestly wouldn’t mind.”  

Not everyone had Adam’s never-ending stamina.  

Look at Meredith—ever since she got involved with Dr. Shepherd, she’d been seriously sleep-deprived. The first time she held a real human heart, an adrenaline-pumping moment for any surgeon, she nearly dozed off, almost causing a fatal mistake.  

That was how Bianca felt.  

Sure, she enjoyed what Adam brought to the table, but that wasn’t her whole life.  

Becoming a doctor had been her dream since childhood.  

Her father was a dentist, and many of his friends were doctors. That was why she had originally planned to return to Chicago for her medical internship after graduation.  

Growing up in a medical circle, she often heard people joke that “dentists aren’t real doctors.” It left a lasting impression on her.  

So, she was determined to become a surgeon—standing at the top of the medical hierarchy—to make her father proud.  

If being with Adam jeopardized that dream, Bianca wouldn’t allow it.  

She was human, not a lab rat with an electrode implanted in its brain, pressing a pleasure button until it dropped dead.  

“Incredible…”  

Meredith’s usually sentimental eyes shimmered with curiosity.  

Dreamy Guy was pretty impressive, but from her experienced perspective, she had always been in control.  

She even used her award-winning acting skills to boost his ego when necessary.  

Throughout her many, many experiences, she had never encountered something like this.  

What a shame.  

If she were still in her early twenties, she would definitely give it a try.  

But now, she was deeply involved with Dreamy Guy. And judging from his reaction the last time that injured racer stole a kiss from her—his jealousy ran deep. There was no way he’d be okay with an open relationship.  

Bianca, meanwhile, was looking at them through drunken, squinting eyes.  

She had spoken from the heart, but she hadn’t mentioned that Adam wasn’t even interested in them.  

Internally, she chuckled: Even if you had the chance, you wouldn’t stand a chance.  

Adam, outwardly calm, continued entertaining his overly friendly female colleagues. But deep down, he was grumbling to himself—making a firm resolution to attend fewer of these parties in the future.  

They were just too exhausting.  

In every sense of the word…  

Not getting involved with female colleagues had been a strict rule of his ever since Barney showed him that video.  

That’s right.  

Barney had, quite literally, taken the first step—with a limp.  

And he had proof.  

Barney was staying in a private VIP hospital room, the perfect setting for his antics. Given his smooth-talking nature, willingness to spend money, and decent looks, it wasn’t hard for him to charm some easygoing, attractive nurses.  

The hard part was getting them to agree to let him play the role of Professor Stinson.  

But Barney could spin a lie in his sleep.  

In the first video Adam saw, a nurse noticed his phone was pointed at them, flash on, and immediately asked, “Are you recording this?”  

Without missing a beat, Barney replied, “Nah, my phone’s just out of battery.”  

The party wrapped up quickly.  

Everyone was at the bottom of the hospital food chain, meaning they had to be up early for work. They couldn’t party until sunrise like Ted and Barney.  

The party started at 7 PM, and by 9 PM, people were already trickling out. By 10 PM, only Meredith and her roommates were left—staring at the mess.  

The Next Day 

The life of an intern continued.  

When a story spread about an ER intern falling asleep while using the bathroom, it became yet another example of their brutal work hours—alongside Meredith nearly stabbing a patient’s heart in her sleep and Dr. Burke accidentally leaving a towel inside a patient due to exhaustion.  

To prevent more medical mishaps (and potential lawsuits), the hospital board quickly passed a mandatory work-hour limit.  

Just as Adam had predicted, they adopted the infamous 80-hour workweek policy.  

Finally, the interns got their first official weekend off.  

Adam was just about to use the time to catch up with Chandler and the gang—when he got a call.  

“Peggy?”  

Surprised, he picked up.  

(End of Chapter)